There was a similiar thread a while ago with some pros stating their opinion.
Link The last post has some sort of summary (though he missed some pros like Darkforce).

Overall my opinion is:
It would annoy me. Use other methods of communication (ilve events, stream chats, PMs, IRC, ...)

Fission

Canada1184 Posts

April 11 2011 21:06 GMT

#42

I think its rude to be messaging pro players with stupid questions and/or comments. With that said, I think the pro community in general has nothing but disdain for the general playerbase based on comments that you hear tasteosis/day9 make or other casts like State of the Game. Pro players in general seem to ridicule and look down on the average player, so I wouldn't really expect them to answer a whisper even if for some reason they weren't actually busy practicing.

Alexl

288 Posts

April 11 2011 21:57 GMT

#43

Personnaly, the two pros I've ever pm'd so far (lalush and stephano) have both replied when i asked them a question (not like" omg how do i winz" but like 2-3 lines) but when i see the amount of messaging people get while streaming i'd actually feel bad about messaging them :>

jinorazi

Korea (South)4948 Posts

April 12 2011 00:11 GMT

#44

can you imagine the chaos if people were able to communicate with Kobe every time he held a basketball?

i think thats one way to look at it. since any pros with their ID known to public, will be harassed just being online with sc2 on.

Piy

Scotland3152 Posts

April 12 2011 00:14 GMT

#45

You can't ask them to be anything but themselves, and some people, myself included, have trouble playing and typing to people at the same time.

PlaGuE_R

France1151 Posts

April 12 2011 01:11 GMT

#46

I once messaged MouzMaNa and told him i was a big fan and that i was thrilled for his Dreamhack finish, even though I was sad about him not winning. He lol'ed, thanked me and I thought it was very nice of him.

I also accidently messaged Adelscott, he blocked me -.- but i never liked Adel so I don't care

foLster

Canada43 Posts

April 12 2011 01:38 GMT

#47

I asked Machine to wave to the camera on State of The Game, and he did it - with a smile!
<3

Earll

Norway847 Posts

April 12 2011 01:42 GMT

#48

I pm\d Jinro something nonsensical and I got a nonsensical respond, so overall I am happy and Starcraft pros are 1 for 1 with me. Anyway I Think there are a lot of factors you need to take into account. First of all, no popular starcraft 2 pro will ever be able to get back to all of his fans, so in some ways just getting back to a few is is not fair to the other fans. Anyway one big thing I think we need to take into consideration, which I know is a big problem for anyone who work on the computer and basically have complete freedom in terms of workload\scheduling. When they sit down to practice, they practice.

That is something that is more or less absolutly needed to be able to have great success as a starcraft 2 professional imo. If you sit down to practice, and spend half of the time , or 25% of the time, or 10% of the time, or 5% of the time, responding to fans instead of pracitcing, then there will be someone out there who works harder than you and who does not spend that extra time on fans and who could get better because of that. So any time they use responding to fans should more so go out of their "free time " than their "practice time" and I am sure you can understand that for someone who probably practices starcraft 5-8+ hours a day, it does not always seem like a great way to spend my freetime chatting Teaching 1 out of 100 fans how to play starcraft 2.

Angra

United States2652 Posts

April 12 2011 01:47 GMT

#49

Progamers have a TON of random people constantly messaging them. They have absolutely no time to message every single person. What makes you think that you're special enough to warrant them responding to you?

Engore

United States1916 Posts

April 12 2011 01:47 GMT

#50

Pro's also do this for a living. You might be able to compare it to a backhoe driver. If random people started stopping every day, 40-50 a day, asking you how to work it or what maker is the best for backhoes it would get irritating not only for the worker but the company. They are trying to better their play for professional/profitable reasons so they are not always going to want to help. Considering the massive amount of ways to find help online it isn't really a negative thing to esports if they don't respond.

We have TL.net, all the commentators, lessons that are given by pros, and just playing for experience to learn. Asking them while they are working isn't really necessary to get better.

Herculix

United States946 Posts

April 12 2011 01:48 GMT

#51

On April 12 2011 03:14 Desirous wrote:

Show nested quote +

I have no clue how it works over there in Denmark, but the way I see it is that companies sponsor events for the viewers, not for the pros. The pros make money because of us, and if you/they think otherwise you're sadly mistaken

Show nested quote +

The question is have you watched their streams? I've watched incs and huks a few times and geoff responds to every message he gets and both of them are interactive with stream chat. Your argument is "they shouldn't have to respond to everything because these 2 guys who get spammed all day do respond to everything" lmfao.

Any Pro-gamer or even amateur who refuses to interact with his fans is only doing it for the money and shouldn't have any fans. And they sure as hell don't care if eSports grows if they're giving people the cold shoulder. It falls on the Pro-gamer to schedule his time efficiently not the fans.

you say it like it's NFL or NBA where fanfare dictates a huge differential in salary of the millions. LOL @ only in it for the money, seriously? most 'progamers' are not on that level and nothing would change for them if no one cared whether they won every tournament. it falls on the progamer to prioritize indulging his fans over playing or anything else he could be doing and nothing more. not everyone is on a valiant crusade to carry the world of esports on their shoulders, most people just play the game because they enjoy it and some happen to be very good.

Minigun

619 Posts

April 12 2011 01:54 GMT

#52

I see where you are coming from. But even I, am torn on whether or not I am truely a "pro gamer" I don't really play enough per day, but I get messages, A LOT. I mean, A LOT A LOT. I tried at first to respond politely to all of them, but now, I tend to just ignore them.

thoradycus

Malaysia3262 Posts

April 12 2011 01:57 GMT

#53

Well messaging someone saying "im a big fan of u gl in the future etc" is fine and it doesnt need a reply.Im sure the person would appreciate it.Whats annoying though is when people start asking questions,and sometimes really stupid ones,such as "OMG PLAYER X how do u deal with banelings"
Spamming is also annoying.

iSTime

1579 Posts

April 12 2011 02:35 GMT

#54

Random people who message you asking for advice should be dealt with the same way beggars are dealt with. Don't acknowledge their existence at all.

The second you respond they will think you're their new best friend and message you every other day and ask you to play 2v2 with them despite being turned down every time. It's nice when people message you once in a blue moon and you respond, but unfortunately most of the random people who message you are annoying 14 year olds.

EDIT: I don't mean to sound rude, but it's just frustrating when you are friendly and nice to people who don't understand social norms.