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Note: The following is an article I wrote for Fomos. The goal is to convince Kespa to market towards the English speaking market, including hiring English casters. This article will also be posted in Korean. Please, if you feel strongly about this we encourage you to share your thoughts!
Underneath the controversy surrounding the Shanghai Proleague Finals lies this sensible piece of reasoning: Kespa wants to export Starcraft to a broader, international audience. With a population 28 times larger than Korea and relatively virgin to Broodwar, China represents such an audience. The substantial benefits of converting the Chinese market is the reason Kespa is taking on so much risk, both financially and of good will.
But if Kespa is willing to risk so much for China, it should also look to reach the English speakers worldwide. After all, English is spoken in over a 100 different countries and natively by almost 500 million people. As a second or third language, the number of English speakers ranks first in the world. Compared to China, Kespa could potentially reach as many people by investing in the English market, but with far less risk.
Read the rest here
P.S. Please leave the Fomos/TL drama at the door! This thread is not about that. Hopefully there can be an amicable solution between the two soon.
PPS: This is not advocating a pay per view model! 'Monetizing' doesn't necessarily mean force payment.
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ALLEYCAT BLUES50120 Posts
I did not know that you were Daniel So(well d_so makes so much sense now :p)...very nice article,I was reading it while posting the MST groups thread.
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On July 04 2011 15:35 BLinD-RawR wrote: I did not know that you were Daniel So(well d_so makes so much sense now :p)...very nice article,I was reading it while posting the MST groups thread.
haha yeah my ID is pretty utilitarian.
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First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter.
This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it.
If these are the suggestions I have only one thing to say:
ATTN KeSPA: Keep ignoring the English market!
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Any attempt to get more Brood War in any way, shape or form is A-OK by me. Gl Hf
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The part about cease and desist letters is a joke, right?
Right?
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On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:Show nested quote +First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it.
I understand this will be a contentious issue for a lot of people. But there has to be a give and take. We are trying to get Kespa to invest money into the market by legitimately hiring English casters. They're only going to do that if there's some hope for a profit motive, and eliminating streams/youtube channels is a part of that.
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On July 04 2011 15:39 okum wrote: The part about cease and desist letters is a joke, right?
Right?
Unfortunately, it's not. And I think GomTV has proven that even if a move like this engenders some hate, ultimately it's the wise thing to do from a business perspective.
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But I like having a repository of VODs to watch historic matches that the older TLers talk about all the time...
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I just hope they don't read that and do half of what you said, while not doing the other half...
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On July 04 2011 15:40 d_so wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it. I understand this will be a contentious issue for a lot of people. But there has to be a give and take. We are trying to get Kespa to invest money into the market by legitimately hiring English casters. They're only going to do that if there's some hope for a profit motive, and eliminating streams/youtube channels is a part of that. Yes but english casters in exchange for pay to view streams hurts the community as a whole. Out of the thousands of foreigners that still follow broodwar, maybe 10-20% would be willing to pay monthly (or per-league) to watch it. You will essentially kill off the majority of a community that is already a shadow of its former self, and for what? So we can get english commentators that a lot of people don't care for anyway?
Seems like a very bad idea. A move like charging foreigners for bw will kill of the scene.
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On July 04 2011 15:42 maximuspita wrote: But I like having a repository of VODs to watch historic matches that the older TLers talk about all the time...
hopefully if they take our suggestions those VODs will still be available, but on a Kespa official site instead of a youtube one. In other words, the repository should still exist, but in a way that lets Kespa get some hits
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On July 04 2011 15:42 d_so wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:39 okum wrote: The part about cease and desist letters is a joke, right?
Right? Unfortunately, it's not. And I think GomTV has proven that even if a move like this engenders some hate, ultimately it's the wise thing to do from a business perspective.
It is too late for BW in the "english" scene, SC2 is the novelty, so it would be very difficult to attract new people to the BW side, and not having the streams in Korean , wtf, I dont really like where it is going to.
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Yelling korean casters you can't understand is a fun part in brood war and shouldn't be removed.
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On July 04 2011 15:43 moopie wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:40 d_so wrote:On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it. I understand this will be a contentious issue for a lot of people. But there has to be a give and take. We are trying to get Kespa to invest money into the market by legitimately hiring English casters. They're only going to do that if there's some hope for a profit motive, and eliminating streams/youtube channels is a part of that. Yes but english casters in exchange for pay to view streams hurts the community as a whole. Out of the thousands of foreigners that still follow broodwar, maybe 10-20% would be willing to pay monthly (or per-league) to watch it. You will essentially kill off the majority of a community that is already a shadow of its former self, and for what? So we can get english commentators that a lot of people don't care for anyway? Seems like a very bad idea. A move like charging foreigners for bw will kill of the scene.
This plan doesn't necessarily equate to a MUST PAY proposition. I'm saying that IF kespa wants to even think about a pay-per-view model (which I don't explicitly recommend), then it has to have a centralized VOD site to start with. In other words, unless Kespa directs those hits towards its own site, it has no foundation to do anything.
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On July 04 2011 15:45 palexhur wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:42 d_so wrote:On July 04 2011 15:39 okum wrote: The part about cease and desist letters is a joke, right?
Right? Unfortunately, it's not. And I think GomTV has proven that even if a move like this engenders some hate, ultimately it's the wise thing to do from a business perspective. It is too late for BW in the "english" scene, SC2 is the novelty, so it would be very difficult to attract new people to the BW side, and not having the streams in Korean , wtf, I dont really like where it is going to.
that's kinda why i did this poll a week earlier. it's part of the secondary material I will present if this plan is viewed favorably:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=237613
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On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:Show nested quote +First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it. If these are the suggestions I have only one thing to say: ATTN KeSPA: Keep ignoring the English market!
I'm right behind moopie...
The Korean casters are better than any English ones I've heard, anyways...I prefer them over any English cast, you don't even have to know what they are saying to catch onto their energy and hype and all the craziness.
Eliminating streams / VODs??? What?? I work full time in EST, I watch probably 90% of my Brood War via VODs/YT, and then catch Streams on the weekend...god only knows what KESPA would do anyways, what happens if they end up pulling a GomTV and charge for VOD service or whatever.
I'd like the pro BW scene to remain as it is.
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What I would REALLY appreciate would be subtitles for the Korean casters. I remember when supernovamaniac did some in real time and their understand of the game was unbelievable. Kim Carrier was basically predicting every single move from the match(plus he was having an orgasm because BeSt made a comeback with carriers).
What do you guys think?
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On July 04 2011 15:45 d_so wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:43 moopie wrote:On July 04 2011 15:40 d_so wrote:On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it. I understand this will be a contentious issue for a lot of people. But there has to be a give and take. We are trying to get Kespa to invest money into the market by legitimately hiring English casters. They're only going to do that if there's some hope for a profit motive, and eliminating streams/youtube channels is a part of that. Yes but english casters in exchange for pay to view streams hurts the community as a whole. Out of the thousands of foreigners that still follow broodwar, maybe 10-20% would be willing to pay monthly (or per-league) to watch it. You will essentially kill off the majority of a community that is already a shadow of its former self, and for what? So we can get english commentators that a lot of people don't care for anyway? Seems like a very bad idea. A move like charging foreigners for bw will kill of the scene. This plan doesn't necessarily equate to a MUST PAY proposition. I'm saying that IF kespa wants to even think about a pay-per-view model (which I don't explicitly recommend), then it has to have a centralized VOD site to start with. In other words, unless Kespa directs those hits towards its own site, it has no foundation to do anything. We both know that if it came to cease and desists and taking down all restreamers and community vods, a pay to watch model will follow in an instant. Its not even a "well maybe they'll charge", they will. They will do it to pay for their own bandwidth which will now need to be used up since youtube is out of the question, pay for English commentators and whatever other bells and whistles. The english speaking foreign community is not going to grow, not enough to matter. No offense, but I am completely against your suggestions. Now I'll take my leave :>
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On July 04 2011 15:47 Torenhire wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2011 15:37 moopie wrote:First, Kespa must move to control its own media content by > Creating an official, centralized and easily accessible site for VODs and live streams. > Issuing cease and desist letters to all Youtube channels and streaming accounts that show VODs and live streams. Do not want. Same with english casters for that matter. This seems to want to encourage hurting the foreign scene more than helping it. If these are the suggestions I have only one thing to say: ATTN KeSPA: Keep ignoring the English market! I'm right behind moopie... The Korean casters are better than any English ones I've heard, anyways...I prefer them over any English cast, you don't even have to know what they are saying to catch onto their energy and hype and all the craziness. Eliminating streams / VODs??? What?? I work full time in EST, I watch probably 90% of my Brood War via VODs/YT, and then catch Streams on the weekend...god only knows what KESPA would do anyways, what happens if they end up pulling a GomTV and charge for VOD service or whatever. I'd like the pro BW scene to remain as it is.
hehe you're thinking about it in terms of YOU as a viewer. You're a guy and you understand RTS games. But if Kespa wants growth in the casual viewer market like it has in the Korean viewing audience, it must have a way of communicating to the uneducated viewer what it is they're watching and why it is significant.
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