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Hey TeamLiquid,
I've just published my article arguing that there is no need for StarCraft II to be televised in the West for it to gain mainstream popularity and success, instead arguing that online streaming is a far more efficient and logical way to push the game in the right direction.
E-sports is at a major turning point. With the release of StarCraft II being heralded as the biggest thing to happen to the industry in it’s roughly decade old history, many believe it will be the key to bringing e-sports into the spotlight of mainstream media in the West. However, due to the way mainstream Western media works, trying to make e-sports 'mainstream' by giving tournaments television time will not work nearly as well as it would with using the same strategies, but through the vehicle of online media. Also, the games developer, Blizzard, has shaped the multiplayer experience in such a way that most players are aware of the competitive scene.
I'd love to hear your opinions on the topic, and any general feedback/questions.
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I think that the more people do not focus on the Korean model, the better. Different countries have different cultures and things work differently in those cultures as a result, and the best way to make esports happen in the West is to make Western esports, not a Western clone of Korean esports.
That's the same reason that I cringe whenever I hear about another team going to Korea. As much as I can appreciate the financial sense it may make for that team, I'd much rather see people focus on creating a community in the US or in Europe than continuing to support the Korean scene at the expense of having our own thing.
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Which Korean model are we talking about? I suggest Ryu Ji Hye.
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I agree with the point, we need some kind of e-sport culture more fitted to the way we are, however, I believe that what's stoping this from happening is the player base, there are not enough players here to make this profitable, maybe with enough publicity or a larger player base, this could work.
As a side note, I decided to play SCII because of youtube casts... blame husky and hd... I mean, this kind of things are nice because they make thing "hey, I can do this too"...
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On January 07 2011 02:05 soujiro75 wrote: I agree with the point, we need some kind of e-sport culture more fitted to the way we are, however, I believe that what's stoping this from happening is the player base, there are not enough players here to make this profitable, maybe with enough publicity or a larger player base, this could work.
As a side note, I decided to play SCII because of youtube casts... blame husky and hd... I mean, this kind of things are nice because they make thing "hey, I can do this too"... I think that we are seeing for the first time the sort of player base and publicity that could make it happen, although there is a long way to go.
In my mind, it would help if the big "foreign" names focused more on creating the community here than a community there. I mean, using the US as an example, the US has like 6 times the people of South Korea. So it wouldn't even be necessary to have the same percentage of the population supporting esports to generate the same interest/revenue. Sponsorships, in my mind, are the key to success. And not game sponsorships. I mean like Coca-Cola and the United States Postal Service and stuff like that, entities that aren't just niche marketing. The USPS turned Lance Armstrong into a household name, I think they even put a stamp out to help hype him when he was first getting big.
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Read it. It's a good thought but in the end it's hard for it to be social when most people aren't setup to stream to tvs. Until esports gets social it won't be mainstream
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I think esports needs google to start sponsoring it, along with providing matches via google tv/android tablets/android phones.
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If western e-sports had Korean models I would always watch.
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Didn't TV make a hell of a lot more sense for broadcasting matches in Korea when BW was first broadcasted?
Honestly, there is no need for TV as a whole anymore in my opinion.
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Australia7069 Posts
On January 07 2011 02:29 confusedcrib wrote: If western e-sports had Korean models I would always watch. I mean i know this is a joke, but seriously, remember the models at IEM, that needs to happen more. Nothing attracts viewership like hot chicks, and if they're korean hot chicks, all the better
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internet tv is gong to surpass cable/sattelite tv anyway so why not focus on that?
besides it would just be noobies on g4 instead of real sc like we have at gsl/dreamhack/mlg.
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The main problem I have with how Western E-Sports is run is that there aren't really identities you can follow and support. There's no push to really give you a face behind the ID. I think they really need to start pushing this to be successful.
Stuff like interviews and player history at MLG would be amazing and I think bring e-sports a lot further. Rivalries too like the epic Boxer vs Yellow or Jaedong vs Flash. These just make everything so much more exciting because you know the players you can get behind them and support them.
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Pretty funny how I thought this was about hot korean chicks at gaming events. xP
Seriously though, your article makes a good point. There's no need for TV these days, with people streaming off broadcasting channel websites for TV shows anyways, more and more people are tuning in online at their own leisure especially with on demand videos. I'm glad shows like Day[9] exists along side the minor streams such as Trump, QXC, and all the other new pros coming in with their own channels. This is the future of E-Sports in America.
I hope that we don't try to hard to break into the TV broadcasting scene, but rather be the pioneers in excellent and organized Internet Broadcasting... especially since we're called 'E-sports'.
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Great article but as people mentioned before.. I dont think we need to copy the korean side of things because that will just simply not work here in the states. We need to look to find new and better ways and how we can incorporate those ideas into a way thats fitting for Western Esports.
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The future of televised media is going to be subscription based channels. Basically on your tv, you will have an internet provider and you will buy premuim access to channels that you want. Say if you want espn, espn2, and espn 3 you can buy them each for $1.00 a month. I suspect that cable companies will start offering thousands of channels for anything related to anything. Changing a channel will now be the same as viewing a preview of the current content and then either buying the show or buying the channel. I see no reason that blizzard won't have their own channel. This is probably 10-15 years away though :p.
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On January 07 2011 02:52 darmousseh wrote: The future of televised media is going to be subscription based channels. Basically on your tv, you will have an internet provider and you will buy premuim access to channels that you want. Say if you want espn, espn2, and espn 3 you can buy them each for $1.00 a month. I suspect that cable companies will start offering thousands of channels for anything related to anything. Changing a channel will now be the same as viewing a preview of the current content and then either buying the show or buying the channel. I see no reason that blizzard won't have their own channel. This is probably 10-15 years away though :p. Not to get too off topic, but why would people pay something like a dollar for each channel when they can get much more for less than that. For instance, I have 300 or 400 something channels, but I pay a third of that number in cable fees. Similarly, some people have thousands of channels and pay much less than a thousand dollars.
Plus there are the costs of making a channel and broadcasting a channel. Under the logic of your post, cable companies are already able to broadcast whatever channels they want. How come they don't?
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On January 07 2011 02:56 FrostOtter wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2011 02:52 darmousseh wrote: The future of televised media is going to be subscription based channels. Basically on your tv, you will have an internet provider and you will buy premuim access to channels that you want. Say if you want espn, espn2, and espn 3 you can buy them each for $1.00 a month. I suspect that cable companies will start offering thousands of channels for anything related to anything. Changing a channel will now be the same as viewing a preview of the current content and then either buying the show or buying the channel. I see no reason that blizzard won't have their own channel. This is probably 10-15 years away though :p. Not to get too off topic, but why would people pay something like a dollar for each channel when they can get much more for less than that. For instance, I have 300 or 400 something channels, but I pay a third of that number in cable fees. Similarly, some people have thousands of channels and pay much less than a thousand dollars. Plus there are the costs of making a channel and broadcasting a channel. Under the logic of your post, cable companies are already able to broadcast whatever channels they want. How come they don't?
Because you only watch like 10 out of those 400 channels? Thus your bill would only be $10?
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On January 07 2011 02:59 Arch00 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2011 02:56 FrostOtter wrote:On January 07 2011 02:52 darmousseh wrote: The future of televised media is going to be subscription based channels. Basically on your tv, you will have an internet provider and you will buy premuim access to channels that you want. Say if you want espn, espn2, and espn 3 you can buy them each for $1.00 a month. I suspect that cable companies will start offering thousands of channels for anything related to anything. Changing a channel will now be the same as viewing a preview of the current content and then either buying the show or buying the channel. I see no reason that blizzard won't have their own channel. This is probably 10-15 years away though :p. Not to get too off topic, but why would people pay something like a dollar for each channel when they can get much more for less than that. For instance, I have 300 or 400 something channels, but I pay a third of that number in cable fees. Similarly, some people have thousands of channels and pay much less than a thousand dollars. Plus there are the costs of making a channel and broadcasting a channel. Under the logic of your post, cable companies are already able to broadcast whatever channels they want. How come they don't? Because you only watch like 10 out of those 400 channels? Thus your bill would only be $10? That is an amazing psychic ability you have, to be able to know what channels I watch and then.
Although obviously I do not constantly watch all 400 channels simultaneously, but each of them does offer something when whatever I normally watch is not on.
I see what he is saying, and I can't say that I completely disagree that it would be a good idea. I just don't think it will ever happen. People like to be greedy, and people like bulk packages, even if it means getting stuff they will never use. Not to mention that cable companies aren't going to want to lose that revenue.
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I mean i know this is a joke, but seriously, remember the models at IEM, that needs to happen more. Nothing attracts viewership like hot chicks, and if they're korean hot chicks, all the better
Do you remember how awkward that was, seeing idrA with a lady on his arm? I think the gammers probably would have much rather skipped it, but it was entertaining for the rest of us.
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On January 07 2011 02:51 Noxie wrote: Great article but as people mentioned before.. I dont think we need to copy the korean side of things because that will just simply not work here in the states. We need to look to find new and better ways and how we can incorporate those ideas into a way thats fitting for Western Esports.
That's the whole point of the article, I'm sick of seeing people say "I don't know why SC2 isnt shown on TV here!" without thinking it through
And to the people making (poor) jokes about 'models', the character limit is 50, so I had to replace 'is the Korean model' with 'is a Korean model'. Sorry for that :p
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