Justice?

Without trying to brag, one thing i've always prided myself on is my ability to disagree with someone without having to automatically dislike them or insult them.  Being able to see two sides of a story is important to a journalist, but it is something that i've always felt should be important to any intelligent person.

Not so, says the internet.

Ever since my columns on SK got me some amount of noteriety, this is something i've tried to come to terms with.  The general principal goes something like this: "i don't agree with what you wrote, ergo you're a fucking idiot."  To me, that's always seemed kind of... unfair.

When i had a little dig at DJWheat for being a bit self-righteous a while ago, i was at pains to explain how i respect his contribution to esports.  I was probably bending the truth slightly since i'm no huge fan of his, but you have to have some respect for a person who's been relevant in esports for so long.  Did he bother to do me the same courtesy in his criticism?  Of course not.  He accused me of "throwing him under the bus for years."  I guess those "news" posts (and i use the term very loosely) i made on SK advertising his Lo3 show really offended him, since i never mentioned him in any of my other content.

Thatt might seem like just one small, unimportant anecdote, but this post was actually inspired by Lurppis running his mouth on a subject of which he is clearly ignorant.  When the pillars of our community (Lord, save us!) can be so narrow minded, it sets a pretty poor example for everyone else.  There will always be trolls; the annonymity of the internet is well enough discussed that i don't need to bother going into that.  But if people who are  respected in the community can show a bit of perspective and maturity, we might at least minimise the number of people who think it's okay to lack those qualities.

Dog Bites man

Drama today, as fights broke out all over the internet.  Members of one esports community, feeling threatened by another, larger, esports community made numerous ill-informed ranting forum posts.

THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF ESPORTS, PEOPLE!

Another Cool Quote

This was take from someone's forum signature a long time ago... on WCReplays i think:

"The difference between a lucky noob and a pro, is that a lucky noob gets out of situations a pro would never get into."

A Useful Cosbyism

Why i think mainstream is a bad direction for esports to go in is difficult to explain - mostly because it get angry and confused.  But i think this is a fairly good attempt at explaining it, by the one and only Bill Cosby (posted by Aaron Forscythe of Wizards of the Coast):

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

IRONY OVERWHELMING

Okay, so, i decided i should watch one of the seeming millions of esports panel shows.  The Executives seemed like it could be interesting, and so far - apart from Slasher's life story - it has been.  But now they're talking about independence and objectivity in journalism... on a show hosted by the manager of Complexity, on Complexity's Twitch channel.  Ho hum.

They're making some good points, but i just felt the need to point out the irony in case anyone missed it.

Carry on.

So, about this Idra IEM thing

It's very, very difficult to have sympathy for Idra.  Despite being a middling professional gamer, his stream earns him more money that pretty much anyone else in the business.  He acts like an asshole and people love him for it - one of the quirks of being in an industry targetted at 14-25 year olds.  So, when he complains about the hotel in Hannover not being very good you'll forgive me if i don't shed too many tears.

But whether he's a pampered individual or the start of something more worrisome, he does kind of have a point.  It's difficult for me to criticise ESL, i must admit, but their umbilical attachment to CeBIT has been an issue for many years.  The celebrity culture attached to SC2 has simply brought it into sharper focus, and a lot of the new esports crowd obviously weren't aware of it until now.  Well, at least Idra has brought it to their attention, i suppose.

The problem is that ESL's model pretty much dictates that they have to be at CeBIT.  Why is being attached to one of the biggest computer expos a problem?  Well, Hannover is a pretty unassuming town, as anyone who has been there will tell you.  When something like CeBIT rolls into town they don't really have room for the thousands of extra people.  It's traditional that people rent out their spare bedrooms and hostels do a roaring trade.  The two times i attended, i stayed in what was surely a former brothel and some kind of ex-Hitler Youth camp, both of which were upwards of 30 minutes from the event.

I didn't mind overmuch, but it's obviously far from ideal.  What makes it worse is that IEM isn't the only show in town any more.  For a couple of years they only had to compete with MLG and nobody really complained too much because there already wasn't much money to go round and WoW players sure as hell didn't have the presence that SC2's stars do.  Much as i dislike MLG, they seem to have stepped up their game on this front (too much, in Boxer's case).  ESL hasn't, and, while they remain attached to CeBIT, can't.

The danger of pampering players is a real one - just look at other sports.  But there is a middle ground to be found, and it's in everyone's best interests if players look forward to a tournament, rather than dreading it.