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Blizzard's recent announcement of the new WCS system has been controversial to say the least. On the one hand, it has generated high levels of excitement and the prize money (1.6 million) is more than they have ever committed before. On the other hand, Americans and Europeans have bemoaned the new system as cutting out the fabulous opportunities that WCS 2012 presented to both them as professional gamers and to the community as a whole.
Before delving into the problems of the WCS 2013 structure and my analysis, I do want to take a brief moment to look at some of the positives that have come from this format.
The good...
In studio matches and regularly scheduled broadcasting
This is a great thing. I love that Blizzard is going the way of NASL/GSL in working to implement more of a daily broadcast into their official platform. It's a nice thing that their partner organizations - MLG, ESL, and GSL all have studios that can accommodate this type of system. The daily broadcast model really helps to build and create storylines and develop fan relationships with the players involved. It increases the relatability and drama that can come out of such a format.
Riot's LCS system does this very well, and I think that Blizzard's method will create a similar result with much less cost induced to them (I.E. they're not paying for housing and salaryAl of over a hundred gamers). As long as these shows are well produced and enough compelling content is created to augment the actual games, I think this will be fabulous.
I am a little sad to see NASL's lack of involvement however, as no other organization is better at creating content and has more experience running a daily broadcast, except maybe GSL. Neither MLG or ESL have really worked with such a model before, and their non-event production quality and content types have been vastly outshadowed by NASL.
1.6 Million in prizes, and lots of free flights/travel
This is great, obviously. They are pumping a lot of money into the competitive scene and the travel support will really help pro gamers (and teams) create a economical and healthy infrastructure. I think a $250,000 world finals prize is great, many millions of dollars is unnecessary in my opinion and there's probably a point of diminishing returns with increased prize pool. $250,000 seems like a good number.
Industry standardized formats and point structure
Another good move. Every major tournament should feel exactly the same. A standardized experience is paramount to building a brand, so this is a good move. I also like that a points system will be created which will also grant points to 'non official' events such as the Dreamhacks or NASL's, and possibly even smaller tournaments. While details have yet to be announced, this is a positive step that will encourage tournament organizers to work and plan together, as well as to create a truly hierarchical structure with a clear balance of power. Clarity and consistency in my opinion, are key to a successful scene or community.
The bad...
This system may hurt game sales and does not promote the actual playing of the game
Much of 'the bad' has been expressed nicely in this blog. I want to touch on these points as well, but from a different angle. I argue that Blizzard, by ignoring a true Olympic style global event, will hurt overall game sales in the future. Unlike Riot, who generates profit via a micro-transaction system, Blizzard's primary avenue of revenue generation is through game sales. Whenever I think about this system, the first thing that comes to my mind is that this 2013 WCS system does not promote people playing the game. It promotes spectating. You don't need to buy StarCraft to watch it. I know there are many people on Teamliquid who don't own the game but simply enjoy watching it. By creating an official tournament structure that removes any possibility for 'average Joe gamer' to become a professional and play on a big stage, Blizzard is potentially losing people who would buy the game and play it in hopes to one day become a pro.
If you look at Riot's system, for example... they have a clearly outlined structure that rewards players for getting to Challenger tier on the ladder. While it is possible to level an account to Challenger without paying any money, most people will buy rune pages, skins, and other items in the shop in order to help their chances of advancing. Spectators are motivated to buy the champions played by their favorite players, and so on. Riot's LCS system, while incredibly costly in terms of the amount Riot has invested in funding pro teams, building studios, and its prize pool, is something that will directly lead to increased revenue. I have no idea if the increased sales of skins, champions, runes, etc is greater than the amount of money Riot is investing into its LCS, but at least there is a very clear motive there, in my opinion.
Blizzard's 2013 structure however, has no such thing. By removing the possibility for amateur players to break into the professional scene, the company is essentially saying that unless you are already a pro, or possibly Korean, there is no chance for you. Although it is technically possible, even current NA players for example, are losing interest in the game because of the difficulty of making it. If current top amateurs/semi-pro gamers can't find the motivation to play, why would a completely new user get involved in the game?
This system is bad for local scenes and communities
This is the point most touched on already - by creating a format which allows Koreans to play in any region, and summarily discontinuing tournament support in smaller markets, Blizzard is essentially creating a structure that can never build local heroes the way a truly global competition should. The Olympics is a great example. Angola may not get past the group stage in Olympic basketball, but every Angolese (is that the correct term?) who has access to a TV will likely be watching all their games. The team from Angola is the pride of their country, and the fact that they are given an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics means that for four years, basketball players in Angola are training and practicing in order to qualify for the next event.
As a mid-level American player, what hope is there to qualify in an American tournament filled with Koreans. If the rumblings are true, it won't just be B-level Koreans either, it will be several A and S class Koreans competing. While spectators love watching the highest level play, they also love relatable characters and interesting stories. Local heroes provides this, Korean players do not. Watching HuK and Scarlett duke it out on the main stage to see who will win Canada's pride is more compelling than watching Sting and YoDa fight on Canadian soil. In fact, look at WCS Europe, or WCS Canada last year as examples of why this matters. This is not to say that a WCS NA and WCS EU with 28 of the 32 participants being Korean won't generate great viewer numbers, of course they will.
The problem though, is that from a competitive standpoint, it decreases the chances a local player has of earning a living and being able to practice the necessary amount to even compete at that stage. This is fine if you are an MLG or GSL, a non-official tournament provider. Blizzard however, has a different motivation, a different obligation to its player base. Blizzard shouldn't be playing favorites, and this WCS 2013 structure is doing just that.
The real elephant in the room... Korea's influence over Blizzard
This entire structure, to me, reflects an undue influence on Blizzard by those in Korea. The entire WCS is being modeled after the Korean GSL format. The announcement was held in Korea, in a garish display that provided a lot of flash, and not enough substance. The format is also majorly beneficial to Korean players at the expense of local talent.
Koreans being freely allowed to play in WCS American and European events to me signifies that Korea basically influenced the decision making of Blizzard, or that Korean organizations have more of a say than does non Korean entities, or even Blizzard itself. Blizzard should be above these politics, and should be the ones dictating to tournament organizers what the format should be, how organizations are to cooperate, and how a global structure is to be built. It seems like what happened here is that Blizzard outsourced the solving of this problem to Korea, and Korean organizations created a structure that was highly beneficial to them.
Think about it: a Korean player may have to endure non-ideal playtimes and latency in online matches, and then will receive a free trip abroad to compete in the offline portion of the American or European WCS (if I understand correctly). This reduces the travel cost for Korean teams, who have notoriously struggled financially. This increases the likelihood of non top level Koreans being able to qualify for the world finals and win prize money. Except for a handful of 10-15 Koreans competing heavily in GSL's or last year's WCS, the only Koreans who earned money were the ones lucky enough to go overseas. Now a greater number of Korean gamers will be subsidized to go abroad and win money, and qualify for a much larger global event at the same time.
Furthermore, it is very likely that Korean players will be more favorably treated than non Korean players at these events. It has happened time and again, and will continue to happen. For example, in 2011 MLG events, Korean gamers were allowed into the playing area to practice a few hours before even top foreign players were. Online tournaments have given Korean gamers more flexibility with being late, rescheduling, or no-showing to games. This is not to say every online tournament has done this, just that it has been done for fear of angering Korean players or having Koreans withdraw participation [see NASL Season 2].
What does this mean, what are the implications
Conspiracy theory aside - and whether any of the above is true or not, and assuming it is, I don't think the structure was implicitly created with favoring Koreans in mind, but rather to allow the most-possible 'best' players the chance to advance to the global final.
However, I don't believe that this is the real goal or purpose of the World Championship Series. I view this event as the real Olympics of StarCraft 2. Even if you look at the NBA as an example: the Western conference for the entire 2000's was vastly superior to the Eastern conference. From 1998-1999, to 2008, only one Eastern conference team won. The Spurs decimated an 8-seed New York team, the Lakers eviscerated Philadelphia, Indiana, and New York, the Spurs won possibly the most lopsided Finals ever by dismantling Cleveland in 2007 - imbalances exist in the NBA. Imbalances exist globally; in the Olympics, the American basketball team will likely not lose for the next 20 years. It is not the Olympic committee's responsibility to create a structure in which only the best teams will win, otherwise Olympic basketball would turn into 4 American teams in the top 4. It is the job of the Olympic committee to ensure that all reaches of the globe can have a chance at qualifying, and to create a system in which each event is truly global in nature. I view Blizzard's role in StarCraft as that of the Olympic committee.
The implications are simple: 2013 will see a decline in the activity of the foreign scene, especially in North America. Luckily, there are way more European LAN events than American ones, so at least European gamers have much more opportunity to win money at tournaments that are not flooded with Koreans. In America though, there was just IPL, NASL, and MLG. There are the occasional LAN event (like GESL) but they happen once a year, at best, with prize pools that really aren't compelling enough to garner widespread attendance. Luckily, GESL was held a week after MLG so people just stayed locally for an extra week to attend it.
Blizzard is going to effectively kill off its most lucrative market. It may be that viewing and spectating numbers won't suffer, but you can bet that the number of people playing the game will decline in 2013.
A better structure is available
There are two considerations here, in my opinion. The 'pro league' model, and the 'olympic model. By pro league think American professional sports, like the NBA.
Riot is clearly following the pro league model. Riot is the governing body, it runs the entire structure, funds the ecosystem, makes the rules, administrates, and handles every aspect of competition. Riot standardizes everything. This is similar to how the NBA operates. It is 'the' premiere basketball league in the world. The best players in the world play in the NBA, even though there are other leagues in the United States and globally - everyone knows that the best players play in the NBA. The best league players play in LCS. There are other tournaments that teams compete in, but if you're not in the LCS, you aren't top tier.
The olympic model however, offers a more hands-off approach, and I believe this is right up Blizzard's alley [disclaimer: I may not understand the olympic model exactly, if this isn't how it works, then I'm just calling it the olympic model anyways], and is pretty much what the 2012 WCS was anyways (why did they move away from this again?). Blizzard will work with partners (as the Olympics works with people like FIBA(?)) to host qualifiers and create a system in which they're qualifying regional players based on a system that is already in place. Blizzard is just acting as the godly body without directly being involved in the process the way Riot is involved in its LCS.
Each tournament then can retain its own branding and identity, as long as enough basic rules of equality of competition and equal opportunity are maintained. Blizzard reaps all of the benefit, and incurs even less cost as well. Further, it allows itself to crown a real global champion while providing something for everyone.
As a side note: there is a 3rd approach that Valve is doing with Dota 2. They simply invite teams to The International, based on following tournament results throughout the year. This is even more hands off, because they aren't even running qualification, but making a slightly more subjective assessment of the space and inviting based on that.
Overall, I am disappointed by the direction Blizzard has taken in 2013. To me it seems poorly thought out and too Korean-centric. I think HOTS has moved in a significantly better direction than WoL and am excited about the game and its possibilities. I am excited that Blizzard has expanded its esports department and is investing more heavily into it. I think though that this format needs to be entirely re-thought. Unfortunately due to the size of Blizzard and the scope of this format, a change in 2013 is unlikely, and we will have to suffer through a very silly and one dimensional year in esports.
My only hope is that the damage done in 2013 can be reversed if a better structure is adopted in 2014, or Blizzard simply continues the global 2012 WCS format, OR copies the Riot / Valve formats, which are both superior to what Blizzard is doing in my opinion.
I do have faith in Blizzard though, long term I feel like they've always delivered the best, so I hope next year will be better!
 
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Hoping blizzard revises their ideas about how they're doing the regions. Region locking aside, all regions should at the very least be treated equally.
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I thought you only receive a paid flight if you are within your qualifying region? Possibly things have changed since the announcement though.
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Italy12246 Posts
On April 10 2013 05:42 R1CH wrote:
I thought you only receive a paid flight if you are within your qualifying region? Possibly things have changed since the announcement though.
I believe so too.
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I am missing "The Ugly"
And to add some actual substance: I preferred the 2012 version, but I feel that a lot of the problems you point out aren't actual problems.
There are plenty of opportunities for amateurs to break through onto the pro scene, and the WCS is simply not intended for that, just as you don't expect the champion of the Finnish league to even qualify for the Champions League. WCS is not where your career should start. Play in one of the millions of online cups, slowly build up recognition and get picked up by a team. Maybe, if you have money, play in any one of the larger tournaments that has an open bracket and make a name for yourself. But don't expect to even get anywhere near the WCS. Somewhat similar to The International (in Dota): it is a premiere event for the top teams.
Same argument for Blizzard's focus on Korea. Especially your NBA argument here runs completely COUNTER to this. The NBA is where all the best players are. Yes, plenty of countries have a local league, but playing on the crappiest NBA team is still miles better than playing for any team that isn't in the NBA (including any of the top European teams that are getting decent exposure). Basically, you're just butthurt that the NBA now happens to be in Korea. Whether you agree with that from a business point of view or not, Korea is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the mekka of SC2.
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
In general, I agree almost whole-heartedly. The only thing I question is "the best players play in LCS";I think that is simply untrue. In SC2. Blizzard have created a tournament format that lets almost everyone from all regions compete. In LoL, LCS is NA-based and Korea plays in The Champions - completely. I think, Separate fr.o.m. LCS. So while the two are similar, Blizzard's approach is global and Riot's is "Come to NA".
But all in all, good read.
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Korean won't get free trip to America.
''MLG will only be covering travel expenses for players living in the Americas. However, if a player first travels to any city in the United States, MLG will then pay for their flight to the MLG studio from that U.S. city.''
To participate in WCS NA,Korean have to pay for flight from Korea to US by themselves.No free trip to America.
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On April 10 2013 06:00 Acrofales wrote:
I am missing "The Ugly"
And to add some actual substance: I preferred the 2012 version, but I feel that a lot of the problems you point out aren't actual problems.
There are plenty of opportunities for amateurs to break through onto the pro scene, and the WCS is simply not intended for that, just as you don't expect the champion of the Finnish league to even qualify for the Champions League. WCS is not where your career should start. Play in one of the millions of online cups, slowly build up recognition and get picked up by a team. Maybe, if you have money, play in any one of the larger tournaments that has an open bracket and make a name for yourself. But don't expect to even get anywhere near the WCS. Somewhat similar to The International (in Dota): it is a premiere event for the top teams.
Same argument for Blizzard's focus on Korea. Especially your NBA argument here runs completely COUNTER to this. The NBA is where all the best players are. Yes, plenty of countries have a local league, but playing on the crappiest NBA team is still miles better than playing for any team that isn't in the NBA (including any of the top European teams that are getting decent exposure). Basically, you're just butthurt that the NBA now happens to be in Korea. Whether you agree with that from a business point of view or not, Korea is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the mekka of SC2.
I disagree there are very few opportunities for amateurs to break through the pro scene. Most tournaments are 90% invitational 10% open qualifier. Like that's honestly not much of a chance, if tournaments went the route of 10% invitational and 90% open qualifier that would give opportunities for amateurs to break through. Then add to the fact with the few qualifiers there are, there are normally koreans playing in them to (Code S players to) so this makes opportunities for amateurs even smaller.
Online cups don't even really build your name anymore as they get very little attention (I can't remember the last time I saw an online cup like zotac get more then a few hundred viewers). Tournaments should be moving away from invite only imo not more invites less qualifiers. Amateurs or not this doesn't just hurt them either, it hurts some pros who just aren't known enough and right now it's insanely hard to get known.
Literally name me a tournament that isn't mostly invite that's big. I can't think of any big tournaments like MLG/dreamhack/etc that aren't invite only other then GSL where every player that is in code S (will most) EARNED code S. There are some invites, but most of it is qualifying.
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On April 10 2013 06:00 Acrofales wrote:
I am missing "The Ugly"
And to add some actual substance: I preferred the 2012 version, but I feel that a lot of the problems you point out aren't actual problems.
There are plenty of opportunities for amateurs to break through onto the pro scene, and the WCS is simply not intended for that, just as you don't expect the champion of the Finnish league to even qualify for the Champions League. WCS is not where your career should start. Play in one of the millions of online cups, slowly build up recognition and get picked up by a team. Maybe, if you have money, play in any one of the larger tournaments that has an open bracket and make a name for yourself. But don't expect to even get anywhere near the WCS. Somewhat similar to The International (in Dota): it is a premiere event for the top teams.
Again, my whole point is that I'm arguing that WCS should not be the premiere event for top teams. I view WCS as like the Olympics. I specifically say that Blizzard's goal should not be to host the premiere event, but to host an event that will most likely help current and future game sales. Having a closed-system event does not do this.
Also, you are very mistaken. Nobody cares about the millions of online cups. In fact there are much less of them than there used to be, and people care less about the ones that are there. Do you even know who won ESL Go4SC2 (do they even run this still?) or the latest Zotac? Nobody knows because its meaningless and doesn't advance you to anywhere. There's 0 incentive to win it outside of the $100, and some B teamer Koreans win most of them anyways.
Playing in a large open tournament doesn't exist in NA anymore, literally. Maybe some small EU LAN you can do it, or get lucky enough at the DH BYOC, but even then, chances are very minimal.
Same argument for Blizzard's focus on Korea. Especially your NBA argument here runs completely COUNTER to this. The NBA is where all the best players are. Yes, plenty of countries have a local league, but playing on the crappiest NBA team is still miles better than playing for any team that isn't in the NBA (including any of the top European teams that are getting decent exposure). Basically, you're just butthurt that the NBA now happens to be in Korea. Whether you agree with that from a business point of view or not, Korea is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the mekka of SC2.
Again - my argument is that Korea being the mecca for SC2 has nothing to do with Blizzard's objectives. In fact, Korea is a relatively small market compared to the United States, and by relatively I mean magnitudes smaller. By any way you look at it, from a business standpoint, Blizzard should be investing more heavily in the US. They shouldn't be trying to host the premiere gaming league, they should be hosting a global one. Riot has an incentive to host the most prestigious league, Blizzard doesn't.
You missed my argument.
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Xeris knows what he is talking about. The fact is that the NA scene already needed a lot of help. There is way for a new player to grow into a pro right now and once they get to a level where they can compete all tournaments with any notoriety are 90 percent invite only. The WCS looks like it won't help at all and will instead widen the gap between koreans and everyone else. New players will be discouraged when they see that the tournament is 95 percent koreans and just give up/spectate.
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Well, the olympics isn't the right model for that. In most sports, the olympics IS the premiere tournament. It's just football, baseball and basketball that I can think of as notable exceptions. Baseball and basketball because the US leagues are far higher quality than the olympics and football because it's a rather neutered version (with weird rules for sub-21 athletes).
The fact of the matter is that most sports are pretty damned cut-throat and it is extremely hard to break through. Do you know who won the michigan state championship 100 meter sprint? No? Well, for the same reason that you don't know who won the last Zotac cup: nobody cares. We only care about the Ursain Bolts of the sprint world, just as the large majority of viewers only care about the MVPs of SC2.
Yet, sponsors scout out talent somehow. If you say that the connection between small online cups and larger leagues needs to be made better, then I agree... but I am not sure that is what Blizzard needs to be doing right now. It seems clear from the latest interview that they are quite focused on creating a spectator sport primarily, with a premiere level tournament (or a number of them). This may be the wrong approach, but then you are arguing that Blizzard has the wrong business model for their esports division, which is another kettle of fish entirely.
I personally preferred the 2012 setup, but Blizzard spent a TON of money on the infrastructure and got criticism from everybody that the prize pool was tiny compared to Riot or Valve's MOBA tournaments. This year they flipped it around. Spend less on infrastructure and more on prizes: create a premiere tournament and see if local organizers pick up the ball on creating smaller tournaments where players can break through.
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http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=407082
Interview from Morhaime shares some more insight on their intentions.
So it looks like the overall goal here is to make a single narrative across all regions. In this sense, they're sort of saying they don't technically want it to be the olympics of SC2. Its weird to me that they said that they didn't like the parallel storylines popping up all over WCS 2012.
From another perspective, if they mix all the regions together, it'd be worthwhile for the every day fan to watch every event rather than ones localized in their regions. They're sort of redefining what WCS is and should be in this sense, and I guess for now we'll have to see if its for better or for worse.
I also agree with Morhaime and disagree with your point that WCS can help inspire a lot of people to pick up the game because they think they have a chance to compete. Those people would make up a very very small portion of the player and spectator population. I think the best course of action is just to show how awesome the game can be in a very broad and general sense, so people just pick it up because they like it.
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On April 10 2013 08:18 shindigs wrote:
I also agree with Morhaime and disagree with your point that WCS can help inspire a lot of people to pick up the game because they think they have a chance to compete. Those people would make up a very very small portion of the player and spectator population. I think the best course of action is just to show how awesome the game can be in a very broad and general sense, so people just pick it up because they like it.
I feel as if saying something like this is saying "these people make up a small percentage of players/spectators so lets ignore them." which feels wrong to me.
There is nothing like WCG and WCS and there is also no way to really classify the long term impacts it could have or has had in local communities that go far beyond the general "casual fanbase" that tunes in to something like GSL every night.
It's the same with something like college basketball vs the NBA. Sure I'm not watching the best talent in college, but there are some people in there who ARE going to go somewhere some day, and the thought of that alone is exciting. I'm also watching people I know personally in college, or have ties to on a more personal level that goes far beyond the distant players and the GSL/NBA arena which feels like something totally out of my grasp.
This same sort of personal connection makes me want to share the game with people and will keep me interested much longer than a passing fan who watches GSL for some pretty colors and flashy players. Would a player like Scarlett have been as motivated to practice if there was no such thing as WCS NA last year? All of the mid tier players who play and practice so hard for something they are excited to play in, without this would they be as encouraged to practice, play and get all of their friends to play? Is it really possible to quantify this type of impact to the game+community and say we're fine moving forward without it?
Would somebody like me be motivated to play as hard, run local lans in my area and try and grow a local community if I wasn't as interested and invested in the game because I feel the game is losing it's personality? The less I feel connected to the community the less I may be inclined to follow or do what I've been doing. An unknown college player can work hard and get drafted into the NBA, but if you take away college where are the unknown players going to grow up? More importantly are the unknown players even going to be motivated to continue? NBA will continue to exist because players will always be there, but is the community really better off without another avenue which has so much potential both for breeding players and solidifying local communities.
People say they want esports in the mainstream. I think by moving WCS to a format like this it only pushes esports further away to some degree for these reasons and much more.
edit: I mean I see where Morhaime is coming from and definitely understand the pro's of doing it this way, but it just doesn't sit right with me because of all the potential you are suffocating in the process. Potential that people don't even realize or really stop to take the time to think about.
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Yep that's my big argument. There are enough 'major league' events (GSL, MLG, IEM). Blizzard's job should be the grassroots/community level promotion , i.e. like the Olympics. The NBA may be the best basketball league in the world, but the Olympics is one of the most impactful for how much it helps the growth of basketball as a game globally.
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@ luckyfool I have great respect for what you do in DC I and a couple others have been holding our heads above water here in Western Canada.
Everything that luckyfool said is amplified in the nations without even a major tournament, I can strictly identify the occasions when our (edmotons) players have put in the most time and had the most success.
1. Sundance travels to Canada (rumors abound about MLG expanding to Canada, nothing comes of it)
2. WCS/NASL in Toronto
3. Clarity forms and one of the managers is in a nearby city.
That's it, and yea for all of WoL we had monthly LAN's (I ran a dozen+ of them) but that really doesn't push players to be great, just good enough. Without the dream for the amateurs AND the path to follow all it does is disappoint. WCS HAS to be a path for amateurs; the Olympic model is the only way that NA and EU will compete in the long term.
EDIT- I just wanted to give you guys an idea of how important it is that there are events in your sovereign nation, it's not about how close shit is, Toronto to Edmonton is >3500km, Dallas is closer.
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I think I phrased my point poorly. I totally agree that it'd be awesome if WCS could do something similar to what happened last year and allowed for up and comers to get a proper spotlight (given the event is run properly). What I wanted to say is in terms of pushing more sales of SC2 boxes, WCS in any way shape or form will always push more boxes to people who watch the tournaments and think the game is cool all around, rather than push more boxes toward people who see WCS as a way to be a progamer.
Eh, I guess its a really long winded way of saying the more casual and general fans will always outnumber the hardcore competitors. But I agree with your point, the up and comers should not be ignored.
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Completely agree. It's hard for Blizzard not to alienate the Korean scene if they were to do what is best for NA and Starcraft viewership in general, but it's necessary.
I'm going to divulge from the topic at hand for a sec to talk about foreigners vs koreans when it comes to viewership. Nobody dislikes the way that Starcraft can filter the best players from the rest as they rise to the top. Unfortunately, the best players playing isn't always what draws the most viewership. Whenever a Huk or an Idra game comes on an MLG stream, that stream immediately jumps up several thousand viewers. These popular, NA streamers drive viewership to streams in ways that a player like Heart or Yoda can't. Problem for MLG is, Heart or Yoda will generally slay every foreigner they meet in an MLG, thus chopping down the foreign competition really quick, and thus the excited fan anticipation for their home town heroes to succeed. Last MLG didn't every single foreigner go out as soon as they went against a Korean?
I think that sort of scenario is FINE for events like GSL, where the goal is to discover who the best players are (and to get their viewership from that idea). But WCS NA isn't that sort of tournament. It's for NA players. And what it's going to turn into is Code B Koreans crushing all of NA, so long as the tournament isn't region locked.
WCS NA needs to be the tournament that says no to Koreans. It will increase viewership and interest in the game when people can see a guy that has a personality and answers questions from an interviewer in an elaborate manner, instead of the typical, "please support me as I show good games, fighting." We've had two years of Korean dominated tournaments. I want to see flourishing NA talent try to fight against the well settled white streamers. I want to see old grudges actually play out, instead of two Americans getting knocked out in the first round of champ bracket.
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EPT
