SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

Hey guys. I'm not a big blog writer, but it's the start of the year, and seems like the time to do so, so i thought i'd say a little about my 2015 plans, both personal and starcraft, and some random thoughts. Those those who don't know me, i'm Eddie, 27 and live in Melbourne.

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What's been happening in RL?

First up 2014 was a pretty massive year personally for me. Big year of study (while working), 3 placements, smashed out a few tattoos, celebrated my sisters wedding, and many more great times. Plus there was a bit of SC stuff (There's a couple of pics of my tattoos up on twitter @Eddiesc2, but i'm yet to upload a completed version. Not a huge photo taker, not from the selfie generation! I do love my tatt's though, one of the best things i've done)

I've been studying Nursing and will complete that in the next few months. Study has been good, and it's a completely different direction to anything i've done before, so really excited about the challenge. So a busy few final months coming up, and then should have a bit more time for SC going forward. Should also get a nice pay bump when start working.

Post study, In July i'll be taking a break, and going to Europe for 3 months! Really excited to party it up and see the sights. Have always wanted to go, and this will be my best shot before i start off in a new career. I won't be around to admin sc2 stuff in that time, but have complete confidence in Namakaye and Elusory (and anyone else we may bring into the team) to run OSC in my absence. Both have already proven to be invaluable over the last few months.

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Sport and Starcraft

I've always loved sports. Played all through high school, and only stopped playing when the study and work load became to much. One could say i fit into that jock clique, and always did alright at sport. Decent height, and pretty solid, physical sports were always my thing. I did play the odd pc game too, but if you told my high school/younger self that i'd be investing so much time and money into a pc game (which i no longer play competitively), i'd have thought you'd be crazy. I have continued to be a massive sports junkie - love my AFL, NFL, and Tennis. But all of these have now taken a back seat to SC2, the game/sport we all love!

I did play the orignial SC back in my early teens, and perhaps it's partly that nostaligia which stirs a passion for me, but i also really love the RTS aspect, game balance, and 1v1 competition. Throw in a great community in SC2 (shoutout to sc2sea), even playing field (no physical advantages) and feeling of a 'sport for gentlemen' (how awesome is the culture glhf, gg, korea, etc) and it's a great scene to be involved in. I was hooked.

So over the last 4 years i've run 100's of tournaments, mostly online, but have run LANS. I've probably thrown financial responsibility/planning aside a little in doing so, it would be fair to say i could have bought a nice new car or setup a decent house deposit instead if it wasn't for SC2, but you know what, i don't regret it at all. I used to blow my money in a lot of other ways, love going out drinking, pubs, clubs you name it. Don't do it as much these days, which is probably good, as so easy to spent money that way. But still i get by fine, and that's good enough for me. At least with sc2 and other hobbies it goes to a more productive purpose.

I've seriously meet some amazing people through starcraft. Particularly shoutouts to Maynarde (awesome dude, love his passion for sc2, would be awesome to hang out with sometime, sink a few drinks, listen to tool, watch some NFL), deth (top bloke. Have a lot in common. A fellow fan of quality films and shows, poker), nirvana (mad props for hosting this site for us all), rezyn (big supporter of sea sc2, barcrafts are always awesome) and dox (a pioneer in esports), plus all the cool dudes i've meet at lans over the years (too many names to write out), especially melbourne crew. I travelled to IEM singapore in 2012, which was awesome. First international trip, meet a lot of cool folks from this site, and even played in the tournament! Another example of some of the cool sc2 people is frogmite, who let me crash at his place for a few days of my trip to SG. Top bloke.

I loved playing the game, and was pretty happy with the level i got to. Made SEA GM back in the day when it was super competitive, travelled, was part of one of the first and biggest pro teams, Xeria gaming, where i also met some amazing people like Sam (Kingkong), who is probably the nicest guy you'll meet, Chris + Benji, Satu + Stally, plus the rest of the boys. Good times. Won a bit of money at Melbourne lans, and could compete with most decent players exluding the highest tier. Again, work and study workload, and throwing in sc2 admin work, became too much, so that ended my playing days. Moved onto better things, and towards the end of 2012 created SCS, now known as the OSC.

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deadgame

I always find this a bit tiring, even if it's just trolling and the cool thing to do. Don't get it myself. It's the biggest RTS on the market, has a very competitive scene, and sure some of the casual players have moved on, but such is life. You know what, starcraft has been running since 1998, with a massive esports scene in korea, which has now exploded globally. It has a long history, and i can't see it going anywhere for the next 10 years (Which by then Blizzard may well come out with SC3). It's a sport in my eyes, great for spectators, very hard for players, but that's what makes it great.

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No shows in tournaments

Never fails to amaze me. There is pretty decent money on offer these days, not to mention huge bonuses, points, etc. Not many jobs where you can make $300+ in a day, certainly not from home on your pc. But we play mostly for the competition. I've been doing shift work for years, have a super packed work/study/rl weekly commitments, and despite this don't find it that hard to set an alarm. Just this week i've gone a night without sleep, and had a couple at 2 hours each. Sure people have last minute emergencies/forget, but as the scene grows, it would be sad if things like this set you back from more opportunities. Teams will want players who can represent them. As they give more, they might start asking for more. Not showing up is just something i've always found strange - Set an alarm

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Subcribers

Just the other day i announced the new OSC Supporter Package, an idea i was a bit tenative about. Don't want this to be seen as a money grabbing idea, but feel we've got to the state where assistance is required.

We are running SEA dedication bonus ($700 + lan sponsorship), paid content writing position ($500+), OSC World Finals ($4000+), special tournaments, (such as $1200 Global All Stars), as well as supporting our regular tournaments Masters Cups, Rising Star, SeaCraft, etc. We have improved graphics ($'s), bigger prizepools, and we don't want to stop there.

I receive numerous PM's here, numerous emails, update daily rankings, keep in contact with sponsors, players, admins, managers, run the actual events, etc, at the very least it's a part time job. It's a lot of work.

So if you want to help out, for just $2.50 per week, you can contribute to OSC and SEA tournaments here

We will give away some awesome rewards, it's not just a one way street.

Probably an unlikely target, but if we ever get to 200 subscribers, i might get a SC2 themed tattoo! (I really want another tat lol)

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OSC, Massive growth in SC2 and Hope for the future

For those that don't know, The OSC is the Oceanic, South East Asian and Chinese regional championship, which follows a yearly season format, where players earn points for placing in all partnered tournaments. Last year in working with our partners we gave away $30k in prizes, and had 100% growth in tournaments, and 160% growth in participants earning points.

This year will be even bigger and better! There's still some new stuff to be announced, cool new tournament, etc. I've been saying it all along, #2015hype! Have also brought in a couple of guys to help out running OSC, as it is heap of work on top of what i already do., so the extra help will be amazing (and necessary while im overseas.)

My goals for this season is $50000+ in prizepool, and a $5-10k finals series. I try and live my life by the motto you never go backwards, and will endeavour to keep doing this with SC2. Shall keep building on this growth, and find more ideas and rewards to support our local guys. This year we already see SEA participation $ bonus, lan sponsorship, new tournaments, and an revamped finals format. I always try and do things for the benefit of SEA. If i wanted to run tournaments, getting massive viewers, invite the biggest names and Koreans, i would have done so long ago, but that's not what i'm about.

Hopefully we get a new influx of players with LOTV. Blizzard have some great plans to shake up the game, and cater towards casual players.

In 2016 i hope and expect we'll see teams start to pay a basic starting salary to players, as Australia catches up to the rest of the world. By then hopefully OSC is pushing for $100000k per year, throw in WCS for SEA players ~$50k, lans and other stuff, tournaments everyday, regular news - we are starting to have a pretty competitive industry, where sponsors and teams will have to lift to match.

So long as people keep playing sc2, i'll do my part and work very hard to make this a reality!

Thanks for reading (longer than i thought it would be)