Someone directed me to an interesting editorial, which I've linked here. Of course, like with everything else, people have their own opinions; however, according to this editorial money IS the root of all evil in StarCraft.
http://www.sixjaxgaming.com/wp/scii/2011/04/22/the-age-of-innocence/#comment-17678
In part, I believe that's true. Since eSports, Starcraft specifically, are gaining popularity in North America, there are more sponsors interested. They, of course, back the teams that can make them money. The teams want sponsors so they can make money. Players stream to make money and popular players make money off the ads, because the advertisers make money off the players who have a large following. So, yeah, greed plays a big part. And when people are greedy, they get hateful. *sighs*
But can that MAKE someone bad mannered? One of the worst BMers, and yet extremely popular with "adolescents," is a very immature, angry and hateful 20 year old moron. His fans adore his BM and he's become so popular that he believes he has the right to be rude and hateful. Like most people, who can't handle celebrity, he's been infected with the disease, egomania. He's so full of himself that when he goes to the bathroom, he craps turds in his image.
Is he, however, in his heart really bad mannered or have his fans created the monster? He has been temporarily banned from TeamLiquid a total of 25 times. Anyone else would have been permabanned. He draws viewers to TL, though. Even his most recent ban, which was originally for two days, turned into 90, because he suggested on twitter that his fans complain, "if you disagree."
The fans, of course, began spamming the mod, who had the balls to ban him and for that reason the two day ban evolved into 90 days. But is it really a ban? He seldom posts in the TL forums, but he does stream from the site. The TL site didn't disable his stream so it's hardly punishment, because he can still make MONEY off his stream ads. He can still compete in tournaments. Actually, this ban doesn't bother him in the least.
Who does it effect? His fans. And does he care about his fans, who went out of their way to defend him? Well, since he decided to pull his stream from TL, I think not.
It was nice to see how many people actually can't stand his BM and were happy with the ban. Even some fans mentioned that whilst they love his play, they don't like his bad manners. But it was an eye-opener to read how many Starcraft followers think that his bad manners are mild compared to players in other games, like WoW and DoTA. "That's why we watch the games." Huh?
Kids actually take an interest in eSports to learn bad manners? To watch players attack each other verbally. To see players rage? Can someone explain this to me? Is it like slowing down to see a disastrous car accident on the highway? Or driving miles to another city, like Tuscaloosa, to take pictures of the devastation left in the aftermath of a killer tornado. What kind of people are we?
I stopped reading the TL thread on the ban after 55 pages. But somewhere in the back of my mind I wonder if TL execs had this all planned. Certainly, it brought attention to the TL forums and it gave more attention to the player.
It's beyond my comprehension to think that parents are "proud" to know that their offspring excels in bad manners. So, I guess I question if they even know.
With that said, I still haven't figured out the amount of bad manners directed specifically toward women. Misogyny is not the reason - at least in most cases. But I wonder if subconsciously some men put down women, in order to feel more powerful themselves. This, of course, is an entirely different topic.
Thanks for reading and if you have ideas, opinions, etc. please do comment.
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