[CSL] Official Season 5 Thread - Page 7

On November 18 2011 07:29 AEsgaims wrote:
UC Berleley vs UC Davis from week 8 of season 5
g1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkNGCkwG5g
+ Show Spoiler +

I don't agree with the argument that Bo7 hurts small schools in playoffs. An integral part of any collegiate sport is PUBLICITY and HYPE. I guarantee that at least 6 people at your school have laptops capable of running starcraft 2 and can afford to buy the game. If you go to a small school, try to go to all of the tech/game related clubs and show people some sc2 pro matches and explain why it's a game worth playing.

Let me first explain why a Bo5 is not good for the growth and longevity of the CSL. It all comes down to what I call the "super-star effect", which is when one player (usually a pro/sponsored player) can carry a team all the way to playoffs and beyond. Now, the super-star in it of itself is actually quite good for everyone, he brings in outside attention and people will want to watch his games. This is good for sponsorship reasons, as well as for inspiring other college students to play more. However, a problem arises when a team completely relies on the super-star to get deep in a tournament. I can't speak for all the CSL pro players, but it's certainly possible for them to never attend a club meeting, never help with campus recruiting, and never coach/train with other team members. In fact, I kind of doubt that they would do all of those things very often because they are sponsored and have bigger things to train for.

Now I know what you're thinking. You're saying, "Well Erik, you handsome devil, there is this PROGAMER_X_ who goes to club meetings all the time and loves his team so much that he gives them all free coaching and even organized a bake sale on campus to raise awareness for the CSL. Super-stars are great and we should support them!"

Well, I would completely agree with that point! And I would also point out that in no way does changing to a Bo7 prevent any of that goodness from happening. All it does is incentivise super-stars to work more closely with their team in recruiting and training other players! You think it's cool when a pro plays in the CSL? Now what if the entire team was handpicked and coached by him. We should encourage teams to be large and deep, and IMO having an active pro-gamer on the roster makes that way more likely to occur.

I understand that a lot of schools are having problems with players not sticking around, and that's understandable since people get busy and things pop up that prevent the playing of SC2. But even holding a private barcraft or club meeting once or twice a month can go a long way in getting people invested in ESPORTS, SC2, and the CSL. Yes, it's hard work to keep people interested when you have small community, but it definitely can be done. If, for whatever reason, your school manages to get to the playoffs but somehow cannot get 6 or 7 people to play, then I think it is completely fair for those schools to forfeit matches they cannot cover. Is it disadvantageous? Of course it is. It is unfair? No, I don't think so. Recruiting and marketing is just part of how the CSL works.

Random side-rant:
The fact that there is a 2v2 in the Bo5 means that one player can represent about half of the team's skill (2v2 is way too volatile with the current map pool to be considered serious...). IMO that is way too much. Also, the CSL claims to be helping smaller schools with this format by giving them a chance to win in an unstable matchup. But if they just got rid of the 1v1, then that would actually make it easier for schools with less people to participate in the first place. And there's still a 1/9 chance for PvP, so schools with less skilled players still have the capability for an exciting upset.

TLDR:

Bo7 is the best way to encourage collegiate ESPORTS growth and diminish the "superstar" effect. We need to encourage hype and promotional activities in as many communities as possible. A Bo5 isn't fair to schools that work hard to recruit and train a lot of solid players. A Bo7 or maybe even a Bo9 in the late rounds encourages all schools to vamp up recruiting efforts and training between players. The only negative is that maybe a school with a student body of 5 people will not be able to participate.

On March 20 2012 14:02 ReketSomething wrote:
Hi!

Im coordinator @ HMC and I have no problems with Bo7 and I think it will be kinda cool.

I must say you are pretty mean for shitting on HMC after all. I mean, last season we had 0 3-2 wins and this season we have 4 3-2 wins (so most of our wins aren't 3-2 wins)

Also, we are a school with 750 people (one of the smallest colleges I'm sure). So we are a small school, where everyone knows everyone and there is no handpicking shit that happens. Stop making up random bullshit when you don't even know anything about our school.

kthx
cu in playoffs
should be fun

On March 20 2012 14:14 T.O.P. wrote:
BO5. If BO7, then players who play in 2v2 should be able to play in 1v1, just like last season. I have a hard enough time getting 5 players to show up on Saturday as it is. I'm not the only coordinator with this problem. Just look at the number of match forfeits.

On March 20 2012 14:59 shindigs wrote:
If you let 2v2 players play in 1v1s wouldn't that defeat the purpose of trying to dampen star power?

On March 20 2012 14:14 T.O.P. wrote:
BO5. If BO7, then players who play in 2v2 should be able to play in 1v1, just like last season. I have a hard enough time getting 5 players to show up on Saturday as it is. I'm not the only coordinator with this problem. Just look at the number of match forfeits.