Tag Archives: mlg

The numbers game.

Posted on 6 December 2011 | Leave a comment

MLG recently released its self-collected statistics about its 2011 season regarding viewership numbers and other assorted facts about the three different games that it featured and the DotA-clone exhibition added to the second-half of the 2011 season. I added this post to ESFI referring to the press release and the infographic that is being distributed with the press release.

The infographic is a nice amalgamation of all of the little tips and factoids that might have been dropped into the press release itself and presents the information in a way that it doesn’t take someone reading the entire letter to everyone in the industry.

Throwing the numbers back at DreamHack might have given it a few badass points to play around with for next year, but it still remains the fact that the other events were better organized throughout the year of 2011. I know this is going to change a lot as we come into the new season for MLG 2012, but until then, do numbers really name the king of the leagues?

I’m not particularly sure that numbers can make that distinction alone. Sure they separate the NASLs from the MLGs, but to me, it seems like the competition at NASL Season 2′s final was more nail biting than most of MLG’s lesser events.

This year might not be the year of the numbers quite yet, but look out 2012.

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A little delay with the next column.

Posted on 16 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Well, I had been planning to publish a series of columns to ESFI on Mondays (ideally just after business hours conclude on Monday afternoon) but it seems that its not to be this week as we begin to roll out some preview coverage for the upcoming MLG Providence event.

The delay caused me to be a bit anxious as I had previously thought it was just taking too long in the editing process, which instead of assuming that there was too much work to be done and I simply got sidelined I decided to freak out that my article must’ve been total crap and being rewritten or rejected.

In truth, it’s been delayed because of the massive amount of content that ESFI is about ready to publish in advance of MLG Providence this weekend. There’s a considerable increase in editorial content as well as informative preview articles and interviews being published according to the calendar that I have access to and you don’t, so keep an eye out for my column to be released either today or tomorrow and the rest of the awesome content waiting to be unleashed on the Internet over at ESFIworld.com.

Therefore, I give you permission to mock me due to my insecurity. Go on.

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Something doesn’t add up.

Posted on 20 October 2011 | Leave a comment

There was a number in the post-MLG Orlando press release that sort of prompted me to do a little digging.

“[…] $600,000 in prizes and stipends.”

I tried to work out the math on this one and this is what I came up with:

  • $120,000 (SC2 prizes)
  • $56,000 (Halo: Reach prizes)
  • $140,000 (Call of Duty: Black Ops prizes)
  • $6,400 (For qualifying SC2 pro players, estimated: 16 players * 400)
  • $6,400 (For qualifying Halo pro teams, estimated: 16 teams * 400)
  • $4,800 (For qualifying Call of Duty: Black Ops pro teams, estimated: 16 teams * 300)

That leaves approximately $266,400 as unaccounted for as various stipends or some manner of agreement that certain teams have with MLG to attend. This would certainly include the Korean GSL exchange agreements, additional stipends based on need for some players and of course, and deviations from my estimations of players involved in the pro player scene for each game.

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Trading a casino for a resort hotel.

Posted on 15 September 2011 | Leave a comment

Well, it looks like that instead of going to IPL3 as I had planned, I’ll be making the second MLG event that I’ve ever attended in Orlando—unless BlizzCon pans out.

Who knows, at this point, but odds are I’ll be going to MLG Orlando as a member of the press, even if I am taking vacation to leave the area to cover it. I’ve got to spend my vacation this year somehow.

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My thoughts on MLG through the second day.

Posted on 27 August 2011 | Leave a comment

For this being the first time I’ve attended a MLG event while covering it as a member of the press, I have to say… it’s pretty overwhelming.

The chances of being close to a random StarCraft pro player is greater than I had ever expected. I swear, when I’m in the front row of the main stage section, I feel like I’ve become a StarTales Bomber magnet.

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Ice cream—the secret reason Koreans did well in Raleigh.

I even got Coca and Nada to pose for a picture while eating ice cream. How crazy is that?

He comes out to watch other competitors play to prepare for his remaining games, but he does it with this unreal focus.

Moments like those are unreal. I would not have thought that the Korean guests would be allowed to wonder the general area by themselves for the most part. I thought they’d be inside this giant bubble the entire time with limited interaction with the main venue. But I guess I was wrong.

We have gotten pretty good access to most of the players, too. I had my doubts after some of the miscommunications of Friday, but overall, it’s been better than expected.

Maybe that’s the theme for this event. Just how everything has turned out. The drive down wasn’t that bad, and the accommodations are better than I had been led to believe (many thanks to Bjorn for his hospitality). Even though this big hurricane threatened the event the entire time, the event hasn’t missed a beat at all.

Hats off to MLG on this one. They’ve made the most out of a smaller space, and it shows.

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A press pass and I.

Posted on 20 August 2011 | Leave a comment

Barring something completely crazy happening within the next few days or so, I should be attending MLG Raleigh as a member of the press corps. It’ll be the first time that I have been given a press pass to report and support others who’ll be reporting the competitive games going on at the venue.

I’ll be with ESFI, a site that I write for, and will be gathering information about future games that might be included in the MLG scene as well as covering the StarCraft 2 league play that’ll be happening.

One of my primary goals for the trip is to pilot a series of impromptu video series based around the floor of the venue. I’ll use what I learned on the bus tour to inform how I can upload videos that aren’t just simple quality but can be produced on the fly. Thanks to the iPhone 4 and—I’m hoping—some decent cellular coverage, HD videos that’ll be uploaded quickly will be what I’m chiefly responsible for.

No, I don’t get paid for this, but I do get to spend a vacation doing something awesome.

Be sure to follow me so you can get the latest about what I’m up to while I’m in Raleigh.

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