I have been recently invited to the new polish Gaming House you all probably heard about at one point or another during these last few months. It has been renamed to the Ministry of Win - you can read the press release in this thread they made on TL - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=333476
So, who am i? Just a lousy polish caster. There aren't many of us, around 4 active casters in our community, and i went there with Morglum, another caster. We agreed to record two videos, one of them being in polish and one in english for the lovely people there who can't speak our glorious language. The video is going to get posted in a few moments, in the meantime i'll talk a bit about the house itself in a bulleted form, since that's how i roll.
- the house is HUGE. 450sqm. there's a lot of space to just sit around, to live and have fun and, most importantly - to practice - guys have stuff planned for the house to make it look the part. Every floor will have a different theme applied to it, Protoss being at the top, Terrans at level 0 and Zerg burrowed underground. - every room has separate air conditioning and air control setting - the house is in a quiet neighbourhood, but close to the shops/Mcd's etc etc. - the guy who built this house was MAD - there's so much useful stuff there - vertical openable shaft for all the cables, server room, breaker room, little hatches everywhere for easy access, thick glass windows, automatic EVERYTHING, water softener machine, medical supplies(as in, IVs and other crazy stuff). You could play SC2 during a zombie apocalypse. Hell, get this - the boiler room has blast door. Just in case. - In the projector room - there are some fat speakers - sound quality was great. - Storage everywhere - i'm 197cm and i didn't have problems with hitting stuff with my head. Everything feels spacious. - I'm not going to swear by it, but the internet is like 40mb/40mb synchronous, or even better. - You know how you enter a house and somehow feel it's made with quality in mind? That's what i felt when walking around the place.
Anyway, THE VIDEO. Bear in mind, my english is of terrible quality and i was trying my best not to sound terribad. I hope it's enjoyable despite my shortcomings.
And that's about it, i hope it's good enough for a first post here. I can embed Morglum's video in polish when he uploads it.
A great tour, thanks for posting the video. I loved the way you mentioned alot of cool but easily missed details about the place. Looking forward to more updates about it.
Sounds like a pretty darn sweet house. Let's hope they fill it with great players, and that the players will take the opportunity to get some serious Korean-style practicing done to up their game.
This house looks amazing, hi-tech shit with lots and lots of gadgets and very expensive stuff inside. I've just finished remodeling my house and that looks expensive as hell. According to full press release it has 50 Mbps symmetric connection, that is huge in Poland in a residential area. This is some properly build from ground up, well thought out, investment for someone who build it and is renting it to MoW. Very luxurious, I can't wait too see what will come out of this, they promise a lot, read their full pdf version press release. (here)
I don't know about the kitchen being remodelled into a lab? Sounds kind of childish, fi I lived there I'd definately want the kitchen just how it was in this video.
Thanks for the positive feedback. We do our best to make this undertaking as cool as we can.
@Seohce It is not about every part of this kitchen, but imagine some tubes from the lab with spices, I think it does not bother the cook, but makes a nice impression. There is a lot of stuff that will make the interior looking epic. We will be happy when first words of any player coming to the house will be "wow, I feel StarCraft over here". It's something that we love, isn't it? There is a content unlocked just few hours ago on our website, for viewing it visit ministryofwin.com
This is by far the most impressive setup I've ever seen for pro players. I can't express how awesome this is, and how excited I am for the players who are moving into this house. Major props.
On May 05 2012 20:26 Batch wrote: Who are paying for this?
Players who wants to live there
How much do you pay to live there? I take your answer as a confirmation that you will live there?
I think this will be great thing for the polish SC2 scene.
Around 500€.
WOW thats actually super cheap :OOO
per month right? i pay for around 400-500 euro per month for my 20m² flat + food electricity etc etc... :/
It is 2500PLN per month and we include everything needed to live - food, professional cook, drinkables, cleaning company working in the house every day, attractive activities and the most important thing - professional coaching. Remember that we are also making opportunity to make money for players as we are close with Own3D.TV. Players can stream through our channels and earn money by good rates for advertising.
As it was mentioned in the extra content already there will be more opportunities that can make your stay... free.
On May 06 2012 02:14 Bojas wrote: Wow that house is amazing... I wonder if a luxurious house will produce good players though. It's definitely a very awesome house though.
Luxurious house is ok as long, as you treat your training serious. Not only you but the house staff as well. Success of this training facility is strictly relative to the improvements that players will make, that's why we take training very seriously and require from the players the same. I don't think that anyone who's spending that amount of money will come "to have fun".
Seems great! €500 seems quite fair considering everything is included.
Now a question: Will players be chosen based on skill only? And how does the rules for application work out? If a pro wants to live there, does some one get kicket out? etc. etc.
Im just curious, cuz there is little point in having a gaminghouse full of diamond players.
On May 06 2012 02:35 Aphasie wrote: Seems great! €500 seems quite fair considering everything is included.
Now a question: Will players be chosen based on skill only? And how does the rules for application work out? If a pro wants to live there, does some one get kicket out? etc. etc.
Im just curious, cuz there is little point in having a gaminghouse full of diamond players.
This is a good question, however this would be very bad for this house if we would choose players basing on their league placement and ladder ranking. There are players with a lot of potential in lower league than GM with no conditions to switch full-time professionals in their own houses (that's an example). There are a lot of players appearing out of nowhere, beating well known and respectable players.
We are basing on players application, his history in e-sports, achievements etc.
Holy crap that house is amazing. You'd be hard pressed to find a place with more than 1 bedroom in Vancouver for 500 euros, let alone a place with all the amenities and utilities included. Whoever lives there is pretty damn lucky.
Are you kidding me? How awesome is that? I mean it's super luxurious place just to play Stacraft 2. The shit is getting more real every day. Congratz to the people behind this and I truly hope this will be successful!
By the way, I just thought of something... Everybody games in his own room? There is no central gaming room where everyone sits to play? Because if you only interact with others in the house at the gym or in the kitchen, but not while playing... then what is really the use of the house? Of course it's a great place, but I think interaction like in the korean gaming houses or the EG lair, where players are all located in one room, is better to discuss and train with people there.
Korean gaming houses don't have features like these, western gaming houses seem to be rather luxurious compared to Korean ones unnecessary distractions maybe?
On May 07 2012 22:13 Darkomicron wrote: By the way, I just thought of something... Everybody games in his own room? There is no central gaming room where everyone sits to play? Because if you only interact with others in the house at the gym or in the kitchen, but not while playing... then what is really the use of the house? Of course it's a great place, but I think interaction like in the korean gaming houses or the EG lair, where players are all located in one room, is better to discuss and train with people there.
Watch the whole video. One of the rooms will be turned into a practice one.
On May 07 2012 22:13 Darkomicron wrote: By the way, I just thought of something... Everybody games in his own room? There is no central gaming room where everyone sits to play? Because if you only interact with others in the house at the gym or in the kitchen, but not while playing... then what is really the use of the house? Of course it's a great place, but I think interaction like in the korean gaming houses or the EG lair, where players are all located in one room, is better to discuss and train with people there.
From what i understood, every floor has his own theme, but the players will train together in one room
This looks AWESOME. That house is just too awesome even without final decorations. It's huge and it looks like it has everything you would ever need.
Congratulations to the people that made this happen and congratulations to the polish sc2 scene. I hope they will have alot of very skilled players in that house and that this project is succesfull. Good luck!
Omg, seeing opportunites like this just makes me so happy, and gives people so much opportunities to go full-time, and reach there full potential... If I wasn't still in highschool I'd apply T.T. Oh well, 1 more month and I graduate heh.
Oh what the hell, some day I will triangulate the coordinates for the house from some pictures with stars in them, take a car and visit you there. Wow. That place looks amazing !
@ZeddSC Thank you for posting this video. This is a very cool layout, cant wait to see whats happening there as well as when its finished what it will look like for the floors and there "atmosphere" super excited!
Great initiative guys and even better to hear you're getting that much attention - if Warsaw will be a success, maybe you can open another houses in another cities or even abroad
Whoa.. is property really cheap in that area? Maybe i am missing something but that is incredibly luxurious! Wow - what an incredible environment to practice in!
Great work! Can't wait to see the players it attracts
On May 08 2012 15:05 bkrow wrote: Whoa.. is property really cheap in that area? Maybe i am missing something but that is incredibly luxurious! Wow - what an incredible environment to practice in!
Great work! Can't wait to see the players it attracts
On May 08 2012 15:05 bkrow wrote: Whoa.. is property really cheap in that area? Maybe i am missing something but that is incredibly luxurious! Wow - what an incredible environment to practice in!
Great work! Can't wait to see the players it attracts
On May 08 2012 15:05 bkrow wrote: Whoa.. is property really cheap in that area? Maybe i am missing something but that is incredibly luxurious! Wow - what an incredible environment to practice in!
Great work! Can't wait to see the players it attracts
On May 08 2012 15:05 bkrow wrote: Whoa.. is property really cheap in that area? Maybe i am missing something but that is incredibly luxurious! Wow - what an incredible environment to practice in!
Great work! Can't wait to see the players it attracts
Apparently a lot of things changed. Sadly none of players that we had confirmed before will not come. For now the only 100% sure player is snute and we will release some really good info soon!
On May 08 2012 17:21 MuB wrote: lol, but this is in POLAND.
And what's your point? lol
try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
On May 08 2012 17:21 MuB wrote: lol, but this is in POLAND.
And what's your point? lol
try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
That's some nice stereotype that you've got there Even if it was true (which I can't agree with, altough I guess it happens), the whole point of the house is to spend most of your days in it playing withouth having to care about the outside world or spending time on cooking and so on, so who cares It's like center of Europe, you can get to both Sweden or Germany fairly easily...
On May 08 2012 18:46 MinistryOfWin wrote: There is a second player going to be announced soon. He was in Korea, GOMTV House for some time. His main race is Zerg.
On May 08 2012 18:06 necrimanci wrote: try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
No one is stopping people in UK, Germany or Sweden to establish their own house like this one. But it seems that you need a bunch of people from "nowhere", with "the mentality of 14 yos" to make it. You're full of stereotypes which are full of shit.
On May 08 2012 18:06 necrimanci wrote: try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
No one is stopping people in UK, Germany or Sweden to establish their own house like this one. But it seems that you need a bunch of people from "nowhere", with "the mentality of 14 yos" to make it. You're full of stereotypes which are full of shit.
On May 08 2012 18:06 necrimanci wrote: try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
No one is stopping people in UK, Germany or Sweden to establish their own house like this one. But it seems that you need a bunch of people from "nowhere", with "the mentality of 14 yos" to make it. You're full of stereotypes which are full of shit.
On May 08 2012 17:21 MuB wrote: lol, but this is in POLAND.
And what's your point? lol
try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
Poland is much better imo. Because its much cheaper to live there. If you win $100 a tournament its a $100 wherever you live. In Norway for example, it wouldn't even cover food and toilet paper. I beleve thats one of the reasons there are so few norwegian pro gamers.
Btw, the house looks awsome, and great news Snute!
I've been wondering about the exact location and the exterior of the house, so I've done some investigating based on hints in the videos, and I believe this is the exterior of the house (blurred the details in case they don't want people to know)
I have no idea how housing prices look in Poland - but that house, combined with the limited shots of the landscaping - that's like an expensive house!
damn that is so sexy, i love the motion sensor lighting and LOL the bullet proof windows! but seriously i hope whoever gets the chance to jump on this ship takes the opportunity to train their hearts out without thinking it's a vacation :D even tho it kinda slightly is aint it?
On May 09 2012 02:37 remedium wrote: How is this funded?
I have no idea how housing prices look in Poland - but that house, combined with the limited shots of the landscaping - that's like an expensive house!
Twelve people at $750/month [I think it's something like that] = $9000 USD. There is a lot of places in the U.S you can rent a house like this for less than 9k and labor is likely cheaper in the area of the house.
On May 09 2012 02:37 remedium wrote: How is this funded?
I have no idea how housing prices look in Poland - but that house, combined with the limited shots of the landscaping - that's like an expensive house!
Twelve people at $750/month [I think it's something like that] = $9000 USD. There is a lot of places in the U.S you can rent a house like this for less than 9k and labor is likely cheaper in the area of the house.
Oh I see. Didn't realize the players were paying.
That's still hella cheap rent for a real nice place.
It's gonna be a fail. Pretty much like EG house. Manager room? Come on that's ridicules. I bet that players going to spend more time in yakuzi, sauna or drinking beer on garden (if weather allowed) rather than training and improving.
On May 09 2012 10:21 Nillinch wrote: It's gonna be a fail. Pretty much like EG house. Manager room? Come on that's ridicules. I bet that players going to spend more time in yakuzi, sauna or drinking beer on garden (if weather allowed) rather than training and improving.
Good luck anyway.
No difference is everyone living in the house is paying money out of their own pockets to live there. They won't be pissing away their time not practising.
Wow a really nice house. Comparing those bathrooms, to what normal bathrooms look like in poland makes you want to cry. I wish you the best of luck MinistryOfWin and to the players staying there.
Awesome! But what do they do in periods where the only have like maybe 6-8 players living there? Wouldn't that put them at a deficit or would the players just have to pay more?
Also I didn't quite catch this but will Zerg, Protoss and Terran players be practicing in different rooms or are they just staying in different rooms? Cause I'd get quite tired of running up and down to practice ZvT and talk the game over with the other player :p
If the rent of 500 euro is true wouldn't it have been better to cut the luxery a little bit to make it abit cheaper to live in since most pro gamers are pretty broke ?
But I hope really badly it's gonna be a huge success ;D
On May 08 2012 18:06 necrimanci wrote: try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
No one is stopping people in UK, Germany or Sweden to establish their own house like this one. But it seems that you need a bunch of people from "nowhere", with "the mentality of 14 yos" to make it. You're full of stereotypes which are full of shit.
Still a damn nice house .. and if gamers really jump ship, maybe it is time I start to practise ??
Interesting site and statistics...
If my analyse is correct, Poland has pretty low crime/population rate of serious crimes (Homicide,robbery,car theft), in Europe... But has a lot of people in jails.
On May 09 2012 02:37 remedium wrote: How is this funded?
I have no idea how housing prices look in Poland - but that house, combined with the limited shots of the landscaping - that's like an expensive house!
Twelve people at $750/month [I think it's something like that] = $9000 USD. There is a lot of places in the U.S you can rent a house like this for less than 9k and labor is likely cheaper in the area of the house.
Forgetting, that not all of the cash goes to pay for house, but there are other expenses, you need to pay coaches(probably), driver, chef, pay for food and etc.
I´m interested to see how it turns out but one question keeps coming back to me: Are there different levels of rent the players have to pay depending on the room they sleep in? I would feel a bit awkward for example if I was sleeping in the 2 person luxury room with private bathroom and walk-in closet and had to pay the same as the guys sleeping in the room with the sloping walls who have to watch every step to not bang their head against something.
On May 06 2012 02:35 Aphasie wrote: Seems great! €500 seems quite fair considering everything is included.
Now a question: Will players be chosen based on skill only? And how does the rules for application work out? If a pro wants to live there, does some one get kicket out? etc. etc.
Im just curious, cuz there is little point in having a gaminghouse full of diamond players.
Quite fair ? Its insane. I cant believe youre from Norway and say its just fair. For €500 in Norway you would get an extremely small room with basicly fits almost 2 people. And electricity, food, internet comes in addition. They get a luxury house with tons of facilities and food includes ! Thats just crazy good.
On May 06 2012 02:35 Aphasie wrote: Seems great! €500 seems quite fair considering everything is included.
Now a question: Will players be chosen based on skill only? And how does the rules for application work out? If a pro wants to live there, does some one get kicket out? etc. etc.
Im just curious, cuz there is little point in having a gaminghouse full of diamond players.
Quite fair ? Its insane. I cant believe youre from Norway and say its just fair. For €500 in Norway you would get an extremely small room with basicly fits almost 2 people. And electricity, food, internet comes in addition. They get a luxury house with tons of facilities and food includes ! Thats just crazy good.
Norway is the 2nd richer country per capita in the world, with very high salaries ^^
Poland is not
You can't compare the rents. For a polish player, 500€ would be way too expensive. Noone of them could afford it.
Even for Polish players it is ok I guess, that is pretty much the same that you have to pay if you live on your own (like rent, bills and other stuff). But there you have everything done and ready, so they can only play. Good deal IMO.
On May 06 2012 02:35 Aphasie wrote: Seems great! €500 seems quite fair considering everything is included.
Now a question: Will players be chosen based on skill only? And how does the rules for application work out? If a pro wants to live there, does some one get kicket out? etc. etc.
Im just curious, cuz there is little point in having a gaminghouse full of diamond players.
Quite fair ? Its insane. I cant believe youre from Norway and say its just fair. For €500 in Norway you would get an extremely small room with basicly fits almost 2 people. And electricity, food, internet comes in addition. They get a luxury house with tons of facilities and food includes ! Thats just crazy good.
Norway is the 2nd richer country per capita in the world, with very high salaries ^^
Poland is not
You can't compare the rents. For a polish player, 500€ would be way too expensive. Noone of them could afford it.
And that was his point. His reaction was towards another norwegian saying the prices were "fair", when compared to norwegian prices, it's a absurdly good deal. No norwegian should call what you get for the price only "fair".
Well, MaNa or Nerchio who won more than 30000$ each in their careers could afford it, but yes - for Polish players (excluding those from rich families) 500€ would be very expensive. It's rather an option for those with a lot of savings and very strong devotion or those who already have professional contracts and would spend their salaries on improvement. Imo the second option is quite reasonable.
On May 08 2012 18:06 necrimanci wrote: try being a foreigner in poland, where 20+ yos have the mentality of 14 yos and you can get the crap beat out of you for speaking a different language/having a different religion/different sexual orientation/skin colour
also, it's kinda... nowhere. No local tournaments. UK, Germany or Sweden would have been better, but meh
No one is stopping people in UK, Germany or Sweden to establish their own house like this one. But it seems that you need a bunch of people from "nowhere", with "the mentality of 14 yos" to make it. You're full of stereotypes which are full of shit.
We dont need EU country wars. UK has Apollo and TB - good casters (in most people's opinion). Sweden has Dreamhack - a super big LAN with tournament. Germany has the EPS, is the founding country of IEM and has HSC. France has I think the Millenium house (?) and that awesome e-Sports bar in Paris. And now Poland joins the club with this awesome gamer house.
On Topic: The house really looks awesome. Hey, if I were better I might even consider a vacation in the house ~600€ for a month vacation in Poland? All while playing SC2 and being coached? Sounds like a good deal.
Amazing project, really should be highlighted by TL. To me this seems a very real way of offering an experience akin to the Korean team-housing without the necessity of having teams with 10-20 unpaid 17-year olds. In other words, it's a western model that may just work.
If the opening of the bar is spotlighted, why not this?
Some interesting stuff: - MoW spent 250k PLN = ~80k $ to set up the home, website etc. - MoW is are thinking about opening another pro gaming house in yet another country. Ultimately they are willing to open a whole network of pro gaming houses and invest next 750k PLN =~ 240k $ in near future. - also MoW is going to set up some kind of SC2 Star League. - MoW feels that they can make a lot of money from streaming... in fact the statement by mr Krupowies makes me scratch my head (I improved the GT a bit):
The largest and most prestigious (e-sports) events broadcasted over the Internet local TV are watched by more than a million people. The organizers of those events are able to earn a million dollars from a 2-3 day venue.
EPT
GLSnute 
(![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jdOae.jpg)
