Blizzard WCS 2014 Q&A ohne Bestätigung des Region Lock

Seit jeher ist Korea die dominierende Nation in StarCraft, doch mit dem System der Blizzard World Championship Series, sollte sich ein Turnierformat bilden, welches jeder Region ein einheitliches Turnier bietet. Doch von Anfang an wechselten die Koreaner nach Amerika und Europa und mit jeder Saison wurden es auch mehr Koreaner. Für die WCS Ausgabe im Jahr 2014 wurde deshalb ein Region Lock gefordert, welcher die Spieler dazu zwingt, in der jeweiligen Region zu leben. Wie vor einigen Tagen aus koreanischen Quellen durchgesickert ist, wird es diesen Region Lock im Jahre 2014 auch geben, doch in einem Q&A von Blizzard gab es noch keine direkte Bestätigung. Kim Phan, der Senior eSports Manager bei Blizzard teilte jedoch mit, dass es derzeit viele Überlegungen gibt, um die Anzahl der Koreaner in den Regionen Europa und Nordamerika zu limitieren.

Aussage zum WCS 2014 Region Lock von Kim Phan, Senior eSports Manager Blizzard

What are Blizzard’s current plans regarding a residency or citizenship restriction for WCS regions in 2014 (region locking)?

As many of you are probably aware, this is one of the more challenging and controversial topics that we have yet to make a decision on.

Over time we have come to discover that there are a few key factors that positively influence viewership, which was one of the goals for WCS 2013. Though not a complete list by any means, some of the most influential factors are the following:

• Skill level of the players
• Uniqueness/personality of the players
• Players who are viewed as national leaders/representatives
• The rarity of the player matchup

We have found that allowing cross-regional participation for players not from a particular region has allowed for a compelling storm of the factors listed above. We think it’s been a really good thing to have players like Jaedong and Polt competing in WCS America, or MC and Jürgen (Mvp) competing in WCS Europe. This kind of cross-regional play has allowed fans of a given region to love and embrace players like these to a level they never had previously, making the scene interesting and exciting to watch. However, we also realize that these benefits have brought with them a great deal of baggage.

We are aware of the concern that allowing skilled players from other regions to easily swoop in and take Premier/Challenger spots can be a severe roadblock to the growth of up-and-coming talent within a local region. With that in mind, we are definitely considering various forms of residency restrictions, but the biggest obstacles include determining the specific requirements, logistics, and regulations that are fair but also don’t overly limit players. Some general ideas we have been considering include carving out a portion of player slots dedicated to legal residents that would guarantee players living in a particular region would always have a consistent chance to make it into Challenger League. Also, we are pushing for more of our broadcast content to happen in a physical studio environment, inevitably pushing players to commit to longer periods of time where they must reside locally. Other points of interest we feel relevant to this include encouraging pros to play on their prospective regional ladders and requiring that anyone who wants to qualify in a region be ranked at a certain level on that region’s server. We have even been considering rewarding WCS points to players on the ladder who have registered with us as official WCS players.

Ultimately, it’s awesome when players make the decision to commit to playing in a region and show more dedication and investment to that region, whether that be committing to a local residence, competing on the regional ladder, participating in local tournaments, or generally engaging with the fan base located there. We’ve seen this with foreign players who made the decision to move to Korea to compete in GSL and Proleague and vice versa with Korean players who have moved to Europe or America for WCS.

We’ve discussed this topic internally at length and hope to come to a balanced solution to meet the goals for WCS.