CGS World Final = Pam Anderson’s tits
So I attended the Championship Gaming Series World Championship final. I guess after reading this column, some of the people whose families are fed by a CGS paycheck will call me an esports killer.
Did they all really come from Birmingham?
I love gaming events. When I go to a live gaming event and see people immersed into a spectacle, then even if I don’t understand the game so well, I want to share their emotions. It always makes me wonder why they are so fascinated with what is going on the screens they see. The vicarious love of the game.
It is about having a passion and sharing it. It is about the smell of ozone in the air before a great final that sits in your nostrils and gets you hyped up. It is the excitement of other people that helps you enjoy something profoundly.
This is why I did not enjoy myself at the CGS World Championship finals.
There were two stands of spectators there, dressed in team colors and equipped with blown-up sticks to make a noise at the appropriate times. They were moving studio props rather than fans with a real reason to come there. It made no difference to them whether they were handed Berlin Allianz or Birmingham Salvo colors.
They had cheering rehearsals. They were told how to cheer and when to cheer. They cheered at the wrong times. Cheer is probably not the right word because it implies that they cared. For some reason, I doubt the Rio Sinistro or Stockholm Magnetik fans in the audience in Los Angeles followed their teams to America. Or maybe I’m underestimating the power of the CGS.
That’s fine. They needed a colorful background, I guess. But the players behaviors, what they did and where they were during their games was controlled by the show’s directors. Even if many of the emotions in the show were genuine, their manifestation and everything else was controlled. In a part of the show that wasn’t live, one of the teams was made to do the huddle three times until the director was happy with it. There were times where I bet the players themselves felt like props, too.
In fact, some of the players had a perfect realization of what they were there for. When you see one of the very worst players in the league acting as if he were some sort of a superstar, you know something is wrong.
Let me spell it out for you: CGS WAS THE FAKEST THING I HAVE SEEN IN ESPORTS.
Not only that. The CGS World Championship final was… boring. How is a world championship match supposed to be engaging if it is not made up of world championship class sub-matches? Were those the world’s best teams and players playing against the world’s best teams and the world’s best players?
In only one out of five games this was the case: the DoA4 male contest was between Offbeat Ninja and BlackMamba, the WCG champions from 2006 and 2007. The other match-ups were either boring or simply painful to watch. That is, of course, compared to what one would expect from a world championship final.
The CGS was really not a compelling package for me. For their sake, I hope the average American couch potato disagrees with me.
18. December 2007 at 7:51 pm :
Photo jacked from readmore.de. I love those guys.
18. December 2007 at 9:25 pm :
Good article, but heck, 30k a year worths it for players :D
18. December 2007 at 9:32 pm :
I don’t blame the players. I would do it too!
18. December 2007 at 9:57 pm :
CS was probably the worst match experiences there. It was just horrible.
18. December 2007 at 10:03 pm :
Luckily for the CGS, that is more then compelling enough TV for the average American couch potato. Or should I just say American?
In a country where American Idol and Ugly Betty are considered prime time TV, the CGS did a pretty good job at appealing to “our” mainstream.
What the CGS failed in doing was delivering an online streaming experience for the actual e sports scene which is genuinely interested in the match’s going on. Not to mention the fact that CS is covered in 3rd person…I don’t even need to explain why thats a bad decision.
18. December 2007 at 11:04 pm :
I read The Times and watch Ugly Betty. I fail to see your point, it’s actually quite good! I’m English by the way. PS, CGS sucks.
19. December 2007 at 12:16 am :
Nice write up and good points made.
There were also other world class players, such as Chompr and most of the other PGR3 players, even though that came is boring to watch, most of those racers were actually pretty good.
There were also top DoA4 players there too.
Obviously Mamba and Offbeat were the star male players, but there were still other top players there as well.
I could care less about CS, since team games take no skill.
Fifa lacked in the top level players, since the best players were on teams that didn’t make it to the finals, at least for the USA, and some of the best players for Fifa didn’t get into the CGS from Europe, I assume they didn’t try out or weren’t old enough or some other reason.
Overall, I think for it’s first event, CGS was entertaining to watch, from an American point of view, which I am.
19. December 2007 at 1:23 am :
CGS sucks
19. December 2007 at 1:24 am :
I understand where you are coming from. But it’s just like the NFL, players are drafted, and the GM’s can’t pick every player at once. It’s based on a team dynamic, so the teams you will see in the world finals are the most evenly balanced teams. No GM is gonna somehow magically get all the best players in every game in a random order draft. The best players in the world, for every game, are in CGS. However, some of those players got trash for the rest of their team, therefore that team didn’t make it to the finals. And of course it’s going to seem “fake”, it’s a TV show. There are gonna be some fake things said occasionally, they are trying to take introverted gamers and give them TV personalities. If you think you have better ideas on how a show like this should be, by all means, speak up. By don’t trash the show for trying something that’s never been done before.
And, no, I never felt like a prop. I’ve always felt like a part of something really great whenever we do the shows.
19. December 2007 at 3:04 am :
CGS sucks until i see it do quake 4.
FUCK UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3
19. December 2007 at 12:33 pm :
‘The best players in the world, for every game, are in CGS.’ LoL, they’re clearly not. Check your FIFA and CS competitions. Check the fact that an unknown American player who refused to participate in the CGS because the way it was set up, literally owned the CGS DoA4 male players at the American WCG qualifier.
19. December 2007 at 12:33 pm :
Kasumi,
The fact that I understand how the teams were completed does not change the simple fact that at the end of the day, you’re watching ONE good match out of five. The rest is either newb bashing or blatant mediocrity. That is not what I want to see, especially not in a world championship final.
The best players in the world, for every game, are NOT in the CGS. Some, many of them are. But don’t kid yourself about this.
If you’ve never felt like a prop, then I am sorry for the assumption. You guys were pushed around all the time. Stand here, move there, cheer here, cheer there.
Yes, I think I can make a more compelling TV show. And I will DO something about it.
19. December 2007 at 1:22 pm :
I actually agree with Carmac. I am a supporter of anything that brings gaming to a more public eye, so it was nice to be able to catch the matches on Direct TV. Direct TV had problems with the broadcast. At one point the screen just froze for like 5 minutes.
I enjoyed watching the DOA matches. I was surprised, but FIFA kept my attention too. But CS lost me. I have watched many CS matches because I don’t play FPS but I love watching people play. I can appreciate the training and skill that people put into the game. But my god. I don’t think I have been so bored with a game in my life.
I also don’t see why there wasn’t a single CS team in the CGS that had a female on it. There are females that play CS. I don’t know if any tried out, but I hope that more try out next year. Maybe because I don’t compete professionally but I don’t see why you couldn’t have co-ed teams.
CGS was very interesting this year. I think they have a lot to improve on, and hopefully they will.
19. December 2007 at 3:08 pm :
Excellent read, Carmac. I’m glad others see what I see too. Players like peekay, stermy, and belle shouldn’t have been drafted because it was obvious they never touched the game they were hired to play before CGS.
19. December 2007 at 11:10 pm :
“Check the fact that an unknown American player who refused to participate in the CGS because the way it was set up, literally owned the CGS DoA4 male players at the American WCG qualifier.”
Yes and that player didn’t take first in WCG this year, BlackMamba did. So stfu and get your facts straight. Perfect Legend I believe made it the WCG World Finals, but he finished behind a CGS player.
“Excellent read, Carmac. I’m glad others see what I see too. Players like peekay, stermy, and belle shouldn’t have been drafted because it was obvious they never touched the game they were hired to play before CGS.”
That was the GM’s fault for picking players based on looks and marketability, or for Peekay–absolutely nothing. This doesn’t have anything to do with the show, that was the GM’s not doing enough research.
20. December 2007 at 9:47 am :
Eh, do you seriously think that the drafting was done solely by the GMs? And claiming that the world’s best gamers are in CGS is just totally wrong, at least for Europe. I doubt that CGS actually cares though.
20. December 2007 at 1:41 pm :
I competed in the UK CGS Qualifiers for CSSource, and you are right - the players do feel like props.
We had rules and guidelines about what we were allowed to do/say during a match - not competetive based, but TV-based. Most of the passion was removed by the fact that we weren’t allowed to cheer ‘too much’ and we weren’t allowed to swear at all. I’m pretty sure that you can beep out expletives on TV, but we just had to sit there thinking more about not saying ‘Fuck’ when we died, than actually playing.
When the ‘winners’ were announced, everyone was told to cheer. The players, were told to cheer on the winning players… You can see my point. We congratulated the other team as is customary at any LAN with the handshakes and ‘good games’. But to sit there waiting to find who gets drafted and who does not, then expected to cheer for the team that just beat you seems a little surreal.
The broadcasting for CGS is the worst part though. In an analogy with football (thats soccer for you americans), the average football watcher knows all the rules, such as offsides, when its a bad tackle and when its a good goal.
Football played on a sunday morning in a park between two amature teams and football played on Sky Sports 1 on a saturday lunchtime in the Premier League is the same game. The same rules, the same win conditions etc.
For Counterstrike, the CGS has assumed that the audience on TV will not want to watch something on TV if they have to learn about it first (maybe thats true in america? I dont know). When every league, tournament and LAN before the CGS since 2002 has used the MR15 $800 ruleset, CGS had to make a ‘made for TV’ ruleset.
It’s dumbed down. Basically, it’s who can outshoot the opposition. Does it make for better TV? Marginally, for the outsider. It’s condensed and you get to see people getting shot. Does it make for a better competition? Not at all. There are no finance tactics (who needs tactics when you have $16000? Unless your team is really bad, every round should be a buy). There’s barely enough time for strategies that counterstrike has been loved for, for so many years.
Even without the ruleset change, the TV broadcasting is astonishing. As you say, not showing first-person views is amazing in a game of aiming and skill. And the big red and blue bibs that they wear? It makes the game look childish. The first CGS broadcast I watched seemed like kids sunday morning TV.
Hopefully, the money that CGS gets from sponsors will inspire some other companies to actually give gaming the true, non-faked airtime it needs.
20. December 2007 at 7:21 pm :
Last time I checked the rules for the NFL have changed a zillion times since football was broad casted on TV, including what they can say an do (No more touchdown dances?). Even to the point where they now have to end games in ties so that the football game doesn’t cut into the next show. Just because the CGS has started, doesn’t mean that there are no longer any tournaments with normal rules. Because, last time I checked, all the players in CGS (including myself) still go to regular game tournaments with regular rule sets.
21. December 2007 at 3:01 am :
@That was the GM’s fault for picking players based on looks and marketability, or for Peekay–absolutely nothing. This doesn’t have anything to do with the show, that was the GM’s not doing enough research.
The blame is still placed on the show from my point of view because the event was forseen by many people and they failed to create any type of ineligible draft rules besides being over the age of 18 and showing up at the combine.
Which means anyone who shows up to the combine is a potential draft pick regardless of their skill level.
21. December 2007 at 8:44 am :
Kasumi1190 - if you actually read what I posted , I was talking about proper football - soccer to you - “football (thats soccer for you americans)”
And you saying that about the NFL confirms what I thought about American sport - made for TV.
In Europe, football is life. A European final can have 120minutes (2x 15mins extra time after 90 minutes) and then penalties - they wouldn’t end with a draw just to finish the TV show.
And this is the way it should be - sport first, show second.
If you want proof: The Premier League in England is worth £3bn for TV rights in the UK alone. More than 2bn people tune in for games like Manchester Utd vs Liverpool.
And 100 years ago, Football was small-time stuff.
Thats the way people should be dreaming the way eSports should go - not a pithy TV show.
And my point was not that there wasnt tournaments, just that CGS has dumbed down rules made-for-TV amercianised crap.
21. December 2007 at 11:48 am :
Kasumi, CS players get fined $5,000 for playing CS 1.6 at fun LANs. So much for the players being able to play wherever they like. Of course they signed contracts and they got paid, so it’s fair game. But the fact is that CGS is not so nice in this respect.
Another thing is the draft: the SYSTEM is bad. The fact that managers made bad picks is actually secondary, because they wouldn’t have been able to pick a Peekay if the system had been good.
21. December 2007 at 7:44 pm :
They changed that stuff about CS, CS players can now player either.
How do you make the system different? Make the qualifiers by invite only? Only allow GM’s to draft people who did really well? What if you know a player is good but they did badly at the draft?
22. December 2007 at 6:22 pm :
Hey, life sucks somehow. At least the player will have him/herself to blame. Not a corrupt GM (it happened before!).
23. December 2007 at 8:59 am :
Concerning Europe, the biggest problem for the CGS is the Draft System, with Combines and General Managers and everything. Just like the NFL, the CGS is making the same mistake:
It tries to install the Draft System, which is a typical American one, in Europe, where almost nobody is aquainted with the Draft System.
Consequently it’s the CGS’ job to use a different system in Europe, which is familiar to the players and organisators. In my opinion the CGS would have had way more success in Europe if they’d used the systems, that are already installed in the European gaming scene. The Qualifying procedure should have been held by the known and trusted organisations, such as the ESL (Electronic Sports Leauge) or the Clanbase.
More teams would have signed up to the Qualifiers, and there could have been a higher average skill level for the Drafts and their Teams…
Concerning the Draft system, it was quite hard to get it as an European like me. We’re just not used to it, you know…
Of course it’s no big deal for Americans, because they know the system since their childhood.
Another topic here was the TV shows and the broadcasting.
I can hardly say anything on the TV shows, since I didn’t what them. But the broadcasting issue was quite big in Europe, too. Many broadcasters were not quite sure wether they were allowed to broadcast any of the Games played in the CGS at all. For instance, there was a done a lot of talking about broadcasting CS:Source on German TV (i’m quite familiar with that topic, since i’m from Germany :D). CS 1.6 and CS: Source were broadcasted on a channel called GIGA. Well, then the CGS came and published a news, that now only the CGS is allowed to broadcast CS 1.6 and CS: Source, because they bought the broadcasting rights from valve. Consequently there were no shows with CS: Source or 1.6 in it on German television (the only way it would have been allowed to broadcast 1.6 or Source, if the broadcasted content came from a tournament where only 1.6 or Source was played, which is quite rare, since there is hardly any LAN where only Source or 1.6 is played). Anyway lots of broadcasters weren’t allowed to show the name games, which wasn’t really furthering the reputation the CGS had in Europe, like you can probably imagine.
my posting might be kind of confusing, sorry for that^^ i’m kind of ill right now, but i had the feeling that i needed to explain my view a little bit :D
best regards
25. December 2007 at 10:42 pm :
[...] Pueden leer mas en GGL Wired [...]
26. December 2007 at 12:47 pm :
for clarification:
-Ties were ALWAYS a part of american football…
-The reason certain touchdown dances are banned is a sportsmanship deal, NOT for television purposes (see: pop warner/high school/college football)
-I’m not going to speak for all americans, but a sport or game with depth is MUCH more entertaining to watch than a shallow one. different strategies, play styles, etc make the game so much more entertianing to watch simply because you want to know why that team does that, why that player did that, etc…
26. December 2007 at 1:16 pm :
Matt, American sports has degenerated to such an extent that it’s now unsportsmanlike to destroy an opponent if you’re that much better than them. (A concept which is laughable in Europe, afaik.) Is that more or less the same issue with dancing?
26. December 2007 at 2:24 pm :
[...] Carmac, afamado redactor en el mundo de los deportes electrónicos. Como comenta en una entrada de GGL Wire, tuvo la suerte o desgracia de asistir a la final mundial de la Championship Gaming Series, y para [...]
26. December 2007 at 7:59 pm :
But the players behaviors, what they did and where they were during their games was controlled by the show’s directors. Even if many of the emotions in the show were genuine, their manifestation and everything else was controlled. In a part of the show that wasn’t live, one of the teams was made to do the huddle three times until the director was happy with it. There were times where I bet the players themselves felt like props, too.
WRONG
I said what I wanted to during the show.BUt then again by reading this article you seem to have CGS figured out more then me. KUdos!
26. December 2007 at 9:24 pm :
“I could care less about CS, since team games take no skill.”
Haha, you’re obviously either bad at CS or just plain ignorant about the game. Either way, your opinion doesn’t matter one bit since the majority of the people (actual fans) watching or following CGS is for the 1.6 players who were drafted to play source. I would agree with you if you talked badly about source since almost every negative comment about source is true but you’re very wrong about your claim. Dumb.
1. January 2008 at 8:01 am :
Wow this article is the biggest crock of shit I’ve read in a while. The CGS is a TV show, if you go to a TV show like Who wants to be a millionaire you will see that the director of the show tells you to cheer on q, to smile and act confused when its ‘ask the audience’.
And for being “props”, thats kind of funny because if I remember correctly the Singapore player proposed to his girlfriend live on the show, but I guess this was a “set up” as well yes? As for the players being drafted, its purely the General Managers decision who gets drafted sure some bad choices were made but they can be fixed in Season 2.
As Andy Rief said in an interview, they know it won’t be perfect at first but they will adapt it with the feed back of others to make sure it brings gaming to a level where it should be. So instead of trolling and bashing an organization that is trying to bring gaming to the top, why don’t you give constructive feedback and not the usual “BRING IN 1.6!!!!”
Oh and regarding the rule changes in CS as h3iki stated, it was actually time limits for CS first where each team would have like 10 minutes as terrorist to get as many rounds as possible. Then it went onto MR12, then recently to MR15 so before you get on your battle charge make sure you check the information (easily accessible from http://www.clanbase.com)
1. January 2008 at 8:04 am :
forgot to say too the CGS rules are great for Counter Strike, who wants to sit around for 1 minute while a team sits at long waiting for that pick a player off then rush in? How would that be entertaining for a person at home? While the CGS rules you rush in, no crap, no waiting around, it’s just pure action
1. January 2008 at 11:52 pm :
@ Harry_Potter
I’ve watched countless of epic Counter-Strike matches during the last few years. Some of them have at times come down to a few rounds of slow play by the offensive team, who normally control the phase of a round. But the matches in general have never been boring to me, not even those rounds. This is exactly for the same reason that most Europeans still enjoy Football (Soccer for the Americans, as usual) even though it happens that teams choose to play smart and defensive, and keep the ball in their possession if the score happens to be in their favor and the time is running out.
If you’re a fan of a sport you understand such things and don’t find it boring. What I think many are bummed about (when talking about rule-changes that makes less sens) is the fact that The CGS appears to have a wish to make everyone able to like each game (wont happen) somehow, instead of keeping each games loyal fans happy and hopefully gain more as this becomes more mainstream.