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Before I flew out to Valencia to host the first ever esports congress, I’ll admit I was a little troubled. The general concencus around different forums and communities was either negativity or indifference, though a few were as excited as I was.
Some complained it would be a complete circle-jerk, a way of paying off the viewers with some cool anecdotes, reddit-worthy sound bites and some friendly banter thrown in for good measure. Others thought it was pointless and wouldn’t, couldn’t achieve anything. Perhaps the indifference and negativity was unsuprising given that rarely (if ever) has such a collection of prominent esports figures gathered in one place AND got anything done. As gamers, we’ve heard it all before right?
But for me, that sort of missed the point of the congress. Sure, it was always going to be difficult to get EVERYONE there and omissions from Valve and Riot (both unable to attend) and several key Korean organisations made this less than perfect, but if we are honest, if we wait until everyone is available, this congress would never get started. While I don’t disagree it would have been improved by having a wider set of panelists (players & casters for example) few will disagree that we needed to have this meeting sooner rather than later.
I’ll wrap up more towards the end, but it’s important to put this in context right up front, this was a start, a line in the sand, a place to begin communication, dialogue and who knows maybe even a little co-operation even on a small scale. If we achieved any of that in one day with so many major players, it would be a huge achievement.
Perhaps next time we can also spend 2 days doing panels and they can be mixed up a little better, again, lack of time, space and money prevented having this any bigger this time around. Talking of money, thanks to Twitch and Dreamhack for hosting this one and getting it off the ground and, as you may not be aware, paying for everyones flights and hotels to get there. It should also be noted that neither Twitch nor Dreamhack want to own this congress as an intellectual property and on Sunday night Robert Ohlen made this very clear with a short speech encouraging the other large tournaments to host the next one in their backyard and I hope that invitation is picked up.
This isn’t a review of the congress as such, you can read some great reviews on the internet already if you need to catch up, but I thought it might be helpful to get the “moderators” view and perhaps sneek in a couple of the things happening behind the scenes, even if I risk being roasted by some of the people on the panels!
I was chosen to host and moderate because I’d worked with a lot of the companies and people on the panels in the past, but was not tied to any of them exclusively and it was felt I could remain impartial and balanced. This was a part of the role I took very seriously and I hope the integrity of the panels was such that I achieved this, no matter how difficult it was at times. For example, a great friend of mine, Stuart Saw was representing Own3d and I didn’t pull any punches, throwing him some of the toughest questions of the day, which he handled exceptionally well to his credit (and didn’t beat the crap out of me afterwards – though I might not get a wedding invite now!).
Talking of tough questions, I asked a few and tried to get more in when the discussions allowed, but again, this wasn’t a gladiatorial ring, it was a place to discuss the tough subjects and find some common ground with enough debate to help people understand some of the wide and varied thoughts and beliefs they attached to esports. That said, I tried hard to ensure the questions that were posed, got answered, again something that didn’t always happen.
Of course the public debates were always going to be slightly muted and the panelists weren’t able to share as much as perhaps they would have wanted to, but I feel the discussions were good none the less. The discussions after the event, away from the cameras and microphones were good and I stumbled in to a number of great discussions between the power brokers of esports and just listened, mildly in awe, at just how far everyone had come in 24 hours. Already the large tournament organisers have, in principal, agreed to meet regulalry as and when schedules allow to discuss their most burning issues, even if this is via a skype call. Thats a great start and as much as we dare hope for to come out of the congress at this early stage.
Sure, there is a hell of a lot to do and I for one want to see players represented on the next congress, not just through the teams. I want to see more diversity too and include the Korean contingent, for while it may well be a paradox, I am certain we can learn from their mistakes of the past and progress accordingly.
I hope that you found the panels as interesting and at times intriguing as I did. I know I didn’t ask all of the questions people posed, there simply wasn’t time or in some cases, the opportunity and this wasn’t the forum to put people on the spot about specifics in games or problems they may have had in the past, this was about bringing people together and trying to learn more about them. And as I have said more than once already, about getting all of the different sections of esports at the very top of the tree, talking, to each other.
It was an absolute honour to be chosen to host this first congress and I hope I get the chance to do more in the future, but what I hope most is that all of the panelists go away from this having learned new things, understood other peoples points of view and can take esports forward in a positive way.
I personally know from talking to everyone the night before and after the congress that every single member of the panels LOVES esports and I hope at least some of that came across in the panel discussions. There were plenty of other things they found in common too, so let’s hope they can use the genuine friendships, understanding and collective passion that were found in Valencia to take esports to the next level and beyond or as Mr Dallon would say "Beyond the game".
/red
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Hmm, I just realised, perhaps this would be better as a blog? Sorry mods, if you need to move it or want me to delete, please do so/let me know.
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RedEye i criticised you for the role/style at the WCS. I here commend you for the style at the Congress, top job. The stream was laggy as hell, so i couldn't really follow all of it, however my feelings were pretty much summarised by idra's twitter
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I suppose I should also comment on the stream feedback. This wasn't a produced stream as such and I know the audio wasn't good at times, so apologies for that. Hopefully next time, it can be made in to a bigger spectacle, but the focus really was on the discussions and debates not "freaking lazers" as Robert told me the morning after
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redeye <3 never has one person given injected so much positivity into esports than you have done in the last few weeks
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Yea, I think this belongs as a blog.
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Does anyone have a link for the VODs?
I tried watching the Twitch VODs but they were all commercials until the 3rd panel. There's a VOD on Youtube but I don't think it's official. I'd prefer to give ad revenue to the right organization.
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I only watched a few of the panels, but what I saw was really interesting. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but if this becomes a regular thing, I think it could become a pretty good authority on the progression of esports.
In regards to what idra said, I think it's important to have a player presence, but it's not that simple. Not only do you need a reason to have players involved in the discussion, but you need unbiased players who are trained critical thinkers and public speakers. With respect to all the progamers that I love to watch, I don't trust many of them to participate in a panel that doesn't become some kind of sideshow about zvt balance or an attempt at comedy.
There may be several exceptions, but things aren't as simple as "involve players in panels." Consider, also, that this is an eSports congress and not a Starcraft congress. Issues brought up by players shouldn't even involve the games themselves, but should focus on player accommodations, treatment, scheduling, training, salaries, etc. I dare say that players don't even belong in game design panels, just because I'm not sure what they'd have to say other than "please balance this."
Anyway, I loved what I saw, but unfortunately only had the chance to see a few of the panels. The format was great, though, so I look forward to catching the next one. It can only get better from here.
edit: i'm super light headed and every time I look at what I've written, I'm not even sure if It's coherent. Dunno what's goin on but I hope my critique helps anyway.
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Canada10904 Posts
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I've watched 3 out of 5 panels so far. You've done an exceptional job at flowing the talk into something resembling a productive discussion. About a couple hours in I realized just how many mistakes you COULD have made, but didn't. Very well done.
I have to say though, your hosting of this recent SC2 tournament was nothing spectacular. I would definitely stick within the moderation medium. If there was another congress happening I would be very glad if you were there again.
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Redeye, I loved your opening speech as it helped open my eyes further on being appreciative of my job. Seeing the humble beginnings is always a great way to remain grateful.
I think the keynote speech needs to deliver more of the "Why we're here" aspect of the congress. You hit "How we're here" perfectly and I felt you only delivered half of a keynote.
Other than that, hosting the panels was excellently done. Great show and I agree with most of your reflections!
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Is there any transcript of what was said?
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I was/ still am, luckily, sick so i could watch nearly all of it. :D I loved your moderation of the panels and agree that it was a good start of communication between the top parties of esports, BUT there were not much specefics that could result in a collaboration or sth along those lines. It was a start, a good one, but not more. Now it is time keep the thing rolling.
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On September 23 2012 04:51 ReDeYe wrote:I suppose I should also comment on the stream feedback. This wasn't a produced stream as such and I know the audio wasn't good at times, so apologies for that. Hopefully next time, it can be made in to a bigger spectacle, but the focus really was on the discussions and debates not "freaking lazers" as Robert told me the morning after
It was more a twitch problem, there was unbearable lag on all streams that werent 720+.
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I've watched all the panels now, and I honestly expected a lot more fluff than what actually was presented. The willingness to discuss these things and express actual opinions instead of giving PR-answers was present with the majority of the panelists.
The congress seemed like a success to me in getting a very small snowball rolling, but in the end we can only speculate what will actually be said and done when the cameras are off.
Oh, and amazing job Redeye!
PS! I know most of the Sc2 crowd focused on Browder saying that Blizz was positive to maybe making Sc2 multiplayer free to play somewhere down the line, but I found it much more interesting that he was so positive to team-marketing in the maps (sponsor logos at spawn locations etc) like Dota2 is doing. Would love to see some sort of implementation of this in tourneys in the not-so-distant future.
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
You did a great job. Really looking forward to more of these in the years to come.
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RedEye, I absolutely loved the whole event, managed to watch most of it and it was the most interesting stream event I have seen in ages. Really cool to get a glimpse of what's happening behind the scenes and you have made gamers proud, being as professional of a host as you have been.
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Katowice25012 Posts
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