| Rothnir Germany. July 04 2012 23:26. Posts 33 | Profile # |
Intel Extreme Masters boss Carmac has updated his blog with an article about the general philosophy behind the qualification structure of the tournament and the introduction of an open tournament.
...We are very proud of the fact that you need to qualify for every Intel Extreme Masters tournament and that we don’t do invitations. We’ve given a chance to great many players and some of them have made a mark in StarCraft II (Feast went through five qualifiers to get to our Kiev event and went on to take 4th place at our World Championship event).
This philosophy of ours got a lot of people complaining about the lineup of players attending our events. I find those complaints offensive to the players that won spots at our events. Let’s use our 2011 Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event as an example:
IEM Cologne: HayPro, bratOK, Strelok, Grubby, MorroW, SjoW, TLO, elfittaja, Goody, NightEnd, Dimaga, White Ra, Slivko, DemusliM, BlinG, Darkforce;
That’s quite the list of players that attempted to qualify but did not manage to get there. The “did not qualify” list was similarly stacked for almost every Intel Extreme Masters event. I repeat: it’s ignorant and insulting to complain about someone that goes through a player field like that to get to an event.
It’s a sports competition, not a beauty contest. Everyone has to get the same chance...
Full read at http://mbcarmac.com/post/26483660332/thoughts-on-the-new-iem-with-starcraft-ii
www.intelextrememasters.comLast edit: 2012-07-04 23:27:08 |
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| StarGalaxy Germany. July 04 2012 23:34. Posts 578 | Profile # |
Well there is definitely some truth in his words.
It's good for the scene to give everyone the same chance to participate in the event.
But there are also some downsides to it. There is always a good possibility that the weaker player advances in a bo1 or bo3. In the end there will somone qualify who is pretty good but is not necessarily the best. This is fine so bc it gives good but not so well knwown players the chance to prove themselves.Last edit: 2012-07-04 23:39:41 |
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| iaguz Australia. July 04 2012 23:37. Posts 1249 | Profile Blog # |
Any love for the SEA players?
Not so much for me personally, but we definitely have a few players might be worth sending to a few of these.Last edit: 2012-07-04 23:38:10 |
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| Grovbolle Denmark. July 04 2012 23:39. Posts 2561 | Profile Blog # |
It’s a sports competition, not a beauty contest. Everyone has to get the same chance...
True fucking story.. Qualifiers > invitationals.
In terms of fairness to the players.
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| Nekovivie United Kingdom. July 04 2012 23:39. Posts 2190 | Profile # |
It’s a sports competition, not a beauty contest. Everyone has to get the same chance...
Kinda sums it up nicely. I don't like invites for fan favourites. Free seeds in tournaments such as MLG or GSL kinda ruin it for the people who have to qualify the hard way. |
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| Tyree July 04 2012 23:41. Posts 1508 | Profile # |
Carmac is right, if more tournaments dont adopt this you will end up with a stagnant scene where new young players cant break in because "personalites" who are usually famous for something they say rather than do in game will get top billing.
In 2-3 years when the Toss expansion comes i guarantee you that roughly half the top SC2 scene will be players you dont even know about yet and thats good for the game.
I dont think there is a problem in Korea, the Kespa guys deserve more time to "get" the game, its more or less the foreign scene that is guilty of this. Fruitdealer and many others are more or less relics of the past now in Korea, but in the foreign scene guys who havent performed in a long time still get the spotlight on them.Last edit: 2012-07-04 23:47:14 |
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| furo Germany. July 04 2012 23:42. Posts 408 | Profile # | |
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| 3D-Swifty England. July 04 2012 23:47. Posts 65 | Profile # |
| I Agree 100%, great read, |
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| Musicus Germany. July 04 2012 23:49. Posts 2859 | Profile # |
| Nothing to add, wise words, always a pleasure. |
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 Plexa Administrator July 04 2012 23:50. | Profile Blog # |
On July 04 2012 23:39 Grovbolle wrote:
Show nested quote +It’s a sports competition, not a beauty contest. Everyone has to get the same chance...
True fucking story.. Qualifiers > invitationals. In terms of fairness to the players.
In terms of sponsor satisfaction, having a ton of notable players (usually via invites) is best. An unfortunate situation, but its how the scene has developed thus far. |
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| nucLeaRTV Romania. July 04 2012 23:50. Posts 709 | Profile # |
| Very well said. Let's see who's consistent and will qualify. |
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 Noam Israel. July 05 2012 00:54. Posts 1581 | Profile # |
There are a few things about IEM's new format which are truly great and it seems like only IEM does them right: complete removal of invites, the removal of the 3rd place match and the local qualifiers.
I am however a bit iffy about IEM continuously mixing between prize pool and "travel support". I am all for a balanced prize pool and I HATE when only Top4 get paid, but calling it "prize pool" officially and treating it like travel stipends creates a few issues.
First, I hope no one believes flight and hotel from across the world is going to be covered by the $600(or $900) that 24th place will give you.
Second, it may cause arguments between players and their teams. A player's contract would normally treat prize money much differently from travel stipends, and when it is called "prize pool" on the official website and later called "travel support" on IEM's product manager personal blog it creates ambiguity which causes conflicts.
+ Show Spoiler [further clarifying travel stipends] +Some global tournaments (IeSF for example) have local qualifiers across the world which only award the winner a plane ticket and hotel for the main event. Other tournaments ask you to buy the plane tickets yourself and would promise to reimburse you later.
Some teams (European ones are the only ones I know) would then pay for the plane tickets and later when the travel stipend is paid by the tournament the player forwards it to the team (this is enforced in the contract)
And third there is the issue of hype. There is competition over our attention and viewership between the tournaments and prize pool is one of the factors used to create hype. Some tournaments, like MLG with their Arenas for instance, pay 100% of the fees for traveling and accommodation for players that qualified (assuming you participated in the qualifier for your region). These expenditures, which are thousands of dollars for each player, are NOT being listed in the tournament's official prize pool.
That being said, I still really appreciate IEM for paying each player. If a team does not pay for the player's travel and accommodation he will obviously consider IEM's guaranteed prize money as a reimbursement for his costs, but please don't mix up between prize pool and travel stipends.
Another small issue I have with the format is that they will have 4 groups with 6 players each and top 3 advance. Being 6th or 5th in the group will probably result in a different amount of prize money, but I still fear it is inevitable that we will see some games where one player no longer has any desire to compete and that can only cause problems. |
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| Influ Germany. July 05 2012 01:18. Posts 623 | Profile # |
On July 04 2012 23:50 Plexa wrote:
Show nested quote +On July 04 2012 23:39 Grovbolle wrote:
It’s a sports competition, not a beauty contest. Everyone has to get the same chance...
True fucking story.. Qualifiers > invitationals. In terms of fairness to the players.
In terms of sponsor satisfaction, having a ton of notable players (usually via invites) is best. An unfortunate situation, but its how the scene has developed thus far.
Imo the eSport scene and espacially the SC scene got to the point where it is now only because of passionate fans, selfless volunteers and dedicated workers. Why should it suddenly be the best to care the most about what sponsors and big companies want? I really don't understand this and I think that's how a big bubble could take shape. When the scene starts to focus on the most possible cash flow and not on developing itself a dicline is unavoidable.Last edit: 2012-07-05 01:19:34 |
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| Derez Netherlands. July 05 2012 01:27. Posts 4473 | Profile Blog # |
It's not like IEM has fair qualifiers, they're inherently stacked to get as many foreigners aboard as possible. If it truly weren't a beauty contest, the qualifiers would be played between all players instead of having 4 spots for the US for example. Last season was proof of that: 1 korean to any given IEM stop and everyone hoping he falls down at some point.
I'm all for fair qualifiers, but lets not pretend IEM has them. |
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 Hnnngg United States. July 05 2012 01:33. Posts 1065 | Profile # |
Until I see the qualification process, I personally won't be able to agree with him.
Bo1 or Dreamhack style groupstages won't fairly decide who is the best to go forward through groups.
If it's roundrobin bo3 then great, otherwise I'll just tune out Carmac like I do whenever he talks about LoL being the best eSport ever.
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| Xacez Sweden. July 05 2012 01:51. Posts 2336 | Profile # |
On July 05 2012 01:33 Hnnngg wrote:
otherwise I'll just tune out Carmac like I do whenever he talks about LoL being the best eSport ever.
Source?Last edit: 2012-07-05 01:51:49 |
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 Carmac Poland. July 05 2012 04:54. Posts 323 | Profile # |
On July 04 2012 23:34 OrbitalPlane wrote:
Well there is definitely some truth in his words.
It's good for the scene to give everyone the same chance to participate in the event.
But there are also some downsides to it. There is always a good possibility that the weaker player advances in a bo1 or bo3. In the end there will somone qualify who is pretty good but is not necessarily the best. This is fine so bc it gives good but not so well knwown players the chance to prove themselves.
The DE tournament will run in bo3, group play will run in bo3, playoffs will run in bo5, the final will run in bo7. |
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| Carmac Poland. July 05 2012 04:55. Posts 323 | Profile # |
On July 04 2012 23:37 iaguz wrote:
Any love for the SEA players?
Not so much for me personally, but we definitely have a few players might be worth sending to a few of these.
Yes, there will be. |
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| Carmac Poland. July 05 2012 04:57. Posts 323 | Profile # |
On July 05 2012 01:27 Derez wrote:
It's not like IEM has fair qualifiers, they're inherently stacked to get as many foreigners aboard as possible. If it truly weren't a beauty contest, the qualifiers would be played between all players instead of having 4 spots for the US for example. Last season was proof of that: 1 korean to any given IEM stop and everyone hoping he falls down at some point.
I'm all for fair qualifiers, but lets not pretend IEM has them.
4 spots are given to both North America and South America (also partially thanks to violet winning the Brazil tournament for the American region). |
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| pmp10 July 05 2012 05:09. Posts 1389 | Profile # |
On July 05 2012 01:18 Influ wrote:
Why should it suddenly be the best to care the most about what sponsors and big companies want?
Because they foot the bills for tournaments casters streams players and teams?
The only other way is for community to pay for every piece of SC content - and (for the time being anyway) not even MLG managed to make that approach work.
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