I was reading a thread talking about the successes of League of Legends when I was making some comparisons between watching LoL and watching Starcraft and I asked myself what the difference as a spectator was.
One thing that came to mind was that the end of League of Legends games can be very, very, very anti-climactic. the most exciting parts about watching LoL is probably the ganking or the team battles, but following is a lot of very mundane events in my opinion.
What I want to bring up is that a Starcraft game usually has a gradual increase of tension and intensity as the game goes on. Everyone would agree that the first minute of the game is quite boring but it gets gradually more and more exciting ending usually in a huge battle followed by a GG shortly after. Your emotions rise and rise and rise until the GG wraps it all up and you end the game with some measure of satisfaction about the game as enjoyable.
Many of you should recognize this game, but for those of you joining us recently, watch the 14:00-15:00 segment of this game and you should see what I mean about the lack of excitement in our closing moments of commentated games.
What I want to propose is that this final climactic event, the GG, is being belittled by commentators. When is the last time a NBA commentator casually casted the closing seconds of a tie game when the game winning shot goes in? Isnt it always an uproar?
then why are our english commentators so casual with the GG? I've got to be a little reasonable because i understand. The GG is so common and often times very simple and logical that it really isn't, by that point, a very big deal. When a team in the NBA is up by 20 and time runs out, they don't make it a big deal either. My issue is really that english commentators almost never treat the GG with a level of excitement that would be fitting for the game.
Maybe im just being stupid. what do you think?
Poll: Should english commentators get more excited particularly at the end?
Yes, we need our commentators to get as excited as the korean ones. (397)
60%
Let them cast how they want. (218)
33%
No, this would result in bad commentaries. (49)
7%
664 total votes
Your vote: Should english commentators get more excited particularly at the end?
(Vote): Yes, we need our commentators to get as excited as the korean ones. (Vote): No, this would result in bad commentaries. (Vote): Let them cast how they want.
I'd say that I would disagree with you about the gg being the most exciting part of a sc2 game. If it is the most exciting part, the casters are usually excited about it. However if one of the players has nothing left then its pretty obvious that they are going to gg. Therefore I think we should let casters cast the way they like. When a caster is genuinely excited about something, it makes it more exciting. However fake excitement just seems forced and cheesy.
I have thought about this before myself. I think it is probably bad form to call the game before it is officially over but on the other hand situations arise where games have clearly been decided. If I was a caster, I would not call gg or declare the winner before the game was actually over. Because what if I get in the habit of it and then someone makes a miracle comeback :p
You have to understand that not all games are "tied" at the end...and therefore you can't fake excitement. That's awkward. You use a tied game with 5 seconds to go as a reference, well I'll tell you that a similar situation in SC2 is SCfou vs Nestea, last season GSL semi-finals, game 5. That was a tie game that went down to the end. And there was excitement.
You just cant get excited when there isn't a close game, sporting events are the same way. You don't see football commentators going crazy when a team finishes 3-0 in regular time in a game that they clearly control. You do see them getting excited when its 1-1 in penalty kicks. This is the same for starcraft. The only difference is that there is no score like in most sports.
The thing is that not all games go like you said, there are tons of games when one of the players has been dead for 2-3 minutes and the GG is nothing to be excited about. As far as I've seen if there is something really exciting happening that leads immediately to a gg the casters are pretty excited as well, most of them doing a good job at screaming. I obviously don't understand Korean but I find the korean caster's almost constant yelling a bit fake.
Bottom line, I voted "Let them cast how they want".
Let them cast as they want, or you'll have faked emotions.
If you don't like a caster, just don't watch him. If he's so popular that he's the main caster in some events, then probably he's not that bad that you need to avoid watching him.
On July 29 2011 03:41 bonifaceviii wrote: As long as it doesn't sound fake, like Day9's enthusiasm often does (<3 Day9 forever, but you gotta admit he's not good at faking it).
I beg to differ, I feel as if Day9 is the one of, if not the most genuine caster out there. I never hear him fake enthusiasm or excitement. He is always genuinely into the game. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would think Day9 fakes anything, I get that vibe from casters like TotalBiscuit and others who use fake voices or don't know what they are talking about.
Excitement != good commentary. Passion != good commentary. The thing i hate about the overexcited yelling commentators we have in SC2 is that you can never really be sure when they're serious. It reduces the effect of them being excited when something genuinely exciting happens because they're just yelling "OH MY GOD" all game... that or talking about dumb stories.
Hm usually games are decided long before, and that's where casters get excited - when the first big lead is established. The end of the game is usually not the climax. For sports when a last second basket is made, that's the climactic moment. For any sc2 games that are casted where it's a base race, I imagine the excitement is live and authentic as they tear away at each other's bases.
I agree 100%. WHen I'm listening to the GSL and an English caster goes "Well that's basically GG" leading into silence, and then you hear the KR commentators in the background still going strong, all I'm thinking is "Damn, I wish I was watching with those guys right now"
Do not like pre-emptive GG's in my livereport threads, nor from my commentators >
I think we need to accept that sometimes the greatest moment in the game is 5sek before the gg, but that a lot of games are practically decided >2-5mins before the gg. Its not always that exciting to watch someone slowly get stomped down (aka, a player taking his time, being safe, playing well, not rushing to end the game) a long time after the deciding battle... Commentators forcing the issue, trying to make battles of 40 food vs 150 food be extremely exciting is a bit of a lie and not really that effective. If the games are close, I believe the current lineup of commentators are doing a good job at making the gg moment exciting, but the gg moment often comes 5mins before the actual gg.
Depends on the event. If it's the first round of a non-prize money 1,024 person tournament I definitely won't be as excited as if it's the 7th game of a best of 7 where the winner takes home $50,000.
I also make it a point when I cast to never say "And that's gg, and we are going to see a gg any second now". It takes the audience out of the game... I try to make it interesting as long as possible.
When this happens though, you get people who are like "This caster is retarded, this game has been over forever why is he still excited?" So it could be cultural in that regard.
Don't people find it insulting to their intelligence when commentators try and make out like the game is still exciting when it's blatantly over? Or are people so jaded that they can't just enjoy something that isn't thrill-a-minute?
On July 29 2011 03:46 Invol2ver wrote: You have to understand that not all games are "tied" at the end...and therefore you can't fake excitement. That's awkward. You use a tied game with 5 seconds to go as a reference, well I'll tell you that a similar situation in SC2 is SCfou vs Nestea, last season GSL semi-finals, game 5. That was a tie game that went down to the end. And there was excitement.
You just cant get excited when there isn't a close game, sporting events are the same way. You don't see football commentators going crazy when a team finishes 3-0 in regular time in a game that they clearly control. You do see them getting excited when its 1-1 in penalty kicks. This is the same for starcraft. The only difference is that there is no score like in most sports.
Exactly you can't compare a game when an aging fan favourite beat the best protoss in the world in his best match up with some typical uninteresting 1 sided stomp.
commentators need to know how to get excited, tastosis are really good at it, day9 is good, though a lot of poeple complain he gets too loud, i find it good : )
OMG those Korean commentators were SOOO Exciting and fun to listen to even though I have NO idea what they r saying. Would be nice to listen to that kind of thing more often for sure.
It takes a certain type of caster to pull off the excitement properly. I think artosis could do it because when he gets excited, he sounds genuinely excited. You can tell he is passionate about the game. Tasteless... Not as much.
I don't know if you all remember Klazart, but he had a voice and the passion to pull off the Korean level of excitement in the closing moments of the game.
The other aspect of it is that a lot of sc2 games don't end in a really exciting way.
EPT
