Is your cat from Mars?
Sorry folks, if you’ve came here looking for something interesting then you’ve hit the wrong place. I’m just testing the power of headlines and have a strange feeling that this will get more hits than anything previously…
I’ll let you know how it goes in the future.
The Caravan of Hope - Helping the disabled and protecting the environment
In 2008 I was asked by the Prince’s Trust whether I was interested in joining a charity that were planning to buy some horses from Southern France and then ride them all the way back to London. I did it, regardless of the fact that I was afraid of horses at the time, and four years later the same charity are planning to do it again - but bigger. This year they will undertake that same journey but with a horse drawn Caravan of Hope to carry the equipment.
The White Horses Charity
The Sete-Lorient-Londre (SLL) charity is often referred to as the White Horses Charity due to Camargue horses they choose to use for the trip. The Camargue horse is an indigenous species located in Camargue region of France and is almost always white in colour. Due to their temperament and nature, the horses make ideal candidates for working with disabled clients of The Riding for the Disabled Association and their French equivalent. Ultimately, all of the horses used in their expedition will be donated to organisations like these and go on to benefit hundreds of people during their life.
The 2012 project will be the third time that the charity has travelled across France via horse. The two previous journeys in 2005 and 2008 were a huge success and provided disabled riding centres with no less than fifteen horses and the opportunity to provide assistance to hundreds more people.
The Caravan of Hope
As mentioned before, the Caravan of Hope is named due to the lack of motor vehicles being used in the latest expedition. Instead, the team will make use of their horses and pull caravans to carry their equipment, thus adding the extra element of environmental respect to the two constant aims:
To help children and adults with disabilities and/or special needs by giving them horses to ride
To help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds or with sociological problems, by enabling them to care for and ride horses. Their participation in the Caravan of Hope project will give them an opportunity to get their lives working.
“The 2012 project will endeavour to educate and encourage the young people to become more aware of the natural environments which we will be travelling through,” reads the official statement from the charities founder, Jakki Cunningham. “It is hoped that they will learn to live in an environment of minimum comfort, where typical home comforts are not an absolute necessity, and to understand renewable energy production.”
Unique is Best
Given the fact that four years have passed since I was in France with the charity, I’ve had plenty of time to scour the internet for similar projects an admittedly, I’ve not found one. There are a lot of people/organisations around the world that are travelling huge distances via horse - in fact, the Long Rider’s Guild (of which I am a honorary member) only welcomes people who have undertaken a horse ride of at least one-thousand miles. But, how many charities are we aware of that tackle the issues of a disadvantaged youth and disability?
Unfortunately, however unique and inspiring this charity may be it’s remarkably unknown and undervalued. I urge you all to head over to their website and take some time to investigate the charities projects and contribute towards this years 1800km journey.
Source: sllassoc.com
Millenium open training facilities
Only a few days ago I was discussing with various community members how I expected to see many improvements to esports infrastructure this year. One of the main things we predicted to happen was an increase in team-owned training facilities, similar to the standard set by the Koreans and more recently a handful of North American teams.
Almost four weeks into the new year and Millenium, a French esports organisation, have announced that they will be opening a training facility to house players such as Stephano, Adelscott and Tarson. Furthermore, they have played host to Dignitas’ BlinG who recently won the LDLC 2v2 Trophy with Stephano.
Source: teamliquid.net
DeMusliM kicks off my new UK-related article series.
During the middle of last year I was able to conduct an interview with Evil Geniuses Benjamin ‘DeMusliM’ Baker - arguably, the UK’s most successful competitive gamer. The interview looks at his history and how he went from playing Warcraft 3 into playing Starcraft 2, as well as touching on the reason for him leaving the UK scene behind and becoming something an expat.
“At WCG UK 2005, we were told if a Landed player managed to grab the one spot for WCG UK finals, All The Rage would pick us up, and support us with small salaries, equipment etc,” explained Baker. “So we ended up joining those, eventually this was my first realisation of esports teams being a little less than honest. I ended up leaving for Serious Gaming, [a Dutch-based elctronic sports team.]”
Furthermore, I took the chance to discuss his thoughts on the UK scene (or how it was in July last year!) and he predicted that Bling could go on to make moves in the international scene - seems like he hit the nail with that one. Other names which he cited as a threat to him at national events include former GosuGamers member, Liam ‘Ourk’ Streames.
“There are definitely a few decent players that will be able to run with the big boys within the next few months. I fell out of my tree a little after breaking my arm twice, and UK players like Ourk and dignitas.Bling have definitely caught up, and do pose a worry on my mind in national tournaments such as WCG.”
And finally, possibly the most important thing to a lot of you, he mentioned that he heard things were planned for the UK. However, given the amount of time that this interview had sat idle in my inbox, we cannot be sure whether he was referring to the IPL qualifiers which were held in the UK or whether he knows something about the much-wanted MLG UK competition.
However, Baker feels there is absoloutely no reason that the United Kingdom cannot develop an infrrastructure akin to our European neighbours in Germany and Sweden. Infact, “[he has] heard things are going to be happening soon which is pretty exciting.” Could this be eluding to a possible MLG UK or was it made in reference to IPL UK Qualifiers that were held in 2011?
The entire interview has been published on The Last Resort’s website and is the first of many articles I am working on with regards to the UK community and the future that we can create. My next scheduled article will be developed around a discussion I had with Team Infused’s Reece ‘Tidus’ Fowler where we discussed everything from the state of the scene, problems it faces, players with potential, the barcraft phenomenon and how we feel organisers/teams can influence the future.
I hope you enjoy the article and I look forward to any feedback, good or bad. You never get anywhere if you shy away from criticism.
Fnatic and SK Gaming in transfer battle
Fnatic’s Community Manager talks Social Networking
One of the world’s leading electronic sports organizations, Fnatic, have invested heavily in social networking and the marketing opportunities it brings. I had the chance to talk with their Community and Social Media Manager, Roald “Roychez” van Buuren.
In today’s world, the use of social media and online marketing is becoming increasingly common. Three of the world’s most popular websites (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia) are all social-media related. It’s no wonder that companies around the globe are now investing in marketing campaigns that will use these websites to their advantage.
When we look at the use of social media in electronic sports, we realise that it is actually rather limited. The majority of social marketing by esports organizations is for the sole purpose of generating traffic. Fnatic’s Roald van Buuren admits that “it brings some good traffic to our website” but states that the main reason for Fnatic’s investment is “the chance for our fans to easily communicate and ask questions […]”
“These social media sites give us the opportunity to answer every question and give the time to our fans they deserve.” He continues, “We try to do this in a personal manner, instead of just lecturing our followers and not listening. We try to have conversations with them.”
What do the fans like?
Fnatic are one of the world’s most successful gaming organizations and have secured world championships in several games that span several different genres. Furthermore, they have been awarded the “Esports Team of the Year Award” in both 2006 and 2009. However, Roald believes that Fnatic’s “Social Success” is not solely due to their in-game achievements.
“I also like to think we spread information that is interesting to read. Something you don’t find on any gaming website and is truely “Web 2.0”, such as conversing with our fans in a casual manner,” he explained.
Throughout Fnatic’s Facebook community, people are claiming that 25,000 Facebook fans are because of their Counter-Strike team. Fnatic’s Counter-Strike team have been one of the world’s best teams for several years and have massed almost $450,000 in winnings throughout their reign, but Roald disagrees that the increase in their social crowd is due to them.
“There’s no doubt that our Counter-Strike has a huge amount of fans and we owe a lot to them. But since we’ve been adding teams in other games, such as StarCraft II, and been actively promoting them on our Facebook page we have seen a massive increase in “Likes”, replies and monthly visitors. Players such as SEn of FnaticMSI.SC2 and Stevy of our CoD4 team have a lot of fans as well. So I would have to disagree with those who say it’s all down to our CS team.”
He also believes that Fnatic’s willingness to talk the average fan is attracting the attention of those who know little or nothing about electronic sports. “Esports is bigger than many think. There are so many people on Facebook who like gaming, but don’t know anything about esports yet. Via Facebook or Twitter, by retweets and such, we can reach this group,” he told me.
The Future’s Bright, The Future’s… Social?
Everyday we see new ways of sharing material on the internet, new social start-ups and new ways to communicate, however, Facebook and Twitter are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. For that reason, Fnatic will continues to focus on these platforms and develop different content, “think about more photo’s, polls, contests and more.”
“We will always look at ways to improve ourself on our current platforms and if a new major social media platform comes a long we will definitely look into that. Sam [Fnatic’s Founder and CEO] is also working on new ideas for UGAME, so expect Fnatic to be on the forefront there as well,” revealed Fnatic’s Community Manager.
With organizations such as Fnatic using social media to grow their own brand, they are inadvertently increasing the presence that esports has on these huge websites. “It [social media] allows us and others to spread the word [about esports]. We hope we can interest a lot of people, grow enthusiasm and educate them about this wonderful upcoming sport.”
Who has GSL Code S Status?
When GOM TV originally announced the Global Starcraft League they also announced that the three 2010 seasons would determine those who would be eligible to participate in 2011. So who have we got so far?
When GOM TV decided to announce the scoring structure that would determine next years competitors, the community began producing spreadsheets that would calculate exactly who will make it.
Currently there are eighteen people who have succeeded in gaining “Code S” status and will be eligible to compete in the highest level of next years GSL competitions. Currently, fifteen Koreans have qualified by finishing in the top eight of the previous GSL competitions, the other three have qualified by massing enough points from the two seasons. Kim “HopeTorture” Sung-Je is the only person to finish in the top eight in both seasons of GSL, hence fifteen people have qualified via this method and not sixteen.
Unsurprisingly the following list is dominated by the Koreans, with Greg “IdrA” Fields being the only non-Korean.
- Kim “Fruitdealer” Won-Gi
- Lim “NesTea” Jae-Duk
- Kim “HopeTorture” Sung-Je
- Lee “BoxeR” Jung-Hoon
- Kim “Ensnare” Sang-Cheol
- Lim “SlayerSBoxeR” Yo-Hwan
- Kim “Liveforever” Tae-Hwan
- Soon “InCa” Joon-Hyuk
- Kwak “Maka” Han-Ui
- Choi “Zenio” Jung-Min
- Hong-Wook “HongUn” Ahnis
- Jung “Genius” Min-Soo
- Han “Kyrix” Joon
- Seo “sSKS” Ki-Soo
- Lee “NaDa” Yoon-Yeol
- Lee “Check” Hyung-Ju
- Greg “IdrA” Fields
- Park “TheWind” Sang-Ik
Those with Code S status will be eligible to compete in the highest tier of GSL 2011 whilst the sixty-four Code A players will compete in the tier below. At the end of the season, the top eight Code A players will compete against the bottom eight Code S players to determine who will be relegated and/or promoted into each tier.
Forget Desktops and Laptops. You can even forget tablet form now!
Global Starcraft League Season 2 Finals: FoxeR versus NesTea
The second season of the Global Starcraft League will conclude tomorrow with a match between Lee “FoxeR” Jung-Hoon and Lim “NesTea” Jae-Duk.
A current poll hosted by Team Liquid shows that the community are backing Jung-Hoon to win the comeptition. The young “unknown” Terran player has surprised both the community and several high end competitors during the comeptition, he even surprised himself. “As a joke, I’ve said ‘I’m going to be a millionaire’. As I got closer and closer, I realized that ‘Wow, I can actually do this’. This made me try even harder,” he told Team Liquid via Fomos.
The finals of the world’s largest Starcraft 2 comeptition are due to begin at 18:00 KST (09:00 GMT) and will be broadcast over GOM TV’s live streams aswell as to a television audience in Korea. The winner will leave the comeptition with a staggering prize of approximatley 85,000 USD.
Twitter Interaction
Those of you who are on Twitter are able to share your opinion of who will win by tweeting the following message: FoxeR/NesTea will win #GSL :: #esn http://bit.ly/8Zpdft
Fnatic’s SEn will compete in Global Starcraft League Season 3
Fnatic have revealed that their Taiwanese Zerg player, Jang Chia “SEn” Cheng will travel to Seoul Korea to compete in the imminent Global Starcraft League Season 3.
Previously there was twelve confirmed competitors from outside of Korea, the latest of which was Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson.
In a video interview after the recent MLG Dallas competition Cheng confessed that he was not happy with his performance. He then vowed on his Facebook Fan Page that “we will see a much stronger SEn in the future” and began competing in the Korean ladder to improve his practice.
In return, Fnatic have announced that they will be sending the young Taiwanese player to Seoul and boosting the non-Korean participants to a possibly unlucky thirteen.
“I’m very glad to participate in this competition and I appriciate that FnaticMSI gives me an opportunity to challenge myself,” explained Cheng to his fans on Fnatic.com
The third season of the Global Starcraft League is set to begin on the 15th November and run across that day and the 16th November. The initial stage of the competition will determine who will compete in the “round of 64” and showcase their skills in front of a live Korean audience, a television audience and a global audience through multiple live streams!
The Global Starcraft League is the world’s largest Starcraft 2 competition and boasts a $500,000 prize purse!
