It's no secret that the eSports live event has evolved at an incredible pace. From the early Starleagues' original shoulder-padded finals to IEM’s European Championships at Gamescom, drawing back all the way to WCGs from as long ago as I can remember, and looking forward to the ever-improving Major League Gaming, we can see a consistent trend in the improvement of both broadcast quality and design of live events. But what’s really startling are the leaps that the modern live events have taken, even as recently as the last six months.

Each successful eSports event is at the heart a designed conference revolving around the fans. IEM Gamescom, fronted by the energetic Dennis “TaKe” Gehlen, features players facing outwards toward the audience, thus becoming immersed in the feelings of the crowd, with booths and activities bustling in the surroundings. The GSL finals feature stadium seating facing a sparkling silver-purple-green lighting cascade with flames and theatrics, and are hosted live by the GSL’s energetic casters. The 2009 World Cyber Games in China packed a huge crowd into a not-so-large stadium and was alive with video game celebration. And of course, the new season of Major League Gaming is looking remarkably sharp, with the sound and lights rivalling any concert hall, to present J.P. McDaniel on certainly the most comfortable leather sofa I’ve ever seen. And now, DreamHack forays into a series of high-production live events with the introduction of DreamHack Valencia. With DreamHack’s venerable history as the largest and one of the oldest LAN parties in the world, there is no doubt as to the quality of the live event that we can expect.

Or... is there?



So we arrive at DreamHack Summer 2011, and find ourselves face to face with Day[9] and dApollo in our dedicated spectator tent, packed shoulder to shoulder with eager viewers sitting on long benches. The players are playing in a separate arena from the fans, and at first the games are difficult to make out from the back rows until a projection screen is erected above the viewing area. Also, not everyone who is interested in watching the event from start to finish is able to due to limited space, and should you stand up for a moment your hard-earned middle-row seat is most certainly gone forever. Only the grand finals were hosted in the main auditorium. It was kind of like going to Medieval Times and watching the tournament from the lobby TVs. Or just going to your local barcraft... without the bar.

There is no doubt that DreamHack is a grassroots LAN event - is THE grassroots LAN event. Starting as what basically amounts to an all-nighter in some guy's basement in Sweden, DreamHack now hosts their duet of seasonal LANs: DreamHack Summer and Winter. Always true to their roots, the DH staff puts together an incredible venue for their LAN participants, with a huge area for gaming, multiple booths and tents, a reputedly amazing breakfast and of course the world’s best progamers competing in about a dozen favorite games for fans to spectate and peruse. When the sun goes down, sleep is most definitely optional, as electronic music takes over the entire event and a party commences; something DreamHack is famous for that no other LAN can mimic. So, I’m most certainly not knocking the DreamHack committee for organizing a sub-par event; everyone that goes comes back well satisfied, having had an awesome time and gamed a significant chunk of their life away.

But DHS 2011 left some Liquidian attendees with an awkward vibe. As one TL user expresses,

“I was a little bit disappointed about the lack of excitement towards Starcraft compared to MLG. DreamHack is more about all the fans/gamers that bring their own rigs and game hardcore for 3 days.”

Others echoed his sentiments, though most concluded that the event was in fact epic beyond proportions. Even Huk noticed, commenting on it in an interview after the championship. Everyone walking in must've been excited to see that Day[9] and dApollo had their own tent set aside for a meet-n-greet and for all to watch the games. But then it was revealed that the players would play in a separate area, and would not be making any significant appearances into this set-aside viewing area. This was a significant departure from the cozy standard that MLG, WCG, IEM, GOM, NASL and others have set - we’re used to feeling the tension, seeing the sweat and watching the champions stumble out of the booth exhausted and bloodied.

So in short, the Starcraft fans had paid top dollar for a DreamHack ticket just to watch the exact same show that the home viewers were getting on the live stream. This time around, DreamHack is doing a slimmer invitational event. They’ve rented out an epic and architecturally significant waterfront venue which looks awesome, and hired local marketing consultants Carnales. Though Valencia is on a smaller scale, I think we’re all wondering how the DreamHack team has stepped up their approach for the live viewers, and how DreamHack will adapt its blossoming tournament franchise with the coming Winter main event.

Starcraft II is the world’s premier eSport. While other companies pour their own dollars as investments into tournaments for publicity and recognition, Blizzard has given us space to let life naturally emerge. Our events and streams generate sustainable revenue for teams and progamers, and our tournaments are rarely sponsored by Blizzard. But have we, the Starcraft fans, been spoiled by our seat at the featured table? After all, Starcraft at Dreamhack shared the stage with literally every genre of game, from Fighters to Racing and Sports to Minecraft. With only one main auditorium, are we as fans asking too much of DreamHack to not only organize the world’s biggest nerd party, but also have our section be in Blu-Ray HD with 120 channels of surround sound while everyone else gets the projectors and benches?

I don’t think that’s what any real fan would want, and I’m not asking for my own personal couch (but while we’re at it...), but I do think that DreamHack does need to recognize that the live event is evolving. It's growing. You can’t just put the personalities in a room with the fans and let them run the show anymore. And while I'm at it, if you’re going to merge the worlds largest LAN with a championship caliber eSports event, the two need to become one; they cannot be separate. The live show must exceed what we can make real online, and every attendee needs to be able to say, “Man, you should’ve been there.”