I Paid $20, why am I the Minority?

Okay I really want to voice out my opinion on this one guys. One particular post on the MLG feedback forums made me a little upset with people's attitude towards paying for content that costs a TON to produce. It went along the lines of "You prioritize pizza over a weekend of MLG?" from Guy A to "What you seriously prioritize MLG over pizza are you kidding me?" from Guy B, and obviously they were referring to the cost of a pizza to the MLG pass (although you can make the useless comment that pizza is often around $15 rather than $20).

I bought the pass, and I'm not a very generous guy when it comes to handing out money. But after reflecting on what SC2 meant to me, and how much I love the Esports scene, I wanted to give back. I want E-Sports to have a better future.

Priorities

Look I get that we all have different priorities when it comes to spending money. We don't all share the same income, and we don't all value everything in the same way. But from my point of view I like to label products based on what they are really worth.

Let's take a look at the pizza. Requires some labor, some cooking materials, a pizza box to in case it inside- probably cost around more or less than $10 to make, I don't know, I'm no pizza guru but you get the point. Let's put the MLG Winter Arena in our problem. So we have a huge production staff, a well prepared and managed live stream, the building they played in, the players, the casters - and we get to soak it all in for $20. We got the chance to watch Nestea play, we got the chance to listen to Tastosis cast- LIVE. Under normal everyday circumstances, you can't do that. Of course before we've been practically gifted with these free streams showcasing their casting and their play- but really if they decided from the get go to not create free streams, which in my opinion they had every right to do so, we would be already accustomed to the paid model and have little or no qualms with it. Unless you don't work which means you shouldn't be complaining, stop with the entitlement whines.

But hey I mean, if you really LOVE pizza and you revel in the fact some sleepy fat guy did a half-assed job making your pizza like he does everyday and think that is worth more than MLG- then good for you. In fact I wish plucking my nose hair made me feel like a God.

Truth is people who make sub 15k a year with a family of four still purchase bullshit like iPads and iPhones with their crappy budget while their kids are running around in rags. It's just disgusting. But you could argue that the other extreme of being viciously frugal is more often than not, a good thing to be.

So what we have here is the opportunity cost of $20. Depending on whether love or hate Starcraft, you may or may not find that $20 for a weekend of watching the best players in the world duke it out, is utter garbage. I happily paid $20 for the stream, because I love SC2, I play it, its one of the few things I look forward after a hard day at work or school- it makes me happier. My other friends on the other hand don't play, but just enjoy watching. They don't know all the strats, or any of the timings, they just like to watch competitive and intense action that these players produce- I get it, SC2 isn't a religion in which they would throw money at into a basket every weekend for them. My friends openly refused to purchase a pass and left it at that, I respect their decisions.

However, if they started complaining about the fact that MLG was charging for the stream- I would've been pissed, like I am with some our dear members of TL.

Your Income

So you're a High School kid, a person with massive credit card debt, medical bills to pay, a bankrupt drug addict- w/e you have no way of shedding off some time and scrounging up $20 to watch SC2, make your point there and we'll say its okay. But wait you're actually a frugal college kid. You can afford $20 to watch a live content, but you choose to say you can't- why? Please reflect on yourself before you make that excuse. Do you have an apple laptop? Do you eat out every week? Got a smartphone? Do your jeans look nice? Depending on what your answer to those questions may be, you might not even have the right to say you're a frugal college student and not be able to buy a $20 pass.

My friends would pool in their money to watch UFC games that go for much than $20, sure it's once every few months but we're dealing with the same model. Plus none of us actually did any MMA (el oh el) so we just wanted to be entertained by people beating on each other. UFC was low on our priority list and we still paid to watch so whats wrong with paying to watch Starcraft? What the quality isn't up there? You son of a bitch they've been giving us FREE content since the release of the game. How on earth are they going give us better quality with the limited resources they have? C'mon folks, I think we all know by now that things aren't going that well for MLG.

My Point

My post is aimed towards the people who are fans of SC2, those that watch free streams whenever they have the chance. Not to the people who graciously declined to buy a Pass, but to those who decided to rebel against it and demand a cheaper price. I'm not outright against lower pricing, since it will most definitely change the minds of many, but since this is their first time doing something like this I think that we're quite selfish to demand such things.

Now you're going to be that angry customer that's always right. "I bought the pass, I don't feel like it was worth it, I demand it to be $10 cheaper!".

Listen, and listen carefully.

Do you really care about E-Sports? Do you really honestly love SC2 and its players? Do you want to watch White-Ra 3 years from now playing and being able to financially sustain himself or do you want to eat your popcorn and laugh as he and many other players, casters, organizations slowly fade away with their broken dreams?

I think we need to revise that line we draw between caring about ourselves and how much we really care about E-Sports. Why not be above the typical dissatisfied consumer and consider the $20 MLG pass as an investment? Do you want a future for E-Sports?

I did, and although I may not be as bright as Sundance when it came to growing E-Sports I did know of a way to help. That was by putting in my $20, my 4 - 6 cups of coffee, my night out in the city- I made an exchange and an investment to MLG with my $20. It's not a charity of course. But you know what when you look at things in the big picture, take into account that you're still getting content- $20 really isn't going to end the world for you.

--------------------------

I usually don't voice my opinions like this anymore because people typically don't thoroughly read into my thoughts and consider both sides of the discussion. But after looking at the polls in the SC2 threads relating to MLG, I was just really really sad. I'm not mad or irritated, just sad that more people don't love SC2 as much as I did to purchase a pass to watch some incredible games. Hey sure, we can all agree that MLG could lower the price down a bit, but I think that only people who have purchased the pass are entitled to make that statement. "I would've purchased a pass if it was cheaper." How could you say that? There has never been a PPV model exactly like MLG's, this is the first time it has been done in this format. You bought a GSL ticket for $20 for an entire season? That and what MLG is doing is different, not entirely but still different enough for you to lose basis on making comparisons between the two. You simply don't know exactly what to expect, therefore you cannot make profound assumptions that you think should be laid down as the law.

We all have different circumstances to justify our complaints like lag (which is must be on your end because I didn't have any issues on 1080p), poor casting, bad time zones- that's okay, no problem. But there were so many more people who outright just did not purchase a pass. Which I found upsetting because I honestly don't know if our scene can last much longer when the majority of our community is constantly demanding free content.

I could go on for ages about this, and surely there are some points I have missed, but I still wanted to say something and I hope you guys give some good discussion. I'll edit later for typos since I always make them...

Cyro United Kingdom. February 28 2012 02:49. Posts 5695

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Still in school, no job opportunities for years to come, in the end there are things simply worth more to me than blowing $80-120 a year for MLG arenas. What if i want to use that money to hit a 3 year upgrade cycle on motherboard/cpu/RAM so i am not left in the dark ages?

I think a lot of people are in the same place.

Last edit: 2012-02-28 02:59:21

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mynameisgreat11 February 28 2012 02:51. Posts 599

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I couldn't care less about the future of e-sports, I'm just here to play starcraft. I don't pay to download movies, tv, music, why live sc2? Especially when it lags to hell, and there are a million other places to watch live sc2 lag-free.

sam!zdat United States. February 28 2012 02:51. Posts 4170

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Amen 5/5

On February 28 2012 02:51 mynameisgreat11 wrote:
I couldn't care less about the future of e-sports, I'm just here to play starcraft. I don't pay to download movies, tv, music, why live sc2? Especially when it lags to hell, and there are a million other places to watch live sc2 lag-free.

Because those things aren't niche content in the crucial first years of their existence.

I agree that our entire economic model for artistic production is broken; while we're fixing that, why don't we all support esports so we can grow it and make it awesome?

Last edit: 2012-02-28 02:53:26

noster non solus sol

craz3d Bulgaria. February 28 2012 02:53. Posts 689

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If it was like other MLGs then it wouldn't have been worth it for me to pay $20. About the future of SC2: you can be sure that it will still be around in 3-4 years when LoV comes out. Its longevity after that will depend on whether Blizzard takes their heads out of their asses, not whether we pour money into it.

Last edit: 2012-02-28 02:55:48

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DamageControL United States. February 28 2012 02:53. Posts 3546

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Look, I'm not going to shit on you for buying the pass. That's your choice as a consumer. I refuse to let you make me feel guilty for choosing to not buy the pass, however. Yeah, I could afford $20. It wouldn't kill my budget. Hell, I'd barely notice if I took it out of my paypal money. But still. I'd rather have: a bottle of booze, a few decent lunches, than pay for an MLG arena event that I wasn't even around to watch half of.

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CakeSauc3 United States. February 28 2012 02:53. Posts 307

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Good points, snuggles

I honestly can say I couldn't find the $20.00 this time, I donated a lot to GOM last year and I bought an MLG pass last season as well, but this time I couldn't do it. I'll try and get my act together so I can watch in the future though.

"But hey I mean, if you really LOVE pizza and you revel in the fact some sleepy fat guy did a half-assed job making your pizza like he does everyday and think that is worth more than MLG- then good for you. In fact I wish plucking my nose hair made me feel like a God."

Good paragraph, lol, that was awesome.

NeMeSiS3 Canada. February 28 2012 02:55. Posts 2969

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If they fixed the streamlag and set it for 240/360/480/720/1080p rates instead of 1 horribly laggy stream that my 15mb/s bandwith speed cant even handle apparently? Then I'd rebuy but it was awful to watch, I had to watch vods.

FoTG fighting!

Sc1pio United States. February 28 2012 02:55. Posts 800

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I'm a college student and I had ~$110 to last from last friday until March 9th. I couldn't afford it TT

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mynameisgreat11 February 28 2012 02:58. Posts 599

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On February 28 2012 02:51 sam!zdat wrote:
Amen 5/5

Show nested quote +

I think what it comes down to is whether or not you want to invest in the future of video games/e-sports. Personally, like I said, I couldn't care less. I'm sure I will grow sick of sc2 long before the ladder shuts down to inactivity.

BadBinky Finland. February 28 2012 03:00. Posts 594

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I wonder how many people bought MLG pass to "prove" they love Starcraft more than everyone else.

It's more important to be tough than to have any fun.

Sejanus Lithuania. February 28 2012 03:00. Posts 275

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I want E-Sports to have a better future.

I too want that. I want E-Sports to be as popular as basketball. And for $20 I can get more than one month of NBA + Euroleague + my local league + tones of other programmes, movies and so on. I am talking cable TV ofcourse. I do not want E-Sports to be only for hardcore StarCrafters who would handle so much money just for one weekend. Thats why I did not pay nor watched. And yes, I'd rather go our for pizza with my gf or friends, if you brought that up. Or watch a movie in a cinema. Or buy a book. Or spend it on 1564163546 other things I like at least as much as I like StarCraft.

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Piste Finland. February 28 2012 03:01. Posts 4708

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On February 28 2012 02:49 Cyro wrote:
Still in school, no job opportunities for years to come, in the end there are things simply worth more to me than blowing $80-120 a year for MLG arenas. What if i want to use that money to hit a 3 year upgrade cycle on motherboard/cpu/RAM so i am not left in the dark ages?

I think a lot of people are in the same place.

you can't work and go to school in UK?

(づ ಠ益ಠ)づ

Mementoss Canada. February 28 2012 03:02. Posts 2480

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The point for not paying 20$ is its not sustainable over a long term. 20$ is far too expensive for the amount of content you get. People for the first couple will be like hey, its expensive for what it is, but hey SUPPORT ESPORTZ. But after people realize that they only end up watching maybe half the matches over a 2.5 day span (finals is a half day) for 20$ they start to question its value.

Then if people are so willing to support it other tournaments start doing it too. Then you have a tournament every odd weekend for 10-20$, and you pick and chose which to watch and then they all end up getting like way less viewers than before when they were free. This is turn pisses off all the sponsors. For example promoter says , "Hey we got 50k unique viewers this weekend, thats more than last time!", Sponsor is like awesome I'll support you again next time. But when people have to spread across different tournaments because of PPV, its more like, "Hey, we only got 20k viewers now that we starting PPV, but at least were bringing ourselves profit?", sponsor is like, "Bitch please im losing interest FAST".

There is a difference between MLGs business plan and GSL's. First GSL offers it all for free live, in low quality. Also GSL is a month and a half affair not 3 days, and its still cheaper than 20$ MLG PPV. In conclusion, don't support it for any other reason than you want to because you feel its a fair price for the amount of enjoyment you get out it. Supporting it even half for supporting e-sports will just hurt the longevity of e-sports as eventually the support will end if the value isn't their for the customer.

EDIT* Also the end of your post you ask how they can give us better content if there not charging, well they could learn from the other free streams. Dreamhack ipl etc etc. Which happen to have amazing quality all for the price of nothing.

Last edit: 2012-02-28 03:07:40

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emythrel United Kingdom. February 28 2012 03:04. Posts 2253

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On February 28 2012 02:55 NeMeSiS3 wrote:
If they fixed the streamlag and set it for 240/360/480/720/1080p rates instead of 1 horribly laggy stream that my 15mb/s bandwith speed cant even handle apparently? Then I'd rebuy but it was awful to watch, I had to watch vods.

They did have all those options and for the most part, most people didn't have much lag. I don't know where you were watching it from, but it obviously wasn't the official stream.

When there is nothing left to lose but your dignity, it is already gone.

bonifaceviii Canada. February 28 2012 03:04. Posts 2840

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If you paid $20 simply to support esports, you are indeed part of a small and silly minority.

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ninazerg United States. February 28 2012 03:08. Posts 1834

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The main differences between pizza and MLG is that pizza is delicious and covered in pepperonis, whereas MLG is not. I would recommend that the producers of MLG cover their SC2 games in delicious pepperonis. This will undoubtedly sell more tickets and save ESPORTS.

Holder of Excalibur, savior of Eria.

emythrel United Kingdom. February 28 2012 03:08. Posts 2253

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On February 28 2012 03:01 Piste wrote:

Show nested quote +

you can't work and go to school in UK?

There are plenty of jobs for 14-16 year olds in the UK, McDonalds are always hiring and take anyone over 15 and you can get a paper round at the age of 12 that will give you about £15 per week and there are plenty more opportunities out there. kids these days however don't seem to get jobs as early as they did when i was that age. Strange when you think about it, I grew up through one of the most prosperous eras in history and even though my parents could afford to give me money, I was still encouraged to work... now when the economy is terrible, kids seem to keep leeching off their parents for longer and longer.... oh well

When there is nothing left to lose but your dignity, it is already gone.

KalWarkov Germany. February 28 2012 03:09. Posts 2796

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On February 28 2012 03:04 bonifaceviii wrote:
If you paid $20 simply to support esports, you are indeed part of a small and silly minority.

ty for calling me silly.

it wasnt obviously the only reason, but a reason as well.

im happy i payed those 20$ (guys, think about what u pay 20$ for every month...), the only thing that bothers me is that i couldve watched it for free as well very easily, that makes me sad ./

still, ill play the next arena as well, if the price doesnt get raised.

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AirbladeOrange United States. February 28 2012 03:11. Posts 2065

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How I feel about it is very simple. If you want to watch the games and content for the weekend pay $20. If you don't then that's fine too. I never want to look at MLG or other huge organizations as something I should just throw money at because I like Starcraft. It's not a charity.

I didn't pay because I have never felt the need to pay for Starcraft content because there is so much to keep me occupied. I buy things that I feel I really want and donate to things that really need. MLG fits neither category.

Last edit: 2012-02-28 03:12:53

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