So I've been wondering ever since I started the transition from watching BW to SC2 how the "fighting!~" cheer works in SC2. Back in the days of Broodwar, we'd have the countdown right before the game where fans can cheer for their favorite player. For SC2, you mostly cheer for your favorite player when they are being introduced. I feel that kind of interrupts the commentary a bit whereas the countdown was a good time where nothing is happening yet.
Does anybody else kind of miss the counting down right before a match of Starcraft? For SC2, we might start off by viewing a bit of the load screen, but most of the televised matches start streaming right at the beginning when workers are already mining. I understand that people don't want to see people loading, but I also feel that it is a weird transition from showing the commentator's faces and then jumping straight into the game.
That countdown sound at the end gives me the chills.
There's also the nice pregame chat that we get to see!
Perfect example of pregame chat and intense cheer at 1:39
That also made me realize that in SC2, I personally have not heard many strong "fighting" cheers like the one above. I've heard the occasional cheer in GSL, but nothing in like MLG. I do love the cheers and energy of the MLG crowd, but there's something special about a perfectly coordinated "fighting" cheer that sends chills down my spine.
At 1:25 KIM TAEK YONG! HANA, DUL, SET, KIM TAEK YONG FIGHTING!~~ MA JAE YOON! HANA, DUL, SET, MA JAE YOON FIGHTING!!~~
Maybe people have been doing these cheers at MLG, but they haven't been picked up on stream due to all the noise. So, this weekend I'm heading to MLG Providence. I hope I can do some fighting cheers for some of my favorite players. I hope there will be loud synchronized cheers for players. Maybe I'll get to lead a cheer and go like...
LIM YO HWAN, HANA, DUL, SET, LIM YO HWAN HWAITING!~ 임요환, 하나, 둘, 셋, 임요환 FIGHTING!~
P.S. I don't know how cheerfuls work too as this will be my first live SC event. Do you throw up your cheerful in the middle of a match? I'm afraid cheerfuls might block the view of people behind me...
I watched very little SC:BW compared to the amount of SC2 I've watched, but every "Fighting!~" cheer gives me chills. I've been to MLG Dallas twice now and each time I've cheered with a "Fighting!~" Hopefully it'll catch on and I'll stop getting confused looks ^^
The fighting cheers have been a part of the Korean e-sports for years and years. That's why it's so coordinated. SC2 crowds are still young; they might catch on to it, or form their own unified cheer tradition in time.
Although I have to say, I kind of doubt it'll happen. It's just a cultural thing, in my experience. Take K-pop for example. I've been to 4 K-pop concerts in the US, and in all of them, everyone just screams and yells at their own whim. But in Korea, it's highly organized. You sit with your fanclub, have the specific lightstick that goes with your group's color, and yell out the fanchant in unison. For one of the concerts, we sat outside in a line and had to practice the fanchant for an hour, to make sure everyone had it right. Likewise in SC, you have these fanclub leaders, usually girls (another element missing in western e-sports lol), that will organize these things and make sure everyone follows.
EPT
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