I can’t even begin to put words to how woefully ignorant and incorrect Milkis is on this entire topic so how about some things from other people first:

djWHEAT responds to near perfection:

I love how you are so passionate and intimate about the BW scene and what is stands for. But your ongoing attacks towards any non-BW related eSports is quite frankly fucking bullshit. You disrespect every gamer who has participated in eSports for the past 13 years.

You act as if no one else ever even cared about another game. That other gamers didn’t put blood, sweat, and tears into their game of choice.

You claim that BW is the only eSport, but I think eSports is the thousands of gamers (whether they play CS, Carom 3D, BW, WC3, Street Fighter, etc) who have a level of passion for the game that transcends what’s normal. The same gamers who compete on the highest tier of their level.

You just said fuck you to Justin Wong and Daigo.

You just said fuck you to Zero4 and Tox1c.

You just said fuck you to cArn and Frod.

How can you say fuck you to the legends who have put just as much of an effort into their game as someone like Flash or Jaedong?

Some tweets:

Who started this fucking silly rumor that BW and SC2 are the only competitive games that have an audience who doesn't play? #FALSE

October 28, 2011 10:03 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@djWHEAT

djWHEAT

I'm so glad @djWHEAT's comment was the first thing I read after @OrangeMilkis Reddit blog before I raged to all hell. What a load of shit.

October 28, 2011 10:12 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@Slasher

Rod Breslau

I'm glad everyone is shitting on Milkis. What a moron.

October 28, 2011 9:56 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@marconofrio

Marc Onofrio

The Korean BW scene is nearly unparalleled, but most do not live in Korea. Our communities and sport evolved from Quake, Street Fighter, CS.

October 28, 2011 10:23 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@Slasher

Rod Breslau

@OrangeMilkis You need to make a decision. Support esports as a whole or not at all. There's no room here for attitudes like yours.

October 28, 2011 9:46 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@brentruiz

Brent Ruiz

Just the other day, I noted Milkis made some excellent points on some of the issues surrounding eSports journalism, but I don’t think I have to explain why or how his narrow view of Korea vs the World is incorrect. If you want to say BW is the best eSport of all time, I think there might be merit in that discussion. However, as djWHEAT stated, to say the entire industry that helped fuel the growth of BW in Korea is not eSports is an insult to the thousands of pro gamers and individuals who have played, worked, and volunteered in this scene for over a decade.

The Korean BW scene is great. Probably the best eSports industry in the world. But that doesn’t mean there are not other strong scene’s out there. The German eSports scene, as an example, has been extremely successful over the past several years thanks in large part due to EPS and the work of a lot of local organizers. For all Milkis’ praise about how amazing the Korean scene is though, how come they still have yet to figure out a way to market and sell their product outside Korea? Milkis and those who agree with his logic will tell you it’s because the model just won’t work outside Korea.

If that is indeed the case, then perhaps the Korean Brood War model isn’t this ultimate form of eSports perfection some would have us believe.

A tweet from djWHEAT in conclusion:

I respect ALL eSports. And I'll just leave it at that. Each game/community has played a valuable role for us to be where we are today.

October 28, 2011 10:51 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@djWHEAT

djWHEAT

The bottom line is eSports operates and exists as whole. If we accept the existance of this professional gaming or electronic sports industry, we must acknowledge to some extent all the parts of the whole that define us. From Quake to BW to CS to Halo to CoD to Trackmania to Action RTS to FGC to SC2 to SSBB to WoW and to everything in-between - it is all eSports.

Anything less is just ignorance.

@tedottey esports journalists exist, just not outside of korea

October 26, 2011 2:39 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

I don’t completely agree with the notion of journalists not existing outside Korea, but he definitely hits the nail on the head here on some of these points with regard to journalism in Korea vs journalism outside Korea:

@OrangeMilkis I don't know if I agree with that completely. Korea has more journalists, but I think they exist outside KR in smaller numbers

October 26, 2011 2:44 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@tedottey

Ted Ottey

@tedottey it's mostly just a lot easier for Koreans to have journalists cause esports is pretty centralized there unlike the foreign scene

October 26, 2011 2:48 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey you can never cover a good amount of content in a timely fashion outside of Korea because of that which is the biggest challenge

October 26, 2011 2:49 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey that's mostly because the journalists often have good working relationships with all the coaches/managers etc.

October 26, 2011 3:08 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey like journalists would often go on vacations with the teams to cover the event. but that's something that occurs due

October 26, 2011 3:09 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey due to the fact that they're centralized. some of the more sensitive news they do have to wait for official releases though

October 26, 2011 3:09 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@OrangeMilkis are they waiting on the story because they have to or because they have agreed with their sources to hold the story?

October 26, 2011 3:15 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@tedottey

Ted Ottey

@tedottey usually they're at the request of the source. Big pieces of news such as WeMade disbanding, BW teams, etc.

October 26, 2011 3:18 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey i think it's hard for the foreign scene since every team likes to release their own news in their own way rather than having

October 26, 2011 3:19 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

@tedottey ..journalists release the news. Someone just needs to step up and become a good source of news before we can have anything like it

October 26, 2011 3:20 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@OrangeMilkis

Wooju Lee

I’ll definitely be touching on some of these issues in future posts.

Do eSports journalists exist?

That’s not a loaded question. I mean it like it sounds.

This is a subject I’ve had on mind the past few days as the latest string of eSports events in October has finally come to an end. It is undeniable how far the eSports scene has come this past year, and not just StarCraft 2. Yet, despite all our progress, I sit here wondering what can we do to improve eSports media? As I attempt to find an answer that question, I find myself continually asking another:

Do eSports journalists exist?

I’ve had a few laughs over this question before with my good friend Patrick “chobopeon” O’Neill, and it’s even a question he’s adopted as his own personal tagline: what the hell is an e-sports journalist?

But I’ve been giving it some serious thought recently and I think before we can even begin to answer that question, we have to come to a common understanding of what it means to be a “journalist” and what we understand to be “journalism.” This is, of course, no easy task as the advent of the internet, social media, and mobile devices has challenged our definitions of these traditional media concepts.

For the sake of the discussion I’m trying to make with regards to eSports I would like to deposit the following definition for a journalist:

A journalist is someone who investigates and reports on events, issues, and other important topics in a timely manner by producing unique narrative content through a multitude of mediums that can have subjective slants.

To fully understand the concept and reasoning behind my use of this definition, I feel it prudent to debunk several existing content producers from what I believe to be true eSports “journalists.”

Before I do so, let me first say just because I believe the following groups are not journalists does not mean the content they produce is inferior in any way. In fact, these groups of individuals are necessary within our scene in order to keep a consistent flow of content.

1) Individuals who posts links/news on Team Liquid, Reddit or any other community aggregator or forum is not a journalist. Yes, reporting is part of the definition I used of a journalist; however, these individuals does not investigate the content being produced nor does he present it in a unique narrative form.

2) Individuals who produce a weekly show are not journalists. They adhere to nearly every qualification I have for a journalist, however, they do not produce content in a timely matter. Rather, the content they produce is scheduled around a weekly broadcast, and as such, they can often produce content on a topic several days after the story has already occurred. Note, however, this does not exclude all show hosts from being journalists.

3) Most writers producing informational news on sites like ESFI (for which I am affiliated), Rakaka, Readmore, Fragster, etc. are not journalists. These individuals are often simply reporting on existing happenings without investigation, narrative form, or sometimes the opportunity of a subjective slant.

All of this, though, does not help to answer my original question: Do eSports journalists exist?

Continuing to adhere to my definition, I think the answer is yes, but it’s not as clear cut as I would like.

I do believe writers who produce coverage for events like MLG, IEM, Dreamhack, and IPL3 are journalists. They certainly investigate the information they are reporting, produce it in a timely manner, arrange it in some unique narrative (debated later), and some of the content has subjective slants.

I also believe writers who produce unique editorials and opinion columns are journalists – with less debate than the previous group who produces “event coverage” (more on that below). Finally, there are several other individuals – not just solely writers – who produce eSports content whom I think classify as eSports journalists.

I won’t go into an explanation for each individual I view as an eSports journalist as this post is already quite long in length, but they do conform to the definition I have accepted for eSports journalists. Ultimately, the problematic I have with viewing most current content producers as eSports journalists surrounds two major points within my definition of an eSports journalist:

• A journalist investigates and reports in a timely manner
• A journalist produces unique narrative content

The first point I think you’ll find straightforward. It’s the second point that I personally struggle with and I think our entire industry has yet to fully grasp: the concept of producing a unique narrative.

To fully explain why this is important to the definition of journalism requires two things: 1) we have a solid understanding of narrative and 2) we understand why unique narrative content is important to the definition of a journalist.

Given the length of this post, I’ve decided to break up this thought process into parts. I will be posting a least one more blog entry on this topic of eSports journalists to examine the two aforementioned issues.

I hope this exercise was meaningful for someone other than myself. I believe the definition of a journalist I have laid out above is quite good, but I am not sure it is complete. If you have have any questions or comments on this subject feel free to leave them below, email me (otteyt@gmail.com), or tweet me – I would love to hear what others think on this topic.

Within the first few hours of the pre-order being released, the Collectors Edition sold out on Origin.com, EA’s digital storefront. It’s currently only available at select retail outlets.

When you have an IP as big as Star Wars, I guess exact release dates don’t matter.

Hopefully, you all see the same problem I do – there is way too much text content right in front of your face upon entry. In an article published in 1997, Jakob Nielsen noted the importance of headers, sub-headers, bulleted lists, color, and other techniques to make web pages more easily scannable as most people do not read every word on the page. This heading is not conducive to fast scanning at all as the font size and coloring used are not providing enough contrast.

One of my favorite aspects of TechCrunch is CrunchBase, a database of companies, people and topics on the content they create. Previously, CrunchBase boxes were located at the bottom of each article such that when you were finishing reading, you could easily explore more about that particular company or topic. Let’s take a look at the current location:

Not only is the new location for the article’s CrunchBase out of the immediate viewing area, it’s currently directly underneath an advertisement and above the day’s top posts. On the off chance a reader does look at that column, the formatting and styling of the CrunchBase is so similar to the top posts and other sections it hardly stands out. They even removed the old icons for the individual CrunchBase. If TechCrunch would have changed everything about the old CrunchBase design but kept the old company/topic icons for each CrunchBase, it would be significantly better. Overall, this location and styling hurts the reader’s efficiency.

Lastly, TechCrunch produces A LOT of daily content that people want to then share with their friends, families, co-workers, etc. Notice the new sharing techniques:

In this new design, you have to hover to get access to any of the sharing functions. The whole point of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn providing share widgets is to speed up the time it takes users to share the content they are currently viewing with their friends. This design does the exact opposite. Also, for a media outlet so tech focused, they failed to re-include Google’s +1 button, which was already in place on the website’s old design.

While there are some nice features to the new design, such as the share functions staying fixed as you scroll down a page and more consistent styling across the Mobile and Gadget sections, the negatives out-weigh the positives for me. Which reminds me, speaking of design consistency:

I implore you TechCrunch, make some changes to this new design before you start losing readers.

Constructive feedback - this is a REALLY poor format for finals. Months and months of work all wasted because of 1 bo3? Fix next season plz!

July 9, 2011 1:57 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Kennigit

James Lampkin

I couldn’t agree more with Kennigit on this issue. The amount of time and money invested in traveling and practicing for NASL finals is significant, and players don’t want to walk away feeling cheated. I get that NASL wants to broadcast every match, and I respect them for that immensely, but Kennigit is right, one best-of-three series is simply not enough. Moreover, most of the series were actually over quite quickly.

Think of how this effects the fans watching as well. And what about the Koreans? For example, while Zenio and MC were busy traveling to compete in the NASL, their team, oGs, was struggling to find someone to beat DonReaGu in the GSL Team League. I bet the oGs coach would have loved the ability to send out his best Zerg (Zenio) and his best player (MC) to try to win them the match. Instead, DonReaGu came back to win three games and the match for MVP 4-3 over oGs.

Just some food for thought as we begin day 2 of the NASL finals. Oh, and the round-of-eight matches are also apparently best-of-three. Be sure to follow along on our Event Page over at ESFI World.

…a subset of the field of experience design that pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models that affect user experience of a device or system. The scope of the field is directed at affecting “all aspects of the user’s interaction with the product: how it is perceived, learned, and used.”

As someone studying in the field I find that definition to be not half bad. For most though, it’s fairly confusing and vague. How about an example then?

Last weekend I upgraded my mobile phone to a HTC Droid Incredible 2 before Verizon switched to tiered data plans in order to keep my unlimited data package. The Incredible 2 is a decent phone, but one of the nifty things that stood out to me about the phone was the function display buttons. The LED buttons display normally when in portrait mode like most phones, however, when you switch the phone to landscape view, the buttons orient themselves accordingly. See blow:

Portrait View:

Landscape View:

Overall, this little feature isn’t earth-shattering in that you could operate the phone just fine without it, but its inclusion by the designers improves the continuity of the system, and therefore, the entire user experience. Sometimes, UX Designers can create a design, feature, or interaction that completely makes a system. More often than not, however, it’s the culmination of little things that really bring a user’s experience together.

As someone studying User Experience Design, you can’t help but smile at the little things like this.

UPDATE: Now with a GIF of NaDa’s awesomeness. (h/t Talionis from TeamLiquid.net)

In other GSL news, IM.MVP failed to advance out of his GSL group. Since winning the World Championship, the two time GSL champion has looked less than dominant. First, he had to re-qualify for Code S by taking second in Code A last season. Now, MVP has an early exit in GSL July following his early elimination in the Super Tournament. Fortunately, he is still in Code S so maybe we’ll see him get back in form.

Now onto some more eSports headlines for today:

• Day[9] announces the After Hours Gaming League – Employees from companies like Facebook, Google, & Microsoft will now compete in a StarCraft 2 team league.
• FXOpen will send ChoyafOu to MLG Anaheim – FXOpen manager Josh Dentrinos will sponsor Choya to attend MLG Anaheim in return for the fOu captain’s hospitality to Dentrinos and the FXOpen team.
• Cooller leaves Mousesports – The fallout of IEM not picking up Quake this season has begun as Quake legend Cooller has parted ways with Mousesports.
• 2GD and MLG incident – Popular eSports MC & Quake Commentator 2GD made a lighthearted jab at MLG while guest commentating MLG.tv’s live July 4th broadcast only to be removed minutes later. (Note: 2GD declined to comment & MLG has not made an official statement either)

Onto the actual point of a blog, I’m going to try to get back into the swing of writing in this space more often. Topics will range from UX Design to technology to eSports.

In the meantime, if you’re into eSports, I suggest you check out ESFI World as we have a lot of great stuff coming down the pipes in the next few weeks.

Also, NaDa: