America is huge. From size of landmass to girth of stomach, the most powerful nation on the planet exercises control of pretty much everything she sees fit. Moving from McFries to computer chips, all the big players in the game have all traditionally come from the states.
Yet somehow, when it comes to ET, America just hasn't got it worked out. Theres the failing to land top spot at Quakecon '05, the fact that there isn't even an AmeriCup in ET (the equivalent to the EuroCup), even the Atlantic battles have proved time and again, America backs down like a little scared poodle when it comes to us lot accross the pond.
But why? Why should some unknown European country like Estonia be able to herald Quakecon winning world beaters, as opposed to America which could swallow poor Eestiland and still have room for a McShake afterwards? Surely if ET is going to succeed anywhere, it is in the God trusting nation, with their sponsor's megadeals, their love for entertainment, and even greater love of videogaming. But social stereotypes aside, it would take a person with pride of astronomic proportion to claim the US's ET scene is not a catastrophic failure. You see, here in cheese loving, uber efficient, blonde producing, mafia fueled rainy Europe, we know ET has failed. It's a known fact. Not in terms of how much people enjoy the game, but on a global scale, ET just isn't a Quake 3/4, Painkiller or Counter Strike. Okay, so individual teams have contracted some fairly big name sponsors, but this has remained limited to just that, which is why you will never see ET at ESWC, and certainly not again at Quakecon after its self-induced collapse last year.
Is that one of the major reasons for American distance with ET? Without trying to sound like a capitalist lobbyist, corporate America is built up around potential and the ability to make a fast buck. ET is not a pretty baby. Not that many months ago we were all playing out 30 minute fullholds on Oasis, the Goldrush second tank barrier invited nightmares, and a centrally organised coverage service like we have now with gtv.org was unheard of, nevermind the fact ettv.org was a European venture. ET took a long, long time to evolve, and this is not something you want when you're trying to sell it to a mainstream American audience, who subscribe to the notion that, "if its broke, buy a new one". Online gaming and the entire eSport movement is buoyed by financial involvement. I remember seeing a quote on either GGL or ESReality some days ago, claiming that without players like fata1ty, with their iconic status and image, e-gaming would be heading on a fast-track to Davy Jones's locker, air reserves null. And herein you have the problem: if it takes an American to keep the movement going, even be touted for being involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, what hope do we have when the leading players in Europe are argueably... better. But say you were some hotshot suit sitting in your boardroom in downtown Los Angeles, would you really want this guy fronting your company? The whole situation can be translated into ET language, of course. You have the vastly more successful European teams stealing the limelight away from the American perspective, which even then has precious few names - not faces - it can turn to. Would you really be interested in investing your money into American ET? An investment, which is guaranteed not to turn up at ESWC, WSVG, Dreamhack or any other event of significance.
Let's face it. How many American teams can you name off the top of your head without checking ET-Center? You say United5? Not hard. You say Fatal Attraction? Now I'm slightly more impressed. Evil Cadre... mate, you're attracting strange looks. The bottom line is American clans do not sell themselves, and while you could argue that, well, why should they in such an instable game, you only have to look at the list of clans in the KOTH to know that the number of clans in Europe at the top of their games (metaphorically speaking) is vastly superior to their American counterparts. Going back to the old example, fata1ty markets himself as a franchise. You don't have a parallel example in Europe because the whole franchising issue is American territory, but in America, the small guy might attract the 'aww' value, but ultimately gets left behind at the bus-stop.
Finally, lets look at the two most glaringly obvious things going wrong for the Yanks. Dare I mention the Atlantic Battles? The Americans have a nightmare history in these games, which traditionally are the most covered online-only events ET has to offer, which smashed the ETTV slot record back in the early days to a level which still rises above that for most high profile EuroCup games today. Writers aplenty set about introducing as many people as they could find to the games, with even a certain Mr Darky allowing himself to help on the xfire.be newspage. As so, thousands of eyes descend onto the game between America and Europe, in what is technically a friendly, but really bring far greater conotations for the players than what you might have imagined. And to see the USA get soundly beaten on all occasions is enough to turn any redneck's frustrations on in an instant. Its bad enough to be beaten, but to lose to people who come from countrys like Estonia and Norway, well, where are those places anyway?
Then you have the issue of the AmeriCup. Here in Europe we continue to stage a thoroughly entertaining 'new-school' competition as dubbed by TosspoT, but on the other side of the world all thats left like scarred battlemarks is the OpenCup, better known as the poor man's Superbowl. Even then, the league goes unnoticed on the GGL, with little action having taken place even since the close last year. Okay, so you have the excuse of playing in TWL, CAL or what-have-you, but I'm sorry Mr Cheney, the AmeriCup is the place to be, and you can keep your 'beta-trash' titles to yourself, thank you very much. This column is not a bash on Europe over America, simply an observation as to why Europe, compared to America has triumphed insofar as making the best of an invariably doomed game. While corporate America pines for profit, we are perfectly happy to enjoy the game for what it is, complain about Israeli hitboxes and just #stfu? thank you very much. God bless Europe.
Yet somehow, when it comes to ET, America just hasn't got it worked out. Theres the failing to land top spot at Quakecon '05, the fact that there isn't even an AmeriCup in ET (the equivalent to the EuroCup), even the Atlantic battles have proved time and again, America backs down like a little scared poodle when it comes to us lot accross the pond.But why? Why should some unknown European country like Estonia be able to herald Quakecon winning world beaters, as opposed to America which could swallow poor Eestiland and still have room for a McShake afterwards? Surely if ET is going to succeed anywhere, it is in the God trusting nation, with their sponsor's megadeals, their love for entertainment, and even greater love of videogaming. But social stereotypes aside, it would take a person with pride of astronomic proportion to claim the US's ET scene is not a catastrophic failure. You see, here in cheese loving, uber efficient, blonde producing, mafia fueled rainy Europe, we know ET has failed. It's a known fact. Not in terms of how much people enjoy the game, but on a global scale, ET just isn't a Quake 3/4, Painkiller or Counter Strike. Okay, so individual teams have contracted some fairly big name sponsors, but this has remained limited to just that, which is why you will never see ET at ESWC, and certainly not again at Quakecon after its self-induced collapse last year.
Is that one of the major reasons for American distance with ET? Without trying to sound like a capitalist lobbyist, corporate America is built up around potential and the ability to make a fast buck. ET is not a pretty baby. Not that many months ago we were all playing out 30 minute fullholds on Oasis, the Goldrush second tank barrier invited nightmares, and a centrally organised coverage service like we have now with gtv.org was unheard of, nevermind the fact ettv.org was a European venture. ET took a long, long time to evolve, and this is not something you want when you're trying to sell it to a mainstream American audience, who subscribe to the notion that, "if its broke, buy a new one". Online gaming and the entire eSport movement is buoyed by financial involvement. I remember seeing a quote on either GGL or ESReality some days ago, claiming that without players like fata1ty, with their iconic status and image, e-gaming would be heading on a fast-track to Davy Jones's locker, air reserves null. And herein you have the problem: if it takes an American to keep the movement going, even be touted for being involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, what hope do we have when the leading players in Europe are argueably... better. But say you were some hotshot suit sitting in your boardroom in downtown Los Angeles, would you really want this guy fronting your company? The whole situation can be translated into ET language, of course. You have the vastly more successful European teams stealing the limelight away from the American perspective, which even then has precious few names - not faces - it can turn to. Would you really be interested in investing your money into American ET? An investment, which is guaranteed not to turn up at ESWC, WSVG, Dreamhack or any other event of significance.
Let's face it. How many American teams can you name off the top of your head without checking ET-Center? You say United5? Not hard. You say Fatal Attraction? Now I'm slightly more impressed. Evil Cadre... mate, you're attracting strange looks. The bottom line is American clans do not sell themselves, and while you could argue that, well, why should they in such an instable game, you only have to look at the list of clans in the KOTH to know that the number of clans in Europe at the top of their games (metaphorically speaking) is vastly superior to their American counterparts. Going back to the old example, fata1ty markets himself as a franchise. You don't have a parallel example in Europe because the whole franchising issue is American territory, but in America, the small guy might attract the 'aww' value, but ultimately gets left behind at the bus-stop.
Finally, lets look at the two most glaringly obvious things going wrong for the Yanks. Dare I mention the Atlantic Battles? The Americans have a nightmare history in these games, which traditionally are the most covered online-only events ET has to offer, which smashed the ETTV slot record back in the early days to a level which still rises above that for most high profile EuroCup games today. Writers aplenty set about introducing as many people as they could find to the games, with even a certain Mr Darky allowing himself to help on the xfire.be newspage. As so, thousands of eyes descend onto the game between America and Europe, in what is technically a friendly, but really bring far greater conotations for the players than what you might have imagined. And to see the USA get soundly beaten on all occasions is enough to turn any redneck's frustrations on in an instant. Its bad enough to be beaten, but to lose to people who come from countrys like Estonia and Norway, well, where are those places anyway?
Then you have the issue of the AmeriCup. Here in Europe we continue to stage a thoroughly entertaining 'new-school' competition as dubbed by TosspoT, but on the other side of the world all thats left like scarred battlemarks is the OpenCup, better known as the poor man's Superbowl. Even then, the league goes unnoticed on the GGL, with little action having taken place even since the close last year. Okay, so you have the excuse of playing in TWL, CAL or what-have-you, but I'm sorry Mr Cheney, the AmeriCup is the place to be, and you can keep your 'beta-trash' titles to yourself, thank you very much. This column is not a bash on Europe over America, simply an observation as to why Europe, compared to America has triumphed insofar as making the best of an invariably doomed game. While corporate America pines for profit, we are perfectly happy to enjoy the game for what it is, complain about Israeli hitboxes and just #stfu? thank you very much. God bless Europe.
