As I am fresh from my first MLG event and blogged throughout the whole event, I’ve decided to write this week’s The Devil Plays Protoss column on my final thoughts on the event. If you haven’t checked out the blogs that I wrote throughout the weekend, head to the blogs section of compLexity Gaming and take a read! I wrote about my personal experience at the event over the weekend, and if there’s anything you’re curious about that I did not write, send me a tweet at @jacquelinesg or leave a comment on this article!
The best part about MLG was easily the people that I had the pleasure of meeting. To begin with, all of the MLG staff that I met were incredible. Sundance knows how to pick employees. I only met about half a dozen or so MLG staffers, but each and every one of them was friendly, knowledgeable and great representatives for the company. To all the MLG staff that I met, thank you for making the MLG experience even better! There were dozens of other people that I met over the weekend that were great. If you’re ever at an eSports event, take the opportunity to meet as many people as possible! During my interview with Anna Prosser, she said that she often sees tweets from people who say they were just beside iNcontroL and Anna, and she says simply say hi and introduce yourself! Be aware and respectful of the players, though. If a player has just had a 0-2 loss, respect the gamer and talk to him at a later time. Players love and appreciate their fans but do need some space, too. I was genuinely surprised by some of the people I met, and in general, overall, everyone I met was great. From my partner in crime, Jenny, to the people I met and interviewed, the people at the event made it what it was. Thank you to everyone I met and spent time with. For those of you who I interviewed, I simply cannot thank you enough for your patience and for taking the time to talk with me!
Speaking of interviews, please check out my videos on the compLexity YouTube channel, compLexity Insider. It was my first experience doing interviews, and I learned so much. If you have any constructive criticism or feedback, I’d love to hear it!
Since I started writing for compLexity in July, I’ve kept up with SC2 coL news and happenings, but being at an event and part of a team was a whole other experience. Easily one of the best part of the weekend was hanging out with the compLexity crew both on Saturday in the team lounge and on Sunday at the Justin.tv party. Beyond just wearing my compLexity shirt throughout the weekend, it was a great experience being part of a team. I loved meeting the Triggers Down boys, and I would have never would have met them if not for not for being a part of the coL team. Trying to attempt to explain SC2 to Naded while the whole team cheered on Drewbie in his series against White-Ra was such a unique experience. I was unable to meet up with Bravo and SK for an interview, but I will definitely catch up with Triggers Down if I attend future MLG events. It was great to meet Jason Lake, Scott Ford and the whole team from the staff to the coL Academy players. Team pride is an inspirational thing, that’s for sure.
On a similar note of meeting Triggers Down, it was great to be exposed to other eSports games. I love SC2, but it was nice to learn a bit more about other games. I scratched the surface of competitive Halo Reach and Black Ops. I am a miserable FPS player, but who says I can’t be exposed to other gaming communities? I’d love to learn more about different eSports games and it was great to be exposed to Halo and CoD. If I produce content at future MLG events, I’d love to do a little introduction segment on both of the FPS games. It would be neat, and I’d learn something from it. Who doesn’t love learning!?
Of course, the MLG event was not perfect. I complained about it all weekend, but the lack of seating was tiring. It’s not easy to just stand and watch SC2. Seating, unfortunately, is just not something that MLG can prepare for or expect, though. I am sure they were blown away by the number of SC2 spectators at the event, but it was beynd tiring to stand all weekend. I was exhausted from running around, too, so the lack of chairs may not have been as awful as I thought it was. My feet were incredibly sore despite my sensible shoes. How the women who wear heels all day at MLG do it is beyond me. There are parts of MLG, too, that aren’t that spectator friendly. Watching games on the small stage is a bit awkward, and it’s nearly impossible to watch any of the open bracket games on the convention floor. Something that would have helped me, too, would have been a screen with detailed bracket information. The information was easily available on the MLG website, but as I had limited data on my phone, I was constantly confused with where we were in the brackets or what was going on. It was easy to find the upcoming match schedule information, though, which was great. Aside from those comments, as a spectator, I didn’t have any other complaints. The venue was great, and I loved that there was a bit of food variety nearby. Free Dr. Pepper was the best, too. I love Dr. Pepper!
If you’ve never attended an MLG event, I would highly recommend attending one. If you are a fan of competitive Halo Reach, Black Ops or SC2, you have to experience the magic of eSports live. The excitement and atmosphere is nothing that can be easily described or recreated. If it’s possible for you to attend an MLG event or another major eSports event, what are you waiting for!? Would I attend a second MLG event? I’d love to say “of course!” but unless someone sends me to do event coverage, an MLG event is not in my near future. When it comes to producing content, I learned a tonne this weekend and know that coverage I do at future events will be even better. Things that I didn’t even think about, like bringing a tripod, are just things that need to be learned through experience. Back to attending a second MLG, though, I’d love to attend but on my own, it would be impossible for me to attend anytime soon. It would be great to attend the final MLG event in Providence, but that would be more likely in 2012. With my location and budget, it’s unrealistic to even think about attending an upcoming MLG event. I would highly recommend attending an MLG if you can, and I would love to attend a second in the future.
Any questions about the event? Just ask!
After years of playing World of Warcraft, a friend introduced Jacqueline to Starcraft early last year. Jacqueline’s relationship with Starcraft started out slowly: a handful of casual dates, a little bit of flirting but nothing serious. She took her relationship with the game to the next level after BlizzCon 2010 where she experienced eSports magic first-hand and realized that Starcraft was the one. Despite being a mediocre player, she has been clambering the ladder at a glacial pace and has spent more time watching Starcraft online than she’d like to admit. In March, Jacqueline made the leap from eSports fan to eSports professional when she was hired by the Handsome Nerd as their Art Director, combining her design skills with her love of Starcraft. Since its start in April, Jacqueline has been a contributing writer for the North American Star League, writing coverage for Division 1. Offline, Jacqueline is a bookworm, a runner, a freeride snowboarder and has a Human Ecology degree with a Clothing and Textiles major.
View Jacqueline’s profile here.
Visit @jacquelinesg on Twitter