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(I don't really post on TL, so I'm not sure what acceptable to post and what's not so if there's any issue, please go ahead and change / remove it)
Originally from http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/1c8xgf/hi_rstarcraft_i_was_one_of_the_observers_for_mlg/
Hi, my handle is jayaiwhy, and people call me " Ji "
I was lucky enough to be one of the three observers for MLG Dallas 2013 Winter Championship. It has been nearly a month, and I didn't really have a chance to ask for criticisms from the viewers. I thought I'd ask the community about what they thought about my observing. After all, if it wasn't for the viewers and the community, such position as "observer" wouldn't exist.
I want to work myself up to be considered as "that observer" that the community will recognize in future tournaments. That is why, if you have the time, I would like your feedbacks on my observing.
Whether it be you don't like my camera movement, I missed what the caster was saying, you suck, etc I'm open to any form of criticism.
Before proceeding, I'd like to just say this is me asking for opinions (not MLG) about myself and my views are strictly my own.
Here are the list of games (in order of games) I observed at MLG Dallas 2013
Thorzain vs Killer
Life vs Polt
Flash vs Parting
Flash vs Innovation
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5eaEJfWUfqRjdk58UDbUSlBcBWlbyS2b[1]
Games that I recommend are
Life vs Polt Game 5
Flash vs Innovation Game 2 & 3
aaaaaaand for shameless plugs, I'll be streaming regularly over at
www.twitch.tv/jayaiwhysc2[2] so come say hi and I'll be happy to talk about things
and you can also send me a tweet @jayaiwhy and I will read every criticism given there.
I hope to be able to attend more tournaments in the future, and big thanks to the amazing MLG crew and also all the casters 
Ji
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the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing!
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I feel like observing is one of those "never gets noticed if you do it right, super noticed if you do it wrong" type of jobs. So basically the better you observe, the more seamless and natural it looks to the viewer, and the less recognition you get because nobody (in general) notices. But once you do it poorly, everyone sees.
Anyways, I watched pretty much every game above from MLG, and i didnt see anything glaring in particular, so good job! Thanks for playing an important role in our tournament experience
Random note - I feel like as a "decent" player, I notice things on the minimap more (so things like simultaneous drops etc) and would like to "jump" through those locations like we do in game. But obviously it makes it confusing and hard to follow for the average viewer or non-starcraft player. I think you did very well in drawing the line between catching all the action and keeping it smooth.
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On April 13 2013 15:24 LeeDawg wrote:
the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing!
I notice Legend when hes constantly clicking and mousing over important things on the screen that the casters don't notice. Apparently his teacher (heavendom?) is even better, but It's cool when observers do more than just follow the action. You have to have a pretty good knowledge of the game though to pick up on those little important details.
Anyways, sorry Ji for not offering any direct feedback, but perhaps it's at least something to think about 
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On April 13 2013 15:30 Tachion wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2013 15:24 LeeDawg wrote:
the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing! I notice Legend when hes constantly clicking and mousing over important things on the screen that the casters don't notice. Apparently his teacher (heavendom?) is even better, but It's cool when observers do more than just follow the action. You have to have a pretty good knowledge of the game though to pick up on those little important details. Anyways, sorry Ji for not offering any direct feedback, but perhaps it's at least something to think about
That is a great point. Legend adds a lot of little perks to his observing that no other obs does. He'll circle or point out if a player forgot stim, or if a nuke is being queued up, etc. I guess if you're looking for ways to "enhance" your observing those might be areas to start. But it may also be difficult because (im not sure, but i think legend is a very high level player on KR) if you point out the wrong things ppl might get mad.
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On April 13 2013 15:38 joshie0808 wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2013 15:30 Tachion wrote:On April 13 2013 15:24 LeeDawg wrote:
the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing! I notice Legend when hes constantly clicking and mousing over important things on the screen that the casters don't notice. Apparently his teacher (heavendom?) is even better, but It's cool when observers do more than just follow the action. You have to have a pretty good knowledge of the game though to pick up on those little important details. Anyways, sorry Ji for not offering any direct feedback, but perhaps it's at least something to think about That is a great point. Legend adds a lot of little perks to his observing that no other obs does. He'll circle or point out if a player forgot stim, or if a nuke is being queued up, etc. I guess if you're looking for ways to "enhance" your observing those might be areas to start. But it may also be difficult because (im not sure, but i think legend is a very high level player on KR) if you point out the wrong things ppl might get mad.
I pretty much try to learn from what Legend does, after all, he got me into observing
I think it was last year or early this year, I randomly had a chance to stream Legend and Parting's games on HotS Beta, and that's when I met him. Legend is actually quite chobo, as shown on Legend of the Swarm 
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On April 13 2013 15:41 jayaiwhy wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2013 15:38 joshie0808 wrote:On April 13 2013 15:30 Tachion wrote:On April 13 2013 15:24 LeeDawg wrote:
the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing! I notice Legend when hes constantly clicking and mousing over important things on the screen that the casters don't notice. Apparently his teacher (heavendom?) is even better, but It's cool when observers do more than just follow the action. You have to have a pretty good knowledge of the game though to pick up on those little important details. Anyways, sorry Ji for not offering any direct feedback, but perhaps it's at least something to think about That is a great point. Legend adds a lot of little perks to his observing that no other obs does. He'll circle or point out if a player forgot stim, or if a nuke is being queued up, etc. I guess if you're looking for ways to "enhance" your observing those might be areas to start. But it may also be difficult because (im not sure, but i think legend is a very high level player on KR) if you point out the wrong things ppl might get mad. I pretty much try to learn from what Legend does, after all, he got me into observing I think it was last year or early this year, I randomly had a chance to stream Legend and Parting's games on HotS Beta, and that's when I met him. Legend is actually quite chobo, as shown on Legend of the Swarm
Oh haha i had no idea, my bad then. I feel like more than once he pointed out something before even Artosis saw it and mentioned it (and it was relevant to a player's strategy) which is probably how I got that misconception.
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Try to tell the story of the game that is happening without the casters sounds!
That would make you an epic observer! Thats what I feel like STLegend has downpat he can show the games story with just his movement and where clicks
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On April 13 2013 18:18 freerolll wrote:
Try to tell the story of the game that is happening without the casters sounds!
That would make you an epic observer! Thats what I feel like STLegend has downpat he can show the games story with just his movement and where clicks
aha, that would actually decrease the quality of the whole viewing experience .___.
we have to learn to show what we want to show, as well as to take consideration of what the casters are saying
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as i have seen legend he doesn't follow what the casters said, at least with eng casters. And his observer job still awesome
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The only thing I can come up with that would make you stand out is if you point out things the casters have missed. Late upgrades, idle units/workers, too many workers in gas etc. Do you have a way to talk to the casters? If you could it would be great if you told them the things I mentioned.
More importent is of course that you don't miss stuff like small engangements, runbyes, drops.
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On April 13 2013 18:18 freerolll wrote:
Try to tell the story of the game that is happening without the casters sounds!
That would make you an epic observer! Thats what I feel like STLegend has downpat he can show the games story with just his movement and where clicks
On April 14 2013 01:42 Porishan wrote:
as i have seen legend he doesn't follow what the casters said, at least with eng casters. And his observer job still awesome
Legend does listen to the English casters as he observes. How do I know this? Casters occasionally bring up certain things or even ask Legend directly to show certain tabs, and he usually does it immediately.
I don't think an observer who isn't listening to the cast would do as nice of a job.
As for Ji, I almost always have complaints when I watch any tournament other than PL/GSL. I'm not vocal about it, but there have been some times that were so bad that I do remember them vividly. Your games were very well observed.
Some minor criticisms(emphasis on minor):
-You would drag and release the mouse to select a single Queen. A single click would be better for units such as that. The dragging can be distracting if there isn't much going on.
-When Polt had two reapers moving around the map early game, and Life had around 10 lings, you would always select the units when you moved the camera to observe their movement. They weren't in combat nor were they about to be. You would just watch their movement. In those situations, I don't think it's necessary to always select the units. You're also extremely fast at selecting the units, and you would occasionally miss the units. You would then drag the mouse again to select them. It could be a bit distracting.
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United Kingdom12041 Posts
On April 14 2013 01:42 Porishan wrote:
as i have seen legend he doesn't follow what the casters said, at least with eng casters. And his observer job still awesome
It's more the casters don't bother follow what he's showing us.
He pointed out so many useful things the other day that Tastosis and even Wolfdor just completely ignored despite it being super important.
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On April 13 2013 15:30 Tachion wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2013 15:24 LeeDawg wrote:
the only time an observer is noticable is when they do a bad job. i never noticed you, so that's a good thing! I notice Legend when hes constantly clicking and mousing over important things on the screen that the casters don't notice. Apparently his teacher (heavendom?) is even better, but It's cool when observers do more than just follow the action. You have to have a pretty good knowledge of the game though to pick up on those little important details. Anyways, sorry Ji for not offering any direct feedback, but perhaps it's at least something to think about
Yeah, it's nice when observers click a lot on an upgrade or something, I've noticed this from old BW casts and also when you watch GSL/PL.
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A big criticism I have against the MLG, but not really aimed at you is that they don't care about the order of the scoreboard. And while it was fine for other tournaments, now HOTS "fixed" it for the MLG with ctrl-X but broke it for anyother tournament that doesn't care to fix it.
Here's a picture I made last year about what the MLG shows and what it should be. Now it's not automatically like that anymore but it's still wrong.
+ Show Spoiler +
Since the early patches, the score for the player on the left is on the left and the right player has his score on the right. So when they fight it's easy to follow the score and supplies because the left player usually fights from the left and the right one is on the right. But the MLG makes overlays in advance so 50% of the time the left and right have their score reverted. The right score is for the left player and the left score is for the right player. It was fine for almost every other tournament except the MLG.
But now with HOTS they added the Ctrl X shortcut to choose to reverse the scoreboard on your own EXCEPT now it's not left player left score anymore it's random ! So now other tournaments show the buggy reverted scores while it was fine before. So the MLG made Blizzard break their feature just because the MLG is lazy.
So if you know a way to tell the MLG to make the overlays in 2 ways and show the right one in game it'd be nice. Not the first time people complain in a teamliquid thread though, but they don't seem to care.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IbIMQ.jpg)
