MLG vs Proleague Invitational and MLG Fall Season - Page 13

On September 14 2012 04:35 aristarchus wrote:
So I'm not surprised at all, but it's really disappointing to see the favorable treatment being given to Kespa players. 24 spots for Kespa, 6 for the rest of Korea? That's just a guarantee that no matter what the actual balance of skill is, 80% of the Koreans will be Kespa.

On September 14 2012 04:35 aristarchus wrote:
So I'm not surprised at all, but it's really disappointing to see the favorable treatment being given to Kespa players. 24 spots for Kespa, 6 for the rest of Korea? That's just a guarantee that no matter what the actual balance of skill is, 80% of the Koreans will be Kespa. There is absolutely no fairness-based justification for that. It's just Kespa throwing its weight around and MLG deciding to do whatever gets it the most viewers/money. That's how you run a reality TV show, not a legitimate sport.

I really think the community needs to start seeing starcraft as more of a sport. There's room for debate about some format details (separating qualifiers by region, for example), but no tournament that gives players advantages in the competition because of their fame or money or what company they work for should be seen as a "major" by the community.

Why are we really upset when Kespa boycotts GSL, but not upset at all when they push the other Koreans out of MLG? Are we really dumb enough that only pushing them 80% of the way out fools us?

On September 14 2012 04:41 Morieris wrote:


You do know MLG is partnered with Kespa, right? And that the event is called MLG vs Proleague. You also do realize this is a special event before the Fall Championship, which will once again be open to anyone who would like to play in it. MLG isn't pushing out non-Kespa players at all. They are putting this event on in an attempt to give people what they want to see, Kespa players in a legitimate tournament that involves non-Kespa players. They are pushing NA players with more spots most likely because it's an NA-based company, and it gives the NA players a chance to step up and legitimize themselves.

On September 14 2012 04:48 MLG_Adam wrote:



There are 8 Koreans in Dallas group play already from Raleigh results, there will be more non Kespa Koreans added into group play from the KR only online qualifier, and even more non Kespa Koreans added into group play from the MvP program.

So in fact, there are more Esports Federation players in group play with fullly paid trips than any other group/region of players.

On September 14 2012 04:57 aristarchus wrote:


Sure, but those are based on the old results before the new system. If this continues, that percentage would obviously shift substantially over time. It's unfair to give one group of players an advantage in a competition. I don't care if there are three times as many ESF as Kespa players - if that happened in a system that was biased towards Kespa players, it means that the ESF player group as a whole deserves even more spots than that.

No one is going to take MLG seriously as a sports-like competition if you don't take yourselves seriously first. Imagine if MLB gave the Yankees a 10 game handicap during the regular season because the owner of the Yankees refused to play under any other conditions. That's the same thing that's happening here, and the fact that the reaction against it isn't stronger is very good evidence that esports isn't a true sport yet.

On September 14 2012 04:57 aristarchus wrote:
No one is going to take MLG seriously as a sports-like competition if you don't take yourselves seriously first. Imagine if MLB gave the Yankees a 10 game handicap during the regular season because the owner of the Yankees refused to play under any other conditions. That's the same thing that's happening here, and the fact that the reaction against it isn't stronger is very good evidence that esports isn't a true sport yet.

On September 14 2012 05:00 Megiddosc wrote:

And I assume that nobody takes the GSL seriously as a sports-like competition either since they offer seeds for foreigners? 10 out of 21 slots at the Code A qualifiers were taken by KeSPA players. There are obviously some of them that can already play at an extremely high level.

On September 14 2012 05:00 Megiddosc wrote:

And I assume that nobody takes the GSL seriously as a sports-like competition either since they offer seeds for foreigners? 10 out of 21 slots at the Code A qualifiers were taken by KeSPA players. There are obviously some of them that can already play at an extremely high level.

On September 14 2012 05:07 aristarchus wrote:

You haven't noticed the constant complaints about the seeds? And they at least changed them so that Koreans could get them too, and they're based on results at foreign tournaments. It's still not ideal, in that they don't set out clear criteria beforehand, but it's at least based on playing success.

I'm not saying Kespa players shouldn't be in the league. I'm sure if you just held general Korean qualifiers, lots of Kespa players would qualify. But it clearly wouldn't be 80% Kespa yet. And even if it would be, it doesn't matter. Who gets to be in the tournament should be a result of a competition based on the skill of the players in starcraft, not the skill of their employers in business negotiations.