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Can we actually fix esports?

destroyer22719·9/9/2018, 6:17:23 AM·2 votes·1,056 views

Its just like soccer, where there are teams whose countries are cheering for them. But in reality, 1 or 2 players aren't (insert nationality) it just defeats the whole point of national pride. This is the same with esports. Instead of calling it the NA LCS. Let's just call it the "Mostly North American League Championship" because there are koreans like Huni and Sumday there. Then there are EU players like Bjergsen and Zven. However, BIofrost is an exception because he was an actual immigrant and not an expat. Its just honestly disappointing when team rosters aren't about who can make NA proud, but which team has the most Koreans. In the MSI 2018, there was a team representing the CIS who has a Korean player. Why are their country cheering for them when it's not actually proudly the nationality or region it represents. Another thing that pisses me off is sponsorships. Teams are paying players from a different team higher wages to join them. Famously when Doublelift left TSM to join Team Liquid because he is a man about money, and of course he couldn't refuse. Teams should be like TSM where they build on their current Roster and try their best into making it something that works. Teams aren't winning these days because it isn't about their players they train. Its about the players they bought. Team Liquid deserves to fail. But of course, they're so trash they had to buy DL into joining them. Just find a Roster with synergy potential and build on it. What pisses me off most is that before doublelift "Joined" he was on a break and was on a loan from TSM to bail TL out from relagation. They literally used money, MONEY to survive relegation. That's admitting how trash TL really is "Oh hey DL, we're just soooo trash and are wusses, we don't face it to the death and we'll spend any money to not get placed last." Riot should fix these issues. I'm not talking just about policies, but also NA soloQ. People don't care about getting rank 1 on NA. Just making it to Challenger in Korea is a huge honour alone. I'm not saying NA is trash. I'm saying NA has too big of a skill gap. I see amazing streamers showing off their skills like Boxbox, TF Blade, and I wonder how these players aren't in Competitive. Elos like Diamond and Bronze are too diverse in skill. Escaping bronze is impossible with so much feeders, inters, smurfs, AFK, and DC. Echo Fox (previous) support Feng was an insult to Nami mains like me. WTF was that flash. This is something you would never see in Even other major region Challenger SoloQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxf_Q_MyPI&t=9m4s

4 Comments

Plat HardstuckXD9/9/2018, 9:28:15 AM1 votes

Its called NA LCS cause the league is in North America. It is not one North American team. If Worlds/ LCS was represented in that way you would see EU, vs Korea, NA vs EU and not teams like SKT1 or Misfits.

ModPrandine9/9/2018, 10:37:24 AM1 votes

Imports Teams want to win, and they'll take any advantage they can get, even if it means using imports to do so. That said, there's a limit of 2 imports that can play on the starting roster at a time for the LCS (1 for Academy), meaning that if you want to use one then you're sacrificing that slot, and even then it's not a guarantee that it'll help the team win. Super teams have a reputation for being notoriously inconsistent since they often lack team cohesion and synergy, two things important to success. Also, players are no longer considered an import if they've lived in NA for a few years (I think it's 3 or 4 correct me if I'm wrong).

Representation As far as a Korean player representing the CIS region, so what-why is that a problem? Ever stop to think that that player wants to play for the CIS and represent the region? The same goes for other regions as well where just because their nationality is different doesn't mean they don't want to try to represent the region they're playing for. Take LMQ for example: yes their nationality wasn't NA but they still played in NA and wanted to represent NA. If that's your sole reasoning behind not liking that then just get over it as it's just making a mountain out of a molehill.

Sponsorships These have been around forever, and if you're a top notch player then why wouldn't you want to get a wage appropriate to your skill level? Yes the Doublelift trade to TL to avoid relegation was very unusual and strange I will admit but I have a feeling there was more to it than just a higher salary. Yes they survived relegation thanks to DL but if that's all they wanted then why did DL later leave TSM to join TL? Money can play a role in certain decisions yes, but it's not always the sole reason why.

Solo Queue The solo queue meta is very different from the professional meta and as such what works in SQ doesn't always work in a coordinated setting. Case in point Garen: he can work in SQ because teams are often uncoordinated and won't punish his flaws (lack of CC and a gap closer) as hard as coordinated teams will. It's because of this that many pros have come out and said that SQ is not a good practice tool. Yes you can learn basic skills but you can't learn some of the more advanced skills that pros utilize.

Pro Mistakes Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, including the pros, and expecting perfection 100% of the time is both unreasonable and foolish. Also, you have to keep in mind that playing from home is allot different than playing on a stage in front of a crowd of people. Factor this in with the heat of the moment and how hectic comms can be at times and pros will sometimes make uncharacteristic mistakes that they probably wouldn't make otherwise, and this holds true regardless of region. In fact I watched the LCK Finals myself and I noticed a couple mistakes in that series by both teams as well. Korea is supposed to be the best in the world right? Which means they can never make any mistakes right? Wrong.

Yes Feng made a mistake flashing in as Nami there but it was just one mistake. Him making that mistake may be an insult to you personally but it's certainly not an insult to all other Nami mains out there (you aren't everyone after all), and it's unfair to judge his Nami play based on that one mistake.

Conclusion While I understand some of your concerns, others just feel like nit-picking and unreasonable griping and complaining. I get you want to see the best NA has to offer (which if that's the case then why complain about a KR player representing the CIS?), but you have to understand that not everyone is gonna live up to your standards, especially if your standards involve unreasonable ones, such as getting mad at players for making mistakes that we've all made here and there or complaining about players representing regions outside of their birth/home region. You can either accept this, get over it and move on or you can keep needlessly complaining about issues only you and a small minority of people have.

GeminiRune9/9/2018, 2:08:15 PM1 votes

Residency and nationality in some context are not the same here. Omitting Biofrost's Chinese nationality with NA residency but permitting Bjergsen's Danish nationality with NA residency is quite unfair, especially for the latter who's spent almost his entire career playing in the region! It sounds like you think he should be playing for his nationality? That's ridiculous.

What about Amazing, Santorin, and especially Keane who never even had a mainstream Korean stint? Hell, what of everyone and everywhere else? Just because a player imports elsewhere doesn't mean it's ruining the infrastructure nor is it the player turning face on nationality based fans. A fan of the player will follow his successes wherever he goes and by all means it's absolutely shown among names that have traveled across the world such as Huni and Olleh. If you can't do that, you're just another bandwagoner.

The rest of it just feels like off the wall rambling and I don't feel like debating that.