[ManCannon]

I shall manner up b4 i join my friends in 4chan land

[JacziE]

Criticism is fine, full-on flame is not. Feel free to post that on 4chan but it's not welcome here.

[Usul]

Nice editing, me likey!

[ManCannon]

I like how you lot fill it up with criticism and i get labeled flame? XD

[Usul]

Originally Posted by ManCannon

I like how you lot fill it up with criticism and i get labeled flame? XD

Your post was nothing else than you telling us about your latest masturbating habits. Keep it to yourself, we don't need to know. Now, Mr. Fap, meet Mr. KY, have fun and GTFO. Thank you.

[JacziE]

I'm sure 10x worth of 'fap' is criticism.

[dKiWi]

Today's Singaporean daily paper featured Kelly. Quite well written i have to say

[nirvAnA]

looks like some guys posted it on tl!

+ Show +

and some dude typed it all out

+ Show +

A Singaporean commentating in one of the world's biggest computer gaming leagues is getting flak for her supposedly incomprehensible pronunciation.

Ms. Kelly Ong, 21, is the only Singaporean working in the GOMTV Global StarCraft II League (GSL), a large tournament-based league held on location in Seoul, SouthKorea.
With 64 international gamers and $$158,000 in prize money for every tournament, it is broadcast on GOMtv.net six nights a week. It is now in its 6th season and the International GSL website draws 100,000 viewers daily.

The GSL claims to be the highest paying tournament in e-sports. Its commentators are a mix of nationalities, from Korean to American to Singaporean Ms Ong, who is better known by her handle kellyMILKIES.

Her appointment had itself generated controversey, with numerous gamers protesting over her "thick accent" and saying in various forums that she is "difficult to understand".
She has been on the job for more than a week and the criticism, mainly from Western gamers, has continued to pour in. One Singaporean poster even accused her of having a fake Australian accent.

However, other gamers have defended her commentating style.

In an email interview with LifeStyle, Ms Ong said that she received many "horrible, horrible emails" even before her first broadcast. But she is unfazed by the more extreme comments, "It's just the Internet talking."

"I think the spotlight is on me because I have an Asian accent and I am female. That makes me an auto-target in a male-dominated environment."

She points out that she has previously worked with British bosses "who did not have a problem understanding me from day one".

Ms Ong, who was handpicked from hundreds of other commentators, or casters as they are called, is relishing the opportunity to work with the big boys. Signed up for this season, she is currently casting three games a week with a co-commentator.
She does not want to disclose her salary.

"GSL is the pinnacle of professional gaming, so to be able to be a commentator here has been phenomenal," she says.

She started gaming competitively in 2005 through the ubiquitous Counter-Strike before moving on to casting. She has also competed in and casted regional tournaments, such as the Colosseum Singapore SC2 LAN.

She completed her secondary school education before dropping out of a private diploma course to work.

Local gamers told LifeStyle that they could not understand the furore over Ms Ong's accent. Game developer Joanna Lee, 31, gave her a seven out of 10.

She says: "Kelly's pretty all right, except for her pronunciation, but I have seen worse. Maybe they are just not used to the Singaporean accent and are being a bit too critical.
"Female gamers tend to attract more attention because the arena is male-dominated."

Gamers say:

Mog[skynet] from Arizona:
I watched that whole replay and I think my ears are bleeding. There are parts where she's not bad, but when she starts trying to explain strategy and/or tlaks fast, I can't really understand her.

zedman1991 from Seattle:
I didn't htink it was TOO horrible, but she definitely needs to learn a bit more about the game. Some of it was unintelligible, and some of it wasn't really correct or was missing some important points.

BryanTan123 from Singapore:
I have no respect for u Kelly Ong. Your faux Australian accent is ******* irritating. U haf no right commentating in Code A.

An1Ma from the Netherlands:
Though she is not speaking English fluently, it is good enough for me and her looks are great as well.

Thowky in Britain:
She's not the best caster in the world but she's decent enough and her accent really isn't as strong as people make it out to be, certianly not as strong as a lot of UK and other accents I hear on a daily basis.

[Makra]

Lol she gets criticised for having an asian accent by Westerners, and when she tries adapting that accent she gets criticised by asians for having a fake aussie accent....

[ke_ivan]

Hi guys,

We can fix the ST Life! article. If we show overwhelming support for Kelly in well-worded forum letters, there's a strong chance that the positive reactions will be published in this coming Sunday's Life!. Please do not tarry writing the letters, and send them in by Tuesday or Wednesday. Please send them to Nicholas Yong at nicy@sph.com.sg regarding 'Game Off for Asian Accent'.

Some pointers: Article balance, unfair/ unbalanced headline, un-nationalistic headline approach to the issue.

[ManCannon]

It's just retarded, Sc community is way too anal.

[JacziE]

ke_ivan, the article is fine, there's nothing wrong with it. The story wouldn't be picked up if it was just about Kelly going to GSL -- but criticism about the accent is, considering how the Singapore government is pushing for 'better english' campaigns. This is probably the main reason why the story was able to get there in the first place.

I think people shouldn't look at this article so negatively. What I get out of it is:

1) sg girl has accent
2) sg girl gets flamed
3) sg girl gets a prestigious job despite the accent
4) sg and sg girl still wins

No offense, but no need to go all out white knight to the writer for writing such an article.

[ke_ivan]

Originally Posted by JacziE

ke_ivan, the article is fine, there's nothing wrong with it. The story wouldn't be picked up if it was just about Kelly going to GSL -- but criticism about the accent is, considering how the Singapore government is pushing for 'better english' campaigns. This is probably the main reason why the story was able to get there in the first place.

I think people shouldn't look at this article so negatively. What I get out of it is:

1) sg girl has accent
2) sg girl gets flamed
3) sg girl gets a prestigious job despite the accent
4) sg and sg girl still wins

No offense, but no need to go all out white knight to the writer for writing such an article.

True, the article was balanced, but the headline was not. I was quite angry when I read the headline. The Sunday Editor was trying to sell papers with and provoke debate with that headline. I think there'll be people who will agree to the flaming. We should be the ones who "balance" it. Like SC2, you can't just think of the article as is, but the repercussions if they did promote forum replies. With forums open, you'll not only have linguists battling it out, but also people who already don't agree about her casting. We should show our support by pre-empting this and writing in. That's all I'm saying.

[Edrahil]

Haha.. talk about coincidence, Nicholas Yong is my ex secondary school classmate!

[HDPhoenix]

Yeah, when i read the ST bit on my iPhone, it just sounded wrong but the actual article was really quite kind and offering both sides of things.

[jackthecat]

I've watched all the code A matches this season and Kelly has certainly impressed me in the leaps and

bounds of game knowledge improvement. I've found her Game analysis of TvZ to be solid but PvT and PvZ

are not quite as good. Heres a few things im sure someone may have told you this but here to help

anyway: The hidden twilight council never means quick blinks it always means dark templasars,

Conservative play by terrans is a one/ two rax expansion without gas to seige tanks, avoid using standard

except in a few situations for example you are correct in 3 gate sentry fast expand is standard PvZ but

void ray colosus is not standard play what so ever but highly risky until the later stages of a pvz stalker

colosus gateway ball is pretty standard. One more thing, you might want to rewatch the GSLTL or keep

the stats at hand Squirtle teamkilled Fou if he had team killed IM they wouldn't have won the tournament

and this also would have been EPIC. Fou foolishly sent 4 terrans out against Squirtle and he proved his

PvT is nasty. Anyway hope this helps you in some way this forum seems to be pretty constructive and i hope you are gaining knowledge from it.

[Maro]

Has anyone watched any GSL Code A lately? It's getting better.

I thought Kelly has improved her 'stage presence' and has better diction of late. Still a bit of slurring once in a while, but overall, a whole lot of improvement from the nervy first few installments of the series. See guys, she can only get better~!

Oh, and do attempt to connect with Doa (who's not too bad either) with his corny jokes, otherwise you're making him look bad, when you don't play along~

To season 6!

[SiF]

Kelly just Tweeted - "You can't touch me because I am so high up above and you are so far down below. When I am flying, I feel nothing - I am invincible."

Discuss.

[ManCannon]

--message deleted--

nirvana: gave him a second chance for his immature/sexual remarks about Kelly but apparently that was a mistake. Banned for life.

[HDPhoenix]

Kelly's coming home tmr! ^^