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WinterSC Talks: GSL Cuts, Stormgate, & Gamers8

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
StarcraftHistorian
Profile Joined November 2022
United States138 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-04-05 15:37:12
April 05 2023 14:39 GMT
#1
I had the chance to sit down with WinterStarcraft recently and we got to cover quite a few interesting topics. Starting with his beginnings in SC, to life as a streamer, and much more.

Hope you all enjoy!



Check out all my content here
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1894 Posts
April 07 2023 08:28 GMT
#2
Without watching: Has he been honest about his beginnings as a streamer? I somehow smell that he might have left out some details on his 'upcoming'...
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
Crocolisk Dundee
Profile Blog Joined October 2015
870 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-04-07 15:28:20
April 07 2023 15:21 GMT
#3
I respect Winter's candid response in which he addresses ESL and the upcoming Gamers8 tournament being funded by pervasive human rights violators from Saudi Arabia.
Stopped watching ESL content in 2022 when the company was acquired by Savvy Gaming Group. Also object to sponsorships by the U.S. Air Force. Thanks for the lively discussions about sportswashing. StarCraft II is not for me anymore.
aringadingding
Profile Joined September 2010
476 Posts
April 07 2023 18:06 GMT
#4
Great interview. Interesting. Winter has been a trooper when it comes to sc2. I remember when i started to notice his stream. It was during a time when there was NOT that many people focusing very hards on the streaming aspects. Most people were grinding and showed up inconsistently. Winter however was like a clockwork and VERY interactive with the chat. And, as he mentioned in the stream, he streamed A LOT. Furthermore, he knows how to talk and is a rather fast thinker, and i think that also was/is important to his success.
The_Red_Viper
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
19533 Posts
April 07 2023 18:25 GMT
#5
Very true, but the viewbotting might have helped too
IU | Sohyang || There is no God and we are his prophets | For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.” | Ignorance is the parent of fear |
aringadingding
Profile Joined September 2010
476 Posts
April 07 2023 18:45 GMT
#6
i know a few vocal people are obsessing with the viewbot stuff, but people MUST realize that it probably did not help at all. Its a bit sad that people actually thought it meant a lot. The most simple explanation is often the correct one. And this is what I mentioned above, i.e. streaming consistently, almost every day, for many hours, with constant chat interaction and preparation. Instead of better players showing up streaming 3 hours one day, then off for 5 days, then 2 hours, the off for a a day etc. For me, for example, i dont look at the amount of viewers, and even if it would mean i would tune into the stream, i would not watch if the stream was bad. Sc2 is not that huge that there is a huge of amount of streamers so its safe to say that many viewers check out more than one stream. That being said, i dont like the viewbot thing, but for the love of god, let it go now. He has probably attracted a lot of people into sc2.
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1894 Posts
April 08 2023 09:15 GMT
#7
On April 08 2023 03:45 aringadingding wrote:
i know a few vocal people are obsessing with the viewbot stuff, but people MUST realize that it probably did not help at all. Its a bit sad that people actually thought it meant a lot. The most simple explanation is often the correct one. And this is what I mentioned above, i.e. streaming consistently, almost every day, for many hours, with constant chat interaction and preparation. Instead of better players showing up streaming 3 hours one day, then off for 5 days, then 2 hours, the off for a a day etc. For me, for example, i dont look at the amount of viewers, and even if it would mean i would tune into the stream, i would not watch if the stream was bad. Sc2 is not that huge that there is a huge of amount of streamers so its safe to say that many viewers check out more than one stream. That being said, i dont like the viewbot thing, but for the love of god, let it go now. He has probably attracted a lot of people into sc2.


No, hard disagree, it did help with EVERYTHING, he was there with ~1k viewers out of nowhere and the people with most views get... wait for it... more views! Always has been like this on twitch, so please don't try to make it sound as if this did not play a role, it kickstarted everything for him.

And like with cheaters this is about integrity, so hard pass with no chance for appeal for me.
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
aringadingding
Profile Joined September 2010
476 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-04-08 17:59:33
April 08 2023 17:57 GMT
#8
get a life Creager. It was not "out of nowhere". Just admit you dont like him. Maybe you are right if he used the most complex viewbots ever that subbed, donated and discussed stuff all the time during the streams.... I have been watching sc2 for a long time and what you describe is not reality.

EDIT: considering the amount of viewers he had and what other players had, the activity was WAY above most of the other peoples streams.

User was warned for this post
Slydie
Profile Joined August 2013
1919 Posts
April 08 2023 19:38 GMT
#9
On April 09 2023 02:57 aringadingding wrote:
get a life Creager. It was not "out of nowhere". Just admit you dont like him. Maybe you are right if he used the most complex viewbots ever that subbed, donated and discussed stuff all the time during the streams.... I have been watching sc2 for a long time and what you describe is not reality.

EDIT: considering the amount of viewers he had and what other players had, the activity was WAY above most of the other peoples streams.


Can someone dig up some old TL posts about streaming hours and views to end this discussion?

Back in the day, his viewer number vs. content did seem very fishy indeed, and others were sinking in a lot of hours too.

I don't think he is viewbotting anymore, though. Being a solid contributor to the scene and cutting some corners to get a footing are not mutually exclusive.

Personally, I have often been annoyed by how self righteous Winter can be, but so can Big Gabe, especially on a bad day. In the end, I appreciate why they do for the great moments of entertainment and knowledge they do provide!
Buff the siegetank
jy_9876543210
Profile Joined March 2016
265 Posts
April 09 2023 01:06 GMT
#10
Why is there a discussion anyway? How is this guy relevant to GSL Cuts? I don't remember him being in a GSL, or am I wrong? I'd rather see a CarBot interview on GSL cuts, at least his artwork was in a few GSL maps.
Phase 1: F2    Phase 2: A   Phase 3: Profit!
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1894 Posts
April 09 2023 07:45 GMT
#11
On April 09 2023 02:57 aringadingding wrote:
get a life Creager. It was not "out of nowhere". Just admit you dont like him. Maybe you are right if he used the most complex viewbots ever that subbed, donated and discussed stuff all the time during the streams.... I have been watching sc2 for a long time and what you describe is not reality.

EDIT: considering the amount of viewers he had and what other players had, the activity was WAY above most of the other peoples streams.

User was warned for this post


Interesting knee-jerk reaction right there, so I'm assuming you must be a regular viewer of his, then? I, too, have been around since before he became a known personality within the community and with him there was no upcoming, one day he wasn't there, next day he's a top-tier streamer with very constant viewer count, yet little to 0 chat intercation for the amount of viewers?

That's how it was, this is the reality we're talking here, not whatever you are trying to sell us. And no, I usually don't do anti-Winter crusades in my freetime, I just don't consume any content featuring this guy since he's been ingenuine about the whole thing ever since it happened and I don't want to support people under false pretenses.
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
-Kyo-
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Japan1926 Posts
April 09 2023 12:38 GMT
#12
On April 09 2023 04:38 Slydie wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 09 2023 02:57 aringadingding wrote:
get a life Creager. It was not "out of nowhere". Just admit you dont like him. Maybe you are right if he used the most complex viewbots ever that subbed, donated and discussed stuff all the time during the streams.... I have been watching sc2 for a long time and what you describe is not reality.

EDIT: considering the amount of viewers he had and what other players had, the activity was WAY above most of the other peoples streams.


Can someone dig up some old TL posts about streaming hours and views to end this discussion?

Back in the day, his viewer number vs. content did seem very fishy indeed, and others were sinking in a lot of hours too.

I don't think he is viewbotting anymore, though. Being a solid contributor to the scene and cutting some corners to get a footing are not mutually exclusive.

Personally, I have often been annoyed by how self righteous Winter can be, but so can Big Gabe, especially on a bad day. In the end, I appreciate why they do for the great moments of entertainment and knowledge they do provide!


There were some really, really old threads about it, no idea if they're in my post history. Nonetheless, anyone who was streaming or knew who he was at the time can definitely confirm he went from like ~42 average viewers to 1k at random times inconsistently > consistently > leveled out after it became an issue that people were protesting (aka stopped botting, but retained the new viewers).

At the time it happened, twitch didn't do anything to people who were botting because it was a new issue and they were unable to differentiate between whether it could have been the person themselves vs others doing it in order to get their channel flagged, essentially a ddos.

The only thing I'll say about this thread though is it's at least good to hear he made a clear comment about the funds.
Anime is cuter than you. Legacy of the Void GM Protoss Gameplay: twitch.tv/kyo7763 youtube.com/user/KyoStarcraft/
TL+ Member
StarBeards
Profile Joined April 2023
1 Post
Last Edited: 2023-04-12 23:07:08
April 12 2023 23:05 GMT
#13
Anyone who played this game and watched twitch back when Winter was first starting knew he viewbotted. It was obvious. I remember multiple times during GSL his channel was sitting at 5k+ views. It was simply impossible. The man even admitted it and then deleted what he said. Legit cannot believe he still has people that watch his channel.
luxon
Profile Joined August 2012
United States112 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-04-12 23:37:16
April 12 2023 23:20 GMT
#14
On April 07 2023 17:28 Creager wrote:
Without watching: Has he been honest about his beginnings as a streamer? I somehow smell that he might have left out some details on his 'upcoming'...

My immediate thoughts too; I get he's a positive force in the community but until he comes out and owns his past mistakes, I'm not too interested.

Also re: all the comments arguing over the viewbotting, does someone have the hilarious clip where he wrote a script to donate encouraging messages to himself but he messed up the javascript so the entire source code was in the donate message?

Edit: vods are gone but https://i.imgur.com/MXTNoZk.jpg lol. A humble reminder to always test your code!

Edit 2: I am somewhat convinced @aringadingding is another one of Winter's burner, regurgitating his responses from 2015. It's not debatable - there was a TON of analysis back then showing he did, and TL resisted banning him but then eventually had to, and they make those decisions carefully. Like I say, he's a net good and it's been a decade so there's no point flaming him over it; I would've done the same too to gain initial traction back then.
gagglewig
Profile Joined April 2023
1 Post
April 13 2023 08:06 GMT
#15
On April 13 2023 08:20 luxon wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 07 2023 17:28 Creager wrote:
Without watching: Has he been honest about his beginnings as a streamer? I somehow smell that he might have left out some details on his 'upcoming'...

My immediate thoughts too; I get he's a positive force in the community but until he comes out and owns his past mistakes, I'm not too interested.

Also re: all the comments arguing over the viewbotting, does someone have the hilarious clip where he wrote a script to donate encouraging messages to himself but he messed up the javascript so the entire source code was in the donate message?

Edit: vods are gone but https://i.imgur.com/MXTNoZk.jpg dumb ways to die lol. A humble reminder to always test your code!

Edit 2: I am somewhat convinced @aringadingding is another one of Winter's burner, regurgitating his responses from 2015. It's not debatable - there was a TON of analysis back then showing he did, and TL resisted banning him but then eventually had to, and they make those decisions carefully. Like I say, he's a net good and it's been a decade so there's no point flaming him over it; I would've done the same too to gain initial traction back then.

It's so confusing, it's all new information to me
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