On September 15 2009 02:39 Mullet_Power wrote: I don't see how this move benefits Kespa at all. They may take their ball and go home, but if this annoys Blizzard enough, they can take the court and go home.
They control the only leagues in Korea. How does that not benefit them?
Mike Morhaime might decide he has enough profits with WoW that he's willing to lose some Starcraft licensing profits to teach somebody a lesson.
By doing what? What right does Blizzard have to do anything? If anything, the 9 years of having professional starcraft leagues have grandfathered them in.
On September 15 2009 03:43 Duke wrote: im fucking freaky furious. gom is the only league where i would watch every single game..
This. The only place I could look towards english commentary consistently, this is a blow to SC and the community as a whole. Seeing the direction kespa has been going, i''m not having a good feeling about this :|.
On September 14 2009 21:37 FrozenArbiter wrote: KESPA board meeting:
KeSPA stooge #1: "So, SC2 is almost out. Suggestions on how to generate the most hate, and make things as complicated for ourselves as possible?" KeSPA stooge #2: "War with Blizzard?" KeSPA stooge #1: "Love it!"
Blizzard is both saving and screwing up esports right now. Blizzard made a product (Starcraft) that defines esports and really made it possible to get the ball rolling. However, they did not do it themselves. Someone else took up the task, and it was a hell of a task. It's very unfortunate that no games made by other companies have had the impact that Starcraft has had, otherwise Blizzard would not have as much power as they do right now.
I'm a capitalist, I believe that competition benefits us, the players and fans, so Blizzard's choice to dominate the market really pisses me off. They make a good product, and should definitely get a piece of market since it's their game; but think about it this way, they're designing games now to take and keep control of that market...I don't need to go into the new limits that they've put on multiplayer in SC2. They see a working model in the beautiful esports testing ground that is Korea, and they now want control. This is the part where they're stealing a product that someone else has created, pro esports. They didn't invent it, their game just hit.
It's a shame that it's not a 3rd party relative to Blizzard and KeSPA that's fighting for an edge in this market, because the more that Blizzard fights for control, the more we move back into ONE company being in control...of everything from production to exhibition. That should scare you if you care about the rights of the players and fans, since Blizzard is in it for the money just as much as KeSPA.
The good news is that, because SDM and Tasteless bring a LOT to the table in terms of bringing SC to the English speakers (I first got into esports through GOM too), they're going to be around in the future. Having name recognition like they do is very marketable.
On September 15 2009 02:39 Mullet_Power wrote: I don't see how this move benefits Kespa at all. They may take their ball and go home, but if this annoys Blizzard enough, they can take the court and go home.
They control the only leagues in Korea. How does that not benefit them?
Mike Morhaime might decide he has enough profits with WoW that he's willing to lose some Starcraft licensing profits to teach somebody a lesson.
By doing what? What right does Blizzard have to do anything? If anything, the 9 years of having professional starcraft leagues have grandfathered them in.
They still own the copyright to Starcraft and I'm pretty sure Korea is a signatory to international copyright agreements. If KESPA is willing to use the nuclear option, I don't see why Blizzard won't respond with one.
Hm. On one hand I am pissed at Blizzard because they are way too facking rich enough already and it would have been sufficient to sponsor Kespa itself instead of just one purveyor of fine games. Its not like they need to dominate another market with all the World of Warcrackheads out there.
On the other hand I am pissed at Kespa because they dont give two shits about the foreign market to the extent that they could never even find a few dudes who can speak a different language. Im a total noob at the SC stuff and I can tell you now I didnt start watching Craft because of some dudes yelling "Daaak Temapaluuu!!!!!! Psiii Stoowwwwwmmmm!!!!" I got into it because I could actually understand wtf was going on with english commentary. (As much as I want to learn another language, Im not going to master Korean to watch a videogame replay.) How is the market supposed to expand when you pander to one country/language?
I guess we really cant blame them both for being douchebags...the entire purpose of a company in capitalism is to accrue profit. Nothing else. The only way this will be resolved is if Blizzard gets out of bed with GOM and gives some Blizzard dong to Kespa's sweet sweet poontang. Then, as husband and wife, give birth to GOM-reborn. Why not join together? As long as Kespa can share in the profit, why not get in on globalization of esports? It's not like Koreans are going to stop speaking Korean because there are now some English/German/Spanish commentators out there, so there will always be the market they have now in Korea, plus whatever profits they could share with Blizzard for being a major partner in what would be a much more effective global movement.
On September 15 2009 04:14 TallMax wrote: I'm a capitalist, I believe that competition benefits us, the players and fans, so Blizzard's choice to dominate the market really pisses me off.
hu? If you're a capitalist then you should understand that monopoly is the result of this process. So there is no reason you should be angry at it.
Competition is the lowest state of any evolving system and GOM TV being shutdown is the direct result of it. I really don't know where you see the benefit of this.
This is bullshit. GOM in the only league that keeps evolving into something more unique every season (English cast, unit counting station, live world wide streaming etc). They are the pioneers of Esports in korea at the moment. KeSPA is indeed on very thin ice if they really engineered this downfall.
KeSPA exists like any other company to serve the greater purpose of putting a good enough product out to the customers. We, the customers, are KeSPA's source of revenue. WIthout the fans they would be sleeping in cardboard boxes outside their office complexes. If they keep angering their customers like this they WILL pay for it in the end. Some day another organisation will challenge KeSPA (korean or world wide) and their customers will have small love for them when the time comes for chosing. The only chance KeSPA has of holding on to this market with these kinds of shenanigans is to lick government ass as long and as thouroughly as they possibly can.
In a way it's funny. They have a product that could be marketed world wide with great success. Despite of this they are set in tunnelvision on their little domestic market and make small efforts to actually improving the product. If they would try to work things out with blizzard instead of competing they could been hugely successful.
Blizzard could easily pull the plug on this entire thing. Only allow GOM to profit from their copyrighted material and watch KeSPA crash and burn. If the korean government then put an end to GOM aswell then fine. They just lost a huge industry alltogether (trust me they wont).
This is ridiculous. They can have they're arguments and disagreements but when it is affecting the users and the people that really give Blizzard AND Kespa in a negative fashion its downright fucking stupid. They are both in the wrong and they should sit down and figure it out rather than doing stupid immature shit like this.
On September 14 2009 19:45 motbob wrote: I am seeing a large disparity in assholery between the side arguing against Blizzard taking the monopoly power away from Kespa and the side arguing for it.
ya i'll give u that. it's annoying. in fact i'm done reading this thread it's so annoying.
On September 14 2009 18:33 Alethios wrote: Fuck KeSPA. I haven't heard anything positive about this idiots in so long. Seems every time I look they're disqualifying another gamer for coughing too loudly.
I don't care whether or not they're fighting to keep themselves relevant or not. Companies have the right to increase their profit margins by dubious practices, and we have the right not to buy their products. Seriously, fuck them.
Blizzard should release a SC patch specifically aimed to fuck these wankers.