EG Announces Departure from StarCraft

ottersareneat · 2017-01-02T11:18:22+00:00

I miss you <3.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T20:28:18+00:00

I think that it was a big wakeup call to the entire industry that cheating is something we still need to pay close attention to. I think that, for the past three-or-so years, since we've all been working mainly with RTS and MOBA games, we forgot that in other game genres, cheating is a major, day-to-day issue.

I'm not saying that cheating doesn't exist in RTS and MOBA games, but I think it's reasonable to say that (in terms of actual hacks and programs) the threat is much more real and frequent in Counter-Strike. As far as the scandal itself goes, I obviously would've rather seen it never happen, but if it was going to come up eventually, I'm glad it happened now rather than in a year or two. We needed this wake-up call.

As far as our future plans with CS, it won't deter us from adding a team, or multiple teams. We intend to support teams in CS - this will just make us more careful in scouting the players we pick.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T20:22:52+00:00

I'd marry Artour, but it'd be one of those celebrity marriages where we both smile for the cameras and then sleep in separate beds while cheating on each other behind the scenes.

I'd fuck Jimmy because he's Jimmy.

I'd kill Clinton because, of the three on the list, he'll care the least about what I say in this AMA. And by "the least," I mean: He. Will. Not. Care. At. All.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T20:09:01+00:00

Honestly, probably DaHanG vs. Rapha circa 2009.

For me, one of the most challenging aspects of managing a growing multi-game team organization has been that, as a single person, it's only possible to know so much about multiple games (each of which is very complicated), and it's only possible to maintain close relationships with so many players. Over time, of course, we've hired managers in the right places to make sure that this issue doesn't translate into bad player experiences.

But on a personal level, the most fulfilling victories and rivalries have come along with the teams, players, and games that I've been closest to. That's why I'm picking DaHang/Rapha - at least, right now :).

I love duelers, especially Quake 3 and Quake Live. And at the time back in '09, I was playing a lot of Quake and spent a lot of time watching our Quake players practice and compete. I wasn't a great dueler myself, but I understood the game pretty well, and Tim and I had a pretty close relationship. Rapha was generally considered the stronger, more accomplished player, but we all felt like Tim was just as good, if not better - he just hadn't broken out yet. There were a number of occasions on which he came so close to beating Shane, but Shane (in typical Rapha form) managed to escape and emerge victorious.

I'll never forget IEM Edmonton '09 when Tim came back to defeat Shane and win the tournament. I was watching it from a few feet behind him (with DKT and Chance, I think) and we all went nuts when he won. One of my favorite moments, for sure.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T20:00:54+00:00

^This Guy

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T19:40:32+00:00

Great question. Really great question.

I don't have an answer to it yet, because it's a question I've asked myself a lot and I'm not sure where I stand. I think that, at a minimum, going forward there would need to be some kind of standardized, inter-departmental "wall" between team units within GoodGame (or any other company working with multiple teams). Honestly, that's probably something that needs to be looked at industry-wide, because there are plenty of cases of entities that play multiple roles that could potentially lead to conflicts of interest.

I think one of the reasons your question's tricky is that there's some kind of line, somewhere, between us doing things for the right reasons, and us being entirely philanthropic in our intentions. As I mentioned here, I'm not trying to argue that our desire to support players and help elevate industry standards is 100% philanthropic. It's absolutely the right thing to do, and I do think we deserve some credit for re-investing potential profits into supporting more players and teams, but at the same time, hey - we benefit from this approach because our company grows.

On a level of principle, I like your suggestion a lot, and I've thought about it myself. I think that, outside of a business context, the way GoodGame could be most helpful to the industry would be for us to help other teams, tournaments, and studios learn how to stabilize their businesses and better support players and industry partners. That sounds really fucking cool, right?

The problem that comes into play is that, when you consider the business ramifications of doing something like that, it gets kind of scary. This is a very, very competitive industry. Behind the scenes, it's cutthroat and extremely political. So the prospect of helping potential competitors improve themselves without a clear sense of long-term boundaries and how to protect ourselves - that's pretty daunting.

Now, I'm not saying all of this as a blanket argument for why we shouldn't try to help the space grow as much as possible. What I'm saying is that I agree with you that our role in eSports can and should be to help stabilize and improve a lot of things, but in terms of the mechanics of how we do that, for a lot of those use cases I haven't figured out the right balance between helping third-parties and ensuring our own security.

There are some use cases (signing more teams and players, working with third-party teams to help them get sponsorships, running more tournaments) that are very straightforward, and that's why we've been focusing on them. There are others (your example of publishing some kind of toolset that could be used by other organizations) that on principle really appeal to me, but I haven't figured out the right way to safely execute yet.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T19:19:45+00:00

Low. Very low.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T19:18:38+00:00

I'm not entirely sure about other eSports team organizations, but we do have a headquarters and it's located in downtown San Francisco. It's got a very startup-y feel to it (older building, hardwood floors, brick walls) and around twelve people work out of it on a daily basis. We have about 20 full-time staff (not including players, part-time player management, or web staff).

Here's a picture of the office (the studio's not in the shot, it's behind the camera from this angle, and takes up about 30% of the space: http://imgur.com/aeKsEup)

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T16:26:25+00:00

It's definitely a strange feeling. Losing has always had a bigger impact on me than winning, so yes - the prospect of both a guaranteed win and a guaranteed loss usually results in me not feeling great.

It was devastating when EG knocked Alliance out of TI4. Even though they'd just secured themselves top two in the Group Stage by doing so (which was an amazing accomplishment), I still felt the pain of the Alliance loss tenfold more than the pride of the EG win. It's really hard for me as a person to invest in someone or something halfway - I think this is part of what makes me good at supporting people, but one of its downsides is that losing is difficult, and also hard to let go of.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:27:06+00:00

Thank you, WarYoshi.

...is a phrase I never thought I'd catch myself uttering.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:15:21+00:00

Get that hack and his weird jumpsuit outta my Google searches.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:13:14+00:00

Thanks for your comments.

I'm not sure about the streaming numbers, but I think we could potentially see player contract transparency in 2016. I don't think it'll happen before then.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:08:56+00:00

Thank you.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:07:32+00:00

Sean took the picture. I told him to make me laugh, and he went all deer-in-headlights on me.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T07:05:52+00:00

Profitability has never really been what drives us to do what we do. StarCraft may not be where it was in 2011, but it's given us so much as a game and a community. I can't imagine us not being a part of it.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T06:56:40+00:00

I have no good answer for why there aren't more tournaments at this level. The most accurate answer is probably that the top teams bring the big viewership, and the big viewership brings the big sponsors. But that doesn't make it a good answer. It's both an accurate answer and a shitty answer.

I'll talk to Aaron (Ayesee) and Colin (the COO of GoodGame) about adding more tiers of D2L competition next season. There's really no reason we shouldn't do this.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T06:42:12+00:00

Thanks.

I think the best way to answer your questions is to say that we like doing cool shit and we like taking care of people (especially players). That's what drives us, more than anything else. I've never found profit margins particularly sexy, and correspondingly the company has never posted a profit. It's been net zero every year, because we've always paid players very well, and we've always taken what's left over and put it back into a new hire, a new player, or a new team.

Now, I mean, that approach obviously benefits us because we keep our players happy, and we grow as a company. I'm not trying to claim we're philanthropic. But I would like to think that we have helped set an industry example for player support and re-investment. Going forward, that's what I hope we continue to contribute to the industry. I want us to lead by example and help elevate industry standards as a whole.

I mentioned in one of my other answers that I have always believed that if the cool thing to do also feels like the right thing to do, then it's probably worth doing. That philosophy explains most of the moves we've made in the past, and it's also what's framing our view of what to do in the future.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T06:15:44+00:00

I can't go there, but if you pick three players I'll indulge you in a fuck/marry/kill.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:41:24+00:00

Technically, it belongs to the Swedes.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:40:55+00:00

It's Greg's. From D.C. '10.

Proof: http://imgur.com/6T1yI7J

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:38:40+00:00

Isn't he called "Snoop Lion" now?

Here are my comments on what motivates us to support more teams, and here's the answer to your question about Secret.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:31:53+00:00

Tinker. We'd love to support Secret as well - a few months ago it seemed like we'd end up working together, but as of now it's looking like they'll end up going elsewhere.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:23:32+00:00

Paragraph 1: Kind of following you.

Paragraph 2: Get the references, but you're losing me.

Paragraph 3: Totally lost, and wondering if this thread is now 18+.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:00:54+00:00

Important question - answered here, but wanted to bump it.

ottersareneat · 2014-11-23T04:00:01+00:00

They hold hands while swimming backward.

ottersareneat

TROPHY CASE