Starcraft is big enough for TV to ignore. - Page 15

On April 12 2011 11:18 Kennigit wrote:
Why Starcraft should never be on Western Television.

In order for a TV game show to be viable, it needs a few things which Starcraft cannot provide without being shit.

1. Easy to edit while maintaining the narrative. Unlike a broadcasted strategy game like poker where the scene (television scene, not community) is compact (1 hand, 1 hand, commercial, 1 hand, 2 hands, commercial etc.) and easily interchangeable, Starcraft does not allow quick or easy editing decisions. Without former Starcraft players on hand in an editing both, you would be left with a chopped down product – missed building placements, missed timings, and a raging viewer base. This isn't really a negotiable point. Games would HAVE to be edited and cut to allows for a commercial in the middle. A TV station simply cant run a 45 minute game without commercials in North America and still remain profitable.

2. Able to target core demographic and casuals simultaneously.
The very strategic nature of Starcraft alienates a lot of viewers. I think we have made huge strides opening the door over the past few years via the work of Day[9], Husky, the SC2GG guys – but it's really not enough. As a viewer, I need to be able to be flicking by a station and within 2-3 minutes understand exactly whats going on even if i've never played. Again though, i believe there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest that "hardcore" games are not able to target hardcore and casual TV audiences simultaneously.

3. Social Networking
While Teamliquid can't take full credit for any one production's success, the nature of having a very central hub where one can come and find live events quickly is a huge benefit to live broadcasts. Social media hubs like facebook/twitter and sites like reddit also contibute heavily, but I find it ignorant to suggest that this would be scalable when applied to a television. The social platform which impassions viewers on Teamliquid simply doesn't exist on television. The Starcraft Esports scene is very niche despite it's size – do not mistake size for accessibility. These new viewers came to esports via the promise of Starcraft 2's launch, they found Esports along the way.

On April 12 2011 11:18 Kennigit wrote:

2. Able to target core demographic and casuals simultaneously.
The very strategic nature of Starcraft alienates a lot of viewers. I think we have made huge strides opening the door over the past few years via the work of Day[9], Husky, the SC2GG guys – but it's really not enough. As a viewer, I need to be able to be flicking by a station and within 2-3 minutes understand exactly whats going on even if i've never played. Again though, i believe there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest that "hardcore" games are not able to target hardcore and casual TV audiences simultaneously.

On April 12 2011 11:25 LoLAdriankat wrote:
Pretty sure the 14-25 age group doesn't even care about TV anymore anyway. That age group watches their stuff on Hulu, Youtube, etc.

On April 12 2011 11:25 LoLAdriankat wrote:
Pretty sure the 14-25 age group doesn't even care about TV anymore anyway. That age group watches their stuff on Hulu, Youtube, etc.

On April 12 2011 13:26 Jotoco wrote:
I will disagree with you Kennigit.

I will start by saying that I do agree SC2 won't make to TV, and if it did, it would fail miserably.

BUT, I think it is more of a cultural thing to the USA (maybe North America) which is not representative of "The West".

On point:

1. Easy to edit while maintaining the narrative.

It is easy to edit. Look what recent tournaments are using, they add smaller videos to dead areas of the screen, add promotional banners and stuff.

As someone pointed, we have 45 min Soccer half-times. There are commercials squeezed in when the play is slow, and there are many such occasions on SC2 to squeeze commercials (long macro moments, right at the beginning, etc). It would be the work of casters/observer to sneak those adds in the slow moments. Or even put then in the smaller dead spaces across the screen.

2. Able to target core demographic and casuals simultaneously.

This is only an issue (at least in Brazil) if you're talking about open TV. If you're on Cable, then even a small amount of viewers (much smaller then current SC2 viewership) can keep it a profitable business. There are Channels (on cable) that get a few thousand viewers, tops, and SC2 can manage a few tens of thousands of viewers at the same time.

You could target the HARDCORE demographic and slowly try to make the masses understand the game.

In Brazil there are MANY Sports that are unknown, like Golf, Baseball, even BASKETBALL. What does the TV stations do when there are major games? They dedicate a good 15~30 min to explaining the fucking game before each transmission. They explain the rules, the rivalries involved, hype the players... each and every transmission.

Eventually, some people grow used to those sports and start following then, but in the end Brazil is still a one sport nation and most (80%+) of people only know follow and know Soccer. But the point being, this 20% is some 40 million fucking people. That is a HUGE amount of viewers and money that is untapped. They want entertainment, but not Soccer, shouldn't we give then an option?

3. Social Networking

I've experienced many times that TV transmissions can (and will) foment social networking responses. Like a SC2 match in the middle of the day would create a fuck-ton of Community and Hassle in Orkut (largest social network in Brazil), some top TTs in twitter (Brazil is known for putting topics in the TTs lighting fast) and create many, many comments on facebook.

By the very nature of these social networks people who don't have a clue what the hell is starcraft would hit some knowledgeable person who would then explain it and propagate the message.




Of course this is not guaranteed to happen (nothing is) but this is as likely a scenario as you paint. We don't have SC 2 experience on TV, we DON'T know how it would go. I personally think it would fail, for completely different reasons, one being that I am the target audience for this kind of show and I only turn on the TV on MAJOR, MAJOR events/shows. And even those events I get to know about because of internet and/or word of mouth.

On the other hand, it could flourish because we (Brazil, and to an extent "the west") have AWFUL internet connections and streams very often lag terribly (UStream, for example, TSL is unwatchable).


I'm literally playing devil's advocate here, but because I think the Kennigit's attitude is Immature and even if I though he was right I don't think it is the way to critize someone who put effort into writing something to try to help the SC community. He should have respected other people's opinions like this site tells us to.

I have seem people be banned for only half the criticism he expresses here, even with good arguments, and he gets all the praise in the world for it? Sorry I don't buy these two weights thingy.

Even though my post is probably be deleted/edited and I perma banned I HAD to say this, because it would NOT be funny if the TL staff was being ridiculed on another site.

PS: And YES, I'm mad with this attitude. Censor me for expressing my opinion.

On April 12 2011 22:35 lowercase wrote:
Great article, and I agree with a lot of what you said except this. Requiring that you need to understand it immediately is not a requirement of any sport.

When I turn to watch golf on TV (which a lot of people in the world enjoy watching), it's not immediately apparent what is going on, what hole the guy is on, where he's playing in the leaderboard, etc.

Same with cricket: American audiences see it, they have no idea what's going on. And yet it's extremely popular around the world.

On April 12 2011 23:09 bonifaceviii wrote:
Imagine someone with absolutely no prior knowledge tuning into the beginning of a Starcraft II game and seeing a bug sink into the ground and start pulsing, upon which the crowd goes fucking nuts because the robot guy started making a big building. Nobody's killing anybody, why are people cheering?