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Criticism on the state of SC2 coverage - Page 2

Forum Index > SC2 General
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IPA
Profile Joined August 2010
United States3206 Posts
June 07 2013 18:30 GMT
#21
Could not agree more with your criticism. Casting in SC2 has been my biggest disappointment with the game. I enjoy Idra's casting. I like Artosis. And....that's it.

Hyperbole, carnival barking, childish/poor humor, lack of game knowledge -- one or more of these creeps in to almost every "popular" caster we have in this community. It has bothered me from the start.

Great post!
Time held me green and dying though I sang in my chains like the sea.
stokes17
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1411 Posts
June 07 2013 18:42 GMT
#22
On June 08 2013 02:57 Sissors wrote:
Show nested quote +
ALSO STOP PREDICTING FIGHTS CASTERS. YOU NEVER HEAR A SPORTS ANNOUNCER PREDICT SOMEONE TO WIN WITH 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME WHEN THERE IS STILL ANY CHANCE.

Actually, you do.

Besides that it is also kinda stupid to have people again complaining that SC2 casters aren't good enough players and don't play enough, and at the same time we are again comparing it with regular sport announcers now. Most of them really won't be any good at the games they cover.

Not to mention I believe most casters are fairly good players also.

Idn if its this way in Europe or the rest of the world. But in American sports almost always one of the casters is a well known former player/coach. Usually accompanied by 1/2 communication professionals (Reggie miller, charles barkley, john madden, coach lou, Dick Vitel, van gundy, Jay Bilas, I could go on). So looking to traditional professional sports, I don't think you can really say the commentators "really won't be good at the games at all." Most of those people I name are hall of fame level.
Poffel
Profile Joined March 2011
471 Posts
June 07 2013 18:43 GMT
#23
Props to the OP, that's well-founded criticism in a good dosage.
Pazuzu
Profile Joined July 2011
United States632 Posts
June 07 2013 18:43 GMT
#24
On June 08 2013 03:43 Poffel wrote:
Props to the OP, that's well-founded criticism in a good dosage.


Very eloquent and straight forward too, good stuff!
"It is because intuition is sometimes right, that we don't know what to do with it"
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7032 Posts
June 07 2013 18:49 GMT
#25
"Robben plays well today..." stopped reading your post after this. :p Robben never plays well.

And duh, the recaps are marketed towards casual players and Blizzard thinks they are brain damaged and need to be spoken down to. (see WoW) It's not meant to be useful, they just want some people to be able to recognize terms they are using and then mentally file WCS as a professional e-sports thing which has ESPN like coverage.
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
FrodaN
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
754 Posts
June 07 2013 18:56 GMT
#26
On June 08 2013 03:49 Grumbels wrote:
"Robben plays well today..." stopped reading your post after this. :p Robben never plays well.

And duh, the recaps are marketed towards casual players and Blizzard thinks they are brain damaged and need to be spoken down to. (see WoW) It's not meant to be useful, they just want some people to be able to recognize terms they are using and then mentally file WCS as a professional e-sports thing which has ESPN like coverage.


Even SportCenter which does pretty watered down recaps of games uses proper terminology and details the important events of the game. Currently, WCS Today recaps show highlights and generically talks about how the winner is good at SC2 while using match history as their explanation.
Zoygot
Profile Joined September 2012
Canada42 Posts
June 07 2013 19:00 GMT
#27
I'd like to see some casters who have been labelled as "Youtube Casters" or really anyone who can't enhance a cast with in depth game knowledge to be phased out from major live events. These type of casters are great for attracting new players to the game and have their own following of fans, but are out of their element at an MLG or Dreamhack.

Just because someone has a large following doesn't mean they're entitled to cast a major event.
postmanana
Profile Joined May 2013
24 Posts
June 07 2013 19:04 GMT
#28
Yeah, I agree with everything you've said and it was eloquently stated. The first example had me laughing because it's disappointingly typical. The strange thing is that some of the casters are genuinely excited about sc2 so it's a mystery why they don't go into more detail when they're talking about the games after they've been played.

It must be very difficult and time consuming to stay on top of the pro scene, especially when it comes to tournaments that regularly have players from EU, KOR and NA but it makes an enormous difference to the viewing experience.

My ideal casting combination is a play-by-play (who doesn't try to analyse/guess) and an analytical caster who's either a current pro, a highly-ranked player or a specialist analyst whose studied a lot of recent matches. Do one job well, rather than two poorly. When Totalbiscuit and Day[9] cast together, for example, I don't want Day[9] edging into the play-by-play because that pushes Tb into the analytical role just so he has something to say.
stokes17
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1411 Posts
June 07 2013 19:06 GMT
#29
On June 08 2013 04:00 Zoygot wrote:
I'd like to see some casters who have been labelled as "Youtube Casters" or really anyone who can't enhance a cast with in depth game knowledge to be phased out from major live events. These type of casters are great for attracting new players to the game and have their own following of fans, but are out of their element at an MLG or Dreamhack.

Just because someone has a large following doesn't mean they're entitled to cast a major event.

Completely agree with you, but I wonder how would you gather a talent pool if you were MLG then? You would just look 100% to former players? Even then you have to consider the communication ability of the person in addition to simply their game knowledge.

I imagine their logic is, if this guy can cast youtube games for 100 people without a bunch of dead air, he's probably going to do a fine job at our event. Also, you probably need to submit previous work to MLG for the position-- how does a player who only analyzes team replays privately going to have a comparable application?

I just wonder how we can foster a more knowledgeable caster base beyond the 1 in a 100 former player turned caster (every caster we as the community view as "good" is a former player I'm pretty sure- at least from BW era.) Guess all us "higher level" players need to start backing some high level youtube casters so they get comparable views
RQShatter
Profile Joined August 2010
United States459 Posts
June 07 2013 19:09 GMT
#30
I completely agree. I hate watching WCS NA completely and Eu was just as bad with the "Next up we have a TvZ with 2 of [insert NA or EU] highest tier players!" As a viewer I sit here and I watch the game and I am like. This is not top tier. I leave the cast feeling like I just watched a game whos quality was that of a foreigner vs. Korean in code A qualifier. I want truth in my casts. Dont hype up a player who has been completely underperforming. tell me they have been sucking completely and that you would be suprised if they pulled out a win. That hypes up their win more than anything. We watch tournies. We see through the bullshit when you hype up a lower tier player. Its not needed and doesnt make anyone excited about them.
Loser777
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
1931 Posts
June 07 2013 19:09 GMT
#31
On 'the state' of SC2 coverage? I think this has been the state for so long that everyone just got used to it. Occasionally a commentator will say something meaningful before a match, but I've gotten used to those being rare, unexpected moments.
6581
deo.deo
Profile Joined April 2010
135 Posts
June 07 2013 19:10 GMT
#32
nowadays its more important for casters to have matching outfits and sit behind some fancy broadcasting desk.

It's really time to get back to the basics, get some fundamentally solid people that don't promote their own brand while also casting a starcraft game.
StarStruck
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
25339 Posts
June 07 2013 19:12 GMT
#33
Someone give the OP a pat on the back. Well done.
CatsPajamas
Profile Joined October 2010
United States337 Posts
June 07 2013 19:13 GMT
#34
Hey everyone! This is actually really great feedback for us. I'd like to talk a little about the process here and let you know how we're incorporating the feedback:

1.) WCS Today started as a quick recap show, meant to show you everything you missed from the day before and get you ready for the upcoming matches. However, since the launch of our new WCS Portal, that focus mostly changes now as you can go to a site and catch up on everything you've missed.

2.) Going forward, we're going to evaluate all the comments and criticism here to implement into future episodes. We definitely feel the focus should steer more towards telling the story of the players, and we'll work to improve.

I've passed on the criticism to the entire core team here and we're reviewing to see how we can improve.

Thanks!

Kevin
http://twitter.com/kevinknocke
larse
Profile Blog Joined March 2012
1611 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-06-07 19:19:41
June 07 2013 19:18 GMT
#35
Very good criticisms.

The WCS today was supposed to provide information about what happened.

Just put the results out, in a chart, or in the beginning of the video.

Speaking is not a good way of presenting this.
Sabu113
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States11110 Posts
June 07 2013 19:19 GMT
#36
Great post and very well put. Some things about the professional side of sc2 are too friendly and not efficient enough. We have a surfeit of casters but not necessarily casting talent.

The one critique that particularly hit home though was problem 1. I think it's weirdly striking how youtube casters who knew little to nothing about the game itself did a better job creating a narrative surrounding players. Dinotoss who never wins. Evil pikachu kwanro. Mr 14CC. Chintoss! The guy who ended flash's tvt spree.

They weren't great but I feel in hind sight like they made more faceless stars into someone or a narrative.
Biomine is a drunken chick who is on industrial strength amphetamines and would just grab your dick and jerk it as hard and violently as she could while screaming 'OMG FUCK ME', because she saw it in a Sasha Grey video ...-Wombat_Ni
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25563 Posts
June 07 2013 19:19 GMT
#37
I think this is a reasonable, thoughtful, and good criticism of a lot of sc2 casting and announcing. I certainly would enjoy more if casters talked about games the way I did with my friends-- specific references to tactics, big plays that happened, why you feel a certain way, and so on. That being said, I do understand why things are they way they are. Rarely is the choice (in life or in industry) between what is right and what is wrong-- it is between what is right and what is easy. It's easy to pick someone who talks a lot and fills silence with unmeaningful words. It might seem obvious to us that fan blogs and videos are of higher quality and are cooler, and hiring someone like that, or commissioning a work like that, would be a better strategy, but that doesn't mean it's something that's considered doable by those who organize tournaments.

There are legitimate fears about being wrong, or perceived as wrong, and in a lot of ways it's easier to go with what you're doing, even if it's worse, than try to change something and potentially make a mistake. It's easy to be safe, and it's easy to justify being safe. That being said, I'm glad that this article was written, and I enjoyed reading it. Putting to words what a lot of us think but haven't really articulated is valuable, and if there will be a change, it starts with something like this.
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
Nathanias
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States290 Posts
June 07 2013 19:19 GMT
#38
A lot of brutal truths about casting atm. The only bit I can offer is that as someone who literally only consumes SC2 Content (no TV, books, other games, etc) 24/7, we are expected to know a ridiculous amount of information off-hand at any given moment, and although I can read into a TvP and tell you all about the little things the players do its frustratingly difficult to stay on top of things like go4sc2cup results when it comes to the aforementioned Krass vs Harstem match. Keep in mind the only people who are paid to cast are the ones you see at live events 99% of the time, or if they have a studio like MLG or ESL.

I think another hindrance is that while I don't mind doing research, almost none of us have production like GOM that will feed us those interesting per map/race stats. Even if I'm busy casting another part of an event, and miss a series where Vibe does a new ZvP build, suddenly I'm a terrible caster for not knowing this was the game 3 all-in he did at the last dream hack.

It's not easy for anyone and while we certainly are aware of your problems, there are many pieces of production that are missing where the tournament organisers can make that information so much more accessibl

I tried not to make this a rant but I just want to agree with you while also making it known that we aren't just ignoring you while counting stacks of bills.
CommentatorNever give up, Never surrender
JP Dayne
Profile Joined June 2013
538 Posts
June 07 2013 19:23 GMT
#39
I feel sad that I have to agree with the OP.

It seems the "industry" is trying to milk the money in a forced kinda way with how they present the content.

Their editorial settings should definetly be reviewed.
Metak
Profile Joined August 2011
296 Posts
June 07 2013 19:31 GMT
#40
I want to contribute to this thread by saying what many have said before me, the OP is really well put. I guess it's part of the ongoing professionalisation of our scene and I think there's many that should read this and act upon it. Thanks!
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