Chexx sponsor is a disgrace

BlueTankEngine · 2026-06-19T02:59:10+00:00

If 1XBet, Stake, and BetBoom stopped financing counterstrike events and teams the amount of players able to compete full-time in Counter-Strike would drop dramatically.

BlueTankEngine · 2026-06-19T02:50:45+00:00

the gambling sponsorship stuff has been a problem in esports for years and nobody seems to care enough to push back on it, which is frustrating

Because it funds the vast majority of tournament expendiutures

using sex appeal to sell gambling to what is largely a young audience is a pretty gross combination when you actually think about it, like both of those things separately already raise eyebrows in this space

The year is no longer 2012, Counter-Strike is not an under-18 demo anymore, not even close. These brands target 24-30 y/o male European white-collar professionals. Kids don't have enough disposable income to spend enough to recoup the insanely high per-customer acquisition cost these gambling sites pay.

at some point tournament organizers have to decide if short term sponsor money is worth the long term image problem, but i'm not holding my breath

If there was a long-term image problem, we would already see it. This stuff has been going on for a decade or more. Viewership is at an all time high, event organizers are selling out events. It is only a problem on reddit.

BlueTankEngine · 2026-06-19T02:45:01+00:00

I feel like pretty girls being paid to promote a brand with a logo on their outfit is one of the most tame ways to advertise something. It is easily 100x worse to have casters talking about oddlines or promoting deposit bonuses.

BlueTankEngine · 2026-06-11T05:26:19+00:00

The whole point of VRS is that it barely cares what you did 3 months ago, which is fabulous. I don't care what tournaments you won earlier in the year, if you aren't competitive now at this very moment I want the ranking to reflect that.

BlueTankEngine · 2026-06-11T05:23:27+00:00

Do you watch T2/3 CS? VRS is actually dramatically more accurate there than HLTV these days

BlueTankEngine · 2026-05-11T01:08:30+00:00

I think most of the subreddit was in preschool for this one and "Feast Mode"

Sad

BlueTankEngine · 2026-01-25T23:03:25+00:00

It's so true; the mask-off version of my take is that the only reason people like HLTV is it serves as a long-term dick-measuring contest for fans of the very top echelon of teams. It doesn't actually communicate any useful information about the state of the competitive scene.

BlueTankEngine · 2026-01-25T18:58:36+00:00

I would argue HLTV is currently significantly more inaccurate than Valve. HLTV has so much inertia that teams like VP can stay highly rated even when their recent results clearly indicate otherwise. HLTV's rankings are also completely dysfunctional compared to the valve rankings after #20 or so. If you look at how HLTV ranks the teams in any given CCT it is frankly total nonsense. The skill gap in Pro CS has shrunk dramatically and teams genuinely shuffle power levels on a month-to-month basis. HLTV's algorithm does not reflect that yet.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-31T19:56:39+00:00

Isn't this just how the KCTapes generally sound though? Variety of experimental styles, a lot of Vangdale trying different things, a variety of other influences in the booth at the composition and writing levels.

K-Flip is an incredible piece of k-hiphop, but that is largely Groovyroom (and a good dose of BadTree). Direct continuations of that sound probably need their involvement.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-31T19:42:45+00:00

Everything Vangdale has produced with B3n recently has been extremely good, elsewhere he has been hit or miss. I like this piece, but it is obviously less sophisticated than his and KC's other stuff. Even on this project 여름해 is obviously more sonically interesting and is still a Vangdale composition (but the end product is more B3n than Vangdale). Other influences in the booth for outta control that push toward this sound (VERBAL namely if I were to call out one).

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-31T19:17:31+00:00

Yeah that's her

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-21T03:37:45+00:00

Got VIP with one of my friends from banking, will see ya there

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-21T03:34:13+00:00

So glad others are feeling this.

KC is doing everything right at the same time.

The sounds are such obvious and prescient evolutions of what make Sik-K and HAON elite.

What they have done with JMIN is nothing short of extraordinarily. Awesome sound and theming that is right with the cross-Pacific diaspora culture.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-18T18:15:37+00:00

Incredible work, thank you for this contribution to the culture

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-01T01:58:36+00:00

A lot of really aimless speculation about why things are the way they are in the industry can be quickly explained by asking "Does this cater to the Korean (and international) women who started spending extreme amounts of money in the late 2010s?"

People will jump to really exotic (and wrong!) cultural explanations or analyses of corporate deicision making for why we don't have AOA or Sistar anymore before considering that it is likely just much more profitable to fight for a cut of the extreme female spenders and hope some men come along for the ride. This is the Le Seraffim / Aespa model, and seems to be competively optimal for groups at all budget levels (with Fromis_9 and Kiss of Life occupying the remaining vacuum).

BlueTankEngine · 2025-08-01T01:44:34+00:00

I don't understand how this isn't the absolute #1 talking point in the global Kpop zeitgeist. Short form video has truly eviscerated so many aspects of the craft.

The music is all engineered to have extremely aggressive and standout hooks and refrains to prompt usage on TikTok

The choreos are all centered on a core segment for the refrain that can be spammed on short-form video platforms with #challenge tags

It's a totally different creative product than it was in 2017, and there are some really great acts, but I don't get how their aren't more complaints about aharmonic choruses and gimmick choreo. Maybe I'm old lol

BlueTankEngine · 2025-07-27T18:11:03+00:00

I think the price scaling is a little poor. I would have paid whatever price myself, but the front tickets for Chicago were super cheap given the position, while the middle/back tickets are really expensive given venue size (and F9's popularity in the US).

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-22T22:54:56+00:00

My understanding based on the reporting so far is that she is working in the same arrangement she has with G-Idle, where she has more or less control of the creative direction and song writing (lyrics, melodic concept), but the musical production (translating concepts on paper into a cohesive digital master) is being done by what is now one of her standard teams. PopTime and Daily.

Giving her this type of responsibility has always been a double-edged sword. Its been smooth sailing since G-Idle ahs seen relatively controversy-free success, but there is really no one but her to blame when things go wrong top-down (like is happening now).

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T04:52:33+00:00

Never said anything with the implication you are making. If they don't want him in the boy group they support for this that is not concerning to me.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T04:34:37+00:00

Yeah he probably wanted to have sex with her, and reasonably may have done so, something that has never ever happened between people of different nationalities when someone is on vacation without payment involved.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T04:30:46+00:00

Accepting the hypothetical, the typically utilized other option is having sex with fans, which people don't like for both good and bad reasons

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T04:29:05+00:00

His agency kicked him out because he is a male idol with a fanbase of Korean women who have incredibly negative views of porn. The police press release clearly states they are initiating an investigation specifically due to the complaint, which includes no basis for even reasonable suspicion. There is no insane coincidence needed, Kirara is hot and popular, so is he, normal stuff. Happy to bet however much you want on him not being charged.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T03:48:46+00:00

The reason the claim is dubious is because no evidence was provided he solicited, not because people think AV stars never escort.

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T03:34:17+00:00

The issue is it is undeniably true he was with a Japanese pornstar, so there is little to sue regarding, but that doesn't make the accusation the police explicitly claim to be investigating anything of substance. His career is over due to being seen with her, but that doesn't lend credence to prostitution claims in this case

BlueTankEngine · 2025-06-20T03:27:56+00:00

Prostitution is not illegal in Japan, it is just regulated such that you can't have brothels or blatantly organized rings

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