EPTFirst off, I would like to take this time to Thank this seasons' participants for a great set of games and matches. There were a ton of hiccups at the start of the season, but they were more or less smoothened out by the end. So, without further ado, let's start what I feel will be a lengthy post concerning Season 3.
We have no Admins
This league originated from a league known as NASCL (North American StarCraft Clan League) started by Derrick "DaS" Senter and Nick "20" Gobble. About halfway through Season 1, I tagged along to help with organzing a website and script to better manage the league - along with providing fun statistics for the community. Further along, when Felipe "DraKotZ" Nereza joined to organize showmatches, we decided to organize a league composed of the top tier teams.
You may have noticed that these people were mostly absent as Season 2 progressed... So what happened?
DaS is currently involved with the US Army National Guard as well as managing a start up company. Simply put, he has little time to help with ESI and has made no promises to do so for the next season - An honest decision that I can respect.
20 has lost his Internet connection due to personal reasons I will not discuss. Before this point in time, he was the most active among the admins and the biggest StarCraft enthusiasts I have ever met. While he has made an appearance as of late, it hinges on his ability to make use of neighboring Wi-Fi connections - His input for next season would be minimal.
Before I continue, I should note that there a bunch of other people who became involved with ESI that ended as flaky disappointments. Season 1 was littered with US East / West players and clans who are not even worth mentioning, or who I have forgotten. Season 2 was supposed to be cast/voded in part by SC2GG, but this ultimately fizzled out due to ... exaggerated egos. At one point during Season 2, DraKotZ and the former LzH captain YoonHo launched a 1v1 league. Despite assuring me that he would be able to help with administrative issue, Steve withdrew after two lackluster weeks citing the same issues that caused LzH to be replaced after week 4. TeRRoR was a promising caster and admin but despite the hours he was able to contribute, he lacked the ability to act decently on-air which I can only attribute to his young age.
However, there were some exceptions who I would like to thank. Our casters LordOfWar and GOL's Kenny helped with streaming during the end of the season, although I'm still waiting on Kenny to VOD Fnatic vs ToT
I'd like to thank WC8 aka TL's vx70GTOJudgexv for moral support and league coverage. Thanks to Day[9] for contributing suggestion to how the rules should modified following the ret/ChoseN ace match. Thanks to Effort for contributing a few news posts between my tyranny of league updates. Lastly, a big Thanks to poGDI for helping ESI break onto the front page of GosuGamers.Finally, we come to DraKotZ. It is important to note that his most known aka is Strato, who many can remember as taking a 3rd place in WCG Mexico 2005. During his time as admin for ESI he has also led the Mexican team NaH which later became Sky.G along with DraKotZ changing his aka to Ziel. In June, Felipe informed me that he had been having problems with migraines and loss of vision which later doctors diagnosed as a brain tumor. Because of the late discovery, he needed to be treated immediately and he would not be able to help with the league. I talked to him again after his surgery, when he told me he was accessing the Internet from his hospital bed.
ESI | draKotZ: I just got online to say that I am not going to get online for a long stretch of time.
I send my wishes to Felipe and his family and hope he recovers - this brings us to our next topic:
Season 3 lacks a Sponsor
Season 1 was sponsored by DaS. The prize money was a mere $100, but winner's Los Reyes del Mambo received their money with out any problems. Season 2 was also sponsored by a mixture of admins that mostly included myself, Das, and DraKotZ. The prize money was set at $600 which may not seem like a hefty amount compared to other foreign tournaments and leagues, but it certainly drew the top teams to participate in the league. Of this $600, $400 is accounted for - with $200 missing on part to DraKotz's illness. DaS has still to transfer his share to my PayPal account, as he is currently participating in National Guard Training. When he does so, $400 dollars will be distributed as follows:
1. $300 - Fnatic.MSI - Season 2 Winners
2. $100 - Templars of Twilight - Season 2 Runner-Up
I would like to apologize to Fnatic, ToT, and ESC (3rd place) for the change in prize money. The money was not collected beforehand and this has become a problem due to our own organizational issues.
Putting Season 2 aside, I would like to take a moment to discuss our search for Season 3 sponsors. I think ESI admins incorrectly approached the league with a very strong ESPORTS mentality. (Hence the name...) Aside from very large leagues such as ESL, it is impossible for such a small niche focused league such as ESI to become e-famous and earn lots of e-money. I know that this motivation ended in a lack of interest for a few of my colleagues.
During the end of the Season 2, DraKotz and I approached over 30 companies for sponsorship. This includes many of the traditional e-sports sponsors such as Razer, Steel Series, and Q-Pad but also included Poker sites. Interestingly enough, I was disappointed to find that only Razer and one other unnamed site were courteous enough to write back, denying our request and citing a reason as too why. At one point during the end of June, ESI finally received an offer for $1200 and a CPA - which was later withdrawn.
Traffic for your site is insufficient to support a return in investment.
Season 3 does not have a sponsor and learning from Season 2 it would be unfair and unprofessional to pretend a sponsor exists unless the money was firmly in hand.
What Next?
Where do we go from here? I would like to begin by offering my own point of view. I originally joined the admin team as a coder because I was personally motivated to design and code a nice league management script. I am a computer science student with an unhealthy admiration for StarCraft, thus it felt natural for me to test my talents and interests on a community project.
How did that go? I feel that the ESI site is at this point in time at about 20% completion. This is partially due to the unexpected withdrawal of the other admins, causing me to change from coding to managing and organizing the league mostly by myself from matchday 3 and on. While I started ESI happy to help - I have to admit that I am pretty burnt out due to now having a set of tasks that I associate with work as opposed to fun.
If the league were to continue, I would be willing to help if I had a set of willing admins that allowed me to focus more on what I like to do - coding. Thus - this is an appeal to the community for a set of helping hands. However, I am not a fan of flaky work and would rather the league be closed than see it run at a mediocre level.
What About the Teams?
Yes, what about them? Would the teams still be willing to play, despite a lack of funds? As of the completion of Season 2 - the following teams need to consider their participation in the league:
Playoff Teams:
1.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/china.png)
2.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/europe.png)
3.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/germany.png)
4.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/united_states.png)
5th/6th Place Teams:
5.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/spain.png)
6.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/poland.png)
From Qualifiers:
7.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/czech_republic.png)
8.
9.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/france.png)
10.
![[image loading]](http://www.esportsi.net/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Flags/sweden.png)
* Note: Sky Gaming was disbanded and replaced by LRM who picked up their stronger players.
As part of the ToT organization - I would like to anonymously contribute some of the positive statements made during the ToT discussion on this topic:
"I'm not sure how many leagues we are currently playing in, but we are have many players now so another league would not hurt. I would like to play many leagues but thats because I havent played for some time and am hungry!"
"I actually agree..it's a very well run league, by far the best one.. By playing it we can use more players and it's not like we played this league for the money in the 1st place anyway.."
A change in motivation
Along with the bad, it is good to note that ESI has grown to be a pretty fun and well liked league. I think by turning to the community for help, by finding the right set of admins, and by dropping the ESPORTS mentality - ESI has the potential to continue for many seasons to come.
The bottom line...
Should ESI continue with Season 3? This will mostly depend on two issues:
1. A handful of dependable admins.
2. The support of the current teams.
What are your thoughts on the issue?
Always looking forward to vods and I think Kenny did quite a good job with the GOL vods (at least the ret ones which I watched).
