I have a friend that is a local television news reporter in Orlando. We're interested in putting together a news story at MLG Orlando next month on the subject of MLG, StarCraft II, and eSports in general. We're also interested in interviewing the personalities and businesses related to this industry.
I know there is much information to report on about StarCraft and E-Sports, but we need to present the Fox owned TV station with news worthy subjects in order to justify the story. The station usually wants include a local component, but any package we produce has potential to be picked up nationally (on all Fox stations).
Having prefaced the basics of our plan, I'd like to ask the community for two favors:
1st) We'd like to know what news worthy questions or subjects you think would be interesting for the general public to hear about. Keep in mind that we may need a local news component or something news worthy to get the story accepted. We'd incorporate the best questions or requests into our news package.
2nd) If anyone here knows how to contact MLG, their sponsors, Tasteless, Artossis, Day[9], DJwheat, Husky, or someone else you think might be an interesting interview be at MLG Orlando, could you help us contact them? We know the event is still a month away, but we'd like to see who we could get to agree to sit down for brief interviews, either on video or with us taking notes.
In my opinion getting a StarCraft I news story on the air be great publicity for the game and everyone involved.
awesome idea! i really like it and I can't imagine that you would be turned down for an interview by any of those people ( who doesn't want to represent sc2 on tv??)
on a side note though your friends bio is TOO funny. a local news guy who lives with his dog and plays an instrument? do you ever call him ron?
Edit: though he does seem like a professional and a good guy in the clips and i am by no means trying to make fun of him
On September 15 2011 07:58 eVolvE342 wrote: awesome idea! i really like it and I can't imagine that you would be turned down for an interview by any of those people ( who doesn't want to represent sc2 on tv??)
on a side note though your friends bio is TOO funny. a local news guy who lives with his dog and plays an instrument? do you ever call him ron?
And yes, his bio on that page is pretty cheesy at the moment. He's been a friend of mine since I was in 1st grade, so I'm pretty sure he can get his superiors to agree to the story, though it's a possibility he won't know until the day of (there might be bigger news to cover that day).
I was asking for ideas because I'm basically going to help him with the production for the first day of MLG Orlando if everything goes right. We've already been in contact with the a Ms. Goldberg, who is the media relations person with MLG and she seems to have rolled out the red carpet for us, and someone already sent me day[9]'s contact information.
For me personally, anyone would be a great interview, but I'd particularly enjoy an interview with Destiny, if he makes it to the next MLG.
Finally, Blizzcon s the very next week and I hope it doesn't steal any thunder from MLG Orlando, but I have the feeling it might.
You should show some of the "WOW" statistics, meaning show things that are shocking and that people never knew. Talk about money, showing shocking money figures can draw viewership. Talk about the koreans flying over to the United States. Talk about GSL maybe. Talk about salaries and how these professional players make a living off of what they do. Maybe highlight key people like tasteless, artosis, and key US players like idra. Maybe talk about how fast their fingers move and the amount of APM sc2 requires. You'll do a good job I'm sure, just make the stuff you talk about have a "WOW" and "shocking" affect on viewers, in a good way (don't portray gaming as a bad thing *obviously you know this*)
The hall MLG uses belongs to someone (the city?) try asking them for a statement. Maybe ask around in small restaurants / cafes around the venue if / how the event is affecting them (sales).
MLG is the biggest gaming event in the US (to my knowledge^^) so having something like that should have a big affect on the tourism branche. Which might interest your local watchers.
Both good ideas. Derrol and I have discussed our plan a bit and he intends to treat the story as news. That is, do some research, show up, ask questions, take notes, and report the facts. This means he's not to keen to file a report promoting something, rather a report which educates and entertains the viewer.
Secret05: Portaying gamers in a negative light is something I won't allow Derrol to do unless something crazy happens (like the police are called in to break up nerd fighting).
Zocat: The tourism angle might just clinch it for us. Thanks for the suggestion.
I think your best bet for an interview would be a MLG staffer like Sundance or Slasher. The casters and players are so crunched for time it could be a bit rough snagging interviews if you're not already familiar with the community.
I think Tyler might be in town a day early for fan signings (not sure) or something like that, might want to give that a shot. For extra props, check out the MLG Orlando Barcrafts: http://www.reddit.com/r/BarCraft/
This is an update guys. We're definitely good to go on the new story tomorrow. Right now I'm trying to put together some good b-roll video clips for this story.
If anyone has any suggestions as to what would make for good starcraft related clips they think would go good in a news story, I'll be in #scvideo on irc.quakenet.org for a few hours.
On October 14 2011 05:01 sysrpl wrote: This is an update guys. We're definitely good to go on the new story tomorrow. Right now I'm trying to put together some good b-roll video clips for this story.
If anyone has any suggestions as to what would make for good starcraft related clips they think would go good in a news story, I'll be in #scvideo on irc.quakenet.org for a few hours.
Whoa man, this is very cool (just now saw this topic). Is there a way that we'll be able to watch the spot (somewhere online?) after it airs?
Yes, the news story will air locally in Orlando of Friday night. We're probably going to do a live segment from MLG Orlando. Today I'm trying to put together some b-roll that perhaps gives a good background on Starcraft for the uninitiated.
I'm looking for good footage I can pull offline and throw into Sony Vegas. I'm thinking decent quality clps showing how huge SC is in Asia ... so HQ clips of large stadium crowds in Korea gathering for SC events. Also possibly players in unusual SC clothing/gear before matches, again in good quality.
Considering how close this event is, I would think that your best chance of getting a hold of a e-sports personality professionaly attending the even by getting a hold of MLG and going through them. How to do this tho, I have no idea. Good luck!
We have been in contact with the MLG media relations people for awhile now. We're going to be backstage and also have time scheduled to do interviews. What I'm doing right now is looking for some historical Starcraft content online to give some perspective to the news piece.
If anyone can link me to HQ footage of large crowds in Korea of other interesting SC related videos online, I' appreciate it.
And yes, the news story will be available online on myfoxorlando.com after it has aired.
You should probably focus your questions on things that are interesting to the general public. Maybe talk about the prize pool, the big events going on, some of the background on the players, etc.
"Just got of phone with MLG... we are also on tap to interview Sean "Day9"... you know him?"
He is approaching this with zero knowledge of everything, so it'll be interesting for sure.
If anyone wants to contact me while I'm at MLG, I bought a disposable phone for the event and don't mind sharing the number. PM me if your going to be there tomorrow and want to find me. I'll reply with my disposable number.
let me express a little thought IMO if you want to promote esports so much you should've made that story/report before the MLG Orlando: so some non-gaming people would be a little bit drawn to it. Plus it would make the hype bigger (despite Orlando having Stephano, Boxer, MK, MC : holy shit line-up).
But yeah, after it it would be fun too (we don't have a choice rly). Although as far as I know (although I don't watch TV nowadays) reports on tv get like 2-3 minutes of air. So to give much of info in so little time is not a easy deal. So I guess if you wanna put in the highlights, interviews, info about esports, starcraft, progamers etc you gotta be on a very tight schedule. So yeah, just a couple of highlists, a couple of questions from interviews and give a lot of info. But I guess you're the professional here and you know it better than me.
But yeah, I wish you a good luck and hopefully I'll get to see that thing on youtube one day
P.S.: some highlights aren't that hard to find. Pics on MLG website, videos on youtube. I doubt that GOMTV will deny your request for showing a couple of shots of GSL (I mean who would cancel the opportunity to promote something on a tv-news-show)
Why does Starcraft 2 need to be on the news =/ there's no way of condensing it to a 1-2min clip without having half of the audience think negatively about it. The only way you can sell it is as a "isn't this strange/interesting" piece; I don't know if this'll do anything to get eSports taken seriously.
You should interview the spectators whom traveled across the country to attend MLG and ask them what motivated them to do so. Others will realize that esports is really big and potential investors/cities will be interested in hosting such an event for tourism and brand promotion.
Talking to the sponsors and asking them why they decide to sponsor the event and the benefits they have gained will also promote esports.
I think the general public isn't even aware there's esports tournaments. Some numbers on prize pools, number of participants/spectators etc are nice of course.
I think a lot of non-gamers wonder why there's competitions for video games. Would be good to explain that to em a bit. I think it's human nature to desire to be number one myself. There's competitons for every activity, sports, music, chess, air guitar etc why not games?
Also you're much more connected to your esports heroes. You might meet them on the ladder or you can send them a PM, email or tweet and there's a pretty good chance they'll reply. If you email a pro basketball player or w/e glhf getting a reply.
My thoughts for the story: For an overall MLG story
1) describe MLG 2) the number of people expected to attend, translate that into X number of dollars spend per person. Boost in economy due directly to esports (there's your local angle) 3) also include the total # of people who watched this event (mlg should have this number after the even is over, or at the very least a good ball park number, i mean it is the news, it doesn't have to be 100% accurate after all) 4) highlights from previous MLG, GSL, IEM, etc (from SC2, CS, or whatever else they play at MLG) 5) end with brief quote from DJWheat (no offense Sundance, but Wheat is the major face in the American Esports community)
or for a SC2 point of view
1) brief description of what MLG is (# of tourneys, prize pool, etc) 2) reason for choice in Orlando as one location 3) how many pro players are coming to MLG Orlando 4) any local players from FL, GA, SC 5) how many Korean, Europeans are traveling from great distances to get to Orlando to compete 6) interview the Korean player Boxer or European player Whitera about travel, playing, family, etc utilize the translators they have there (they are the oldest, most mature players in the Starcraft 2 community) 7) interview Mr. Chae (GOM TV) chairman (he's always at these events) 8) interview fans (the ones that look like they have been outside in the past month) 8) get quote from Day9 to end.
be sure to get shots of crowds cheering, players being exhausted (cause the travel takes so much out of someone), and be sure if you use any game highlights that they are from good games, and not just a random open bracket (doesn't mean a lot) match
and there you go. 2-3 mins of content that provide a view into the world of American Esports
On October 14 2011 05:45 sysrpl wrote: I checked my messages and Derrol said:
"Just got of phone with MLG... we are also on tap to interview Sean "Day9"... you know him?"
Derrol is approaching this with zero knowledge of everything, so it'll be interesting for sure.
If anyone wants to contact me while I'm at MLG, I bought a disposable phone for the event and don't mind sharing the number. PM me if your going to be there tomorrow and want to find me. I'll reply with my disposable number.
LOL this was hilarious.. "you may have heard of me?" :p i think Day9 makes for a perfect interview subject; great personality and on camera experience.
That clip posted earlier seems perfect for this! I would try keep the interview as simple as possible so the general audience can watch; pitch it like "kids playing video games isn't a waste of their lives" lol "esports: a legitimate industry" :p
emphasize the money and prestige (in korea) involved. Talk about flash being featured along kim yu na in that video the korea tourism people made during some big conference. Talk about boxers' popularity, and the salary of the top progamers. Then transition into how sc2 is taking off in the west.
The intro of the OSL finals between Flash and Jaedong is pretty amazing. Nice crowd shots throughout the video(s) and you can find a nice shot in the beginning of the clip before the game starts at around 0:15 seconds.
There are many videos you can find just by typing in MSL/OSL finals in YouTube but the really big crowds were back in the day around 2002-2004, however the quality during those days weren't the best. But the footage is still there. I'll link to you one of them in case you would stlil consider it.
(Opening scenes, 0:27)
(0:20)
Thank you for doing this for the SC community!! As a longtime fan since 2002 BW this what I got to say; "Hell, its about time!" .
Might be tough to tie in Brood War without confusing people, but it could be useful to provide context for how big the scene in general is in Korea (shown on TV, 6 figure salaries, etc. etc.).
On October 14 2011 06:11 tree.hugger wrote: How about this one?
I'm guessing this might be a bit long for your story, which is too bad, but if you only have to choose one bit, I'd say take the bit with White-Ra. The crowd chanting and everything honestly sends shivers down my spine every time.
Seeing as its going on FOX news, I think its more important to make a story that appeals to them, in the hope that it will get shown on more than local news. I don't really know much about FOX, apart from what I've learned from that episode of Family Guy where Lois works for them (so yeah...), but I imagine a news story that focuses on 'American heroes', like Tyler and Huk. Players who have interesting stories, that can also challenge the stereotypes that a lot of people will have.
I think big numbers are a thing to focus on, how much MC, Nestea and MVP have made, how many viewers Husky and Day[9] get, how Destiny has financed himself solely through stream viewers how many viewers MLG gets, while an interviewee like Day[9] will do well, I don't think you could interview a better person than Sundance, he can talk about MLG's growth and people will pay attention to stuff like that, especially when most news to do with company profits and growth is the bad kind. More possible things you could talk about are how some players regularly travel all around the world to go to tournaments and Boxer's fan base although maybe it's best to keep it as strictly American as possible, so mostly American players and companies. While we as the foreign Starcraft community understand that we are united against a common enemy, maybe normal people won't, and as much as we love WhiteRa, I can imagine someone complaining that he is mispronouncing the word 'tektiks'.
Some topics of discussion / areas where questions could make great press: 1. The role of E-sports in the entertainment industry today (simplified reasons StarCraft II is a spectator sport) -- this would go well with a 15 second explanation of the game. 2. The scope and competition involved with being a professional E-thlete (prize pools, number of participants, number of fans, economics behind StarCraft II).
An interesting angle might be the "USA GO GO GO" stuff - you know, get the average American all riled up about people from South Korea (where?) being better than us at something.
Seeing as its going on FOX news, I think its more important to make a story that appeals to them, in the hope that it will get shown on more than local news. I don't really know much about FOX, apart from what I've learned from that episode of Family Guy where Lois works for them (so yeah...), but I imagine a news story that focuses on 'American heroes', like Tyler and Huk. Players who have interesting stories, that can also challenge the stereotypes that a lot of people will have.
I think big numbers are a thing to focus on, how much MC, Nestea and MVP have made, how many viewers Husky and Day[9] get, how Destiny has financed himself solely through stream viewers how many viewers MLG gets, while an interviewee like Day[9] will do well, I don't think you could interview a better person than Sundance, he can talk about MLG's growth and people will pay attention to stuff like that, especially when most news to do with company profits and growth is the bad kind. More possible things you could talk about are how some players regularly travel all around the world to go to tournaments and Boxer's fan base although maybe it's best to keep it as strictly American as possible, so mostly American players and companies. While we as the foreign Starcraft community understand that we are united against a common enemy, maybe normal people won't, and as much as we love WhiteRa, I can imagine someone complaining that he is mispronouncing the word 'tektiks'.
Everything you have said is good advice accept I should point out that local news on a Fox owned local broadcast station is nothing like the FOX news that is on cable tv. They will probably want to lead in with some hype video that people have been suggesting, talk to local people who are participating and then talk to a celebrity such as Sundance or Day 9, although my local news stations usually focus more on interviewing people at the event than the celebrities.
Might also look into contacting big companies that either sponsor tournaments or teams (I'm talking Intel/LG/Pepsi/Coca Cola/etc., not Steelseries/Razr) or at least mentioning their involvement.
On October 14 2011 05:17 morevox wrote: I suggest getting a hold of Day9. He has his contact info on his website. He is always happy to do interviews, especially for SC2.
Yeah, and I'm sure that Day[9] can use his connections to hook you up with other interviews as well. Good thinking. Day[9] is the first person you should talk to about this.
Questions to have good, well-thought out answers to (I'll put my ideas beneath)
1) What is Starcraft II?
I'd advise drawing a metaphor to a different game, with a spin on sc. Example off top of head: SC is like chess. Each team starts out with an even potential to win. Except in chess where there's only one set of pieces, Starcraft has three different--but equal--sets of chess pieces you can start with. etc etc
Preface to Two: A lot of "older" people watch the daily news, specifically fox, so concentrate on "40 y.o. Mabel"--Why does she care? Aren't video games a waste of time? How is this good for the community?
2) How is this not a collosal waste of time?
-go over the study that was posted here recently, the largest study ever or something & point out all the academically verified positive effects its had -Whatever subjects you choose, talk about what successes they have in life besides SC -Get some subjects with a lot of credibility (day9 & Incontrol come to mind) -Talk about the charity stream that sheth & whoever else did because its basically the same as the Oct 15 game for charity thing that happened today
3) Why is this game so popular?
-nuance and personality can come through play -spectator sport -passion from childhood--brood war on. -should always strive to be the best at what you do.
4) Automatically use "nerd' as an endearing term, and only positive vocabulary/jokes. We're not so well established we can get away joking about our stereotypes yet.
5) Local Angle: crappy lead unless birds are a big deal down there: Birds aren't the only ones flying south this year. xxxx# of computer game players have come from across the country, and the world, to participate in a tournament here in Orlando.
-talk to locals who interact with everybody (hotel owners, restaraunt owners, wherever nerds go--speak to them)
6) Your subjects are your vessels and your image. Give background, prep them, make it look GOOD
I wouldn't include too much gameplay footage if I were you. Maybe a few seconds max. Anything longer will look weird to people, because they won't know what is going on, and they will lose interest. Rather, you might want to focus on the players and the surprisingly large fanbase. Plus, Tasteless gives awesome interviews. Maybe you could contact him for an interview?
I'd really like to see the impact it has on the local area actually, speak to fans who are excited about being able to go see their favourite e-sports stars, and local businesses who may benefit from having such an event in the vicinity, even speak to sponsors if you can to get their take on how good it is for them.
The news shouldn't be that people are playing games to make money, in my opinion... That's an unreachable goal for the average person, and runs the risk of turning in to just a game advertisement if you touch on SC2 too much.
The news should be that e-sports is a thriving and growing sector of the events/entertainment industry, and is beneficial for all involved. I think that's news that a LOT of people need to know.
Some good questions to cover for the unknowing esports man:
1) Esport, what is it and where did it come from? 2) Statistics: prizes (use the "tournament roundup" here on TL, it's a great source.), money (sponsors), participants, viewers. 3) The game, rules, gameplay, competetivity (the skill required) 3) Compare the size of esport to other sports. 4) Why the funny names? 5) Important persons. 6) Teamleagues. 7) Crowd questions.
uh uh! I almost forgot. Talk to "The little app factory", which is entirely sponsoring Team Liquids team.
I don't know how this would fit in any way, but It is just so inspiring and exciting, truely showing the essence of esports:
Economic impact is probably the way to go for a news story with local hook. Talk about the amount of money they tournament is bringing into Orlando. especially with the economy and tourism how it is
money makes the world go round. and there has been a lot of money going into esports lately. talking about that might turn some heads.
players practice schedules and event travel (some like huk, dimaga etc. have travelled a lot)
and this might sound stupid but: player equipment. sure, we all use razer steelseries and whatever big brand you wanna name, but i don't know how much the general population knows about this, and it would make a great plug for sponsoring SC even more
and this last one is a must i think: at least one player profile about their real life, people need to see that these are regular people, young healthy athletes. i was surprised to find out how many people have this concept of gamers being overweight geeks with no social skills...
Can us non-Americans watch it somewhere somehow some time?
I'd still be prepared for them putting some effort to put gaming into a negative light by the way, hopefully Snorkle is right though and Fox-owned stations aren't actually like Fox News.
Edit:
Try and focus on personal stories, something people can relate to. Abstract data like 'money' will get one's attention, but in order to keep it you have to 'tell a story'. Never lose sight of the people - the game is the setting, not the subject.
On October 14 2011 23:10 Sqalevon wrote: I think reddit getting MKP to MLG makes for an interesting story. I just read about it and am in awe.
Definitely something that could be a small thing to include, the fact that people are willing to give money for their favorite player just to show up at an event is freaking incredible.
I feel that perhaps the report should be done a day into the event so that you can show some footage of what it all looks like, doing it on the 14th seems a bit too early.
Nevertheless, love the idea and good luck with it!
As a news story I feel you have to focus on numbers and personality. Even tho most of us love great gameplay, great tactics or just nukes in general, it won't translate to "the general public" and thus don't really interest a commercial news channel. Unlike regular sports where they understand the concepts e-sports is a bit abstract to the masses and in-game footage might be counter-productive just because the viewers don't understand whats great about it. Interviewing Day[9] and/or Sundance is probably your best bet to combine economics and personality, so your already heading in the right direction, and mentioning how MLG is just one of many rather big events (NASL/GSL/DH/IEM etc.) as well as weekly cups going on atm could illustrate this. Overall winnings for some of the big names (Korean as well as foreigners) the last year could back this up as top foreigners (correct me if I'm wrong) have a pretty okay income even just from tournament winnings (real numbers including sponsors, streaming etc. would be great here). Crowd shots works as it's more or less the same as any other sports (from any event, although the MLG crowd is probably the best cheering someone on, or for sheer numbers Korean BW). If there's room for more than "shocking" prize money and Day[9]'s charisma I would focus on the crowd (as with any other sport) and how they support the community, aswell as how foreign (American) heroes keep up with the Koreans (Gatored beating DRG is probably my IEM highlight so far). You might have to explain that SC is a (mainstream) sport in Korea, and how their organized, professional approach seems to give them an advantage. In general I'd steer away from the typical FOX "Koreans play 36/7 to dominate the StarCraft 2 scene" story and focus more one this "Amazing new type of sports", showing there is real investors (FXO?) and real athletes competing for real money. The biggest challenge is making what probably ends up as a 10-15min story after editing, into a 2min news clip.
Somebody record this and post it. I, along with the rest of the community, will really appreciate it. It's just kinda hard to watch Orlando's local news channels when you live in California or Germany or wherever.
Talk about how intense the game is, how it comes down to 1 moment at the end of every game that decides weather someone wins or looses. how one mistake can change everything and knock you out of a tournament for 200000. talk about how winning is everything and loosing is nothing, and how these players live their lives and walk this line every single day.
also make sure to put it on youtube after it goes on air!
I have been consistently checking here as I believe he said Orlando's fox news station. As of now I have not found anything but it is kind of hard to search on the website so if anyone else has luck let me know. Either that or the OP should give us an update if he had the free time ^_^
If they're doing something for MLG Orlando, which just finished, it still has to go through production/editing and post-production. I wouldn't expect it up immediately after the event.
If it didn't air by tonight, it would be likely not to air because it would be "old" news by then. I very rarely see local news run a story about something that happened two days ago unless there is potential for follow up stories to result - like with a murder, kidnapping, etc...
sounds like they were looking for a short 1-2 minute clip. sure they might interview day 9 for 15 minutes...but they would only use a fraction of it. Also if something more news worthy came up then it would be bumped without a 2nd thought.
On October 18 2011 06:09 Paraclete wrote: I just realized, what if this whole thread was an elaborate troll....
I was just thinking the same thing because he DID take down the link to his friends online newscaster profile. I can't really be decisive right now about it but I suppose, but it definitely makes you think.
If you began the story with the clip of BarCraft Montreal I think you'd generate some pretty awesome interest. Showing big crowds and passionate fans is always going to produce a positive reaction if you ask me.
On October 18 2011 06:09 Paraclete wrote: I just realized, what if this whole thread was an elaborate troll....
I was just thinking the same thing because he DID take down the link to his friends online newscaster profile. I can't really be decisive right now about it but I suppose, but it definitely makes you think.
Yea... after browsing a bit of his posting history, and noticing some edits to his OP ect, I think at the least something didn't work out. This stuck out from the MLG feedback thread he posted in -
On October 17 2011 13:06 sysrpl wrote: My two complaints.
1) Seating area was too small.
2) The casters were always behind the curtain in a bunker of sorts. Went to MLG Orlando expecting to see Tasteless/Artosis/Day9/Husky in person, left disappointed.
Makes me inclined to think things didn't work out, or something.
On October 18 2011 06:09 Paraclete wrote: I just realized, what if this whole thread was an elaborate troll....
I was just thinking the same thing because he DID take down the link to his friends online newscaster profile. I can't really be decisive right now about it but I suppose, but it definitely makes you think.
Yea... after browsing a bit of his posting history, and noticing some edits to his OP ect, I think at the least something didn't work out. This stuck out from the MLG feedback thread he posted in -
On October 17 2011 13:06 sysrpl wrote: My two complaints.
1) Seating area was too small.
2) The casters were always behind the curtain in a bunker of sorts. Went to MLG Orlando expecting to see Tasteless/Artosis/Day9/Husky in person, left disappointed.
Makes me inclined to think things didn't work out, or something.
Wow... that is very peculiar indeed... good find! I still would like to think it just didn't work out rather than he majorly trolled as it seemed like he put a lot of effort into this thread.
Though, in all honesty, I would have liked to see this work out more than anything since I have yet to see the mainstream news do a story on eSports without their being some negative connotation such as "Look at these weird people, can you believe this?" or "These are addicts, game addicts" yadda yadda, etc. etc.
On the more positive side of things, has anyone seen the front page article on the Wall Street Journal concerning Barcraft??? They did a video, a radio spot, and a spot on their newspaper as well so that is definitely something noteworthy ^_^
EPT
