TeamLiquid's Hot_Bid went to MLG Dallas to do his usual thing, asking your favorite pro-gamers and pro-gaming related personalities random questions about pop culture, funny stories in their lives, and occasionally topics related to StarCraft II.
Day Three
djWHEAT DjWheat talks of his wife's recent surgery, how MiniWheat is into Pokemon now, and his love of graphic novels. Also we did these outside without a tripod so enjoy seeing the camera shake in the wind as my arm gets tired.
Husky Husky and HotBid tried to talk about the things Husky does outside of StarCraft, but it turns out he doesn't do anything but StarCraft so they chill and I think we all learn a little bit about his personality.
Purge We spoke with Dota commentator PurgeGamers about his first MLG experience and how it compares to the IPL he went to last year. He also gives his thoughts on MLG and Dota.
Slasher Slasher discusses his general thoughts on esports, ranging in games from Call of Duty to League of Legends and Dota 2 in addition to Heart of the Swarm and the changes to MLG's format this time around.
Day Two
EG.Incontrol Geoff goes over what his life is like and how he sees himself in the StarCraft world right now, as he makes a transition over to primarily caster rather than player.
EG.HuK HuK discusses his thoughts on HotS, MLG's format for this tournament, the difficulties of living in Korea and the EGTL house problems as well as his thoughts on life and relationships. He also tells HotBid he's not going to be a part of his eventual wedding.
EG.Suppy Suppy talks about his CSL win, plans for school, the options for a post-esports career and reveals an odd youtube fetish. They also discuss his dating life and HotBid gives him some tips on meeting women.
ROOTViBE ViBE and TL talk about HotS, SC2, and the lifestyle of being a part of ROOT. ViBE tells his other gaming hobbies and shares some stories about his WoW career.
Day One
Liquid`Ret Ret shows off the new TL uniform and talks about how his life has made a turn for the better in 2013 before Hot_Bid hijacks the interview to subtly brag about how he can lift more than Rotterdam.
ROOTMinigun Chad "Needless Expletive" Jones talks about his chilly relationship with IdrA, laments having to face ST_Life in round one of MLG, and exhausts Hot_Bid's repertoire of questions as he tries his best not to give us any dirt on ROOT.
At first I was always just "ehhh" with Hot_bid's interviews but I'm starting to get it and find them hilarious. "You can go clubbing together!" "........... yeah."
On March 16 2013 22:32 algue wrote: Hotbid should make a troll interview with the korean players especially Flash. I would love to see how they react and answer.
It's incredibly difficult to make a funny troll interview when they don't speak English at all.
Hotbid really should have taught Huk how to say "nigeragua"....... But seriously I wish they would have talked about proleague, Huk spoke out a few times about the issues and it would be cool to hear him expand on it.
As someone that doesn't follow Vibe it's really cool watching his interview because he seems like such a confident and well spoken guy. I'm so used to a lot of the sc2 guys being kinda timid (I know there are exceptions) but he seems like a really cool guy. Good interview.
On March 17 2013 16:46 BigKahunaBurger wrote: Why do you only have interviews with boring NA players that don't win?
Because you like being warned by mods.
Seriously though, they interview people that are willing to do interviews first. Then there's the language barrier. They don't have a translator ready and waiting to do every on-the-fly translations for Korean players. Then there's the fact that a lot of the jokes and such will be lost in translation.
On March 17 2013 16:46 BigKahunaBurger wrote: Why do you only have interviews with boring NA players that don't win?
Because you like being warned by mods.
Seriously though, they interview people that are willing to do interviews first. Then there's the language barrier. They don't have a translator ready and waiting to do every on-the-fly translations for Korean players. Then there's the fact that a lot of the jokes and such will be lost in translation.
It just seems like its more about how much attention HotBid can get from being SOOOO RANDUM AND AWKWARD XD instead of offering genuine insight into how players are doing going into a serious tournament.
Like seriously, there's a Huk interview every tournament he's at. Could we hear from Innovation? Life? They have translators, no?
But you're right, no Koreans have personality. MC isnt there or anything.
It's a farce, and I won't stand for it any longer.
On March 17 2013 16:46 BigKahunaBurger wrote: Why do you only have interviews with boring NA players that don't win?
Because you like being warned by mods.
Seriously though, they interview people that are willing to do interviews first. Then there's the language barrier. They don't have a translator ready and waiting to do every on-the-fly translations for Korean players. Then there's the fact that a lot of the jokes and such will be lost in translation.
It just seems like its more about how much attention HotBid can get from being SOOOO RANDUM AND AWKWARD XD instead of offering genuine insight into how players are doing going into a serious tournament.
Like seriously, there's a Huk interview every tournament he's at. Could we hear from Innovation? Life? They have translators, no?
But you're right, no Koreans have personality. MC isnt there or anything.
It's a farce, and I won't stand for it any longer.
You haven't watched any of these interviews by the looks of it. They actually touch a little on the personalities of the players they interview, their views on not just games, but life in general and so much more. With the casual mood, the players are actually much more likely to talk about more personal things and bring up things that they wouldn't have otherwise. You're just not seeing that because you're biased against Western players.
The thing with these types of interviews is that if Koreans did it, they'd need to have a solid command over the English language. The best of them so far is Polt, and despite his grasp on the language, he still finds it very hard to speak the language itself.
You can't get the desired responses if half of what's being talked about isn't understood or poorly translated, and if you changed the interview format, you're more likely to get answers from the Koreans that are generic even if you try your hardest to get a different response out of them (unless you're Parting or MC, the two people that actually have the guts to bring out their personalities in interviews).
Then take the media training these Koreans have had. Do you think you'll really get an honest answer out of them? Do you think they'll talk about what it is they really like and dislike and go in-depth with topics that could cause slight problems to themselves and/or their teams?
I'd like to see people try, but you'll be hard-pressed to find people that can bring a lot out of the Korean players in interviews, especially if they're not Korean themselves.
Oh god, watching the HuK interview, paraphrasing...
"What do you think of the new format?" "I'm not happy about it, I mean. You either get lucky, or not lucky, and like, I got not lucky..."
This kind of attitude is so prevalent in so many of the foreigner players, certainly in HuK for a long time (at least judging from public personas). It is really frustrating, how can the players actually improve when they keep attributing their shortcomings to external factors all the time? Teams should really focus on changing this kind of attitude in their players, it really is such a fundamental aspect of competitive players in any form of competition to have the right attitude.
In an unrelated note, I hope specifically Coach Park with EG-TL has at least this much impact on the team.
On March 17 2013 20:50 fer wrote: Oh god, watching the HuK interview, paraphrasing...
"What do you think of the new format?" "I'm not happy about it, I mean. You either get lucky, or not lucky, and like, I got not lucky..."
This kind of attitude is so prevalent in so many of the foreigner players, certainly in HuK for a long time (at least judging from public personas). It is really frustrating, how can the players actually improve when they keep attributing their shortcomings to external factors all the time? Teams should really focus on changing this kind of attitude in their players, it really is such a fundamental aspect of competitive players in any form of competition to have the right attitude.
In an unrelated note, I hope specifically Coach Park with EG-TL has at least this much impact on the team.
He got put up against Innovation in the first round of a single elimination tournament. Would you not say it was lucky for any of the foreigners who got another foreigner first round? Even top pros say sometimes their tournament wins are due to good luck, would you classify that as an attitude that needs to change as well? Obviously sometimes people are put in bad luck situations, and to me it is obviously on the side of bad luck that Huk got put up against such a top contender right away. Not that he would've been guaranteed to get passed round 1 with anyone, but I bet he would feel a whole lot better playing minigun or vibe for example.
I really enjoyed all the interviews, Hotbid sure has a gift for making even 20 minute long interviews fun to watch.
Smix interview pls! ..Hotbid most entertaining interviewer ever! asking questions that are not the type that just repeated over and over by each interviewer.
Hotbid does really good interviews imo.. and the people he's interviewing react in a positive way and we all get what we want from the interview to begin with, good info and minor trolling
Seriously, fuck Slasher. Which, on an unrelated tangent, always sounds like some creepy sexual killer. He fucks, then slashes. Or does he fuck the slash he made with his knife? These are the things that keep me up at night.
Incontrol makes a good point about the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players (especially foreigners). But I suppose that's the price to pay for all the extra exposure and internet herd mentality. Still, it gets tired after a while.
husky is such a dick in this interview... what were you implying with the camera and TL remark? from my experiences, TL has always produced high quality products and I hope this trend continues.
On March 18 2013 14:33 vesicular wrote: Incontrol makes a good point about the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players (especially foreigners).
It is a bit ironic that the team he represents recently got some flack for that exact attitude towards a player.
Husky is awesome for saying fallout 2 is far better than 3 and saying he beat the new SimCity game in 8 minutes (obvious exaggeration but still dramatically less depth than previous SimCity games). Modern gaming has gone too shit aside from SC2 and even in that the story has fallen apart.
On March 18 2013 14:33 vesicular wrote: Incontrol makes a good point about the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players (especially foreigners).
It is a bit ironic that the team he represents recently got some flack for that exact attitude towards a player.
How does the puma contract compare to people bashing foreigner players every LR?
On March 18 2013 14:33 vesicular wrote: Incontrol makes a good point about the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players (especially foreigners).
It is a bit ironic that the team he represents recently got some flack for that exact attitude towards a player.
How does the puma contract compare to people bashing foreigner players every LR?
I don't know what you're talking about. I even singled out the sentence I talked about. It's the only sentence in my quote, just to make it absolutely obvious to see what sentence I'm referring to. To make it impossible for people like you to twist around so they pretend I'm talking about something else. But I'll repeat it, just for you: I'm talking about, and I quote: "the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players".
On March 18 2013 14:33 vesicular wrote: Incontrol makes a good point about the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players (especially foreigners).
It is a bit ironic that the team he represents recently got some flack for that exact attitude towards a player.
How does the puma contract compare to people bashing foreigner players every LR?
I don't know what you're talking about. I even singled out the sentence I talked about. It's the only sentence in my quote, just to make it absolutely obvious to see what sentence I'm referring to. To make it impossible for people like you to twist around so they pretend I'm talking about something else. But I'll repeat it, just for you: I'm talking about, and I quote: "the "what have you done for me lately" attitude people have towards players".
A team, which is paying a player, kinda has the right to expect certain things for their money. That's a completely different situation.
On March 17 2013 20:50 fer wrote: Oh god, watching the HuK interview, paraphrasing...
"What do you think of the new format?" "I'm not happy about it, I mean. You either get lucky, or not lucky, and like, I got not lucky..."
This kind of attitude is so prevalent in so many of the foreigner players, certainly in HuK for a long time (at least judging from public personas). It is really frustrating, how can the players actually improve when they keep attributing their shortcomings to external factors all the time? Teams should really focus on changing this kind of attitude in their players, it really is such a fundamental aspect of competitive players in any form of competition to have the right attitude.
In an unrelated note, I hope specifically Coach Park with EG-TL has at least this much impact on the team.
He got put up against Innovation in the first round of a single elimination tournament. Would you not say it was lucky for any of the foreigners who got another foreigner first round? Even top pros say sometimes their tournament wins are due to good luck, would you classify that as an attitude that needs to change as well? Obviously sometimes people are put in bad luck situations, and to me it is obviously on the side of bad luck that Huk got put up against such a top contender right away. Not that he would've been guaranteed to get passed round 1 with anyone, but I bet he would feel a whole lot better playing minigun or vibe for example.
I really enjoyed all the interviews, Hotbid sure has a gift for making even 20 minute long interviews fun to watch.
It's just the overall attitude of trying to rationalize your failures to external factors. Comments like "I played okay, but it felt like no matter what I was going to be behind so..." He says he's not happy about the new format because it screwed him over(?), while other "lucky" foreigners who got to play other foreigners in the first round must be "pretty happy about it".
He also mentions he's never had any "slave-player" access for practice like Kespa teams do, so the effort you put into getting better the game is irrelevant. Never mind any of the ESF players like Life, Bomber, Parting (previously), Squirtle, the entire LG-IM lineup, obviously those players don't count. In fact, someone should go over there and give them the memo that their efforts are forfeit, and they should give up right now.
"I didn't have like a very rigid, rigid schedule." I think this one speaks for itself more than anything. He brings this one up like it was an opportunity that he's never been given, not something he should build for himself. See what I mean by externalizing?
He says he only wishes he could talk to players like Mvp (or other Koreans) about strategy, and tactics, and what not. I don't know if this one irks me the most or not. With this one, you are essentially assuming these players have an intrinsic adeptness at StarCraft. Mvp was great from the start. You get good because you have access to discuss the game with world-class players like Mvp and gang. You are indirectly saying there is no way for you to build up your own skill from the ground (like they had to) and become yourself the Mvp players want to talk to. Indirectly you are saying you at a disadvantage because you are not Korean. Indeed at the end of his response, he jokingly admits maybe he should learn Korean.
Sorry if this looks like I'm attacking HuK, this was just the interview at hand. HuK's not really special when it comes to this. This is, mostly, just the way non-Koreans approach the game. This is also not an easy attitude to change. I think it's also up to pro-team coaches and managers to try and make this change in their players. But really as long as this doesn't happen, I don't see the non-Korean vs Korean situation making a turn any time soon.
Oh god, watching the HuK interview, paraphrasing...
"What do you think of the new format?" "I'm not happy about it, I mean. You either get lucky, or not lucky, and like, I got not lucky..."
This kind of attitude is so prevalent in so many of the foreigner players, certainly in HuK for a long time (at least judging from public personas). It is really frustrating, how can the players actually improve when they keep attributing their shortcomings to external factors all the time? Teams should really focus on changing this kind of attitude in their players, it really is such a fundamental aspect of competitive players in any form of competition to have the right attitude.
In an unrelated note, I hope specifically Coach Park with EG-TL has at least this much impact on the team.
He got put up against Innovation in the first round of a single elimination tournament. Would you not say it was lucky for any of the foreigners who got another foreigner first round? Even top pros say sometimes their tournament wins are due to good luck, would you classify that as an attitude that needs to change as well? Obviously sometimes people are put in bad luck situations, and to me it is obviously on the side of bad luck that Huk got put up against such a top contender right away. Not that he would've been guaranteed to get passed round 1 with anyone, but I bet he would feel a whole lot better playing minigun or vibe for example.
I really enjoyed all the interviews, Hotbid sure has a gift for making even 20 minute long interviews fun to watch.
I am going to italicize so I don't need to make extra spaces
It's just the overall attitude of trying to rationalize your failures to external factors. Comments like "I played okay, but it felt like no matter what I was going to be behind so..." He says he's not happy about the new format because it screwed him over(?), while other "lucky" foreigners who got to play other foreigners in the first round must be "pretty happy about it". This is just common sense dude, it has nothing to do with attitude. He also mentions he's never had any "slave-player" access for practice like Kespa teams do, so the effort you put into getting better the game is irrelevant. Never mind any of the ESF players like Life, Bomber, Parting (previously), Squirtle, the entire LG-IM lineup, obviously those players don't count. In fact, someone should go over there and give them the memo that their efforts are forfeit, and they should give up right now. Those players helped him for sure and you forgot the most important imo MC; however, none of these players are slaves and had their own practice and stuff to do. What huk is refering to here is on kespa teams they have players there specifically to do whatever you tell them to do. like hey rush me 100 times in this specific manner. "I didn't have like a very rigid, rigid schedule." I think this one speaks for itself more than anything. He brings this one up like it was an opportunity that he's never been given, not something he should build for himself. See what I mean by externalizing? I agree that this is something he should do himself, he used to play more than anyone I remember hearing that once or twice from different korean interviews. like 12-14 hour days of practice during his high period (dreamhack/HSC win) He says he only wishes he could talk to players like Mvp (or other Koreans) about strategy, and tactics, and what not. I don't know if this one irks me the most or not. With this one, you are essentially assuming these players have an intrinsic adeptness at StarCraft. Mvp was great from the start. You get good because you have access to discuss the game with world-class players like Mvp and gang. You are indirectly saying there is no way for you to build up your own skill from the ground (like they had to) and become yourself the Mvp players want to talk to. Indirectly you are saying you at a disadvantage because you are not Korean. Indeed at the end of his response, he jokingly admits maybe he should learn Korean. You missed his point completely, it has nothing to do with skill levels here he is only talking about the language barrier and how it makes it really hard to just walk up to someone you are living with(the whole point of team houses) and say "hey bro! i am struggling with a 11/11 fast push with mines, what beats you when you try that build?" I don't really know why you forced what your point is into this one, makes no sense. Sorry if this looks like I'm attacking HuK, this was just the interview at hand. HuK's not really special when it comes to this. This is, mostly, just the way non-Koreans approach the game. This is also not an easy attitude to change. I think it's also up to pro-team coaches and managers to try and make this change in their players. But really as long as this doesn't happen, I don't see the non-Korean vs Korean situation making a turn any time soon. I agree
All in all I agree that most progamers that are foreigners, have really poor attitudes. but tone down the passion bro you are killing esports. Kappa lol <3
EPT
..Hotbid most entertaining interviewer ever! asking questions that are not the type that just repeated over and over by each interviewer.
