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In response to this reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/yvgk3/total_biscuit_there_were_teams_trying_to_sign/
Total Biscuit tweeted "There were teams trying to sign CranK at MLG without a translator there. Essentially trying to fasttalk him. Shame on you ", and that "Gen (his wife) is going to temporarily act as his agent to make sure he gets a fair deal. All enquiries can go through her."
What TB what like us to take away from this is that people were preying on Crank, and that he stepped in altruistically to prevent him being taken advantage of. However, TB has shown himself to a shrewd businessman before, ex transferring from a dying game World of Warcraft to Starcraft so lets assume TB isn't acting out of good will but instead for his business interest.
TB made an investment by sponsoring Crank for this MLG, an investment that payed off with Crank's deep run in the tournament. The Cynical Brit and TB received lots of positive exposure as a result. Total Biscuit announces he will sponsor Crank for subsequent tournaments "if no team picks him up"
So what should TB do now that the tournament is over? Should he let a team swoop in and sign a player that TB shouldered the risk of sponsoring? Now that Cranks shown himself to be a good investment it make sense for TB to want to continue to be associated with him through sponsorship. Especially if it's an event-by-event sponsorship instead of a long term contract. Not having to commit to long term contract makes TB's risk very small as it allows him to drop crank as soon as his performance suffers.
Furthermore what evidence do we have that Crank was being "fast talked" at all? Sure crank supposedly left slayers for medical reasons, but he didn't rejoin them now that he has recovered. It seems he, like other Koreans, wants to join a foreign team. So he has made that decision but he ( a top player of a complex strategy game that includes many economic concepts) has no strategy or plan for negotiating with the teams he wants to join?
TB claims he is representing Crank out of altruism, but it seems like he has also positioned himself perfectly business-wise while also earning the admiration of the community. TB might be chobo at starcraft but he is a gosu at starcraft business and this move is an example of that.
Edit: TB villainized teams talking to Crank but TB is in the exact position of those teams so why do assume those teams dont have cranks best interest in mind while TB does?
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why can't he be acting out of altruism and self interest? doesn't have to be one or the other.
on that note a lot of time they're the same thing from a genetic perspective
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Calgary25993 Posts
I think you're reading way too deeply into this.
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Holy crap I didn't know this was r/conspiracy. -_-
He just did something nice for a very talanted player because he is just that. Nice.
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I think we should take what he's said at face value. Understand that all the travel accomodations were handled by TB and his Wife, and in fact the last I'd heard they were keeping both Crank and Ryung at their home while they waited for the ability to go home due to the poor weather in Korea.
While I can understand the questioning, and I don't think that it's meant as truly negative, I think that his actions have shown a level of compassion, that may or may not have been fueled by other intentions.
It's entirely possible that there were other teams approaching Crank at the event, from what I understand this is kind of common, and considering the guy is teamless at the moment doesn't seem unlikely. I don't necessarily believe it was done maliciously, and I think that if other teams approached Crank it was with decent intent.
I also don't necessarily think that TB is looking to sponsor Crank himself, but if he is how is there a problem? He spent quite a bit of his own money to give the guy a chance to prove himself in the tournament and I assume Cranks winnings are kept by Crank (in fact if this is the case it is the best tell of whether or not TB is truly in it for Crank's well-being). If TB decides that Crank is a player that he wants to fully support then I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to speak to Crank on his own. Hell I'd argue that TB is responsible for Crank's wellfare while in the USA, and it's almost fatherly to want to be sure he's given the best opportunity possible.
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MLG partner with GOM to send Korean players to the US, MLG gets positive exposure and korean players live the dream.
What's the problem? It's a similar situation, just on a larger scale and there's been no criticism of MLG's decision. TB has been great for the community, sticking up for people on reddit, as well as house Crank and Ryung until they can go home, not too mention the funding Crank + assuring no one snipes him. Love or loathe his commentary, he makes a living whilst trying to be a positive figure in the community.
EDIT: added name of Ryung which I'd forgotten.
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"from a dying game warcraft to sc2"
he'd have so many more viewers if he continued doing warcraft shit, why? because there's still many millions of active potential viewers compared to a fraction of that in sc2
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Gotta agree with Chill here. If you go back and listen to his Real Talk episode with JP you can see more closely the reasons he actually left WoW.. maybe that'll clear some things up.
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He has said he does Starcraft merely as a hobby and that the vast majority of his income is from his other games.
Can't he just have been doing something nice for someone else? There isn't always ulterior motives.
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I don't know what's more suprising:
1. The topic of this thread
2. That he said totalbiscuit was in the wow scene
3. That he said wow has a scene
4. That he said wow is a dying game
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On August 28 2012 02:33 Chill wrote:
I think you're reading way too deeply into this.
Chill as always with the great read of the situation.
Dude, TB was spot on with what he did. Who knows what scam Crank could have been draged into if nobody would have been there to lay him a hand. It was the right thing to do.
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Looking forward to the TB slapdown in this thread 
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It sucks that's where some minds go when they see someone do a nice thing for another; "what's his motive? What's he REALLY doing this for?"
Bleh.
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Still waiting for someone to make Raging Bull, eSports edition, since the OP reads almost like it was ripped from that movie.
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Sorry, WoW isn't dying. All the big money is still in WoW, but Starcraft was more fun for him, so he switched.
Secondly, why the fuck are you creating some theory that demonizes an apparently altruistic act? There is no good reason to take this at anything but face value. In addition, TB has a fairly awesome track record when it comes to being altruistic. King of the Web, Shoutcraft Invitational, etc etc. There is no reason to think that he is now a manipulative jerk.
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Calgary25993 Posts
Actually, this thread is really dumb so I'm just going to close it.
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EPT
