They say you should never meet your heroes and now I kind of understand why. I wouldn't like to name names in this blog, but being an English WC3 fan kinda narrows down the possibilities.
If you're reading this, you probably know that I have a regular column on sk-gaming.com which is released every Tuesday (when i'm not feeling too lazy/uninspired, anyway). There are often inflammatory comments made but sometimes there is a good bit of banter and some interesting debate. This is how i thought the conversation with Mr B was headed.
He was typically ignorant towards WoW, but that's something you get used to very quickly from people who don't like the game. I thought it was all in good humour so i messaged him on MSN with a quote from Orly - the guy my column was about. Again, i was just hoping for a bit of a chat and a debate. What i didn't count on was being called a prick and being asked why i was still talking.
This shocked me for several reasons. Firstly, i had always been a fan of this player so it was somewhat upsetting to be childishly insulted by someone i had previous respected and supported. Secondly, my experience with professional gamers is generally quite positive. I liked Grubby when i interviewed him and all the truly high-tier WoW players i've met are genuinely nice people except for Serennia. This was especially true at CeBit the other week when i had a great time with SK US, despite the crappy "hotel" we stayed in.
Now, the WC3 player i was talking to would not accept that WoW was a professional game. I hope i don't have to spell out the irony in that statement coming from a player who turned a light-hearted discussion in the worst kind of immature trolling. It's often been put forward that esports games could be killed off by the attitude of their players and communities. I've rarely seen such good evidence in support of that statement as i did today.
So the old adage is at least partially true: never meet your heroes, at least if they're anything like Mr B.
