[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...