WSL (Women Starcraft II League) about to start - Page 6

On August 01 2013 14:52 ninazerg wrote:


I already verbally obliterated gr33n in that thread. He had zero chance.

#letzombiecast

On August 01 2013 14:51 lichter wrote:


In an online game, why are regional competitions important?

I can understand that the infrastructure of traditional sport was built on regional tournaments, local fans and support, and locally sourced talent. That's understandable because you could only really watch the teams nearby. But SC2 and esports do not have these kinds of geographic restrictions (ok, some lag but we can fix that) because a.) of internet and technology (communications is easier, forums allow disparate communities to interact, streaming matches, VODs, etc); b.) tournaments can be held online; and c.) teams don't have to source local talent. You can see this happening in traditional sports as well, albeit slowly and with restrictions to (b). I don't see why esports needs to be structured in a way similar to traditional sports in such a rigid way.

The only reason in favour of these regional tournaments is that people want to cheer for their next door neighbor, even though they aren't very good. How is that argument different from the argument made for or against women-only competitions?

On August 01 2013 15:05 Wombat_NI wrote:

I'm not against women-only competitions btw, if only to get to see them actually play rather than sit in booths. I was just making the point that they're not the same thing, to me anyway.

You don't get better without infrastructure, and in the long-run the game would be better served by more people playing at the level of the Koreans, than nobody else but the Koreans playing.

I didn't want non-Korean WCS, but I and many others were surprised by the lack of region locking. I expected WCS NA to be players from that region, and Koreans like Polt and Violet and maybe Sage and Yugioh moving to the Root house, who have a history of personal investment in that area of the world. Players who ply their trade on NA, who will be playing against NA players and gradually raising the level. In EU we'd have forGG and a few others.

Didn't get that.

My favourite players are mostly Korean, my HerO/Oz fanboy posts should tip people off However outside of the latter I really don't care for WCS NA anymore, I could not give a fuck.

On August 01 2013 15:11 lichter wrote:


They aren't exactly the same thing, but the reasoning ends up being the same: If we want to improve the sport's infrastructure we need to be inclusive rather than exclusive (in terms of involving demographics, not tournament qualifications). The more groups of people we encourage to play and join, the better off we are. So if you support regional tournaments because you want the sport to develop in certain regions, then that reasoning still holds for women's only tournaments.

Regarding WCS: It really depends on what Blizzard's intention is. To develop local scenes, or to have a premier tournament for each time zone. It's an off-topic debate though so I won't say more than that.

On August 01 2013 15:17 Wombat_NI wrote:

Well, without wishing to derail further I'll be brief. I actually feel it's vaguely on-topic, especially as I forsee people coming in and trashing the concept of women tournaments.

Regional disparity - An infrastructure problem. Bridging that gap between being a good grandmaster and competing with people in the Korean house environment. Some form of region-locking might prevent that gap widening, and hopefully close it in future.

Female-only tournaments- A social/cultural problem. There is little impediment to women playing in the scene, bar the culture of the scene. Women aren't bridging the 'NA-Kespa house' gap, they're not hitting high ladder ranks and stagnating they're seeking an environment that is less hostile to them to begin with. Female-only tournaments can aid that.

Both are laudable, but they're different man.

On August 01 2013 15:29 Wombat_NI wrote:
Well I don't want everyone to be a part of SC2. I want SC2 to hit the smallest possible size it needs to hit to be genuinely sustainable and provide a living for those involved. Shit, semantics again I'm afraid.

Too big and it becomes like 'regular' sports, where every fucking idiot spouts nonsense in the pub rather than the sleek collection of knowledgeable nerds (for the most part) that it is today.

On August 01 2013 15:32 lichter wrote:


Well "everyone" is an exaggeration, but we definitely all want it to hit that smooth spot where everything is profitable and sustainable with positive growth. Getting more people, which includes people from different regions, genders, religions, etc, into SC2 is the answer.

On August 01 2013 15:35 Wombat_NI wrote:

True that, there's a real paucity of Buddhists playing the game.

Facetiousness aside, I do want this tournament to succeed and showcase some good play.

On August 01 2013 15:40 lichter wrote:


I was raised Buddhist but went to a Catholic school, does that count

On August 01 2013 15:43 Wombat_NI wrote:

Only if you're being serious. People aren't 'raised' Buddhist anyway, I thought they converted once they became Hollywood bigshots.