Honestly? We have a lot of work to do on ourselves before we start outsourcing. Our scene needs to mature organically before we start pissing away money on luxuries like that. WCS Australia/Oceania will be the first major step forward in this regard.
Just to add my 0.02. Yes international attention is good and welcoming but you only get one or two shots at going international and if we push too soon it will just ruin all of our work which will negatively impact any future attempts.
Think about some of the events that have been a huge flop, not just in eSports. There have been a variety of music festivals which have had a poor reception because they spent too much money on getting big name bands in at the expense of quality of food, facilities etc which not only pisses the customers off but the bands themselves. Same for us. If we spend too much money on getting big names in at the expense of equipment quality, internet and production it will piss off the spectators, the players and the casters.
We need to run flawless events of an international standard time and time again attracting the corporate world before we even consider luxuries. As much as I would love to have all the best players and casters from around the world in Australia, I would be the last person to bring them down if I couldn't ensure a desirable experience for them.
I appreciate people's intentions are pure and we all want the same end goal but I think a lot of people are unaware of how much time, financial investment and planning goes into events and what it actually takes to have a flawless event of an international standard.
Tastosis can fly down to Australia and cast an event if they wish - we just wont be paying for them for a while longer yet.
I have to say I am in Dox and Baldie's corner on this one we just dont need them yet due to cost.
However as we start heading towards trying to become a significant presences in the world as far as starcraft2. We should probably be looking at sponsors that reach an international market. Tourism in my mind is a wonderful place to start. It is the major thing people will be thinking about when they think about Australia and by extension all of SEA. If your in the USA or Europe your not really thinking lets head down to SEA to play in a starcraft comp or pick up a cheep laptop. That advertising is for people already in SEA or online side of marketing. If you are watching a starcraft comp and you see an add about the gold coast it might be enough for you to look at the holiday more seriously.
When you look at things like ACL. The competition travel around the nation having sponsors to help with travel costs would be a blessing. On tourism's side of the market, showing off the rest of Australia target audience 15-25 give or take seems very marketable to them. Airlines hotels venues are always looking for chances to convince more people to use them. I dont know what our international numbers are like but Im sure there is a sale able marketing chance there either now or in the making.
However Dox and Baldie said we need to work towards these lofty goals not break a leg sprinting. We want to do so with a marketing plan not a marketing cluster <expletive deleted>. We also dont want to lose the "grass roots" sides of things (sports reference for those who dont know) because of these more heavy weight sponsors. Keep in mind Starcrafts chance might be the only chance for Australian Esports for a long while. We do not look back on what happened with the IPL qualifiers thing back in late 2011 with fond memories.
Off on a tangent the best way to actually get the two of them out here would probably be to give them a holiday across the country rather than straight up cash (we dont have). I would much rather them show up at ACL or like maybe get asked to cast a game event rather than be casting the whole thing keep in mind they would have less of an idea of peoples tactics etc. The downside to this is there is hardly any downtime for them to sneak away for a few weeks from the GSL.
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