ESPORTS Drama: KellyMilkies, NASL, and iNcontroL

A lot of things happened in the world of western ESPORTS (requires capitalization, always) this past week. Lots of drama revolving around Kelly, the new Code A caster for GSL; the production value of the recent Jinro versus IdrA show match, and the NASL; and most recently, iNcontroL.  

KellyMilkies

Kelly. If you've been anywhere near TeamLiquid of SCReddit  this past week then you probably know the exact issue. If not, basically, people are unhappy with her casting. The usual complaints are about her accent and how unintelligible she is at times, or her general shortage in in-game knowledge to deliver meaningful commentary. 

As the internet does, some are more calm about it and say she at least deserves as chance; some openly bring on the hate. I dropped by her blog to find hateful comments, and in the most recent State of the Game, iNcontroL mentioned that she has also been getting death threats.

Oh, internet. I'm just shaking my head at you right now. Death threats? Really? I've only seen her cast once, and I agree with the issues raised about her casting, but I also think that hating on the poor girl is just silly. Criticize, don't hate. Give the girl a chance.

ESPORTS

NASL. With the sub-par production value of the Jinro v IdrA show match that was used to lead up to the eventual announcement of the NASL, people are worried about the overall quality of the league.

Complaints include, but are not limited to: the match was pre-recorded, the casting was pre-recorded, there were synchronization issues, the commentator 'booth' looked unprofessional for such a big show match, Gretorp was boring, the actual announcement was just a simple video with cliched hype-text, the website sucks, why is iNcontroL the face of this thing?

In response, iNcontroL has said time and time again that this wasn't indicative of what we're going to see at the NASL. Yes, it wasn't live. Yes, they did face technical difficulties for the show match. Yes, they could have done better in terms of production value. Yes, he is 'the face' of NASL, and he asks for you to just trust him/them to do it right. 

I can't really blame the community for being intensely critical of iNcontroL and the guys behind the NASL. It's the biggest tournament outside of Korea and we all want it to be perfect. It's the first tournament of this scale and it just might serve as the foundation for ESPORTS to go mainstream in the west. And that's the dream, isn't it? It's cool, internet, I know that under that tough-guy facade of yours, you're just as hyped as I am. Criticize, don't hate.  

EG.iNcontroL

iNcontroL. Let's face it. iNc has been a consistent subject of criticism and plain unadulterated hate since forever, and it's just one of the things he's known for. He has a strong personality and too-sharp humor that simply rubs some people the wrong way. 

However, his behavior as of late has been put under the spotlight with him being announced as the face of the NASL. His jokes about KellyMilkies and Sheth (really? I didn't notice anything wrong..) during State of the Game. Him being caught asking for GSL re-streams, even though it's a ban-able offense on TL. His overall attitude in general.

He has then issued apologies on his Twitter account, but reactions have been mixed, with some even openly stating they do not trust him at the helm of NASL. He has also posted a blog on TL with a lengthy apology with regards to his recent behavior. 

Personally, I think that if it's just about him, he wouldn't even be fazed by the haters. But he's not just iNcontroL anymore. He's iNcontroL, the face of the NASL, and he doesn't want that to anything that will negatively affect how people perceive the league, and that's saying something. Sure we could have Day9, but it's just not possible at this point. If he truly means what he says (and I believe he does), I think we're in good hands.