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Vatican City State334 Posts
On July 13 2011 08:06 lunchforthesky wrote:
1) Starcraft is played online, not in person. If football were online it would be global, it's regionalised purely for logistical values. Football is regionalised for the same reason the GSL is, you can't actually be in it if you're not there in person long term. Football leagues don't ban Brazilian players from competing, only Brazilian teams and even then they're not banned so much as it would be absurd for them to participate from all points of view. In England we have loads of foreign players in our league because they are better and more deserving of a place in our teams. Just like Koreans are more
The football league in England doesn't ban Brazlian players, but clubs have been forced to abide by a certain quota of home grown talent in their squads due to the flood of foreign players. Many people theorised foreign players would improve the quality of home-grown players in England through fierce competition but there's no evidence of that, if anything there's evidence to the contrary if you look at the internation team results.
Reason the theory failed is because clubs in England bought cheap, promising players from abroad as its the fastest and safest route to success and the guys in suits & the fans didn't see any problem with it. In SC2 western teams are now starting to scoop up Korean players instead of foreigners for the same reason. If SC2 fans don't care about foreign players, which is possible if you look at all the "well the foreign players just have to get better or get out" style attitude, then foreign players will just fade away in accordance.
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The first reply is spot on - foreigners need to learn how to play Starcraft if they wish to compete.
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To continue the soccer analogy, think of it this way. When the U.S. was starting out MLS, the players were not as good as their European/Latin counterparts. But constant competition, training methodology and actually playing with the superior players (World Cup, qualifiers) we now have American players who can compete with the best. To be the best, we need to have the same mentality as the best.
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To be considered pro you need to do something as your profession. If StarCraft is your job then you need to spend most of your day on that, that's no different from having a job. For most people that is only possible if you have a team/sponsors that can provide for your living expenses, or provide you with a decent salary so you can pay for it yourself. Maybe your parents can stand having you at home for a few years playing games all day but at least where I come you move out more or less as soon as you can provide for yourself (or you live in a cheap university dorm).
I don't think it is necessary to have a team house where you also live - sleep in bunk beds and have a maid prepare all meals. I do however think it is necessary to treat playing as your job and not just dick around and practice when you want to. Why can't the "foreign way" (in contrast to the Korean way) be to let players live more or less where they want but they go to work in a "practice office" every morning just like I go to work? Sure you might have to commute for a few hours a day to get here but why should I call people world class professionals if they spend less time playing their sport than I spend time at work? Being a pro gamer should not be a lazy choice instead of getting a real job, because then it will never really be accepted in society as a whole.
I also think it is imperative that the practice house/office/whatever has a coach/trainer that structures the practice and analyze the players and what they need to focus on. No world class player in any sport got there by practicing on their own, hell most of them have been coached from their early teens if they had great talent to begin with. Some people need more structure, some less. Some need more outside motivation, some less. Also, because of the different matchups in StarCraft you also need a few players of each race to practice with, so a smaller team office probably won't work unless they systematically (in contrast to randomly) work with outside practice partners. I love the TLO-SjoW house, but I think it is just a first step towards what is needed. If there were another similarly sized pro house in the same time zone I think that would really help. Of course I have NO IDEA of what their practice look like, but isn't there a distinct lack of a coach in the house?
Korea has an infrastructure in place that works for them. But maybe if the cost of living in Seoul wasn't as high as it is, teams wouldn't even have bedrooms in the practice houses? Players could have a larger personal area for sleep and relaxing.
I really hope that with the recent explosion of StarCraft 2, enough money will come into the foreign scene that we see more team houses/offices pop up. I also think the teams need a few more players on their roster than what is normal at this point.
I think I forgot one point I wanted to make, maybe it'll return later 
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On July 13 2011 22:32 AnalThermometer wrote:Show nested quote +On July 13 2011 08:06 lunchforthesky wrote:
1) Starcraft is played online, not in person. If football were online it would be global, it's regionalised purely for logistical values. Football is regionalised for the same reason the GSL is, you can't actually be in it if you're not there in person long term. Football leagues don't ban Brazilian players from competing, only Brazilian teams and even then they're not banned so much as it would be absurd for them to participate from all points of view. In England we have loads of foreign players in our league because they are better and more deserving of a place in our teams. Just like Koreans are more The football league in England doesn't ban Brazlian players, but clubs have been forced to abide by a certain quota of home grown talent in their squads due to the flood of foreign players. Many people theorised foreign players would improve the quality of home-grown players in England through fierce competition but there's no evidence of that, if anything there's evidence to the contrary if you look at the internation team results. Reason the theory failed is because clubs in England bought cheap, promising players from abroad as its the fastest and safest route to success and the guys in suits & the fans didn't see any problem with it. In SC2 western teams are now starting to scoop up Korean players instead of foreigners for the same reason. If SC2 fans don't care about foreign players, which is possible if you look at all the "well the foreign players just have to get better or get out" style attitude, then foreign players will just fade away in accordance.
I will start worrying about that when I feel the foreign pros start practice as hard as Koreans. I still read comments from some pros that it would not be fun to practice a lot and don't want to practice for 8 hours.
If they start practicing as hard as Koreans and don't get a result or opportunity to play in tournament as Koreans do, then that's a problem.
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I'm really not a friend of korean dominance in US/European Tournaments but I'm wondering if there would be a similar discussion if let's a African/arabic country would all of a sudden turn out to be the eSports Mekka with a lot of nearly unbeatable progamers.
"Should we allow Oman progamers to take all the money in European tournaments?"
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On July 14 2011 00:24 starsucks wrote:
I'm really not a friend of korean dominance in US/European Tournaments but I'm wondering if there would be a similar discussion if let's a African/arabic country would all of a sudden turn out to be the eSports Mekka with a lot of nearly unbeatable progamers.
"Should we allow Oman progamers to take all the money in European tournaments?"
Racist! It doesn't matter where they're from! I want to see the best players and it doesn't matter if they're from Germany or from Burkina Faso!
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Lord_J
Kenya1085 Posts
On July 13 2011 07:35 vnlegend wrote:
Also with the way tournaments are structured, the top 4 or so players get 80% or more of the prize pool. That leaves at most 20% to the hundreds of foreign pros to fight over. If the Koreans are coming over for major tournaments and winning most of the money, what does that leave for the rest of the foreign progamers??
The vast majority of foreign progamers aren't going to place in the top 4 regardless, so Koreans taking the top prizes only substantially affects a tiny fraction of foreigners. Prize money is just that: a prize. It's not what progamers make their living off of.
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EPT
