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On December 03 2010 06:53 AndAgain wrote:Show nested quote +On December 03 2010 05:47 Zzoram wrote: You'd be better off trying Spike TV or G4 TV. ^ Yeah I mean, ESPN? That's like telling CNN to cover the story of your cat stuck in a tree.
Funny that you mentioned CNN, they did an interview with idra on e-sports.
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As other people have mentioned, I wouldn't limit yourself to ESPN. Maybe try them first, see what kind of response you get, then use that to gauge your next attempts. I personally think ESPN is a bit lofty of a goal right now, but it's a good place to focus your initial efforts.
To anyone talking about the prize pool not being a good incentive, you have to remember game shows like "Wipeout" (prize $25,000) or "Win Ben Stein's Money" (prize $5000) that have multiple seasons. It's not like people watch these programs to see the monetary gain of another person, it's the game itself that they enjoy.
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The idea is good, but you should really be sending the letter / email to a network like spike, g4tv ect. like other people have said. Im sorry guys but TL gives you a false impression of how popular esports are in America, ESPN is not going to be willing to take that kind of risk. I mean it took forever for them to show soccer
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man... what if ESPN does start to broadcast sc2. Even at like the worst hours of the day, slowly more people will start watching. ESPN has to then start hiring casters and that will make the exposure even greater. I just hope they don't get some guys who play "lots of diff games" to do the casts... hopefully we get guys who specialize in sc2.
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Okay so... I REALLY like esports and I keep up with GSL religiously (also MLG when it's around and other tournaments as well). I also really appreciate your motivation, and will be willing to sign any list you ask me to so that you can send it in with your letter.
However, I don't think the audience of SC2 and the viewers of ESPN overlap too much. (It was really surprising to see they broad casted MTG though lol). I would guess that many of ESPN's viewers are 50 year olds who don't really use computers, and probably don't even know sc2 exists. This isn't to say they wouldn't grow to like it - but when they see something like sc2 when what they want is football / hockey / baseball, I don't see it going well. Also, many of the people involved in sc2 are not.... in shape. And although this is really superficial (and I could care less), many of the viewers may not respect that since they're so used to seeing the physiques of professional athletes.
I really encourage you to continue writing your letter and will support you all the way, BUT I would suggest you reconsider which group you send it to. For example, you might have a higher chance of success by sending it to MTV, or YTV, or some other station.
Hopefully you don't get the wrong idea - I love that you're doing this, just ESPN might not be the ideal recipient of your letter.
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On the discussion of 1 email or 10000 emails:
If we only send one mail, I think the ideal would be to collect signatures in the different communities of StarCraft, starting with this. Attach a document with the support of thousands of people, the letter will have much more weight, since it is a statement of a community, not a single request.
If They only receive a single e-mail, the first thing they will think will be: "Ok, some nut wants to relay his favorite videogame ... Brenda throw this into the trash can, Ok?"
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Nothing will happen if no one steps up to try, so I applaud the OP for stepping up. I honestly don't think it's as unlikely as people make it out to be. StarCraft 2 has sold many copies worldwide, and ultimately that's what it comes down to: potential viewership.
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On December 03 2010 07:05 rally_point wrote: Okay so... I REALLY like esports and I keep up with GSL religiously (also MLG when it's around and other tournaments as well). I also really appreciate your motivation, and will be willing to sign any list you ask me to so that you can send it in with your letter.
However, I don't think the audience of SC2 and the viewers of ESPN overlap too much. (It was really surprising to see they broad casted MTG though lol). I would guess that many of ESPN's viewers are 50 year olds who don't really use computers, and probably don't even know sc2 exists. This isn't to say they wouldn't grow to like it - but when they see something like sc2 when what they want is football / hockey / baseball, I don't see it going well. Also, many of the people involved in sc2 are not.... in shape. And although this is really superficial (and I could care less), many of the viewers may not respect that since they're so used to seeing the physiques of professional athletes.
I really encourage you to continue writing your letter and will support you all the way, BUT I would suggest you reconsider which group you send it to. For example, you might have a higher chance of success by sending it to MTV, or YTV, or some other station.
Hopefully you don't get the wrong idea - I love that you're doing this, just ESPN might not be the ideal recipient of your letter.
Yeah, ESPN would just be one recipient. The original Reddit discussion was about ESPN and somebody mentioned making a form email so I took up that challenge.
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ESPN is a big leap, but no harm in trying. Whats the worst that can happen? they say no and nothing changes oh well? Best outcome i can see is them sending you to other stations that might be more accepting of the idea(because if it catchs on, on other stations espn can always buy it back).
Also i think with ever year theres a better and better chance of a station picking up a pro gaming league. But idk if we're there quite yet.(Other then CGS being on directv until the recession hit and their experimental advertising budget was cut )
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People are way too pessimistic. Obviously SC2 isn't going to get featured on ESPN's main TV channel but you have to keep in mind that ESPN owns a huge and extremely popular network of channels on TV, radio, internet and otherwise some of which might be interested in SC2. Espn.com already runs a bunch of e-sports features mostly online including videos, blogs, and the like (you can check out just a few of them here: http://search.espn.go.com/mlg/).
A letter that just lets ESPN know that there's a big newcomer in e-sports seems plenty worthwhile to me. Nice work.
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how do you guys not see how stupid it is to spam them with emails. seriously. why aren't more people speaking up about what a terrible idea this is?
do you REALLY think they are going to appreciate getting thousands of emails of the same thing? do you think they are going to go "oh i just got 10,000 emails of the same thing, well clearly this now has more clout and i should seriously listen!"
no. thats not going to happen. they are going to go "wow what the fuck is wrong with these people spamming the shit out of us, don't they realize how hard it is to go through 10,000 fucking emails?"
Mr.X's idea is much much better. It's not juvenile and selfish like a bunch of immature kids screaming for attention.
i liked what rift had to say about this too. day9 contacting them would be pretty awesome.
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Mr. X's idea really is a better approach too imo.
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I think a description of Starcraft's qualities as a spectator sport should be included, why it lends itself more to broadcasting than other games. Maybe also that MBC and OGN basically live off of nothing but Starcraft, so there is certainly potential for profit.
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By the way in your first sentence you have "progRamming" and not "progaming", for simplicity's sake it might as well be spelled out "pro-gaming" to not confuse anyone who reads it.
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dude when this msg is done being written ill copy paste and sign myself up if that is allowed?. just send the e-mail to me, so i can send it to ESPN as well.
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Oh, just checked out the link, didn't realize a letter was already sent and they got a response. Wasn't the greatest letter, included a link to GSL 1 Fruitdealer music video, not even an hd video (though I love that video).
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dont waste your time brah
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I like letters like these are good idea, but they should be aimed at other stations. No Jock-filled sports broadcasting station is going to cover Starcraft 2. However, some of the more niche techguy channels, or maybe even something like HBO or CNBC late at night might play the odd Starcraft 2 match at 4 in the morning.
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On December 03 2010 07:19 travis wrote: how do you guys not see how stupid it is to spam them with emails. seriously. why aren't more people speaking up about what a terrible idea this is?
do you REALLY think they are going to appreciate getting thousands of emails of the same thing? do you think they are going to go "oh i just got 10,000 emails of the same thing, well clearly this now has more clout and i should seriously listen!"
no. thats not going to happen. they are going to go "wow what the fuck is wrong with these people spamming the shit out of us, don't they realize how hard it is to go through 10,000 fucking emails?"
Obviously if its 10,000 emails from the same dude it will look bad. But really next to supporting a company who supports esports thats the next best thing. Its not like the head of espn looks through the random emails. They have a division of their company whos job it is to go through all the emails, send the important emails on to the higher ups and trash the rest/answer the emails. Since the email would just go to a generic email.
So 10,000 emails would definitely get noticed and talked about and hopefully work its way up. Where if you send 1 email with 10,000 signatures its likely that 1 dude will see it and if hes in a bad mood he may just trash it.
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On December 03 2010 07:22 ~GhoSt wrote: By the way in your first sentence you have "progRamming" and not "progaming", for simplicity's sake it might as well be spelled out "pro-gaming" to not confuse anyone who reads it.
It's supposed to be programming not pro-gaming.
....urge you to consider it as a programming option.
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