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TLnet Poll - How important is commentary to your enjoyment…

How important is commentary to your enjoyment of StarCraft esports? :

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TL.net Bot TL.net135 Posts May 03 2020 23:00 GMT #1

sugarmuffinpuff Canada39 Posts May 04 2020 00:38 GMT #2 Starcraft is complicated, and I don't play the game enough to fully understand it at a high level. Anybody below master league should benefit massively from good commentary.

Darkness2k11 Chile313 Posts May 04 2020 01:32 GMT #3 Good commentary makes a bad game enjoyable to watch, bad commentary ruins great games. 5 I guess

ZigguratOfUr Iraq16955 Posts May 04 2020 03:41 GMT #4 Somewhat important for me. Good commentary certainly adds to the experience, but games without commentary (or more often commentary in a language I don't understand) are fine too. So 3.

Kitai United States880 Posts May 04 2020 04:14 GMT #5 Definitely a 5 for me. I especially love commentators that mix in a good bit of humor along with their analysis.

yxme 15 Posts May 04 2020 05:24 GMT #6 I think I have to say 3, good commentary can save bad games, and make great games even better. However I'd be fine just watching games from replay files as well and get the same enjoyment.

dogmode Philippines491 Posts May 04 2020 05:58 GMT #7 Though there is an abundance of online tournaments to watch, I can't say I enjoy watching them all as some of the commentary can get quite bad both relative to entertainment and educational values. This really goes to show how much premiere casters are worth, they make even poor games at least entertaining to watch.

Shuffleblade Sweden1903 Posts May 04 2020 07:06 GMT #8 A 5 for me for sure, sadly I don't enjoy starcraft without decent casting. The only time I can enjoy games without casting is if its a lot on the line and I am a fan of one of the players. Starcraft 2 is so complex that I feel I need a caster to help makes sense of BOs, decisionmaking, gameplans and so on not to mention mind games in longer series. Still can't Believe Maru Went double Banshee in every single game against Dark in the finals, thats so bloody clever.

Vindicare605 United States16121 Posts May 04 2020 08:48 GMT #9 If I don't like the commentary (I won't name names) I can usually enjoy the games anyway muted, just with music on or something. Or I can watch the games muted with my brother or other SC2 friends and we can talk about the game together. But, I look forward every week to hearing Tasteless and Artosis while I'm watching games. I love their commentary and it definitely improves the experience a lot. I'm really starting to love listening to PiG and Maynarde together too, because they're just so goofy and fun. Good commentary improves the enjoyment I have watching Starcraft, but it's not mandatory.

Morrissey Germany55 Posts May 04 2020 11:17 GMT #10 definitely a 5. there are some streams i cant bear watching due to the commentary

naughtDE 158 Posts May 04 2020 11:36 GMT #11 Like, I don't mind muting half the casters out there, I can still enjoy the game, though you have to focus on the minimap since most miss half the action on top of babbling gibberish. On the other hand, Tasteless and Artosis greatly add to my enjoyment of a match. I guess bad commentary takes more away from the game (the game sounds for one when muted) than good commentary adds? My favourite cast ever was snute and socke at one of the HSCs, but it didn't make the games better, it had value for itself, sooo much deep knowledge. Just like Tasteless and Artosis could banter over anything and it would be a good time, the game itself does not become better or worse i think.

Greenei Germany1754 Posts May 04 2020 16:06 GMT #12 I sometimes wish you could mute the caster without muting the game sounds.

TheDougler Canada8309 Posts May 04 2020 18:13 GMT #13 4/5 for me. I'll still enjoy games if there's no commentary available, but I find it a much more enjoyable experience if there's commentary as well.

Vindicare605 United States16121 Posts May 04 2020 18:42 GMT #14 On May 05 2020 01:06 Greenei wrote: I sometimes wish you could mute the caster without muting the game sounds. Well heck, there's plenty of streams I can think of where I can't hear the game sounds at all or barely.

Geo.Rion 7377 Posts May 05 2020 10:08 GMT #15 I'd say very important, it really adds a lot and makes the experience more enjoyable. Then again, i do watch many of the smaller online cups, where i have to mute the caster. That means, I can enjoy it enough to tune in even without commentary, so i voted 4.

Immaterial Canada510 Posts May 05 2020 15:01 GMT #16 Pretty important. It's hard to quantify exactly but when other people fill in for Tastosis at ASL, it definitely hampers my enjoyment of the stream a bit. Even if I really like the people filling in like Cadenzie or Rapid it just isn't quite the same. Perhaps this is strange to say, but I think part of it is the comfort of familiarity. Listening to Artosis and Tasteless cast a game feels almost like watching the games with friends even if I've never actually met them. All of that being said, I do find it kind of annoying when people constantly shit on casters they don't personally enjoy listening to. That kind of attitude strikes me as a bit infantile, because as important as good casting is to the experience of watching Starcraft, if you dislike the casting that much there is always the option to mute.

VGhost United States3618 Posts May 05 2020 15:26 GMT #17 I put down 4. Commentary definitely adds something, as long as the commentators are clearly invested in the game themselves. That can mean a lot of different things - strategic insight and hype are the two most obvious things commentary can add. The excitement might be the most important thing - I can listen to a Korean or Russian cast even though I don't understand either language as long as the interest is communicated and clearly following the action. It's not the highest level analysis, but Rapid and Nyoken as a pair have done a great job with the BSL casts, they might be my favorite right now.

paddyz Ireland628 Posts May 05 2020 15:34 GMT #18 My favourite commentary is when some of the pros commentate homestory cup.

_fool Netherlands682 Posts May 05 2020 16:26 GMT #19 Definitely 5! And shoutout to all the casters and production crew making this possible! Commentary by (ex-)pro players is the best imo, and I'm ok with a play-by-play wingman. Hype casters I don't care that much about (except iNcontroL ) When commentary is just play-by-play, it becomes somewhat redundant at times. But mix in the occasional prediction (who cares about caster curse) or fun fact and I'm a happy camper

Lazy_Einstein 1 Post May 05 2020 17:20 GMT #20 IMO, the commentary usually makes the games more enjoyable to watch. Personally, I don't always enjoy it when some casters add banter and non-SC2 talk in excess. Banter/Joking/etc, between games, can add to the enjoyment of the cast but can easily go overboard and lower the quality of the casting. Talking about non-SC2 things on one's Twitch streams is fine but it doesn't have as much of a place in online tournaments and joint casts. To me, the good casters/commentators are: - Invested in the game. (Be an active and regular player/watcher who knows the game to a high level(the units, their stats, builds, etc.) - Spend 85%-90% of the time talking about the game during casts. (Mechanics, play-predictions based on information, providing less known information on units/etc for low-level players(PiG does this well), talking about errors in play and potential ways to avoid those errors in the future.) - Focused when casting. (One would not do well playing SC2 if one did not focus while playing. I find many casters, who banter and talk about non-SC2 things too much are the ones who end up being less focused while casting and give the least amount of productive/interesting input.) I'd like to see more new casters being brought in and have a third and/or fourth person join Tastetosis to add to the between-game SC2 discussions. I feel that would create more thought-provoking debates about game mechanics/play/strats/builds; all while adding a fresh addition/perspective to every cast. +1 for adding pro players to the commentary is awesome(Like paddyz said above. Showtime and special on the couch was awesome. More of that would be great.)

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