Of course not. Too many politics these days.
I think what needs to happen is a compromise between corporate sponsorship and the community atmosphere/hype. I’ve been to both eSports events and FGC majors, and I don’t care if you’re working 20 hours a day during the event but a FG tournament in its current state cannot compete with the professionalism and numbers of MLG. They must be making money or at least be breaking even to continue with their model.
However, MLG is soulless. Take Final Round this year for example, I went and I remember Larry’s speech. This man’s mother died not even a week before the event. I’m sure everyone with a heart would have excused him if he decided to cancel, but he went through with it anyway. That’s dedication to an insane degree and something money can’t buy. Money matches, pop offs, runbacks, I saw them all (and participated in them) at FR, and it was one of the most fun weekends of my life.
I know people have wounds from what MLG/eSports has done in the past. I wasn’t playing fgs seriously in 2005 but I heard what happened at EVO that year, and in the years since. The recent MLG event in Columbus however was disappointing overall, but very promising in some ways. As long as they provide the sponsorship and allow the community to show up, add hype, and not be elitist (it bothers me the special treatment that top Starcraft players get at event), we can meet them halfway. It’s just a matter of getting over growing pains, but it CAN happen.
Just wanna say that I love spooky. I do not want to see him go. He is one of my favorite people in the scene.
Ill never forget when he gave me a shoutout on stream. Even though it sounds so stupid to be happy about that, I was. I look up to the guy for his hard work. For someone like that to aknowledge a shitty stream monster is fucking awesome. He shows true love to his viewers.
I understand that hes cashed from the past 3 years. I just hope this isnt the true “end”. He deserves a long ass break. But hopefully, that itch to stream again will hit him.
And EVO organizers, listen up… Sp00ky deserves a huge award. Bring him on stage, let the crowd and the rest of the world show him that he was appreciated it. Do it BIG. Dont pussy foot around it. Hook that man up. Let him feel special for a change. He fucking deserves it.
PLEASE make this happen.
where does Youtube Live come into play here? Do you think their Pay-Per-View services could make a difference for people like Spooky? or is ad revenue the most that viewers will tolerate?
To be honest, PPV is not where this community can afford to go right now.
PPV can only be established when there is a high demand. Right now, the market is somewhat saturated with too many majors and tournaments. There is literally one every single weekend. Now, as a fan, I love it. I always have a stream up Fri-Sun. However, when its so openly available… people will be more willing to skip out on the PPV events and only watch the free ones.
The only tournament that could handle a PPV model would be EVO. However, there is no doubt that the model would cut into its 100k+ viewership.
Part of the stream being free for viewers is also a huge advertising endorsement. EVO is growing bigger and bigger each year because of the stream. People see how amazing it is compared to other tournaments and feel as though they MUST be a part of it. If EVO did in fact adopt a PPV model, that type of growing investment would be lost.
I think that only games that have a constant 50-100k viewership for each stream can handle a PPV model. The FGC is far from that at this point. Ill be honest, theres no way in fuck that id actually pay to see Civil War, PowerUp, or any of the other majors.
Adblocking doesn’t help streamers at all
I’m just saying, does he still get the view counts? Every once in a while I won’t get an ad and spooky is like “It’s cool if you adblock, I understand”. I hate people who do that shit.
It does not. And the reason why Spooky doesnt mind adblock is that…ads dont make a lot anyway. The model right now is not sustainable given our amount of viewership.
I feel like FG’s are on a decline, find what you like and stick with it. Don’t expect some big boom for a while now. I hope Spooky can find what he likes.
qft
500 viewers running an ad every 20 minutes garners me ~ $1/hour. There’s a reason theres hella donation drives everywhere, its the only way to make money if you don’t have 2k+ viewers for 20 hours a day 5 days a week like the starcraft or LoL guys.
Shoutouts to Sp00ky for an excellent job. Loved his streams, and it’s disappointing that it’s not working out for him.
I agree with giving him a special achievement award/cash at Evo for the work he put in. Let him know that we appreciate what he does for the community. Don’t let him walk away empty-handed.
Why isn’t this post on the front page?
Saotome and Coren bring up a good points. I wouldn’t even be surprised if a good amount of his fans even know that he played MB at one point. I always did enjoy watching and learning from his on point Sion. It also goes without saying that his commentary for MB was hype as well and I missed it when he became more known due to how busy his workload became. Also the fact that he’s not going to stream anymore after this EVO means that he’ll finally have more time to play the new iteration of MB which makes me happy because he’ll finally be able to play FGs in general and get back to his poverty roots.
I missed this question. heres a good place for you to get a idea of how much it costs and the tech involved
All together…somewhere in the ballpark of $3000-5000. Then you need someone that is actually competent (have fun with that). And is in tune with the community. And is willing to do it for nothing more than losing money/breaking even/barely a profit. But if you wanna get in the game then there you go.
Sp00ky deserves any and all the accolades he gets for what he’s done for this community, and he deserves as long a break as he wants from streaming.
We will Spooky in front of the stream not behind it now. Does he play Skullgirls? I would like to see him play that.
Cannon Award for Spooky at EVO2012!!
I’m glad someone finally said it. I’m getting the same feeling
That’s another topic though
Who gives a flying shit about Gootecks, and why is he even being compared to Sp00ky? While Gootecks was monopolizing the scene and only representing the Capcom faction of fg’s, Sp00ky has been greatly and genuinely helping the scene and repping it all. I remember the tremendous amount of effort he also put into the MB scene just to get it some recognition, but has he ever gotten to stream the damn game? Sp00ky was selfless while Gootecks was selfish, and hey, to each his own, make money the way you like…but don’t talk to me bout no Gootecks like he meant something to the scene.