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Caster bias and the 1-sided commentary - Page 9

Forum Index > SC2 General
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emc
Profile Joined September 2010
United States3088 Posts
March 19 2012 22:52 GMT
#161
1 sided commentary is fine for the youtube videos but in a major tournament there usually isn't a lot of bias except for the rooting of foreigners of course, but they don't ignore the better player (korean).

but youtube bias is how i learned zerg, i listened to bias casters who played zerg and it helped me a ton. I wouldn't be nearly as good at this game if I didn't listen to people like HD or Artosis who only talked about zerg during the beta in their youtubes.
Velr
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Switzerland10686 Posts
March 19 2012 22:53 GMT
#162
The problem is simple:

If your observing while talking about a game you most likely talk most about the areas you have a clue about what is happening or your interested in because that actually makes sense.
I mean.. If a caster is "guessing" a build he naturally will check again and again and again if the build is actually happening making it the focus point of it's attention.
If a caster is talking about Mutaharass/Defense he most likely will either follow the Mutas like crazy or jump around the Protoss base to show weaknesses/openings... And most likely neglecting the Zerg base...

Stuff like this happens VERY often...

The solution is simple:
The Observer and the (color) Caster should not be the same person..
Tektos
Profile Joined November 2010
Australia1321 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 22:57:51
March 19 2012 22:57 GMT
#163

I feel that DeMusliM casting Delphi vs. DeMusliM in the EG MCSL was the perfect picture of caster neutrality and that every caster should strive to be like this.


Highly entertaining and not at all biased!
Itsmedudeman
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States19229 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 23:02:07
March 19 2012 22:59 GMT
#164
It's not that bad, really. There's bias in every commentator in everything. It's not something you're gonna fix. I don't think it's nearly as bad in sc2 as in sports. I'd even go as far as to say not having bias is boring. "Everyone's a winner" mentality, and no connection between the caster and the fans. Yes, even casters can be fanboys of fan favorites, how is this wrong? This is what people want to listen to. Someone who holds the same opinion. Let's say MMA or Stephano were facing some scrub. Should we not bias that to say how awesome both of them are?
AngelusDeLetum
Profile Joined April 2010
United States98 Posts
March 19 2012 23:10 GMT
#165
The problem is that a lot of the casters are good friends with certain players and don't want to ruin that relationship.
Isaac
Profile Joined August 2010
United States810 Posts
March 19 2012 23:16 GMT
#166
If Husky casts a replay on his own time, or through his own channel, dont get mad at him for casting biasly. If he is casting a tournament or something where he is trying to attract fans from both sides, I think he should be aware of what the 2 teams are doing, even though he can and should state who he is rooting for.
number one fan of marineking
Rorschach
Profile Joined May 2010
United States623 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 23:22:56
March 19 2012 23:21 GMT
#167
Grubby is an example of a great analytical caster who is not biased.

When he commentated/co-casted Feasts PvP games he remained neutral even though he is mentoring him.
Can't remember what tourney this was but it was recent.
En Taro Adun, Executor!
thoradycus
Profile Joined August 2010
Malaysia3262 Posts
March 19 2012 23:26 GMT
#168
On March 19 2012 23:25 Noocta wrote:
I'm pretty sure you can email Husky to give him quality feedback ( like, not saying bla you're bad obviously ) and he will read it. Husky is pretty responsible for that.

Some other caster are biais and it's the way it is.
In the end, TB support Bling more if he plays, Bitter support Foreigner zerg player more, etc
Deal with it. It put some diversity into the game. I think the main problem with it is when the caster is the observer too.
In GSL, Artosis could fantasm as much as he want for Clide, but ST_Legend will do a good job not sticking to Clide base for example.


good point. having seperate observers and casters help stop stop this.
ThaZenith
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada3116 Posts
March 19 2012 23:29 GMT
#169
I've never had a point where I really cared. Even if it's one sided, that's fine, some other caster will probably be one sided towards the other side and it evens out in the end. Focusing only on a zerg in a zvt, for example, can give me a more in depth view of how a zerg pro plays, which isn't bad at all. And when it happens to focus on the terran for a game, cool stuff.
Haydin
Profile Joined December 2010
United States1481 Posts
March 19 2012 23:30 GMT
#170
As long as the bias doesn't cause the casters to overlook important decisions and actions in the game, and the bias isn't specifically playing down one player's skill, I have no problem with it. A little bit of bias is fine, and gives some personality. After all, would people really prefer this? (sorry if it was linked before):


aka ilovesharkpeople
vendettahow
Profile Joined March 2012
14 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-20 00:22:00
March 20 2012 00:06 GMT
#171
On March 20 2012 08:30 Haydin wrote:
As long as the bias doesn't cause the casters to overlook important decisions and actions in the game, and the bias isn't specifically playing down one player's skill, I have no problem with it. A little bit of bias is fine, and gives some personality. After all, would people really prefer this? (sorry if it was linked before):


+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gDGf1G6mxQ


All this shows is Chill's ability to be a sarcastic douchebag and isn't even remotely humorous.

In my opinion, all of the casters CAN and SHOULD aspire to achieve neutrality in how they describe actions, builds, etc. but can still use their expertise on said race to educate viewers. In my opinion, Artosis is a perfect example. Early in beta and release, Artosis was a zerg player, and his zerg bias came out SO STRONG. I mean, it was difficult to even watch some of the games b/c of Artosis' comments on how difficult everything was for zerg and how impossible x matchup was.

Since then, Artosis switched to Protoss and (in my opinion) made a strong effort not to be so biased against any race. Instead, he worked very hard on learning every build and every opener from all three races and learning the Korean meta-game. Now, he is the most informed, knowledgeable caster in E-Sports, and it is b/c he took the criticism and made the effort to know all three races to a very high degree of detail and still make his casting humorous and enjoyable. I don't play either Protoss or Zerg, but I find Artosis' commentary much more enjoyable lately b/c I believe he made a conscious effort to be less biased and/or whiny about balance.

And I don't think ANYONE can say Tastosis' commentary is boring and flavorless........

Edit: I edited to say that I still LOVE when casters show emotion and passion for the big moments of the game. For instance, as a terran player, if a zerg lands huge fungals, I am perfectly ok with the casters saying "AND OMG HUGE FUNGALS ON ALL THE BIO OF [X PLAYER]!!!!" b/c they were, in fact, huge fungals. Even as a Terran player, I can recognize the difficulty in landing big fungals or the terran player's inability to keep his bio spread.
GhandiEAGLE
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States20754 Posts
March 20 2012 00:14 GMT
#172
I like small biases, they usually result in better jokes. But only if there is a co-caster to keep the biased one anchored. In a solo cast, bias really hurts the viewing experience + Show Spoiler +
and ESPORTS
because it is like seeing the game from the perspective of only one player
Oh, my achin' hands, from rakin' in grands, and breakin' in mic stands
awu25
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2003 Posts
March 20 2012 00:24 GMT
#173
It annoys the hell out of me when I see this on TV, especially during the World Cup or Olympics. Ex: Soccer player takes a dive and commentators berate him. American soccer players takes a dive: "Good for him, embellish it a little and get the foul, let your teammates get a breather"
Fyrewolf
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1533 Posts
March 20 2012 01:01 GMT
#174
On March 20 2012 07:46 Empire.Beastyqt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 20 2012 01:34 Chill wrote:
Jesus Christ. Commentary can't be what you want 100% of the time, okay? Consider that there is no perfect commentary or commentator that will satisfy what everyone wants.

Before opening another "Casters should do this" thread, consider:
1. Are you qualified to open this thread? What evidence or personal expertise do you bring to this thread other than you opinion?
2. Is this a big enough problem to warrant a thread? Consider, as I've said, no commentary can satisfy everyone. So knowing that, is this a large enough problem that it affects the average person. Consider that Artosis' Terran bias in TSL1 was actually what made him a famous commentator (among other things, but it was a big part of it).
3. Does your thread offer any solution? In this case, no. You are bringing awareness I guess (which you also could have done with a PM) but we're left with "just don't do it". Okay... I'm sure they're not trying to be bad at what they do purposely...
4. Is this a scene-wide problem? If you are talking about a specific event, consider that there is Twitter and the PM function to contact these commentators directly.

So I answer 'no' to 1 2 3 and give you a 'maybe' to 4. So I don't think this is worthwhile discussing. I'll still leave it open.


By your logic nothing should be discussed on TL unless you are pro player, manager, caster etc because you are clueless otherwise.

On topic yes if you put 2 zerg casters to cast TvZ or ZvP its terrible and you shouldnt do it because that will make it unwatchable for viewers, thats why you have 2 casters and perfect combo casting PvZ is Rotti and Mr.Bitter.

Overall Rotterdam is probably best non-biased caster and always says when P/Z or T do really bad mistake or talking about races in general. Even if he doesnt know super in depth terran play he will talk about builds in game from his PvT PoV and even tho he maybe doesnt understand terran PoV he's still able to explain very good and thats much better than casters saying "wow i have never seen this build before" it makes me facepalm so hard because 99% of times its standard TvX build.

EDIT: this is about casters in general not the ones mentioned in OP, like someone mentioned casters REALLY need to be careful what they are talking about new players once they cast their games, if you go negative on them (especially if you are well known caster) people will take your words for granted and will always see that player as bad player which will seal his reputation from start - same thing can happen other way, hype him too much and you hurt him in the end when he doesnt live up to expectations (we all saw this before and still seeing it happen).


Point 1 that Chill made is one of the most basic rules of teamliquid. If you don't have the prestige of having proven you know what you're talking about, you are supposed to bring evidence. It has nothing to do with only people in the scene discussing things on TL, but the quality of the discussion that goes about here. The OP wasn't really that good to begin with, so Chill called him out on it. You do make an excellent point on how much casters influence how a player is viewed though, certainly something important for casters to consider.
"This is not Warcraft in space" "It's much more...... Sophisticated" "I KNOW IT'S NOT 3D!!!"
Angel_
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
United States1617 Posts
March 20 2012 01:08 GMT
#175
I'm not going to try to argue whether or not some caster's are biased. But frankly, for you to expect caster's to NOT be at all is just silly. Sure you can argue "Oh they should be completely neutral and professional", but when people are from different countries or are a huge fan of someone it's GOING to leak through sometimes. Some casters are definitely worse than others about it. yes it's fucking annoying. Other than keeping working on it there's not a lot they can do other than be aware of it.

As for focusing on one player...Yeah sometimes that MIGHT be a bias thing, but frankly more often than not it's because it's just fucking easier. Whether that turns into tunnel visioning or forgetting or focusing too hard on one player at the wrong time and then the audience and community just getting mad after misinterpreting it because that's all half the community is capable of doing probably varies a great deal from caster to caster.

Again, everyone can always get better, and hopefully they're trying to always. But this is just silly.
zergmacro34
Profile Joined March 2012
59 Posts
March 20 2012 01:08 GMT
#176
bias happens but as long as the casting is entertaining and action remains in the spotlight i dont really care

it also happens in other sports too- joe rogan in ufc yelling at jon jones's opponent to "kick him in the knees!"
imMUTAble787
Profile Joined November 2011
United States680 Posts
March 20 2012 02:43 GMT
#177
Glad to see the Chill neutral commentary video be useful again. You people will find anyhting to whine about.

I'll take authentic personal perspectives from casters over blind praise of every player. Does anyone remember Joe Theisman from when ESPN did Sunday night football ? Yeah. Exactly.
*eternalenvy fanboy*
HiTeK532
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada171 Posts
March 20 2012 03:37 GMT
#178
I think it's impossible to completely bias free and if someone like husky or HD or whoever else is being biased on their own youtube channel that is fine in a tournament setting casters should strive to have minimal bias of course if someone is a clear fan favourite i.e. whitera vs generic player A then I would expect their to be more focus on whitera since there isn't much to be said about generic player A and the standard viewer would be more interested in whitera.
I play games not girls
KevinIX
Profile Joined October 2009
United States2472 Posts
March 20 2012 03:39 GMT
#179
I don't really care about commentary bias. Too much of it can get a little annoying if I'm cheering for the opposing player. But usually I'm not, so I don't care.
Liquid FIGHTING!!!
XxMulexX
Profile Joined October 2011
Canada57 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-20 04:03:03
March 20 2012 04:00 GMT
#180
Why is it necessary for the OP to provide more "evidence" than he already has? The whole point of this thread was to gauge how the community felt about biased casting in general, and a person doesn't need to be grandmaster to make valid points about casting (I mean the average gamer is the target audience; why the hell should his opinion matter less than a pro's?).

Commentator bias is without a doubt something that can detract from the viewing experience, so I don't see why having a discussion about it wouldn't be worthwhile. I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement, as I don't think there are many casters who can provide deep analysis of a match up that doesn't involve the race he/she plays, and I think that's a problem. Pro sports commentators are expected to do research on both teams playing to provide information that the average viewer doesn't have, and it seems to me like few commentators are prepared the way Day9 and Tastosis are.

On an unrelated note, I also wish some casters sometimes cut on the playful banter as it can sometimes go on for too long and often isn't really interesting to anyone other than the casters themselves.
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