E-Sports @ OnRPG: January 6th Report
By Umar Farooq(Kluey), OnRPG Journalist
Welcome! In these weekly articles, I’ll be updating everyone on what is happening in E-Sports. Before we start, I’d just like to point out that I will be heavy on Starcraft 2 information because it’s my favourite E-Sport as of right now(also the only e-sport, zing! Maybe someone got that joke…?).
Overpaid Dr.Day [9]
Chris “HuK” Loranger, the most honest, outspoken and attention attracting player ever just sparked the next debate of E-Sports: Are casters being overpaid and players being underpaid? Alright, here’s how it went. A casual talk between NaNiwa and HuK is taking place via Twitter. HuK brings up the fact that only a small percentage of players are actually being paid well, him and NaNiwa included. Eventually, HuK spits out the fact that his 1st place prize money was significantly less than the salary of Day[9] at Dreamhack. Day[9] supposedly made 20,000 while HuK made 14,000(this is all according to HuK, nothing has been proven except for the prize money HuK won which is 14,000).
And so the debate of all debates has begun. Where I stand on this is that it is definitely wrong but is 100% reasonable in this situation. Day[9] made Dreamhack more money than what they paid him. But, players should be the main attraction of a sports event as people should be showing up to watch the players play. In E-Sports as of right now, good casters will attract a larger crowd than good players. What is the reason behind this? I can’t say for sure but, the interaction between a caster and the crowd versus a player and the crowd is very different in E-Sports than it is in traditional sports. Day [9] for example has a daily show that people, including me, love and support. With a fan base as large as his, it’s a lot like asking a music group to play their song before a sports event so more people will attend. Furthermore, I hear Day[9] childhood stories when he casts but never HuK’s childhood stories when he plays. I feel like I know a caster a lot better than a player and that usually brings me to love the caster more.
Another reason could very well be that if LiquidHerO (one of the most entertaining player to watch) is playing a best of 3 and I want to support him, I’ll watch that best of 3 and then close the stream. If Day[9] is casting a tournament and I really want to support him, I’ll watch the entire tournament to support him which in the end benefits the producers a lot more.
Now, a potential fix to this could be very simple or impossible. Casters have too much of a personality that over shadows the players. Listening to Tastosis is usually more enjoyable than watching a Zerg drone up. If casters were to solely cast the game or even play an ad during the first 2 minutes of the game instead of cracking jokes and telling stories then, the emphasis would be on the players rather than the casters. This could also very well be impossible as this change could just bore the viewers and convince them to leave. I think djWHEAT does this quite well but can sometimes get hate because he’s too play by play.
TSL_JYP to JYP to EG`JYP
I was almost convinced that it was SangHo (Killer) joining EG. We had seen him in the SlayerS house on Cella’s stream hinting that it was him joining EG and that he was there practicing at the SlayerS house. Apparently, he was just visiting for New Years or something.
Anyways, JYP is a sick good player especially against Zerg. The fact that he is one of the only Code S Protoss players proves that he is a good player. Joining EG will benefit him more than any other player I feel. Entering a house with the best Terrans in the world is going to help his lacklustre PvT become fearsome. Also, EG already has PuMa who is friends and former teammates with JYP. With all this in mind, JYP will become one of the best protoss players if he practices his weaknesses.
What I don’t understand though is HuK had such a grand entry. He had hidden codes in the websites source code and a secret video. JYP got a single tweet… PuMa had somewhat of a bitter sweet entry into EG too. I feel bad for JYP and hope that some kind of fame and notice goes to him as right now he’s overlooked because of IdrA, HuK and PuMa.
Hey, Artosis is my name!
I don’t understand why this is such big talk right now. Day9 had revealed a shirt on his daily show that displayed an Artosis Pylon (A singe pylon powering multiple important buildings) and it used the word “Artosis”. Dan “Artosis” Stemkoski asked the original designer politely and professionally (this was confirmed) to not use the word “Artosis” in his shirt. He also claimed there was a copyright of some sort so the designer agreed.
Here’s what I think: Artosis and this designer are competitors. Every customer that buys that shirt is a potential customer for Artosis’ business, The Handsome Nerd. Artosis did the correct thing to ask him to not produce that shirt. I would have liked it more if they had negotiated some kind of deal so Artosis would sell the shirt and the designer would get a portion of the revenue.
Quantic’s Destiny drunk on stream…
I won’t stretch this one too much. Basically, Destiny takes shots in a glass the size of my head and gets drunk on stream. He does stupid stuff over and over again. To make it worse, all of his friends were there just watching and left the stream on. It’s a bit disappointing that they let it go on for a few hours. Eventually, the sober one who ironically is a former porn star turned the stream off.
The interesting part of this story is when Destiny was having a chat with the team manager, he accidently did not mute the call on his stream. The viewers heard the first part of the call which was basically that Razer, their primary sponsor, was not happy. I don’t know if Destiny is in big trouble or was just warned. I’ll be surprised if he is booted off Quantic as it was a mistake that didn’t seem as bad because he is an entertainer on his stream.
Dignitas acquires I Will Dominate for their League of Legends team
A while ago they released an official announcement stating that Jatt would be dropped from their team. To fill this slot, Dignitas has now acquired I Will Dominate. Apparently Jatt wasn’t a good team player? Anyways, I Will Dominate is a good player and will do just fine on Dignitas.
Homestory Cup IV
I love Homestory Cup. It’s actually the greatest thing every. A casual, laid back weekend with top tier games plus a semi reality show with pro gamers? Yes please! Homestory Cup is just a well ran tournament with a great idea behind it.
My predictions for Homestory Cup are based on different situations. If MarineKingPrime plays at his best, he will win and there’s no doubt about that. Apparently he’s the best player ever on the ladder and cannot be stopped. He had an 80%+ win rate on Korean Grandmaster. If his nerves get to him, he will still get top 5 as he is actually that good.
LiquidHerO will do extremely well at this tournament. If MarineKingPrime, oGsSK`MC or mouzThorZaIN don’t take him out early, we will most certainly see MarineKingPrime vs. LiquidHerO in the finals.
Other than that, Ret will have a decent result, iNcontroL will do poorly and Destiny will be the class clown. I really hope we will see some entertaining things apart from the games themselves.
