[ToR.Arnor]

IEM "World" Championships- A look back...

Another "World" Tournament for starcraft has ended... The winner sOs (I had the wiki that). It seems strange that tournament organisers after all this time seem comfortable with labeling a tournament a "World" event when it becomes a talking point if a second nation actually manages to qualify.



That tournament organisers go to the effort to run qualifiers for less "competitive" regions



But allow the dominate country to compete even outside of their own qualifiers...



That when a organiser allocates two "invitational" spots, and are given the chance to actually legitimise the use of the phrase "World Championship" they choose to invite two more of said dominate nation




Many people will cry "but the community wants to see the best". This is a weak argument, as time has gone on we've seen countless fans turn their interest elsewhere to FPS and MOBA or even twitchplays pokemon. Clearly this isnt what they want, it shows in the dwindling interest over the last year or so. It isnt rocket science really, other sports have learn what to do but somehow the great game of Starcraft refuses to see sense. To be a world game, you need to capture the hearts and imagination or the world, and the best way to do that is to have a system that actually allows more than 1 nation to compete, facts are facts, you'll always identify and have greater interest in an athlete you can identify with, and the easiest way to identify with someone is culturally.

Moving forward....

1) Quite simple guys, stop allowing people outside of the qualifying regions competing in others qualifiers (theres a fair exception for those nations who dont have their own qualifiers).

2) Limit the amount of players per nation that can attend a "World Tournament" this is done across all areas of sport, including in single player sports such as Track and Field (imagine how boring short distance running would be if they allowed Jamaica to bring unlimited people or equally if nations such as Ethiopia and Kenya were uncapped on attendees to long distances events).

There will always be a single nation who excels above and beyond the others in a chosen field for a generation (and in some cases multiple) but in order for this sport to stay alive in the less gifted countries there needs to be something worthwhile to aspire to.

Being the "Foreigner" (a term that just shows how broken our global tournament system is) who qualifies for the event is not a fight worth fighting...

[x5_Potter]

I agree with what you've said. While Koreans are the overwhelming favourites in every tournament they participate in, that doesn't mean you give up as a tournament organiser and give them free reign.

An example I can bring up is the CoD Championships coming up(don't hate me :P), it's labelled a World Championship and has limited the US to 8 places of 32, regardless of the fact that those 8 teams are tipped to make up most of the Top 8.

The only problem I see with limiting places, and this is from experience with reading CoD Champs threads, is that people will never be happy with the format. Viewers are annoyed that only 8 of the teams from the best region were permitted to qualify, especially with 3 of the 4 players on last year's team not making it back in. People are frustrated that teams from Brazil, Singapore and Korea were allowed to make it in through extremely easy qualifiers. Singapore for example only had 2 teams competing iirc.

However, they've stuck to their format and now 32 teams from all regions will compete in what will truly be a World Championship, regardless of the inevitable blowouts that will occur.

Back to SC2, the best example of a World Championship is WCG. While it may have been disregarded as having lower level players who some said didn't deserve to be there, it was a tournament with participants from all regions.

TLDR I agree with Arnor.

[x5_dot]

This ones a bit... hard to solve. Someone will always be unhappy.

As it is, yes, the IEM "World" Championships weren't truly representative of the whole world. But they had qualifiers in most regions, and they spread their events throughout the world. It just so happens that the winners from all those regions were mostly Korean.

Some people want a WCG-like format, but until some organisation steps up to provide that tournament structure again, there's no point hoping something like IEM adhere to it. They do what's best for them.

[Dox]

Good topic for discussion, but is an opinion piece really front page news?

[MezjE]

Originally Posted by Dox

Good topic for discussion, but is an opinion piece really front page news?

This.

This is heavily opinionated, as Dot said someone always loses. As long as the best players get what they deserve I see nothing wrong with it to be honest. A world tournament consists of the world's best players, if they are all Korean than so be it.

[nirvAnA]

Definitely agree with your two points Arnor. It protects, encourages and grows the local scenes as well.

The Olympics has a set number of delegates from each country. For example in basketball, each nation is properly represented. If it was just about the best they would copy/paste the entire NBA league in the Olympics lol.

[syfChadMann]

Says guy with Korean player on his SEA team...

srs tho, decent topic. More focus on entertainment is needed. game is not ded. Korea is pretty good at SC2.

[FLuX]

Free seeds for every top 8 master on NA!

[Dox]

IEM have said on multiple occasions that they're not claiming to be some sort of Olympic arena. WCS did that in 2012, and they've moved closer to that paradigm this year. That's their department. The IEM World Championships have always been like this so I don't see why it's suddenly a point for discussion. Some events will offer the best players and the best games. Others will give you the home grown hero story. Expecting to see mediocre players at the World Championships would be one hell of a disappointment.

Also I don't see how comparisons like Twitch Plays Pokemon has to do with anything. It's not like there were SC2 fans who CHOSE to watch TPP instead of IEM.

It's amazing that people are still trying to lock Koreans out of events just because they put more effort in. Can you imagine if the tables were turned? What if Americans were the dominant players and GSL refused to let them participate because they were too good? What a shit storm that would be.

[Dox]

P.S. Riot tried to do the whole "Global Representation" thing with their World Championship last year, and see what happened?

1st: Korea
2nd: China
3rd: Korea

Hard workers get the wins. IT'S NOT JUST STARCRAFT.

Watch China demolish TI4 this year as well.

[Narse]

The closest the "olympics" ever got in the video game world was WCG (World Cyber Games)... regardless of when it went downhill. at its highest peak there were 65 countries?? Regardless of who may have dominated which game, there were representatives from each country.

I would like to see a tournament (with better management) do something similar to this.

[Dox]

The reason people stopped doing it was because the quality of the games was poor until the semi finals. You sit through hours of 80 APM Ecuador, Macedonia & Kazakhstan champions getting rolled by pro gamers before you see something worth watching. In some WCG/IESF matches you see people who have clearly never played the game before in their life.

I'm all for opportunities and everyone getting a "fair go" but if you're not good enough to be there, then there isn't much point in being spoon fed a seat over someone who has trained and studied hard.

[|Erasmus|]

You don't have to take it as far as WCG/IESF with individual country qualifiers... the OP doesn't even suggest that exactly.

There's nothing wrong with having regional qualifiers that are actually for the particular region though. Taking the people who actually win a NA/EU qualifier does not lead to incredibly boring games, and gives you a bit more interest than just Korean vs. Korean.

Quick Comments

Dox:

I was replying directly to Narse, not the OP

[syfChadMann]

Totally agree with Dox. Best gamers fighting for the top prizes results in the most entertaining matches.

That said, should a Olympics style event be created, I'd rather see it like Football world cup, where particular numbers of seeds are provided for regions. Giving more opportunity to qualify to the regions with historically better teams. Something like... IEM. Maybe a bit bigger or stricter on the invites.. But IEM is already doing this. It's not their problem everyone that isn't Korean is too scrub to qualify to the world champs...

Also to note, on the other side of things - many people have been slamming Activision for offering global representation at the CoD Champs. So damned if you do, damned if you don't?

Would be cool to see WCG or something similar to give some national pride. but I think the attack on IEM is misguided.

[Dox]

Half of the players in the WCS America Ro32 bracket were Koreans. If they weren't allowed to play, we'd have such fantastic matches such as desRow vs SeleCT. Oh boy!

In WCS Europe we had 6 (of 8) Koreans advance from the Ro32. Looks like American players could learn a lot from the Europeans.

[Narse]

Originally Posted by Dox

Half of the players in the WCS America Ro32 bracket were Koreans. If they weren't allowed to play, we'd have such fantastic matches such as desRow vs SeleCT. Oh boy!

In WCS Europe we had 6 (of 8) Koreans advance from the Ro32. Looks like American players could learn a lot from the Europeans.

And that's why there are group stages to weed out the people who are not as good.... like in every single tournament ever played in any region.

I only mentioned the tournament that was closest to being "olympic" style.

Your argument could be used for the regular olympics in hockey... sometimes there is a dark horse that plays really well (Latvia). Just because you don't like seeing certain match ups doesn't mean others wouldn't mind seeing it. I'm an advocate of region locking to the extent of regions being able to merge into others.. example: Oceanic into NA.

it's also in regards to pride which no one has mentioned yet. How awesome would it be regardless of what position you place in to be able to represent your country in something you love??

[SLCN.Wally]

Originally Posted by Dox

You sit through hours of 80 APM

But with protoss winning everything we do this anyways HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEUHEUHEH

Quick Comments

Dox:

hahaha well played

[syfChase]

Firstly really nice article Arnor, very well put together and provides a good chance for some hearty discussion (and I can get away from my studying for a little bit :P )

I would prefer to see foreigners compete in top level tournaments as well, but unfortunately as we know they lack heavily in skill compared to Korean players. One reason of this is due to the cultural difference where in Korea pro gamers live and breathe starcraft. In western countries like the US and European countries the E-Sports scene is not as mature or taken as seriously and as a result it is harder for players to 'break out' of their respective countries and become good enough to compete on the main stage in world level tournaments where they're competing against some of the best in the world.
Even the Root house in California, which is an extremely good venture into the NA SC2 scene for promoting home grown talent, pales in comparison to the scheduling and work ethic that some of the top level professional gaming environments in South Korea provide.

I think your first point on stopping people outside of the qualifying regions competing in others qualifiers is a great idea and I heavily agree with it. It feels like a cop out that some top tier Korean players can make their way through an 'easier' bracket in the world championship. They should have to fight it out against players of a similar skill level in the country they reside in. However, I disagree limiting the amount of players that can go into a world tournament per country as it seems like a lot of talent and potential that is worthy of playing in a world tournament would be lost, lowering the overall skill level of the tourney and the finals. They work extremely hard for these tournaments and it wouldn't be so much of a world tournament if you're limiting some of the worlds best due to the country they reside in. The majority of the best players in the world reside in Korea and I'm not sure they should be punished for this. After all, it's an individual event they play in, not a 'country vs country' if that makes sense. I can't suggest a different way to combat this issue as of now, but I think a better course of action would be the way to go.

Really when it comes to the end of a world tournament the top is going to be saturated in top tier, korean players of the highest caliber, but this is not a bad thing. The highest level of players would allow the highest skill games making the games much more high paced, entertaining and full of action. It showcases the peak of skill in the world at the moment, the best of the best and what everyone should aspire to be.

[Pandan]

Originally Posted by ToR.Arnor

(imagine how boring short distance running would be if they allowed Jamaica to bring unlimited people or equally if nations such as Ethiopia and Kenya were uncapped on attendees to long distances events)

Actually there is no limit, there is a threshold of skill (minimum times to compete). Countries do get an initial 'free pass' in the event someone doesn't make the threshold, but anyone worldwide who makes that threshold at a registered event will receive an invite. (though not all have the resources or capability to attend)

More foreigners doesn't instantly = more views. More GOOD foreigners most definitely would though.

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by Pandan

Actually there is no limit, there is a threshold of skill (minimum times to compete). Countries do get an initial 'free pass' in the event someone doesn't make the threshold, but anyone worldwide who makes that threshold at a registered event will receive an invite. (though not all have the resources or capability to attend)

More foreigners doesn't instantly = more views. More GOOD foreigners most definitely would though.

The "A" standard is the most difficult to achieve. An NOC "may enter up to three athletes for each event on the athletics program, provided they have achieved the A standard. In addition they can enter one reserve athlete for the same event provided he/she has also achieved the A standard."[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualify...e_note-IAAF1-1

You can also download the IAAF Entry standards for 2014 here: http://www.iaaf.org/competition/standards

FINA Operates in a similiar fashion: http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?op...59&Itemid=1313