My IGN Pro League experience in Vegas

April 8th, 2012 - 8:24 pm | No Comments | Barcraft, eSports

Saying that the Vegas trip to the IPL4 and GSTL finals hosted at the super-glam Cosmopolitan was a success would be a huge understatement. I finally got to put faces to the hundreds of people I chat with on a daily basis, met new friends and potential business partners.

Some highlights

• The marble floored group entrance area at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – welcome to luxury!
• Getting double-takes from a well-known SC2 player I had dinner with in Toronto only a week earlier
• Having breakfast with a few Barcraft organizers and David Ting, founder of the IPL and eSports GM at IGN
• Seeing the games with thousands of others around me and feeling the passion that was once only reserved for people watching ‘real’ sports
• Watching a friend almost peg one of the Korean commentators in the back of the head during a match with the cork from an ill-aimed bottle of booze
• Chatting it up with IPL, GSL, Blizzard Ent., RIOT, AMD staff, team owners, documentary makers, and members of the press. We’re all in it together!
• Being the straw that broke the camel’s back between a group of friends to convince one of them to put all the cash in his wallet on a single high-rollers roulette table spin, and subsequently watching him lose it all. I then tried making the group feel better by ponying up my own cash at the normal tables, they chose the simple game of ‘War’. Ended $60 up, whoops :(
• Watching the photographers from TeamLiquid sort and qualify thousands of potential shots at blistering speeds and then running back out loaded with tons of gear to get more shots.
• Giving one of my casino credit stubs to a bare-footed editor that was tirelessly working throughout the entire event. Hopefully he gets more personal time next time!
• Solidifying my opinion that gin & tonic is delicious, Citadel is almost as good as Hendricks. Yum
• Bumping into Brett Sperry, co-founder of Westwood Studios, while hunting for art galleries. Although he’s retired from the video-gaming industry he runs a lovely art gallery, if you’re going to Vegas and love art – do go check it out!
• Sending a much longer business oriented 50+ point update to my co-founders after returning, all from memory

Here’s a clip I took during the open bracket showcasing high actions per minute (APM)

And this is why you go exploring off the main strip…

Can’t wait for the NASL season 3 finals in Toronto, and upcoming MLG and IPL events – THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING FOR US.

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North American Starcraft 2 Pro Player Rant

March 2nd, 2012 - 12:13 am | No Comments | eSports, Rant

I chose not to use a North American player for the header of this rant because it would make the post seem like a targeted attack at specific players, it’s not. I think one of the main problems within the North American e-Sports scene is that we artificially boost ‘legendary’ players and then they just seem stay there no matter how terrible their play gets compared to the current baseline. It’s a simple fact is that e-Sports needs new blood to evolve new, more complex play tactics.

We hurt everyone involved by churning out “filler” matches that no one wants to watch (because the players involved aren’t motivated to maintain their peak performance), we waste our viewers time and thus it’s only a matter a time that they get sick of it entirely and start looking for content elsewhere.

It’s time to fess up and tell those that never seem to improve:

“Sorry, just because you had it big back in the day – doesn’t mean you’re worth sh*t today as a player, evolve or die.”

Players that just don’t have that true motivation and dedication should be honest with themselves and their fans by transitioning into other roles or just retire outright.

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