Cameron 'fams' Carson talks about IPL 3, MLG Providence and NASL S2 event conditions from a player and media perspective.

The last few months have played host to some of the biggest events North America has ever seen in eSports to date.  The first was IGN’s Pro-League event in October, IPL 3; the second was Major League Gaming’s National Championship in Providence; and the third was the North American Star League’s Season 2 Grand Finals. (Note: I leave out Blizzcon because it is not an independently run event).

These three events have produced some of the most awe-inspiring tournaments eSports has ever seen.  From world-class players to massive online and onsite attendance to an overall a fantastic experience for everyone to enjoy, these events have gone above and beyond.  This level of production led to the intense competition we now see between these three powerhouses, and for the fans these events have been a great experience for the most part.  But what about the people working at the events?  The teams/players and the media outlets who travel to each event and work non-stop all weekend for the fans enjoyment.

Conditions for these people are essential to running a smooth event – at least from their perspective.  Why should anyone care about this?  Because with poor event conditions, players and teams cannot perform at their very best and provide the most entertaining games for fans to watch.  The same goes for media as well, without proper conditions media outlets cannot provide fans with up-to-date, relevant content.

Now I had the opportunity to attend three of the largest independent events of the year mentioned above.  The first was IGN’s Pro-League event in October 5-10th.

In early October I was flown down to Atlantic City in the United States to work at IPL 3.  IPL 3 took place at Bally’s and Caesars Casino's along the boardwalk in Atlantic City.  There were two portions to the event, Bally’s, which encompassed three separate media rooms, two pro-lounges for the players, an open main stage and an open qualifier area.  The second area was at Caesars which was the main stage and a backstage area for players and media to conduct their business in private – as well as a private pro-lounge for the players only.

PLAYER CONDITIONS

Players were treated by far the best at IPL 3 than any other event I have had the privilege to attend.  As mentioned above, players had access to an open pro-lounge as well as two private pro-lounges.  The open pro-lounge for those who did not attend the event, was a lounge setup at Bally’s Casino with computers for practicing as well as a general sitting area.  Fans who bought the highest package from IGN were able to enter this area and converse with the players and watch them practice.  Media also had access to this area in order to grab players for interviews. The two private pro-lounges (one at Bally’s, one at Caesars) were for the top 32 players and their teammates only.  No fans or media were allowed – even certain event staff were not allowed in these areas.

Along with the lounges, IGN employed four “player handlers” to take care of the players and ensure they got what they needed.  From hand warmers to escorting the players around the venue when required to meal vouchers for the casino restaurants; IGN went above and beyond the call of duty in terms of ensuring players were comfortable. 

This is not to say that IPL 3 was not without issue with regard to player conditions.  Having utilized an open call hiring process to hire event staff, using volunteers did have drawbacks at times.  Some event staff were star-struck and would ask players for autographs or photos during their shifts when they were supposed to be working in a professional manner.  Additionally, the computers and tables used at the event were of subpar quality.  Computers were constantly being changed out causing issues for the players, barring them from practice at times.  The tables were an absolute nightmare to deal with as their shape, height and coverings were less than ideal for the players.

IPL 3 Mainstage

MEDIA CONDITIONS

Media were given three private media rooms located directly across from the pro-lounges at Bally’s Casino.  This gave them easy access to not only the players in the open pro-lounge but also close proximity to the open main stage and qualifier areas.  Additionally, media also had access backstage at the main stage in order to find players for interviews or photos.  Much like the player handler positions, IGN had two “media handlers” whose job it was to take care of all media needs and ensure their event ran as smoothly as possible.

The rest of the areas of the venue were easily accessible and offered ample lighting for photos – even the main stage at Caesars which was the darkest area of the venue, was lit well enough to take photos of the people on stage or in the booths.

Media however were forced to deal with poor internet and power conditions for the first two days of the event.  There was no wireless internet access which led to media sharing only five Ethernet jacks and a lack of power strips to plug in equipment.  This was partially remedied on Day three when media were moved to “emperor row” at the main stage at Caesars which gave access to wireless and additional plugins for equipment.  Another downside was the fact that the two main locations of the venue were so far apart forcing media staff to hike back and forth between the two venues took a good 10-15 minutes.

MLG’s National Championships in Providence Rhode Island was the second event which ran from November 17th to the 21st.  The venue was at the Rhode Island Convention Centre which was next to a massive mall.  The venue encompassed all of the halls on the second floor of the convention centre, which also gave media access to a press room overlooking the venue.  The venue itself was divided into many sections, from sponsor booths to fan sitting areas to three main stages as well as player areas.

PLAYER CONDITIONS

At MLG Providence players had access to a pro-lounge which was a small section of couches at the very back of the fan seating looking out towards the main stage.  It was sectioned off with waist high fencing.  Players also had a practice area at the far corner of the hall where computers and xbox’s were setup for practice.  MLG put the practice pro-lounge in the far corner of the venue to ensure that fan traffic would be minimal and players could get some freedom from the mobs.  As a result there was a lack of lighting and players were forced to practice or relax in the near pitch black – not the most ideal conditions when trying to focus on your matches.

Because MLG events regularly draw large crowds, and this being the finale event for 2011, it was expected that the audience would be large and enthusiastic.  Fans quickly filled the main seating in front of the Starcraft 2 stage and crowded around the Starcraft 2 feature stage and regular playing area.  If a professional player wanted to move from one side of the venue to the other, they were on their own.  For some players that is not an issue, they either enjoy all of the fan interaction or they were lucky enough to leave with a group of people and not be bothered.  However when players such as SlayerS`BoxeR or EG.HuK decide to move, group or not, fans gather and they gather quickly.  On more than one occasion I bore witness to these two, as well as other players, become mobbed by fans. 

Now you might be wondering why this is such a big deal.  For some players, especially players with language barriers, this becomes a really big issue.  And with other engagements to attend to, not to mention the very precious little free time they do have at events, it becomes more of a bother than they would like to admit.  Players should not be left alone to fend for themselves in situations like these for a lot of reasons, the biggest being event security for the fans and players.  Twice BoxeR was walking alone, and twice crowds of 50 or more people gathered around him within seconds asking for autographs and photos and to talk to him.  Both times he was busy and needed to be somewhere, but still the crowds persisted.

There are cases where MLG staff arranged for venue security or event staff to escort players, but this was irregular at best, and usually has to be requested by the player or their team.

MLG Feature Stage Crowds

MEDIA CONDITIONS

MLG has been notorious for poor conditions regarding media.  Before Starcraft 2 came into the picture, MLG did not even have a press area for teams and media outlets to work from.  MLG Providence offered media outlets and team staff one room overlooking the venue.  The room provided a perfect view of the entire venue, something not regularly seen at events.  Additionally, there were a fair amount of plugins and Ethernet ports as well as wireless and a fully stocked shelf of Dr.Pepper. 

This media room surpassed my expectations despite there being some overcrowding issues that arose throughout the weekend.  That aside however, the location was perfect and MLG’s head of PR was wonderful to work with, solving major issues within moments of being notified of them.

That being said, the access to the overall venue was a nightmare.  Being a team staff member and requiring access to Fnatic players was more than difficult.  Each team is given only one manager pass for the Starcraft 2 team and one coach pass for the Halo Reach team.  This causes a lot of issues for major eSports teams who send multiple staff to an MLG event.  Because a team may have a Starcraft 2 direct manager who takes care of the players and has his own set of duties, and the Halo Reach team already has a coach who does the same thing, it leaves any general management or staff out of luck. 

Even though these conditions are identical to both the Starcraft 2 and Halo Reach sections, the results are far from the same.  In the Starcraft 2 section, staff are very rigid about their rules and will only let their own media into the cordoned off areas.  On the other side of the venue, the Halo Reach staff are very helpful in allowing team managers in to assist and take photos/videos of their own players – within reason.  In the end, outside media was treated as such at MLG, even team staff members were unable to film or photograph their own players in the player area, or on any of the main stages.  The best one could hope for was that high profile players would sit towards the edge closest to the crowd in the player area, or make it to the feature stage where you could battle with fans in order to take video or photos from down below.

Additionally, general venue conditions such as lighting and event layout left a lot to be desired.  Not only were the pro-lounges unnecessarily dark, but the entire venue was poorly lit, causing a lot of issues with developing photo and video content for nearly any media outlet.

The North American Star League Season 2 Grand Finals was the third and final event, taking place from December 1-5 in Ontario California.  The event took place in the Ontario Convention Center.  The event was setup in the same manner as a professional boxing ring, with all of the seats situated in a full 360 degree rotation around a center stage where the Heroes of Newerth and Starcraft 2 players performed all matches.  The commentary booth was positioned slightly in in front of one of the main sides and there was a pro-player lounge in the far corner of the venue where the red-carpet walk downs began.

PLAYER CONDITIONS

Due to the very low fan turnout, players did not need to worry about being mobbed by fans, even during the final days of the event.  The pro-lounge was private for players, VIP and media only.  There were computers setup for the players to practice on as well as a TV to watch the matches and constant food and drink service for the players only.  If any problems did arise, the limited NASL staff were always floating around willing to lend a helping hand where needed.

NASL S2 did not however go without incident.  Heroes of Newerth players played on the main stage but without any form of noise cancelling booths or headphones to drown out the commentary being blasted over the P.A.  Additionally, players could look up and see the projector screens and know exactly what was going on as there was no delay on the stream.  The solution to this issue was to blast lighting towards the players forcing them to focus on their screens instead of looking up and getting blinded by light.  This however had a negative result as players were blinded more by the lights during playing than when they were looking up at the screens. 

NASL S2 Grand Finals Venue

MEDIA CONDITIONS

The media conditions at NASL S2 were probably the most ideal I have come across.  NASL S2 provided two boardrooms for media complete with a TV for streaming the matches so staff were aware of what was going on at the event.  The rooms were right across from the tournament hall, one setup with internet connections (wired and wireless) and plenty of outlets.  The other was setup strictly for interviews so media had a quiet, private location to conduct interviews.  Additionally, NASL S2 had ensured the media that they would have access to every single player sometime during the event.  Something NASL S2 also offered media was access to a third media room that overlooked the venue in the same style as MLG Providence’.  This room was mostly utilized for photos overlooking the venue however.

On the downside, NASL S2’s stream in the media room was down for the majority of the event since they took the computer and put it in the pro-lounge for their stream instead.  The other major issue was the lighting within the venue, and at times, the smoke machine and when combined, it made it near impossible to get any good photos or video within the venue, even of players on stage.

WHAT IS NEXT?

Compared to past years, all three events were a monumental success.  Some provided services that others did not, and in the end the hope is that all of them will move forward and improve on their past mistakes.  For their first event, IPL 3 set a new bar in terms of player conditions by providing more than just food vouchers and hand warmers, but helpful friendly staff who had the players best interests at heart.  This is something not many other events are capable of doing, or just have not spent time on implementing yet.

MLG is faced with a unique problem that inhibits their success on these fronts, being the fact that they have too many fans and not enough staff to handle everything.  They could however tear a page from IPL’s playbook and hire volunteers in order to remedy these problems.

The hope is that conditions for teams and media outlets will improve across the board, and that certain services like the ones discussed in this column are the norm and not the exception.  The conditions mentioned allow teams and media to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.  Teams can perform at their best and media outlets can provide relevant up-to-date content at events – something the fans need in order to grow their fandom and the scene in general.  Hopefully event organizers realize that this is part of their responsibility of running events, and that the other independent companies that help this industry move forward are friends and not foes. 

It would be greedy to ask events to pay travel costs and ensure that all players are guaranteed compensation for their efforts.  But event organizers should improve the conditions at their events so everyone can prosper and the industry can continue moving forward together instead of people constantly stepping over each other to get the next big piece of the pie.

 

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