Breakin up is hard to do

Especially when the whole thing plays out in front of thousands via a front page post on the largest eSports news media outlet in existence currently.

We've seen it before, and it only heightens the irony of the whole ordeal. I'm talking, of course, of CEVO's (CyberEvolution - a growing online gaming league featuring a pay-to-play for cash prizes model) split with now fading eSports media giant TsN (Team Sportscast Network). We saw it first with TsN in the position to gain the most from the whole situation - when they were granted exclusive rights over anything going on at CEVO, at the expense of SourceRadio. To their credit, before they were bumped out they made full use of their rights, casting something like seven matches in one night between izzle and virulence (I believe). That's an undertaking, and at least half of it I know was excellent stuff. Shortly after, TsN, apparently feeling threatened, worked an all-inclusive exclusive deal with CEVO. The ensuing carnage played out on the CAL forums and on the front page of the SourceRadio site, where in typical fashion for him, Jinxed dragged all the drama and the whining and the pleas to the community out into the open in one big pathetic unprofessional sobfest.

Now however, if there was anyone to hand a box of tissues over to Hunter from TsN, it'd be him. Seems like they could get along now that they've got some common ground; both have been 'screwed by CEVO.' Yeap, those evil bastards; cry more.

It is an absolute kiss of death to try and turn your private business failures into a public debacle for sympathy. If anything, they should have taken note of the first time when CEVO cut ties with a media organization - SR took their sob story to the public and look where they're at now. (Word on the street is they're actually going to be back at CEVO...but with what talent and for how long? We'll see.) Take your licks, learn from it, buck up and move the fuck on.

Businesses don't deal in sympathy. It's called trade for a reason. A business will trade money for raw materials so they can turn it into something worth more than the materials that went into them and then trade that product for more cash. Simple economics, I know, but worth pointing out, because in the scheme of grassroots eSports broadcasting, the company trades their product for community support; the better the product, the more support. When you offer your content for free, that's the model. Communities see no worth in pathetic displays of finger pointing and 'woe is us' and won't trade for it. What's in it for them? Existing community support banks are an unreliable and volitile equity; in this business, if you fall off a precipice and rely on a throng of supporters waiting there to catch you at the bottom, you're going to hit the ground that much harder.

It's because the community, in the end, doesn't care what you've done even a month ago let alone for the past five years. Nor do they care what you're going to do next month. It's all about now - are you putting out the best damn product on the market right now? Clearly, boys, you weren't, or you wouldn't have gotten dropped - period.

Equally unprofessional is other entities using TsN's current woes as a fucking platform to promote their own organization. (Note, you won't see one mention of mine here. In fact, I've only mentioned it once in this entire blog. That, friends, would make me no better that the rest of the mess.) Several prominent figures from practically every other eSports broadcasting entity has stepped in on the comment thread attached to the Gotfrag article on this very issue - including people from GF itself - either to post their snide little comment or a flat out two paragraph plug to attract attention to themselves and their own project. How completely honorable and professional. [/sarcasm] Most blatantly offensive is this article; how much more tactless can you possibly get? [Edit: The article has since been removed. Smart. Comparing the CEVO - TsN split to such a human tragedy as 9/11 was quite enough to write several pages of unabashed verbal retribution; it was the move I hoped they'd make. No matter, the link stays and so does the mention.]

Say you're a pirate. You don't ram a sinking ship with your own to make it sink faster; you'll only poke a hole in your own hull and join them at the bottom; instead you wait for the thing to sink and wait for the booty to float to the top. Patience. Stick to your game. Stay out of the bullshit.

And just work on your product, your craft. Because that's what's good for the community, for the media organizations, for eSports. This decidedly isn't.

It's been what, three months?

At the least, it has been the better part of that. Sorry.

I'll be honest here, now that it's all far enough back where it doesn't really matter anymore. The creation of this blog was just as much the product of a need to get my $2.68 (adjusted for inflation) out there on the eSports scene as it was to keep my profile up within the communities that I knew and that knew me during my broadcasting hiatus this past spring and summer. Basically, I wanted to stay within the consciousness of the (at the least) Battlefield-savvy EGLN viewers that gave me so much encouragement and support while I worked on my eventual return to the mic. Did I know where or when?...no. So putting something like this up in the meantime made sense.

Now that I and my partner Will are building up a serious head of steam over at FragTV, this here blog has gone by the wayside. Why return my attention to it now? Well the initial post at a recently opened new blog maintained by a former colleague of mine at EGLN referenced myself and Will as "industry veterans" (kind, for sure - I've really only been at it for just over a year); more importantly, this new blog looks pretty much identical to this one - which then led to thoughts of, "oh shit, I haven't posted in, like, three months." Maybe my former colleague is plotting a similar departure/path that I took in recent months? We shall see. This blog is surely not the only thing I've done to be mimicked by folks still at my former station, and surely won't be the last.

So, does it fall to the wayside now? Maybe. If you have checked this thing even weekly these past months to find nothing, bless you. Now go take a walk. For the rest of humanity still sane, I anticipate this going towards one of two extremes: either this will be the last post ever and that's it, or the premise of this blog will be turned into a monthly or weekly show on FragTV. It served its purpose but now that the reason behind the creation is resolved, there has been little impetus to keep it up. I'll be brainstorming ideas on how to turn the topics explored and discussed here into a show over the next month; your thoughts are welcome - XFire: 194schetter.

This time, I'll keep you posted. Thanks to all that read and especially those who commented.