What makes a sport popular - then not?
A chat broke out on Twitter. One of those chats that tells you that Twitter can be a terrible place to chat. So let's have a go here.
Boxing used to be popular. Really popular. It caught the public imagination for centuries. In the 18C there was the Fancy - rich young things that adopted boxing and language of the working classes as trend.
Boxing flourished. It became international. It took off in America, transatlantically and globally.
When We Were Kings is not just a film about two men hitting each other, it's about nations and symbolism.
Boxing, boxers, they meant something - the stood for something.
Then, now.
Yes there's boxing. There's huge money in Boxing - those in the know are waiting for Mayweather v Pacquiao. If I could I'd be rings side. I've been ringside, there's something about it - but I'm part of a diminishing group.
What I watch a LOT more than boxing, a lot more than regular TV or pretty much anything else is eSports.
So,the question that we come to is - where did boxing go wrong, and in its rise how can eSports avoid the fall as sometimes you don't even get the mandatory 8 count.
“Instead of saying I’m going to be best Pro Gamer I’d like to say that, especially in the eyes of the fans, I’ll work hard to be a pro gamer that always gives his all. A gamer that really enjoys and embodies the spirit of competition”
Lee ‘Jaedong’ Jae Dong, StarCraft II Player
“The difference between me and any other fighter is they’re talented, I’m God-gifted.”
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, Boxer
StarCraft, Race and Culture
Race has two distinct meanings in StarCraft. There are three in-game races that can be played: Zerg, Protoss and Terran; and there are two player races Korean and Foreigner.
What Race are you?
Just so we get this out on the table, and there’s no awkwardness later on – I’m a Zerg.
Player / in-game race
The relationship between players / casters / audience and in-game race is rather complex. Race acts like a sub-brand within StarCraft.
Anyone who plays StarCraft has to start by playing through a story line that introduces you to the game and the mechanics and back-stories of each of the in-game races.
Terrans are earthlings in the style of the hyper-real, hyper-masculine, hyper-everything depiction of the US military that’s now a standard in many video games; they use guns and tanks. Protoss are aliens with advanced technology and beam weapons; unit names Zelot and Templar also hint at a strong religious basis to the society, this is much less evident than the shiny look and sounds of the Protoss. Lastly, Zerg are crustacean / insect like life forms they fight using their own biological abilities.
I’ve not seen a Nick Yee type of study on why players choose a given race. I imagine there is a range of reasons and would be interested to what people think. The combination of effects and affordances of each race provides a differently textured aesthetic experience and I wonder if this is the underlying draw for most players whether it’s the one they state or not. (see my Aesthetics of Video Games for more on this point). For me there was just a draw to the alienness of the Zerg, thought I love the sound of Protoss. From my limited skill at the game it also seems like some races suit particular proficiencies of players e.g. Protoss force-field placement takes a specific hand / eye accuracy.
Players are typically associated with a given in-game race. As noted in the previous post in this series, casters will refer to someone as ‘the Zerg’ or ‘the Protoss’.
BossToss and Scarlett's Off-Race'ing
Two interesting things of note in the player / in-game race dynamic are MC and Scarlett. As we will discuss further later MC is an exceptional player in many ways. One is the number of names he’s known by, one being ‘the boss-toss’ i.e. the head of the Protoss race. While other players are strongly associated with a given in-game race, I’m not aware of any other ranking pro who’s nickname includes a reference to in-game race.
The other player with an unusual relationship with in-game race is Scarlett. Being the only female Zerg player at the highest level of competition she is sometimes referred to as The Queen of Blades (a reference to one of the main in-game characters). What is most unusual about Scarlett is that even in high-level competitions she will sometime change in-game race to an ‘off-race’ between games. For example in the x on 22 June 2014 in the MLG Anaheim Losers Round 4 Scarlett changed to Protoss in game two of the best of 5.
So engrained is the fixity between player and race StarCrafts journal of record Liquipedia had to add a special note to the game record noting the race change, through throughout Scarlett is categorised as Zerg so the switch would not be apparent unless you knew to look for it.
In-game race as brand
Commentators acknowledge and maybe amplify the emotional relationship that home players have with in-game races.
When talking about competitions commentators will reference all kinds of attributes of players, one way players will be grouped is by in-game race. This is not done simply as another category but importance is given to how various in-game races are being represented in various rounds of a multi-round competition. For example a commentator my say ‘we only have one Terran in the next round’, or may comment on the overall success of Zerg over a given period. All these comments are structured and delivered in a way to convey to the audience the message that how a given race is doing matter, not as much as a particular player, but possibly more than a given team (in a non-team competition that is).
What’s more a caster / interviewer such as Paul 'ReDeYe' Chanlor will typically say within in interview or analysis context “As a Terran…” as a self-referential marker. Such a statement does a number of things. It orientates the caster with the player and the audience; Terran indexes a certain style within the game and, generally, sympathies for other players that choose the in-game race. It also acts as a solidarity marker, casters must have a high degree of expertise with the game they are commentating upon, through mention of in-game race this provides an indication of an emotional bond with the game that is only formed through play; thus bonding the commentator to player and audience.
The other two races
Only two races play StarCraft: Koreans and foreigners. So pervasive are Koreans on the international StarCraft scene that Korean is often the un-marked category in player descriptions.
This use of categories is pervasive in Western coverage of StarCraft wherever the coverage is from. That is, a US player, playing in North American will be a foreigner. It may be the case that the simple bifurcation is used as a way to raise the racial divide to the level of the absurd so removing the dangers of race politics. Of course this tactic is not guaranteed and it’s not universally used.
Beyond this single point there are many aspects to race and its active co-construction within the StarCraft eSports scene.
It’s hard to say what effect, if any, this positioning of races is having on the west and possibly the US in particular. However the respect give to an Asian nation and the acceptance that Americans are foreign, even in America appears to be quite different from much of US media. This bringing together of cultures occurs everywhere within the StarCraft world. Live chat rooms will often be multi-lingual typically mixing English and Korean, but also through the number of high-ranking Scandinavian players there will also be conversations in languages such as Finnish. The streaming site Twitch also broadcasts Korean StarCraft shows that are translated in real time by US commentators many of whom have lived in Korea, these shows also run Korean ads and pop music (K-Pop – which is growing in popularity in the US as witnessed by the popularity of the 2014 K-POP night a the South By South West festival).
From zero to Korean
There is certainly respect and tension between the Korean and Foreign sides of StarCraft.
Source: Hitler plans to play Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm.
In the documentary Inside look at Korean StarCraft II pro teams Won Jong-Wook Manger of pro team StarTale talks about having “Pride for Korea and pride for our player” and add that “when foreign players reach the finals more fans will cheer for eSports as a whole”. In the same documentary Kang Dong-Hoon, manager of LG/IM, notes that “loosing to a foreigner is far more bitter than a loss against any other Korean player”.
Being a sportsman
There is however a clear tension between western eSports shows and Korean culture. As TL of this parish has pointed out, eSports coverage has been constructed around the model of sports coverage. Players, caster and audience have co-constructed a way of watching eSports that draws heavily on certain well-understood tropes.
In MOBAs in particular there appears to be a heavy influence from US sports coverage – shows sometimes have commentary teams that use visual tropes such as uniform blazers, ties and big mics. MOBAs and games like World of Tanks fall slightly easier into sports model as they are team games with a team captain and the strategies particular in MOBAs are similar to American Football as players have well defined roles. Also there are number of highly ranked Western teams in games such as League of Legends, who’s players are used to the role of the star player within the construction of a game event.
In StarCraft there is a particular form of tension between the western construction of a players and Korean culture. In his interview with ReDeYe, Duncan "Thorin" Shields notes that players are often criticised for being “Faceless Koreans” due to their reserved interviewed along the lines of ‘he played well, I hope I play better next game’. In this same interview ReDeYe suggests that “Koreans are misunderstood” adding that Koreans tend to be reserved and respectful and what a western model of sports rivalry or trash talking is just seen as rude by many Koreans. As well as noting that not all Korean players are reserved (see MC below) ReDeYe states that “[if we] Understand their culture may be help us understand that not what they want to do or feel comfortable doing”.
As both Thorin and ReDeYe noted in their interview - so much of what the fan perceives of eSports is a story constructed by the creators of the event. In combatting some fan’s view of Korean players as all the same, Thorin suggested “maybe we could do something before the event to set up a story line”. ReDeYe also noted that increasingly events where only Korean players are competing have had compelling competition narratives i.e. the story arcs of the various players as the progress through the rounds; “maybe we’ve got better at telling stories,” he adds.
RedBull has taken eSports coverage to a new level in the west with their BattleGrounds series.
At the DC finals held in the Lincoln Theatre there were huge banners showing cartoon portraits of the finalists: Bomber, Cure, DRG, Polt, PartinG, Scarlett, sOs and Trap; all Korean except Scarlett from Canadian. Photo shoots, interviews, and player portraits all acted to heighten the personas of the players. The audience were also given large white cards with RedBull and battlegrounds logos on to write messages one – those features on the stream were typically about players (a practice that is used by Korean eSports shows) for example this “BOMBER A LONE Terran In a SEA of TOS + ZERG – GG” banner at BattleGrounds NYC.
RedBull also consciously constructed a story arc around the event, the headline for the final day summary ‘story’ on the RedBull site reads “Bomber wins Battle Grounds in day of the underdogs -favourites fall to the upstarts as Bomber goes on a spree in DC. Here are our picks of the weekend” not only a classic sports narrative but the David and Goliath narrative that underpins so many stories.
gl hf
One thing that is going to be interesting in the development of eSports is the degree to which the structure of the industry does or does not select Korean players that fit more into the Western ideal of a sports personality. Also how much the construction of such personas needs any individual to have those traits and how much the creation of an even can impose them onto the individual.
Despite the banners, flames, ticker tape and screams of the crowd all SC2 matches still open with players using in game chat to say gl hf (good luck, have fun). Or as Imp the League of Legends Ad Carry for team Samsung Galaxy White put it in a recent interview:
“No. I don’t think I am the best at all. I definitively don’t think I’m the best AD Carry […] I don’t think it’s me”
I said I’d been working on TN content. Well here is the first slice.
For a long time I’ve been curious about the names people use in online spaces. This fascination grew as I began to watch eSports and saw how commentators / casters have to navigate a complex name space to make sense of the on-screen action. My fascination has turned into several thousand words exploring the way names are used in a number of eSports contexts. Here is the first part of the jottings, the second part is on StarCraft, Race and Culture.
Part 1: What’s your name?
When you listen closely to an eSports commentary you will hear lots names used, the curious thing is that many of these names will refer to the same thing but the caster with swap between one name or another with fluidity that can be a little confusing to the new viewer.
For example, let’s look at a League of Legends players on Team Dignitas, the names that can successfully identify a single actor and so are available to a caster include:
Ostensibly all of these things pick out the same thing in the world. From a practical perspective when a caster uses one of these names an actor is identified so that the viewer understands some aspect of the on-going game. However, names contain nuance. The choice of the use of one name over another indexes or draws attention to something other than mere functional identification.
What I want to examine here is what work the choice of name is doing. Why would a caster use one over another, what would the literate viewer understand from the choices, and what factors influence the choice.
MOBAs
In Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBAs) games such as League of Legends, DOTA, SMITE etc, casters deploy a range of naming strategies during a match. What’s more different casters and events will differ in the dominant strategy being deployed.
Handle v Character
The to dominant naming strategies in MOBA casting are Gamer Handle and Character. There are good reasons to use either of these – the choice probably lies in caster skill and audience literacy.
Character
The use of Character name may appear odd to some, particularly in MOBAs. This is because there are many Characters and any combination (within the limits of team size) could be used in any given match. What’s more, any given Character may be used by different players or teams during the course of a competition. Thus there is a highly transitory relationship between Character name and individual, so it would seem that the use of Character name would be a bad choice to pick out individual actors or actions.
But, there’s a good reason for the use of the Character. Firstly, in any given match there is only one instance of any given Character – so there is uniqueness at least for a period.
The visual representation that the spectator sees and the commentator tends to be pointing out is the Character. To put it another way, it does not matter which player is playing a given Character that Character is always going to the same: Akali will always look like Akali (roughly speaking anyway). Thus when a caster says ‘Akali is going left’ the spectator that knows what Akali looks like will know what on-screen representation to the caster is talking about. There’s direct relationship between name and representation.
We can take this further and suggest that the use of Character name provides context or frame consistency.
That is, much of the detail of a caster’s commentary will concern matters that are framed within the context of the game. A character may obtain an item; use a spell; or a power. For example the utterance ‘Alkali uses Shadow Dance’ is consistent in its use of in-game concepts as a frame of reference (one might say ludagesis as the game equivalent of diegesis).
What the use of Character appears to do is focus the attention of the viewer to the specifics of the moment of the game and the tactical and strategic options that are likely being considered. It does so quite directly as utterances are directed at things within the context of the game, that is we might say that primary frame here is that of the game and ludic intentionality.
Gamer Handle
The other dominant naming strategy used by casters of MOBA matches is that of Gamer Handle. MOBA’s like most online systems require each user to have a unique name. Here I’m referring to the game-system unique name associated with a given individual as the Gamer Handle - there are some technical differences between games, and variations such as login name v display name, options to append guild / clan / team etc, but generally there is some unique system identifier that’s associated with a given individual.
Typically such names allow and preserve certain typographical features such as capitalization. Hence in our present example ‘KiWiKiD’ is typically displayed exactly as typed here. Other features of online naming culture / leet speak are apparent in Gamer Handles e.g. Evil Geniuses’ Snoopeh; then there are simple name gags such as Fnatic’s WetDreaM and, self referentially to our subject here, LMQ’s NoName.
Having a name other than the Character name serves a number of practical purposes. The main one being that a given player can be identified across matches. More specifically, they can be identified in phases of a game where a character has not been picked or where there is no character per se.
Typically in MOBAs there is a phase of the game where each player picks the character they are going to play during the given game. To make sense of things here commentators need so way of saying ‘X is going to play Y’.
Go Team
A number of eSports are focused on team play. MOBAs, some arena games like Warcraft PvP and Word of Tanks. Here commentators will talk about individual players, players with team affiliation e.g. Dignitas’ KiWiKiD or just team. Teams in eSports are like teams in conventional sports in that they are a brand that is represented by a changing cast of players.
Where eSports teams differ is that a team name may be an actual company or company / product brand e.g. SKT (South Korea Telecom) and Samsung Galaxy. eSports teams also differ from conventional sports as many span games for example Evil Geniuses which currently has StarCraft, League of Legends, DOTA2, Street Fighter IV and Call of Duty teams.
This expansion of teams across games (like larger guilds / clans that started in one game and have now expanded across multiple ones) helps to overcome on of the structural issues that has impacted the growth of eSports - that the sport has always been ephemeral both in terms of games and players. Cross game teams give fans the opportunity to support a brand that evolves very slowly and does not disappear when the popularity of a given game wanes.
To return to naming – team names are deployed either to add emphasis to the focus on an individual. The will be appended as ones full name might be used in other context’s to add force to who is being picked out. Alternative team appending occurs in the context of a discussion about team play or the team itself. In these cases it’s generally clear that the given player is a member of the team, the appending seems to add a level of consistency to the central context of the discussion at the time i.e. the team. Team names will also be used when there is a play involving two or more usually three or more players – here it is the group that the commentator is drawing attention to so phrases like ‘great play Dignitas’ will be used
Which, when?
The purpose of the use of team naming in MOBAs seems relatively clear, however the use of Gamer Handle or Character in any given moment is less clear. One general distinction seems to be in level of competition.
Low-level competitions tend to have less experienced casters and less famous players; in these streams the use of Character name is more prominent. This makes sense, as both caster and audience familiarity with a given player may be low so gameplay descriptions make more immediate sense when Character names are used.
Whereas in higher-level competitions casters have a higher level of expertise and the audience is more familiar with individual players, who may have moved from team to team. What’s more there tends to be greater discussion of strategy and relative strengths of player / character combinations so a caster may talk about a player’s relationship to multiple characters, even during a game.
However in these high level competition a caster will sometimes shift to using Character name, this has the effect of what we might call ‘attention zooming’ onto details of game play.
RTS - StarCraft
RTSs (Real Time Strategy) games such as StarCraft II (StarCraft or SC2 for short) are structurally different from MOBAs thus the caster naming strategies differ.
First, the most common form of competitive RTSs play are one-v-one matches, as opposed to MOBA’s which are team-v-team. There is a multiplayer variant of games such as StarCraft but these are not as popular.
Second, in an RTS game there is a one-to-many relationship between player and on screen characters. At points in a game a player may control 10s of on-screen characters. What’s more, in Starcraft II there is a choice between three ‘races’ typically players are associated with a given race but two players may play the same race – this means that they two players will control instances of the same character type. Thus in many cases a statement such as ‘the Zerg drone’ could refer to one of 120 character instances in the game roughly half of which would be controlled by one player, half by the other.
Due to these factors Gamer Handle predominates in RTS commentary but through different phases of game and out-of-game talk a range of naming strategies are employed.
If we take a pro StarCraft player such as Soulkey, the naming elements open to a caster include:
StarCraft World Championship Series (WCS) commentators have standardised on an opening structure that goes: “spawning in the <position> is the <red / blue> <race> <team name> <gamer handle>”. To use Soulkey as our example an introduction would go “spawning to the top right is the blue Zerk, SKT’s Soulkey” this construction gives the viewer all the essential information they need at the start of the game.
Naming tactics will then change through a game, typically a player is referred to by their gamer handle. But, possibly just to add variation, to the commentary and again to draw different levels of detail attention a caster my refer to ‘the blue zerg’.
In addition caster will pick out units in the game to provide an extra detail of commentary such as ‘the queens are moving onto the high ground”. This could be confusing as there may be many ‘queen’ units on the map at any one time. But typically, in cases such as this, the context will be such that attention is drawn to particular units - the screen will typically zoom into the queens (the view is controlled by an ‘observer’ who controls what the players and commentators see); also ‘queen’s are units that are only produced by zerg players so if the game is zerg against Terran or Protoss the viewer knows that the caster is referring to the zerg player.
At times casters will anthropomorphise game artefacts as if they where independent sentient entitles. The WCS casters James Carrol / @kaelaris and Shaun Clark @ApolloSC2 do this when a weak game unit such as a scout is being chased by other units, a typical line will be ‘run away little scout’ said with an air of mock fear of the life of the small defenceless unit.
This produces an interesting effect as it adds a texture to commentary that treats, for a moment, the game units as sentient entities – which is in fact the overall narrative of the game.
Conclusion
Casters use a surprising array of naming strategies when describing an eSports match. One of the things marks out a good caster and an enjoyable eSports experience is the facility the caster has within using the right naming and descriptive approach at any one time to draw the viewers attention to the best level of detail for the action that has, is and is about to happen. It’s a tough job. Hat’s off to ‘em.
Next: StarCraft, Race and Culture.