Making Or Breaking A Tourney Part 2: Production Value

In this second part of Making or Breaking a Tourney, I want to talk about production value, and why it matters to me.

For the first part, Making or Breaking a Tourney: Casters, click here.

Production Value

This is such a subjective issue that it's hard to nail down what's important to me. Some tourneys have better production value than others, but I couldn't point to a single tournament and say "Everyone should do it this way!". I probably look for different things than others, but I tend to enjoy the basics done well.

The basics are easily explained. The casters should have a decent sound level that the map sound doesn't completely drown out. Commercials shouldn't be at a volume that tries to blow out my speakers, like Twitch does. I should be able to easily read the economy/food information without moving to within an inch of my screen or paying you $15. Commercials should not take 15 minutes and repeat the same ads four times in a row.

Of course, it gets more complicated. I enjoy player interviews that don't include the question "What is your strategy for the next match?", and I can only watch Clutch yell the player intros so many times before I start yelling "OMG START THE STUPID GAME ALREADY". Don't get me wrong, I loved Clutch at Major League Gaming (MLG) Anaheim! He was superb for the Kespa player intros. But enough is enough. Or in terms MLG can understand, Look, I get it.

I'm also not a fan of countdown clocks between matches, because so far, other than the NASL season 3 finals, nothing I've watched this year is close to even remotely timing their return from commercial times. I won't call out IPL here. They had issues at their most recent finals, and they admitted it - and I'm a fan of learning from your mistakes and moving on. As long as they don't do 20 minutes between matches and then vamping for another 20 before the game starts *ever again*, I'll call it good.

The extras are what make it for me. So far, the NASL season 3 finals did it best. The player reviews, top 10 season moments, the casters in sumo suits fighting each other - I was HOOKED the entire weekend. My plans for actually getting stuff done in the house and being productive was totally out the window and I spent the entire time in front of my computer or TV watching matches and seeing what else they had to offer.

I am thinking that either this type of b-roll production is either too high in cost or manpower, or the hardcore SC2 fans don't really care. Since they outnumber those who watch the scene like I do, I guess I just have to accept that fact. But if anyone is looking into getting the more casual of fans involved and watching - NASL did it right! Way more than a stupid touchscreen TV. Except the MLG contest during the summer 2012 arena. I laughed so hard I was crying.