[文章] RN特约文章:什么会使电竞在2010年更美好

作者:Replays.Net撰稿人Lawrence “Malystryx” Phillips
翻译:Nal_rA|Replays.Net

　　作为Replays.Net的写作生涯的开始，有什么比讨论明年电子竞技的发展更适合的题目呢？我把自己的想法缩小到五点，不过对于你们认为能帮助2010电子竞技成长的任何意见我都不会介意。

１更多的独立网站

　　伴随着有希望的Readmore.eu即将停止资金供给，电子竞技失去了这次拥有自己独立英文网站的机会。现在除了HLTV，几个主流的英文网站基本都是战队网站，虽然他们全力以赴，但总是有些不客观。Readmore.de和Rakaka.se在各自国内非常受欢迎，但是能阅读他们的文章还是要感谢Google翻译先生的帮助，不过这和看英文文章还是有很大差距。

RakakaWorld.com，这个神秘的组织由一个流言不断的瑞典网站赞助，据说很快推出一个他们自己的英文网站，这个网站将会突出自己风格独特的采访，但是我们还需要等待。除了特定的一些网络游客，比如SK Gaming和Meet Your Makers的网页看客和用户，如果2010电子竞技继续成长扩大，估计他们不会容忍只能通过发布视频来展现自己

2. 干戈变玉帛

　　很多电子竞技网站间都存在不健康竞争，可能表面上没什么，但是对于那些在幕后工作，坐在线下比赛的媒体区里的人来说这是很习以为常的。“你偷了我的队员的个人录像”，“你标注来源网站B,但是我们网站A是第一个播出的”，“你抄袭我们的新闻”还有很多其他之类。同时有些新闻写手非常的藕汁，在其他网站新闻回复中进行挖苦嘲讽，这种陋习在我年轻的时候也是不经意间就干过。这些陋习毒害了这个原本和睦的大环境，竞争对发展是必要的，但是如果竞争的手段如此下作，这就是我们电子竞技是否正直的问题。

举一些特别的例子来说，Fnatic长久以来就对选手的采访实行禁令，CEO Sam Mattews不允许其队员接受战队网站的采访。这就是为什么你从来没有在SK Gaming, MYM等一些战队网站上看过Fnatic.CS的采访。这个“规定”在Fnatic经理眼里是对自己有利的，但是对整个电子竞技却是一个有害的，剥夺公众接触这支2009最佳战队的同时也在失去这个绝佳的选手培养和市场推广的机会。Fnatic决不是唯一一支使用这些伎俩来保持自己领先别人的战队，而网站工作人员和其他网站管理人员之间的这种幼稚园式的打斗只会导致电子竞技越来越破碎化。

　　欧洲和美洲需要联起手来，而这也是中国电子竞技团队给我留下最深刻的印象，他们分享采访，同时为同一个目标努力，给需要的人提供报道。这看上去很简单，因为这是电子竞技媒体最初的目标，但是很不幸很多国际新闻写手——我称之为新闻写手，是因为我还不敢相信我们有一些真正的新闻工作者——花太多的精力去打压他们的竞争对手，或者为自己的那点薪水而神死劳伤，却往往忽视的电子竞技本身。

版权在中国一直是一个很难保证的东西，但是在中国呆了7个月之后我懂得了，既然打不过对方，那就和对方做朋友吧。在比赛中如果我忘记带相机，但是需要一些照片，很多的中国同行都会给我他们的相机或者给我一些他们的照片。如果你找一个欧洲同行，他们会傲慢的对待，然后你们就要在水印，链接和来源上喋喋不休，最后你不得不放弃。我们这个全体还处在嗷嗷叫唤的婴儿期，就新闻角度来说，统一战线对于电子竞技的成长更为有利，这也是为什么中国能获得这么多的成就。
3. 更多亚洲的英文报道

　　亚洲现在不仅仅是星际的焦点，同时也是CS和魔兽3的宠儿。以中国为例，这里的观众和游戏文化都已经形成，那么为什么还要在其他地方烧钱组织比赛呢。同时中国以成为电子竞技的一块磁铁，所以2010年我们所要做的就是，让其他大洲的爱好者能更方便接触这里。ESL作为一个欧洲组织，在考虑比赛安排的时候会想到时差不同，同时哪些比赛更能吸引主流观众，不仅仅是中国人。当然不管怎么安排，总有一个大洲的观众被放弃，除非他们起得特别早或者干脆一夜不睡觉——但是还极少有人重视避免这种潜在观众的流失。尽管在亚洲英文解说越来越普遍，但是对于其他中国比赛还是欢迎增加这项安排，同时欧洲的媒体的接入也是一个必要。中国将是未来电子竞技的霸主，那么2010就是一个很好的证明机会，中国的比赛最好能更多考虑全球观众而不能仅仅关注国内。这包括邀请更多的欧洲明星，像WEM那样，而不仅仅一些熟悉面孔的走秀。

　　DoTA和魔兽世界一样更多被视为是一项业余爱好，还不是一项竞技比赛。核心的电子竞技玩家总是嘲笑那些牺牲时间玩DoTA的人。DoTA比赛冗长，没有很好的观看事业，通过短时间的拼斗，同时一些简单的临场经验来吸引观众。除了这些众人皆知的缺点，他们还是有一点不可否认，很多人喜欢他，在中国有一件特别富足的东西，就是人。DoTA最近再次火爆起来，在激情的亚洲电子竞技的支持下努力证明自己。电子竞技曾今贬低过他一次，但是这次卷土重来未必不能获得一个VIP的位置，至少不会比3D桌球更差。

2010不仅仅是DoTA的关键年，同时对QuakeLive也是很重要的，QuakeLive的起步要感谢ESL的支持，但是还没有起飞。电子竞技因FPS对抗游戏成名，但是从Quake3的终止和Quake4的失败之后，很长时间里大家的视野中都没有FPS对抗游戏的踪影。FPS游戏对观众肾上腺素的刺激是无与伦比的，他能带给你最原始的冲击，没有引爆点，没有剑圣，没有冷却时间，只有男人对男人。如果QuakeLive和DoTA能够在2010为自己确立门户，这不仅仅是为尘封的花名册上添上新的名头，更会吸引更多的电子竞技爱好者
5. 新的国际联赛，新的游戏

　　还有人记得ELS吗？那个许诺在瑞典自己邀请建立TV工作室，刮起席卷魔兽3和CS的暴风雪？是的，那个在2008年3月，一个叫Bob Marley在CEBIT上宣布的。但是在缺乏资金支持后，这一切灰飞湮灭。ELC的故事告诉我们，那些想要在电子竞技里搞闪电战的组织，在声称自己能够彻底变革电子竞技钱，需要认真考察自己的商业模型。

　　但是，那些很成熟的联赛也要在新的一年继续努力，NGL One看上去终于超越了WC3L。在大量小型魔兽战队脱离后，努力适应新的环境成为最具权威的线下魔兽联赛。NGL One选择“新生代”，同时着重1v1 Ladder比WC3L的传统的需要每支战队提供至少2名选手的战队赛更胜一筹，而这将NGL推上了顶峰，而看上去这将是魔兽3历史的最终章。线下决赛的八名选手还在为光明的未来等待，但是决赛日到来最后的比赛规则还未制定，3个多月已经未从德国本部传来任何消息，那么只有一件事能够猜到，资金紧缺。

我们队2010年有很多保证，其中一个就是ESWC在巴黎迪斯尼乐园的回归——如果你想笑的话——但是对越来越贫瘠的电子竞技日程来说，ESWC大师赛可能更有好处。可能我们是一个比较容易受骗的群体，但是让我们相信不仅ESWC回归，同时还带着米老鼠和唐老鸭怎么看都有点不现实。一个新的国际竞技提供DoTA或者QuakeLive的位置，就对电子竞技够好的了，没必要那么多的克隆。

　　那么你觉得怎么做才能让2010的电子竞技更好呢？

What would make eSports better in 2010?

By Lawrence “Malystryx” Phillips
 
What better topic to open my Replays.net writing career than a proposition of what will make eSports better in the coming year. I’ve narrowed my suggestions down to five but feel free to comment what you feel would help eSports grow in 2010.

1. More independent websites

With the promising project Readmore.eu having its funding cut shortly after being established eSports missed out on the opportunity of having an independent English based website. The leading English-speaking websites aside from HLTV are all team-websites, which despite their best efforts will always be biased. Readmore.de and Rakaka.se cater for their respective domestic scenes extremely well but reading these websites thanks to the assistance of Mr Google Translate will never have the same effect as reading the content written originally in English.

RakakaWorld.com, the mysterious project by the scandal-powered Swedish website yet to be revealed could easily be an English version of their website, a website which sets itself apart by its unique style of reporting, but we must wait and see. Regardless of the amount of unique visitors, page views and users the team websites such as SK Gaming and Meet Your Makers amass, they should not be allowed to be only media outlet if our scene is to grow and expand in 2010. Free press results in a greater liberty for self-expression and an opportunity for writers to tackle the bigger problems facing eSports today without fear of their content being watered-down, edited or removed.

2. Less rivalry, more unity

There is an unhealthy amount of rivalry between many eSports websites, perhaps not clearly visible on the surface but evidently present for someone who has worked behind the scenes and sat in the press area at offline events. “You stole our POV demo of our player”, “you sourced website B, when my website A posted it first”, “you copied our news” and various other denominations. There is also a rather juvenile attitude by news writers to post snide remarks in reply to news on other websites, a vice even I found myself slipping into when I was younger. These habits poison the atmosphere of what could be a harmonious community, rivalry is crucial to progress but when the methods for progress rely on the deliberate sabotage of rivals, it asks questions about the integrity of our eSports scene.

To take a more specific example Fnatic have for a long time employed an embargo on which websites are allowed to interview their players, with CEO Sam Mattews not allowing his players to be interviewed by team websites. This is the reason why you never see video interviews with Fnatic.CS on team-based websites such as SK Gaming, MYM and so on. The “rule” which in the eyes of Fnatic management is beneficial to them is in fact detrimental to the scene, robbing the general public of more opportunities to see the best team of 2009 in front of camera not to mention reducing some excellent opportunities to market their players and sponsors. Fnatic are by no means the only team website to resort to these kinds of methods to try to get one step ahead and the small playschool-type skirmishes between website staff and management of different websites results in our scene getting more and more fragmented.

European and American pages need to embrace what I have found most impressive about the Chinese eSports scene, the ability to share coverage and work together towards the common goal, delivering the people the coverage they want. It seems elementary that this should be the primary goal of an eSports coverage website but unfortunately many international news writers –I call them news writers because I fear that we are only graced with a handful of real journalists –focus too much energy on trying to bring down their rivals and fight for the recognition of their work they feel they deserve that they lose sight of the community.

Copyright is always a touchy subject in China, but one thing I’ve learnt after living in China for the last 7 months is if you can’t beat them, join them. At an event if I am without a camera and need some photos, most Chinese writers will hand me their camera or give me some of their photos. Whereas if you ask a European writer their pride gets in the way and you enter into discussions of watermarking, linking and sourcing that in the end is so tedious you eventually give up. We are a scene that is still in its infancy, and in terms of coverage a united front is much more beneficial to the eventual growth of eSports, which is why China leads by example in reaching the masses.

3. More English coverage in Asia
Asia is now the focal point for not only Starcraft, but also Counter-Strike and Warcraft3, fact. In the case of China, the spectators and the gaming culture are already in place so why waste money to organize an event anywhere else. However, given China in particular is becoming the pole for eSports, it means that steps need to be made in 2010 to make their events more accessible to the fans on other continents. The ESL being a European based organization takes into consideration factors such as timezone differences for fans, as well as which match is more attractive for the main stream for the international audience and not only the Chinese one. Obviously no matter the scheduling one continent will inevitably miss out unless they rise and shine ridiculously early –or not go to sleep which is more likely –but small efforts to take into account the global audience will avoid the loss of potential spectators. Although English commentary was slightly more common in 2009 in Asia, it would still be a welcome regular addition to the various Chinese competitions, and Euro-friendly streams are another necessity. China has seized the reins for the future of eSports and if 2010 is to prove a good year, Chinese events need to be tailored more towards the global scene and not just the domestic one. This also includes the inclusion of a greater variety of European stars at invite events like at WEM, rather than the usual suspects.

4. DoTA and QuakeLive must strive
DoTA is much like World of Warcraft in the sense it is generally perceived as being more of a hobby than a competitive game. The hardcore eSports fans laugh at their futility and mock those who sacrifice their time to play them. They are long-winded, not spectator-friendly and rely on shorts bursts of excitement amidst a very monotonous gaming experience to capture their audience. Despite all these well-publicized flaws they have one defining characteristic that is undeniable, the masses love them, and China has one thing in abundance and that is people. DoTa has found itself born again recently and continues to strive on the back of a hugely passionate Asian community.  The eSports scene knocked it down once but with its second coming it could well be time to let it into the VIP party, it can hardly be worse than Carom3D.

2010 will not only be a big year for DoTA but also QuakeLive has started to take off thanks to the support of the ESL but has yet to fly. Esports grew of the success of an FPS dueler game and the scene has long been without one after the demise of the professional Quake3 scene and the flop of Quake4. FPS duel games provide an unrivalled adrenaline rush to the spectators that watch them; they take gaming back to its roots, no bomb sites, no blademaster, no cooldowns, just man versus man. If QuakeLive and DoTa can establish themselves as mainstream titles in 2010, it would not only add a few fresh faces to an another stagnant roster of titles, but also attract new generations of eSports fans.

5. New International Leagues that support new games
Does anyone remember something called the ELC? A league that promised to take Warcraft3 and Counter-Strike scenes by storm, with direct invites and a purpose built TV studio in Sweden? Yes, the one that was announced at CEBIT in March 2008 by a Bob Marley look-a-like and the one that has crashed and burned after being unable to secure new funding. The underlying moral of the ELC story is that new organizations hoping to blitzkrieg their way into the eSports scene need to think carefully about their business model before running their mouth about how they will revolutionise eSports.

However, even well established leagues have struggled this year, NGL One looked set to finally overtake the WC3L as the most prestigious online Warcraft3 league after the max exodus of full Warcraft3 squads meant both competitions would have to adapt to a new environment. NGL One’s choice of “next-generation” format with their 1on1 Ladder had the edge over the WC3L’s more traditional slim-lined take on the team competition requiring each team only required two players to compete, and put NGL in an excellent position for what looks the closing chapter of the Warcraft3 story. The future looked bright with a LAN finals promised for the top eight competitors but the format was still not announced even on the final playday and it has been more than three months since any news from the German based organization that points towards only one conclusion, that money is in short supply.

We’ve had a handful of promises for 2010, one being a return of the ESWC to Disneyland Paris –laugh if you will –but a handful of ESWC Masters events would prove more beneficial to what is becoming a more and more barren eSports calendar. We seem to be a very gullible community at times, and for us to believe that not only will ESWC rise from the dead but bring with it Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck seems perhaps a little far fetched. A new international competition starting on a fresh slate which could offer backing to the likes of DoTA or QuakeLive would do eSports a world of good, there is no need for any more clones.

What do you think will help eSports get better in 2010?