Is region-lock still necessary in 2020?

On January 09 2020 03:43 BlackPride wrote:
Absolutely not necessary.

Apollo said there are a lot of changes and there's not enough time to really look into region lock this time around, which I totally understand but I'm really hoping it changes as soon as the changes settle down.

On a related note, is there any reason why the foreigner scene gets 11 automatic seeds and the Koreans only get 9? That also reeks of horrible foreigner bias and was built into the new ESL changes from day one.

It's all so sad. I really feel bad for the Koreans.

On January 09 2020 11:25 jimminy_kriket wrote:

Possibly stemming from the fact that the koreans are going to take the vast majority of open qualifier spots in EU and NA qualifiers. Look at the recent IEM katowice NA server qualifier. 0 north american players, 2 koreans and Reynor advanced.

I'm in favor of the region lock personally. I prefer seeing foreigners go up against the best koreans in more than just the qualifiers.

On January 10 2020 04:43 DrunkenSCV wrote:
Region lock wouldn't be so unjust if non kr players weren't allowed to participate in GSL. Or at least make them choose between GSL and their domestic championship, why they are allowed participate in both is beyond my comprehension.

On January 10 2020 04:43 DrunkenSCV wrote:
Region lock wouldn't be so unjust if non kr players weren't allowed to participate in GSL. Or at least make them choose between GSL and their domestic championship, why they are allowed participate in both is beyond my comprehension.

On January 10 2020 01:54 imJealous wrote:


Korea is one country that gets 9 automatic slots. How many automatic slots does America get? how many does UK get? How many does Sweden get? How many does Germany get? How about Canada? France? Spain? Oh wait, the entire rest of the world has to split 11 seats. Sounds like Korea is the one getting special treatment.

Before anyone freaks out, I know this is Starcraft we're talking about and special consideration for Korea is entirely valid because its the mecca of the sport and that is totally fine with me. I'm just attempting to illustrate another perspective.

On January 17 2020 01:38 Ej_ wrote:

This argument wouldn't be completely dogshit if it wasn't possible for foreigners to gain the "Korean" slots by competing in GSL which isn't region locked. Except they don't, because that's a much much much harder tournament than the Welfare Championship Series.

On January 16 2020 06:40 FrkFrJss wrote:

I'll definitely admit that foreigners can double dip easier than Koreans. Though, that statement comes with a couple of caveats. Also, keep in mind that Koreans have a much larger overall share of the potential prize pool as well as the slots in Blizzcon or whatever championship arises. They already have favourable treatment by the other organizers. However, if we wanted to make the situations the same, then I would probably be on board with saying that foreigners had to choose one or the other.

First, foreigners generally have to live in Korea to compete there. You can fly there for the qualifiers, Ro32, Ro16 selection, Ro16, and Ro8 and on if you make it, but that's like 8 flights already, so it makes more sense to just live there during that period of time.

Second, Koreans are allowed to compete in WCS regions, it's just a lot harder as they need proper visas to compete. However, people like TRUE, Hydra, and Polt have been able to compete in WCS regions as they have visas. (Also Masa, but he's a bit different).


The other issue about "fairness" of region lock or of double-dipping I think comes down to a philosophical topic about the reasonings behind region lock. In brief, the reason region lock exists is that Koreans competed in foreign tournaments, won, and then flew back to Korea. As a result of Koreans generally not living there, the foreign scenes in those areas diminished significantly, and one of the reasons why EU is stronger than NA is because a number of Koreans actually lived in and helped the scene.

Few people had a problem with the Koreans in the EU, but more people had problems with the Koreans in NA because far fewer stayed and lived there. Polt (and a few others) were anomalies. The biggest example is when Pigbaby came to the WCS NA region, won it, and then promptly did little else in his career.

My view is that if people contribute to a scene, they should be allowed to compete in that scene. Or, if we want to go full region-lock, then we should have a system to raise up talent naturally. For instance, NoRegreT, Special, and Scarlett have very much contributed to the scene, and the best example is TY and Special's relationship and being able to practice builds off of each other. Similarly, if Koreans want to compete in the WCS regions, they should have to live there.

One final note is that the GSL has always been semi-regionlocked and also semi-open ever since 2010. It's for a reason because they want the best players (both Korean and foreign), but they also want people to physically be there to compete. Part of the reason why foreigners are allowed to compete there is because the organizers allow foreigners to compete in the first place.

On January 17 2020 01:49 Xain0n wrote:


Lol, foreigners in GSL are a non factor. They aren't many and they aren't taking any relevant korean spot, either.
They play in Korea because it's an opportunity they have, but it would make no difference if they weren't allowed to play in GSL, Korean scene wouldn't suddenly have a future. and

Did it come to your mind that the reason for which many foreigners do not want play in Code S is because you have to live in Korea for months? The two best foreigners didn't need to play in Korea to rise, and they aren't "stealing korean money" at the moment, despite having enough skill to do so.

On January 17 2020 03:05 Ej_ wrote:

Yes, Reynor and Serral do not play in GSL and don't qualify through there.
That has not stopped others, notably SpeCial (a WCS-qualified Blizzcon player) from living in Korea, playing full year of GSL and not coming remotely close to qualifying for the global finals.
I also do not know where the "stealing korean money" part came from, are you trying to put words in my mouth or can you not express yourself without a hyperbole of purposefuly negative connotation?

On January 17 2020 03:31 Xain0n wrote:


So what is your point? That it is not fair for foreigners to be allowed to play in GSL?
You are right, but in reality this doesn't create any problem because the ones who could qualify through GSL just don't play in Korea.

Just remember that everyone but Scarlett retreated from Code S when, last year, Blizzard tried to make participating in the qualifiers not compatible with WCS Challengers; there were no outcries and no korean upcoming talent rose to take the left spots. Blizzard decided it wasn't the outcome they desired and reverted their decision; region locking Korea is not the way to go.

No one actually wrote "stealing korean money" in this thread but that's the mood, without any doubt(or stealing spots, it's basically the same).
By the way, I guess I have to appreciate the boldness of one who speaks of hyperboles after having just called WCS "Welfare Championship Series".

On January 19 2020 05:37 Exedo wrote:
I feel like no one has adressed the elephant in the room so far. The original question in the poll: "Is the region lock still necessary?" Well, look at who qualified for Katowice this year where we had no region lock: We get Koreans only and three European zerg including Serral and Reynor. Do we still need region lock? Damn yes, we do.
The system in place is not to racially discriminate against Koreans (why ever this straw man was put up here in this discussion) but to allow the foreign scene to grow stronger. While this was successful to some degree, on average the WCS circuit is still the "second league" of professional SC2. Foreigners may take a game or two when matched against high level Koreans, but only Serral and Reynor manage to perform on a similar level. So if one wants to keep a scene with Western professional players, we need to keep region lock for some more time. Else it will be as in the days of old where you knew who would win Dreamhack by looking at the one guy with a Korean flag next to his name.