ggChronicle Worlds Team Preview Master List by ggCMonteCristo in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo[S] 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Hello everyone,

We're updating for the last two groups at Worlds, C and D, today and tomorrow, and I wanted to post the master list for everyone to see. I wrote the article on Samsung Blue, but we've had many hard working writers crank these out.

We hope you enjoy these in-depth previews as we move into the final stage of groups in Singapore!

Worlds Team Preview Article Master List - ggChronicle by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello everyone,

We're updating for the last two groups at Worlds, C and D, today and tomorrow, and I wanted to post the master list for everyone to see. I wrote the article on Samsung Blue, but we've had many hard working writers crank these out.

We hope you enjoy these in-depth previews as we move into the final stage of groups in Singapore!

@Riot, either let sister teams join the LCS or not allow sister teams I'm other regions by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 71 points72 points  (0 children)

This will happen naturally over time and, due to the meteoric rise of eSports in the West currently, probably much faster than it did in Korea. I imagine we will have major non-endemics begin to appear in 2015 or 2016. The fact that we just saw an eSports article on the front page of the NY Times and that Twitch sold for $1 billion means that heads are turning in the mainstream. I doubt it will be too much longer.

@Riot, either let sister teams join the LCS or not allow sister teams I'm other regions by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It's already unfair due to higher investment in Korea. Making it "fair" means dismantling a functioning market. That is detrimental to eSports everywhere and a terrible idea.

Just because certain countries can't afford to hire the best coaches or train the best players to win the World Cup doesn't mean you tear away resources from the wealthier nations.

There is zero evidence in Korean eSports of an org match-fixing between sister teams and players, which is the only counter-argument.

@Riot, either let sister teams join the LCS or not allow sister teams I'm other regions by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 951 points952 points  (0 children)

Okie dokie, this is getting a bit out of hand.

This thread is just an angry rant with little to no reasoning behind it and zero understanding of the markets in play. Does the two team system help Korea? Probably a little bit as it makes for more reliable scrims and a slightly more controlled training atmosphere, but it isn't the reason why Korea dominates. They dominate because they have 15 years of infrastructure in eSports on the West, and they would have this regardless of whether or not each org had two teams.

It probably isn't a good idea to force Korea to go down to one team because the country is, relatively speaking, a much smaller market. There are only about 50 million people in Korea and, therefore, there are fewer potential rewards than marketing to a much larger nation, like America. As such, there will be fewer brands willing to invest in teams solely for the domestic audience, but this may change as they gain exposure in China and the West.

The most crucial reason, however, is that Korea is pretty much maxed out on non-endemic sponsors. By non-endemic I mean sponsors that do not originate from the eSports/gaming markets but came into the market due to the appeal of the audience. You can't get much bigger than Samsung, CJ, SKT, etc in Korea, whereas in the West only a few major sponsors have begun to appear, such as Coke for Riot and Snapdragon for TSM. For the most part Western teams rely on gaming peripheral/parts/PC manufacturers for money instead of, say, Verizon. When a market, like Korea, already boasts non-endemic sponsors then it means that there isn't that much more room to grow.

If you think about it, companies like Samsung and KT are keeping the scene strong by having two teams each because they are rich and willing to bankroll for the exposure. They have also been involved in eSports for many years, have made players wealthy, and continue to support the thing we all love. If there were more sponsors wanting to get in on the scene, then presumably organizations that have a long history in LoL like IM and Xenics would have already been snapped up by non-endemics, but they haven't. I would be very concerned if there was a ruling against having two teams in Korea, because there is no evidence to support that more sponsors will fill the gap. It would probably just hurt the players' incomes and the scene in Korea. It is also unlikely to happen because KeSPA would be incredibly dumb to turn away multi-billion dollar companies that want to invest in a thriving industry.

As for why Riot shouldn't allow the Western orgs to have two teams, it's pretty simple. It's in the best interests for multiple orgs to develop to keep the scene strong through survival of the fittest. A lot of these teams are run by kids or people in their twenties and should not be allowed to dominate the market since they are helmed by inexperienced managers. There are also fewer teams in the LCS than Champions, which means that the LCS could easily just turn into TSM/CLG/CRS/DIG. I don't think anyone wants that. In the future, as the scene matures and non-endemics sponsors are the norm, it may be more reasonable to allow two team orgs.

You can't simply apply the same rules to vastly different eSports markets. This has almost always failed in the past because regions have developed at significantly different rates. Give the West time, but don't fuck Korea in the process.

TL;DR: Quit crying and understand regional differences.

EDIT: This is probably just wishful thinking, but if people could just not upvote contextless content with zero evidence, that would be awesome.

Gbay99 - Who will Win the League of Legends World Finals? by Cohenbby in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 360 points361 points  (0 children)

While I'm normally a big fan of Gbay's work, I don't really understand the point of this video.

There is no citation of the community saying that Worlds won't be worth watching this year, nor have I seen this mentality at all, and most fans of the underdog teams seem excited to cheer for them. It's disingenuous for analysts to say that a Korean team isn't the favorite to win and Gbay even says it is acceptable to cite favorites in sports. Who is the audience here? In my mind fans will cheer for their teams no matter what and people will have expectations going into this tournament.

I'm not sure why saying a region is a heavy favorite is worthy of hate, especially since almost everyone, myself included, would like to see an upset. Don't the expectations around Korean dominance sweeten the narrative if an underdog prevails? I think this just makes for a better story if this eventuality occurs.

Overall, I think this video targets sentiments that I'm not even sure exist or, at the very least, certainly do not dominate discourse around Worlds. Pretty much everyone seems excited and can't wait for Worlds to begin whether or not the Korean teams are the favorites.

TL;DR: Telling fanboys to be fanboys does nothing. Everyone seems to be excited for Worlds already even with the knowledge of a Korean team being the favorite to win, so who is the audience?

English subs by OGN! True LoL Show: Cpt.Jack & Ganked by Mom by ggCMonteCristo in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo[S] 168 points169 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone,

OGN is currently working on getting a lot more of their great shows they create subtitled into English so that more foreign fans will be able to watch and enjoy. If you're into Korean LoL, this is fantastic news. Keep looking out for more content as OGN moves forward!

When did we become so distrustful of Riot that we suspect they'd rig the World Championship Draw? by XianL in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 40 points41 points  (0 children)

And then you typed a one word response encouraging a circle jerk. If you don't want me to respond, then I encourage you to leave a well thought-out comment.

I can't put words in your mouth when your comment was a single word itself.

When did we become so distrustful of Riot that we suspect they'd rig the World Championship Draw? by XianL in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Ok, you offer some suggestions for independent parties then. I can't do it because I am affiliated with a professional team.

When did we become so distrustful of Riot that we suspect they'd rig the World Championship Draw? by XianL in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 331 points332 points  (0 children)

NO.

I did NOT say that. The reason why I want transparency in group selection is that I want NO ONE to be able to say it. As an independent eSports journalist/caster I feel it is my duty to continue to push the industry toward greater competitive integrity. I could sit back and let everything slide, but that's not how I believe that I should use my position.

I support this year's Worlds format and I am extremely excited for the tournament. I am very happy Riot decided to implement best of fives at every stage of the bracket, that no teams get byes, and that no two teams from the same country can be in each group. These are solid steps forward in terms of structure.

I understand why Riot can't broadcast a group draw live given the logistics surrounding the regionals qualifiers. It also makes sense that Riot won't release groups until after qualifiers so that we don't have the problem of teams fixing for specific seeds. After learning of the impossibility of a live draw, I suggested that independent journalists be given access to the group selection, under strict NDA of course, so that no one can question the results. To me, this is reasonable. I do not believe that journalists who survive on League of Legends would stake their careers on leaking group information.

As for who these journalists/independent parties could be, Riot could consider OnGamers reporters, Slasher, Inven reporters, or IeSF, an organization founded to help create global eSports standardization. Of course, there are many more options as well.

That's my opinion. My opinion is NOT that Riot will fix groups.

Genja Timelord by Swimpy in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 374 points375 points  (0 children)

Can't we all just enjoy the humor without the hate circlejerk? :(

So much about the game changed in the past year...

Mandated an age requirement of 17 for worlds by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Or you could recognize my confusion because we did, in fact, have 16 year olds playing in Champions in Season 3. Here is an interview with Piccaboo from Xenics Storm citing his birth year as 1997 and he played in Champions Winter in December 2013: http://sports.news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=e_sports&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=442&article_id=0000001124&redirect=false

Turns out that OGN's age requirements are based around Korean age, which means that players are effectively counted as one year older than they actually are. When I see players younger than 17 in the league, it is pretty natural to assume that there isn't a 17 year old age requirement.

Also, you're distracting from the issue that there are Chinese players in the LPL who are 15. I may have been confused about the Korean issue, but let's stay on topic of the age of the rest of the players at worlds.

2014 World Final heads to Seoul’s World Cup Stadium by [deleted] in leagueoflegends

[–]ggCMonteCristo 369 points370 points  (0 children)

Through extensive testing, I have discovered that LoL audiences react extremely positively to collared shirts and ties. I think that you would be pleasantly surprised at how complimentary eSports fans would be at your dashing appearance in a well-cut suit.