Valencia eSports Congress

If you're like me, you missed the Valencia eSports Congress event that occurred Friday before the DreamHack Eizo Open this weekend. I tried watching the videos from the DreamHack Twitch site, but found them pretty horrible in both sound quality and trying to figure out when the event actually started so I was thrilled when SCV Rush posted a comprehensive recap of the goings on.

I didn't really expect anything groundbreaking to actually come out of this event. I think it's pretty understandable that it wouldn't. But the event served as a really great way for different organizations to really show the public where they're coming from, and where they hope to see the scene really evolve and grow.

As a fan it's certainly interesting to see where gaming companies, teams, tournaments, and other "in" folks think we're going. More importantly, it's good to get their take on what the community wants. It's important to consider this statement carefully, because there are a few twists to consider.

Community

     1). The community is not the Team Liquid forums, or the Starcraft Subreddit, though forums and online sites do make up an important part of each community. As a competitive scene, the community is not only the players, whether they're pro or practice league. The community is everyone from spectators who are on the verge of truly becoming part of the scene, but are (like me) being pushed to the edge by the established people already in the scene to folks in online tournaments who just want to have some fun with their friends.

     2). Ask any community manager anywhere, for any gaming related focus from software to peripherals. Just because the community is screaming out loud for something, doesn't mean they want it. If the gaming companies did whatever the flavor of the month change being called for at any given time, usually it would destroy the integrity of what players most love about their game. Of course, this type of change applies to well thought out, debated, and considered ideas that would still alter the main things that players actually enjoy about their game home.

     3). The current SC2 competitive scene community, as it stands now, is not particularly welcoming to new folks posting on their established sites. Sometimes it's like that, and you have to earn your right to participate to a greater level. But in the time I've been a SC2 competition spectator and lurked on these sites, I can tell you, with great candor, that I am wholeheartedly terrified of posting on the SC2 official forums, SC2 Subreddit, or Team Liquid forums. Am I baby? Definitely more so than I used to be. People out there tend to be scary! Maybe it's the competitive attitude players need to have in order to take a loss, blow it off and get right back on the ladder. But it drives people away, and when you're trying to grow a spectator audience it defeats the idea of growing a scene to a larger audience.

Mainstream TV and the "Next" Level

TV was attempted before I got into the scene, so I don't have an opinion worth stating on why it didn't work as well as being unable to provide a good response to why it should possibly be tried again. I can however comment on why I both despise and embrace the idea, and hope that someone who was around when this happened can set me right on why my ideas suck or possibly (not likely) have merit. Honestly, the only thing I really want to do is pause live tournaments and restart them at my convenience. We're getting there but it's sooooo slow!!

     Pros:

     1). TV is mainstream. Yes, people who watch SC2 consume media on their computers, but the rest of us have learned that we can pause TV, walk away and pick up where we left off without dealing with a video on demand system that, for most tournaments, simply suck (looking at you Twitch). Pausing "live action" is something MLG offered during their last tournament and it didn't work for us. By the middle of the second day jumping back the teeniest movement of the mouse meant rewinding 2 hours. Online technology is getting there, but we're not there yet. TV is here and has been for some time.

     Cons:

     1). A huge marjority of SC2 tournaments are not setup for TV. Eight to twelve straight hours of an event really only works when it's the Olympics or you're a crazy fan. Since crazy fans already have an outlet with the current system, TV doesn't seem to be the right choice.

This entry overall has gone on a little long, so tomorrow I'll take a look at the last point I want to bring up. Why I disagree with the panel's judgement of what makes a good eSports game.

On a personal note, I won my first 1v1 against a "very hard" AI on Sunday night. I was thrilled, and completely exhausted, but it was fun!

[Edited for both clarity and ease of reading! One should not attempt to write while both utterly exhausted and trying to watch Monday Night Football. My humble and embarrassed apologies  to anyone who read this before 6:30pm PDT 25SEP12 as it was not an acceptable piece to be published. In my haste to "get something up", I settled for barely mediocre, and I will do my best to ensure it does not happen again!]