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Herein lies the problem though, if someone watches a movie trailer they go to a torrent site and download it, and then complain when quality of movies drops (as it has in the past decade)
That's not really comparable. There is a theory that the reason hollywood films are worse, is the financial crisis, with studios not daring to take any huge risks anymore, so they essentially just put out "safe" boring blockbusters.
Oh and I torrent movies too, but still pay for GSL? Finding the VOD's or restreams isn't worth the hassle, much better paying for it to avoid it. (it's like nothing now.. I pay more for a junk food meal, so skipping one of those meals to pay for this is an easy choice  ) Also, it caters specifically to internet users like us.. what movie studio is doing that for us? Answer is none, so the choice which to support is easy for me.
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I personally think that paying is completely worth it, but newcomers probably wouldn't ride that same train of thought.
I think they should lag the releases by an entire GSL season. For example, release all of the S1 vods for free after S2 ends and so on and so forth. They are a company first and foremost and must do what it takes to support themselves, otherwise they'll cripple and die.
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my guess a better payment model would be, make the low quality vods free for all, but let it be matches only, and give paying subscribers access to HQ vods, interviews, and maybe some more content, like in depth analysis by tastosis of certain games, bio's about players, etc.
this way you can introduce people to a good series and get them exited (recommend someone a good best of 7) and if they like it, they'll stick around and become a regular viewer, and if they think its worth it over time they'll go subscribe
this might be a bit more longterm but these subscription models have been done before so its not something radical, just might need a bit more content for the paid customer.
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As a paying customer of GOMs services I think the $10 dollars is totaly worth it.
I don't think think it hurts e-sports to much since someone who don't know much about Starcraft 2 would probably not watch all the vods. Being able to watch just a few should be enough to make yourself a picture of the e-sport elements.
What's important for SC2 as an e-sport is that GOM stays alive and if these service fees are needed to do so then there shouldn't be much to discuss about.
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I think they should lag the releases by an entire GSL season. For example, release all of the S1 vods for free after S2 ends and so on and so forth. They are a company first and foremost and must do what it takes to support themselves, otherwise they'll cripple and die.
This could be a good idea. Though the games in S1 and S2 will probably be weird to watch
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I think they did a good job with the way they decide to make money off of it for their expenses.
You can watch this real crappy video which is good enough for people who have no idea what e-sports or Starcraft is. The better quality video if your already into it which chances are you won't mind paying if your idle player is in the tournament.
Also keep in mind even if you don't watch it live you can go HERE and watch even gsl matches. Gsl matches however are in video form unlike the rest of them which are actual replays. Also it does take some time usually for them to get posted.
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I went back and forth over whether or not to buy the first three season's pass for the GSL. Finally, this time around I decided to get the premium package. Man was it worth it. If you enjoy watching SC2 then there's no reason not to buy this. For 10 bucks you get HOURS and HOURS of good matches. One trip to the movies? $10.00 for one ticket. Going out to eat? Unless you hit up the dollar menu at some cheap place, you're not gonna get too much under $10. I just believe it's too insignificant an amount considering the large amount of matches/viewing time you get. But, in the end it's all up to what you value more.
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Look at the way Day[9] does things. He has a massive fanbase because of his kickass content, and the freedom thereof. GOM has kickass content as well, but more people watch Day9 than the GSL HQ stream.
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On January 31 2011 09:18 Rzn`WiseGuy wrote:
Look at the way Day[9] does things. He has a massive fanbase because of his kickass content, and the freedom thereof. GOM has kickass content as well, but more people watch Day9 than the GSL HQ stream.
more people watch Day 9 than the GSL HQ stream? Where are the numbers supporting that?
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I payed for season 4 (january) and I must say I was quite pleased with the HQ VoDs.
You can always watch it for free but 10$ really isnt expensive + your helping the starcraft scene.
Also the GSTL is only 5$ so theres even less of a reason why not to pay!
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On January 31 2011 09:15 Myrtroll wrote:Show nested quote + I think they should lag the releases by an entire GSL season. For example, release all of the S1 vods for free after S2 ends and so on and so forth. They are a company first and foremost and must do what it takes to support themselves, otherwise they'll cripple and die. This could be a good idea. Though the games in S1 and S2 will probably be weird to watch
They are weird, dude. They are so. weird.
I watch them now and have no idea how I didn't notice all the "wait what the hell is this guy doing" moments in S1.
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On January 31 2011 09:07 lowkontrast wrote:
If GomTV has to pay a lot of money to offer VODs because of bandwidth, why can't they just upload them to YouTube for free and get money in the process through advertisements?
listen to this man, he is a true gentlemen and a scholar
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Charging a fee to watch GSL at a reasonable time (sorry, but live at 4 am doesn't count) is basically just stunting most potential growth GSL has in the West.
I've said it before and will say it again: media, with the advent of the internet, has to be free and ad-supported. This is absolutely essential for media specifically created FOR the web.
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I cant understand guys argueing about them wanting to make money of it...
They pay the winner a ton of money, what do u think where it comes from?
Actually they build UP the community
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I've paid every season far, and it is incredible how many VOD's you get for the price. The first time I discovered it I thought the price was very reasonable, but for the first two seasons the VOD's were ridiculously slow and apparently the stream was too, but you can see GOM putting the money back into upgrading the server; the VOD's run very well now, even on my crappy internet connection and is definitely worth it.
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On January 31 2011 06:34 heyoka wrote:Show nested quote +On January 31 2011 06:30 mprs wrote:
I think people can still watch SQ live for free, which isn't too bad... Not VODs. I think its an awful policy that shows very little understanding of how to grow a sport. Historically things like baseball became much bigger when they began to give out content for free (like when baseball was first put on the radio). If I was new to the scene and ran across the GSL website, I would be out of there immediately as soon as I saw you need to pay. It would turn me to something else and make me forget about SC2 instantly.
Worldwide long term video hosting is very expensive, they have to pay for it somehow
Maybe they can do low HQ VODs with more ads?
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Canada13389 Posts
On January 31 2011 09:22 hmunkey wrote:
Charging a fee to watch GSL at a reasonable time (sorry, but live at 4 am doesn't count) is basically just stunting most potential growth GSL has in the West.
I've said it before and will say it again: media, with the advent of the internet, has to be free and ad-supported. This is absolutely essential for media specifically created FOR the web.
However ad blockers mean that ad revenue isnt coming in especially from ppl who use ad blocking software (generally in my experience ad blockers are used by tech savvy people). Also in my experience SC players and interested people are tech savvy.
On youtube HD/Husky/Day9 always have videos in the entertainment/gaming section trending on the browse page so I think SC2 is getting good enough representation on youtube imo and GSL isn't expensive and they can avoid ad blockers hurting their revenue and costs of streaming and hosting all this content.
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A lot of people are forgetting that GOMTV is a company, and a company is in business to make money. Does GOMTV love eSports? As far as a major corporation goes, yes.
If GOMTV didn't make money, there wouldn't be a tournament. What's worse for eSports, not having free vods for a tournament or not having the tournament at all?
Does most of their money come from sponsors? Overwhelmingly of course it does, but having the extra money they get from the tickets is the only reason the streams are even watchable in any way nowadays, and more than that it shows sponsors that people are paying money for GOMTV's service. Like OmegaX said, $10 is lunch at Subway or another fast food joint. It's a movie at the theatre, it's a minor bet between friends, it's not a whole lot of money. It's roughly an hour of work for a HUGE amount of content.
Personally, I just think people are too lazy to go to the damn website and click the buttons it takes to buy the ticket.
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Posters in this thread have made a lot of good points. I'll try and organize some for those who aren't interested in reading all (currently) 11 pages of postings.
Question: Is chargeing for hq streams and vods detrimental to GomTV's goal of attracting new viewers? Are there additional methods of attracting new viewers that aren't being explored?
So far we have two schools of thought. One side says that the monetary cost of vods and hq streaming is an immediate turn off for potential customers. Added to this is a lock of convenient access to free streaming content and limited access to free vods.
Suggestions to solve these problems have been to add YouTube access for vods and restreaming at different hours so that more people can watch the free stream content in different global time zones. Also the suggestion of allowing delayed access to all vods at a low quality for free two weeks to a month after the tournament has been made.
Proponents of GomTV's current business model contend that there is already a large amount of free to view vod content to give potential viewers a taste of what premium service includes. The price for premium service, access to hq streamng and vods, is a very reasonable 9.99 US dollars. There is also an immense amount of free sc2 commentary content online that is easily accessed to pique the interest of new fans. The quality of players and number of games available in high quality streaming and vods with good English commentary is not available for less money anywhere else barring a pirated version of GomTV's content. (just because pirated stuff is available for free does not mean you are entitled to view professional entertainment for free. if you enjoy GomTV English commentary of GSL, pay for it to support it you self-important thieves)
In my opinion the quality of GomTV ocntent is well worth the money paid at 10 bucks. However, I do think a YouTube channel providing the low quality free vods would give GomTV more exposure to exploring casual fans. I found TeamLiquid.net by using YouTube to find Brood War vods with English commentary. I came across enough Tastless and SuperDanielman videos that I went to the GomTV source to watch the content. Through that I heard about TL, and have been a forum lurker since for esport news and, now, sc2 discussion. My point is that without YouTube content, I would not have come across the Korean progaming scene.
That said, business is business. I doubt GomTV is targetting a non-paying audience (minors without credit cards included) with their business plan. You can and should move on to other free content elsewhere if you are not willing to pay for the GomTV entertainment service. Nobody forces you to pay to watch GSL, and you are capable of living without it. Please keep that in mind when you begin to rage about actually paying for something online.
I wish there was a way for the company to give access to some replay files to its customers. I know that YouTube commentary would then be able to compete with GomTV then though at no cost :'(. Maybe releasing some replays from previous seasons or just a few files from contemporary games would give GomTV more exposure to its online audience?
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On January 31 2011 09:09 Myrtroll wrote:Show nested quote + Herein lies the problem though, if someone watches a movie trailer they go to a torrent site and download it, and then complain when quality of movies drops (as it has in the past decade) That's not really comparable. There is a theory that the reason hollywood films are worse, is the financial crisis, with studios not daring to take any huge risks anymore, so they essentially just put out "safe" boring blockbusters. Oh and I torrent movies too, but still pay for GSL? Finding the VOD's or restreams isn't worth the hassle, much better paying for it to avoid it. (it's like nothing now.. I pay more for a junk food meal, so skipping one of those meals to pay for this is an easy choice ) Also, it caters specifically to internet users like us.. what movie studio is doing that for us? Answer is none, so the choice which to support is easy for me.
Living in Australia and being from a small town if I don't torrent movies and tv shows im not likely to see them. I also pay for gsl and donate to things I see of making a future in esports (day9) but the thing is if anyone remembers the uproar about day9 asking for donations is that in this day and age everyone wants it for free if they can get it. They want hours of entertainment for nothing because that is what they are used to. That was my meaning with my previous statement. These days if people see something they like I guarantee 90% of younger ppl today dont plan on going to cinemas open night. They wait for it to hit the net same with music. As to the theory of the financial crisis, I'm not saying that Internet downloads caused it by any means but if people were going to the movies and not downloading theyd be generating more income, be more safe and in turn take more risks?? Same things goes here. If we don't support gom how will they know to take a risk?
Sorry if post is in a bad format. Had to do this on my phone and can't see whole post to format nicely or do editing :/
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EPT
