Decreasing Downtime and Increasing Exposure in MLG

Hey guys, this is EGSuppy here and I just wanted to write a little bit about MLG and possible ways that they could improve the production value. I just got back from Dallas actually and it was a ton of fun, another great event held by MLG and I was very ecstatic to participate and show my parents / brother around the eSports world. They were quite impressed as well! However, although I didn't see for myself, I did hear from quite a few people that the stream was a bit lacking - that there was a lot of downtime that may have reduced the quality of the stream. Additionally, I myself have felt for a few tournaments that sometimes it is quite difficult for players to get exposure even if performing very well at MLG.

For example, goswser had a hell of a performance at MLG, unfortunately getting Rain in R4 but then beasting it up and proceeding to beat qxc, ToD, KawaiiRice, Caliber, making it into championship bracket where he defeated ThorZaIN (one game with a proxy hatch apparently) and almost taking down Polt too in a 1-2 score. However, I feel like he hasn't gotten a ton of attention for his run in MLG, and I don't think a single one of his games were streamed at all. Binski also had a pretty awesome tournament, taking down a lot of strong NA ladderers in SniXSniPe and PulseKitty, and then went on to face four EG members consecutively before finally falling in the LR8 right before championship bracket. I feel like that is a very cool storyline with great potential to be milked, giving fans a stake in rooting for either side and giving much needed exposure to lesser known players who have strong performances. Another great example of an awesome game that I heard about (and that viewers missed due to it not being streamed) was Scarlett vs HerO, game 3 championship bracket round 2. The game came down to 3 remaining buildings for Scarlett (she had 3 spine crawlers left) that she had to spread creep and walk with her army in order to prevent elimination, and she did it.

Perhaps it was because there were less of the "community casters" (I think there were less than normal this event or something) that created a scenario in which many games were not casted, but that is one way to increase the amount of exposure that can be provided/produced. What other ways can we increase exposure for these kinds of players? And how can we reduce the downtime on the stream? I think these go hand-in-hand with one another. Certainly it is not feasible to have all potentially exciting matches casted main stage. However I have a few ideas that I think are logistically quite easy to incorporate.

I think it would be a great idea for MLG to get one guy to be sort of an "open bracket reporter." This guy's job will be to follow the open bracket results, ask players if there were any awesome/exciting games, and to take notes on everything that's going on. He can be the perfect filler for the downtime on stream as he can come on and basically tell some of the important results that occurred. In addition, he can go through the replays of the good games (think Scarlett's 3 spine crawler or goswser's proxy hatch win) and have a short clip created for each interesting game, and this he can show on stream while waiting for the next match. I think this is a much better and detailed way to present tournament results compared to having viewers rely on Twitter MLGSC2Scores or Liquipedia. Instead of simply going to Liquipedia, seeing a notable player dropdown or be eliminated and being left wondering why or how that happened, we can get a short overview of what happened, maybe with a short clip or two of the games, and a nice filler that reduces the amount of down time in between main stage matches.

Another cool idea that I think would be awesome and easy for MLG to incorporate is to learn from HomeStoryCup Production. Instead of simply showing a blank screen with some music playing in the background or whatever it is on stream that leads to down time, they can take a handheld camera and basically just film anything. Film players eating, talking, fans interacting, people going to the bathroom, *whatever*! (Honestly I think just showing people going to the bathroom randomly would be pretty funny, and at least a pleasant change from the streams just having a camera permanently hovering over the same audience the entire tournament.) You can do short little mini-interviews that can correspond to the above mentioned "open bracket reporter" and get some of the player's opinions on the matches. Short little 30-45 second things that you can put in between each main stage match that helps people learn what happened on non-casted matches. Instead of the live audience sitting down simply staring at a picture of themselves for however many minutes it is before the next match, they get to see a little bit of what else is going on in the player pit behind them. All viewers get to see the players and learn more about them, see perhaps a bit of their personality, and start really rooting for someone if they are doing well in open bracket. It reminds me of when Scarlett was doing amazing at IPL 4(?) but got little to no coverage - if there was just a little bit of coverage after each one of her matches that was played in between the main streamed matches, for example a short clip or a short interview, it could really build up to produce an amazing storyline that people will REALLY want to see, and lead to great upcoming matches to put on stage. It's totally a win-win situation, as players get more exposure, viewers get a more dynamic viewing experience, and MLG gets a higher viewer count from people being more inclined to tune in at all times due to a higher entertainment value. At the very end of the day, MLG could do a HomeStoryCup-esque summary of the day, the ones with the awesome music and cool footage that is just super entertaining to watch. I remember looking forward to watching the end of the day footage every time from HSC, just because they were always so awesome! MLG already has some interactive polls and stuff, something that I think they could do even more of to give viewers more interaction, and I think this kind of extra coverage is possibly a great way for MLG to improve the viewing experience for everyone.

And if MLG is reading this, the short footage things are also an EXCELLENT way to promote sponsors as well. For example, you can just get live clips of those pretzel girls handing out the pretzels and interacting with the people at the event, and get some sweet shots of people enjoying the snack. Or, for example, get some clips of pros checking out the booths. For example, I went to go try out some Shootmania with my brother on Sunday and I think perhaps other pros might have gone and tried out some of the other games as well - you could get some really cool shots of pros and fans trying out games and visiting the booths, something that is interesting for viewers to watch and also makes them get some real interaction with what the sponsor is rather than simply a name/logo on the side of the stream.

In a nutshell - MLG was great as always and an awesome event. I think there are ways to make it even better, which is a win-win situation for everyone. There should be maybe one guy dedicated to following and creating content regarding open bracket progress - he can present this content in between main streamed matches. They could also intersperse that with some HomeStoryCup-esque handheld footage of players simply chilling out, eating, doing short interviews, going to the booths, fans doing stuff with the sponsors, etc. All of this can help increase exposure for players who get barely any coverage even if they perform very well, helps reduce downtime for the MLG stream (thereby giving viewers a better experience), and gives MLG a higher viewer count due to the higher entertainment value.

I wrote this basically because I kinda just thought about this throughout the past few MLGs, and thought I should spend a little bit presenting this idea in the hopes that perhaps MLG might take some of the suggestions to make a great event even more amazing. I remember when I worked a bit for ESEA coverage and I really wanted to increase the production value of ESEA (since to be honest, it was absolutely horrid) as well as increase the exposure for all the deserving (but lesser known) teams out there. I think MLG can also serve that purpose. Anyways, this is all just my 2 cents, and I wrote it pretty quickly so some parts might not be too cohesive, but I'm definitely curious to see what other people think! If you've got ideas as well I'd love to see them and I think this sort of discussion could help improve eSports for everyone

Check out my stream at www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=315053 and follow me on Twitter @EGSuppy! :)

CosmicSpiral United States. November 06 2012 14:54. Posts 7566

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Ah, so modest. ^_^ You had a hell of a run yourself cowboy.

ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!

Froadac United States. November 06 2012 14:59. Posts 5642

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^^

Revival nbd.

All good ideas. Althoug htere are costs associated, I think there would be decent return, and your point about the sponsors is dead on.

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phodacbiet United States. November 06 2012 15:01. Posts 935

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How about fixing that shitty connection so the people that paid can actually watch starcraft 2 instead of a powerpoint presentation of starcraft.

rkshox Taiwan. November 06 2012 15:05. Posts 302

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agree with the down time, agree with camera crew running through the tournament area. IPL did a great job with this during IPL4 with Lanibot running around interviewing players/managers/fans/crew/staff.

Go SUPPY!!!!!! Great write up 5 stars!

first we expand, then we defense it

Sikly United States. November 06 2012 15:06. Posts 408

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Nice write up! I think that as far as streams go, MLG just was a little bit hectic Saturday morning. The last few events haven't had that much down time, and later in the day and most of championship Sunday content was at least being moved.

Better organization by MLG will ultimately help reduce downtime, and it would also go towards helping avoid situations where certain players forfeit, which also seemed to happen more this MLG than in the last few.

kezz_ Australia. November 06 2012 15:21. Posts 25

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I was thinking this exact thing yesterday! I was almost lucky that the 'blank' time on streams occurred, because it allowed me to study for my exams. But I thought "surely they must have *something* to show in this spare time - there are 200+ players in the event and we got to see 10-15% of those on stream? Be it highlight clips, games shown just as a replay, or footage from last year/last MLG, people will love it!

Just do it.

shindigs United States. November 06 2012 15:25. Posts 4284

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I doubt many would disagree with your idea. It was indeed a bit strange that their were no community casters for Dallas to cast open bracket games.

I mean I think MLG knows that covering more games would the experience for people, but I'm not sure if they know if its worth hiring that many extra people. If they gave the idea a chance, I believe the positive response would really blow up over the course of the MLG weekend.

As much as I was a bit annoyed that not a lot of open bracket games were broadcast, I do realize their are logistical restraints to trying to pick out games.

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Adersick United States. November 06 2012 15:35. Posts 209

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Ah, as a huge fan of streamed events (I have no money to travel or anything of the sort, so SC2 event streams offer me the maximum amount of pleasure of travel and SC action), I couldn't agree more with your ideas and less down time. Even if a majority of it was for premium, nothing felt longer than the waits between games, and even with cameras panning over the large audience I couldn't help but feel there was lost potential.

That lost potential was excellently put here, Suppy. Very good points, and I sincerely hope MLG comes up with/implements some of these ideas, especially with some games only being seen at the event directly (*cough* HerO vs. Scarlett *cough*) which could easily make for more great content at practically no cost! Viewers and sponsors (and thus indirectly, the players and teams) have lot to gain when maximizing the usefulness of air-time. Once again, well put you brilliant man!

Froadac United States. November 06 2012 15:38. Posts 5642

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I bet they could get casters to work for free, to be honest. Maybe not top tier, but tolerable. Or even pros after they get knocked out.

Last edit: 2012-11-06 15:39:06

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Clutch8 United States. November 06 2012 15:41. Posts 250

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This issue and these points have already been discussed with MLG for about a year. I know because I was the one presenting similar ideas and solutions, along with others. It all comes down to budgets.

Brutaxilos United States. November 06 2012 15:44. Posts 866

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Why not just have 4 streams all free? That way we can choose which games to watch and continue to have commercials.

HolyExlxF United States. November 06 2012 16:03. Posts 163

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Remember, Sandy stranded a lot of MLG staff and those "community casters," audio, and camera crews could have been among them. I think it was amazing that MLG managed to put on any production with like 1/3 of their staff still in NY.

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iKill Denmark. November 06 2012 16:37. Posts 781

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On November 06 2012 15:44 Brutaxilos wrote:
Why not just have 4 streams all free? That way we can choose which games to watch and continue to have commercials.

Greater incentive to pay.

Seriously, it's all about the money here. I for one am surprised that anyone bought a HD ticket on purpose to watch 2 SC2 streams in HD. The 480p was just fine and watchable, and there was no "premium content" this time around.

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pikaaarrr :3 United States. November 06 2012 16:51. Posts 587

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CONANANANNAANANNANANAA

GaiusBaltar Germany. November 06 2012 16:52. Posts 59

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On November 06 2012 15:41 Clutch8 wrote:
This issue and these points have already been discussed with MLG for about a year. I know because I was the one presenting similar ideas and solutions, along with others. It all comes down to budgets.

Sure it does, but I mean how much can it cost to get some guy to do what Suppy suggested? The open bracket reporter thingy. I'd bet you'd find a ton of people who would be willing to do this. How about yourself Clutch? Just don't ask for too much money ;P

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Froadac United States. November 06 2012 16:54. Posts 5642

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It's hard for random scrubs in the community to know what the actual costs would be, although I'm sure there are people that would be willing to do it only for the attention.

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i.of.the.storm United States. November 06 2012 17:09. Posts 428

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What about allowing players to stream their open bracket matches (with some delay)? What if all open bracket matches were streamed automatically? Just a random thought I had.

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ggrrg Bulgaria. November 06 2012 17:18. Posts 1933

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Completely agree!
I would love to see those ideas implemented.

d3_crescentia United States. November 06 2012 17:31. Posts 3669

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Hi Conan! I agree with a lot of your suggestions as a spectator - as someone that basically followed around team LighT all this weekend I was surprised at the low amount of exposure for players that performed reasonably well in the open bracket in general. I especially think that the open bracket reporter could be implemented, but moreso as a backstage presence than someone on the floor.

Having some experience in production I can understand why MLG wouldn't do some of these things, and they all essentially boil down to logistics and cost. For example, roaming cameras: they're a great idea in theory for the stream, but the wrangling hundreds of feet of cable out onto the tournament floor is unlikely without creating some safety issues, let alone adjusting for lighting/sound/etc. (as opposed to the controlled stage environment) to ensure the footage recorded is still usable in some way.

While adding a reporter + camera crew for one game might not cost too much, you do have to remember that MLG isn't just an SC2 event; it's an eSports event for multiple games. Increasing coverage in this way for one game might warrant a similar plan to be implemented for parity (just imagine the backlash if LoL got additional coverage and SC2 didn't), and suddenly you're adding 20 staff and 3-4 additional cameras + equipment. Granted, what's needed for one game isn't necessarily needed for other games, but that it asks the question of what should be done for other games is enough to give pause as far as budgeting is concerned. So, there are these particular challenges that need to be met if they do want to do this sometime.

What I think would be ideal is if MLG could crowdsource this extra exposure, similar to the way they brought on community casters. While they probably can't pay TL or ESFI to provide on-stream coverage/interviews, I think they could ask for teams to submit short media before the event that could be featured on stream as part of a community spotlight segment. On top of that, they also have an option for more well-to-do teams with players in pool play to submit bios to be played before their matches to establish an appropriate balance. Both of these segments could be made completely optional, but I would think that teams like EG and TL might take the opportunity to promote their players even further. (The only issue would be with Korean players, who aren't the best at promoting themselves...)

MLG doesn't necessarily want to bend over backwards to do this, but providing a small platform for which smaller teams to get some exposure might be a reasonable step towards improving this issue.

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