Saturday, July 9, 2011

North American Starcraft League a BIG disappointment?

Okay, all right, I said that I'd never mention the NASL's name again, but someone referred me to Reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/ikbgm/why_should_we_support_nasl/ and a post that was made there regarding the amateurish production and quality of the GRAND finals.

The comments that followed were for the most part in agreement with the OP. As a matter of fact the majority of the posters complained about stream quality, audio, production, lighting...well everything, and quite hilariously.

It's a shame that something as big as a league formed to represent North America, turned out to be a total fiasco - indeed an embarrassment.

Granted, MLG had it's problems in Dallas, but they corrected their problems by the time MLG Columbus rolled around. According to some of the posters, NASL is getting worse, not better. "It's falling apart." "Total fail"

I haven't kept up with NASL for reasons I've stated in previous posts. Today, for the first time, I tuned in, because of what I read on Reddit and in TL. People weren't just complaining, some were angry. Angry that they paid $25. for an almost unwatchable show. Several posts proclaimed, "Never again."

Now, it's my understanding that if you don't pay for HQ, you don't get to join chat. Guess they weren't receiving enough revenue so they decided to nickel and dime viewers. There was also an announcement in TL that Incontrol quit. Never read it, because I could care less so, I can't verify that. I do know, however, that he left SOTG; I was tuned in when he made that announcement.

When I pulled up the NASL stream, there was a blonde walking around with a mic looking for people to interview. Chat, after like 15 minutes, finally appeared and the comments were funnier there than on Reddit. Someone said, "They think a blonde is going to make us watch this - we came to see Starcraft."

The producers probably figured that flaunting pretty gals around would distract viewers from the poor quality of the overall production. From what I read their strategy didn't work.

I've seen thread titles in TL asking for input to make NASL better. Either they didn't listen or are so green that they have no idea how to rectify the problems. Cartoons were all over the place making fun of the NASL, it's production, the casters. Unfortunately, THEY are representing North America and it IS an embarrassment. But then, I kinda thought it might fail from the onset so, I can't say I'm surprised.

Sponsors may have been blinded by the NASL hype just like some of the SC community, but after this performance, I wonder how many sponsors will be dumb enough to continue backing them if they don't up their game. Still and all they had over 45,000 viewers, although someone said, "Yeah, it's like watching a train wreck."

The unfortunate part is that there were a lot of good gamers competing, but very little was mentioned by viewers about the games. They were either too busy making jokes about the quality or complaining about the quality.

Like I said, I don't watch it and only tuned in to see what people were complaining about...there wasn't a match in progress, but I think Sen v Darkforce was up next. I didn't hang around for more than 10 minutes.

Now, the question in my mind is - do they have the $100,000. that was promised to the winners? Hopefully, that wasn't just a hype.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Their always problems at first and they need a chance to fix them. I cant believe you said they didn't have the prize money. Just bcause you domt like them youd look for things wrong. You want them to fail.

Hart said...

First off, it should be "There are" not "Their."

Secondly, I didn't say they DIDN'T have the money. Apparently, you read like you spell.

Thirdly, I won't deny that I've had misgivings about the NASL from the git go. It was managed terribly. The things they did were underhanded and misleading.

However, I'll give credit where it's due. I read some more posts on Reddit and checked out the stream again. It didn't seem too bad during the Sen v MC game (which MC won, of course) so maybe they rectified the problems. *shrugs*

People can be mean and if others are laughing then it seems everyone jumps on the bandwagon. When I saw "What's bigger Incontrol's ass or Anna's ego?" I actually felt badly for the two of them.

As far as the casters, I think Artosis and Tasteless did a good job.

So, I'm not HOPING they fail, it just seemed like it was going in that direction.

Nevertheless, this is suppose to be the North American Starcraft League. Is it?

And where were the sponsors logos?