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A Rant About MLG and Halo 2

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Fetal

Everyone on this site has played Halo 2. For over two years now it has remained the most popular game played on XBOX Live only recently losing out to Gears of War. I think MLG has a lot to do with Halo 2 remaining number 1 for so long. But I also feel MLG is in some way ruining the gaming experience.


Most people, especially on this site, are aware the average age of gamers is 33. When I join matchmaking in most any game, I usually discover about half of those gaming are able to legally imbibe alcohol. This is different in Halo 2. Generally speaking, I find the Timmy ratio to be much higher. It has always been high to be sure, but you'd think with the game losing its popularity, and the well documented inability of most kids to stay fixated on anything for more than a few seconds, they would eventually move on to other games. Some have. Most haven't. MLG has kept Timmies everywhere fixated on this game.


Before I continue this rant, I'd like everyone to know I believe MLG has done some very good things. It estalished universal rules and starting options for competition. It has given die hard fans a forum to share information, and it has also given us the ability to watch actual gameplay footage of pros which we can use to better our playstyles or use for our amusement.


But it has done one thing that burns me. It has become too big for its boots. MLG decided to go and give itself to the masses on the USA network. Nevermind that I believe the show will eventually fail because no one except people with little imagination can sit through an entire episode and not be bored to tears with the vapid commentary and blatant statements of the obvious. Watching VoD on their site is infinitely more enjoyable. Anyone can see the show is merely a vehicle for advertisement, and a not too subtle one at that. Red Bull is everywhere. From customized headsets to blatant photo ops in jet planes you can't help but see that damn bull everywhere. I'm surprised they just don't start advocating the use of crystal meth instead. We get it. These guys need to stay wired in order to play video games for 10 hours straight. This is only a small thing that irks me though.


The thing that really makes me boil is the horrible way these kids (and the majority of the pros playing are kids) are being represented . The television show makes me hate the majority of the people playing. I find the guys who keep their mouths shut, like ShockWav3, to be the smartest ones in the room. Ghandi, a member of the championship team, Carbon is probably the most visible example. His smack talking is uninspired to say the least. "You suck!" can only be said so many times before it loses its punch. I'm surprised they let this guy write his own profile up. Here's his blog entry. Don't bother trying to read it, you'll kill your eyes.


 


Alrite so saturday i was leaving for karma's house. i got to the airport 2 hours before my flight you know just to make sure everything was good cuz dulles can either be really crowded or have no people. Just my luck dulles was not crowded and i got through security in 5 minutes. So as im waitin around i was watchin weddin crashers and i ended up finishin the movie before my flight got there. i went up to the counter and was like my flight was suppose to be here at 220 wheres it at? and they were like ooh dont worry its on time. not thinking about it i was like oh okay, so as i was sititn back down i realized it was 258 so she just completely lied to me. so i walked back up and was like i have a connection to Ontario at 5 oclock i just need to get to ontario can i change my flight? she tells me ooh dont worry about it you'll be fine the flights only gonna be 55 minutes. so listening to her i was like okay sweet and sat back down. 10 minuts later my plan lands at around 305ish and im ready to get on it. When we get on board and the captin starts talking to us he reminds every this flight is an hour and 30 minutes long, and i flipped. i was like you haveto be kidding me the freakin lady at the counter just told me 55 minutes. so im thinking gods gonna help me out and maybe speed up the plan or something. that didn't happen infact i landed at 530. so i haveto get my ticket changed and get another flight to ontario. so i go to delta service center and im like i missed my flight because of a 45 minute late plain arrival. the guy laughed and was like alrite man here ya go heres your ticket. Its to orange county which is 30 miles away from ontario. so karma hasto drive an extra 30 minutes to come get me. so im like how could this get any worse theres no possible way. so im sittin at gate a3 at atlanta airport and im like alrite ima get some food and then chill cuz my plane leaves at freakin 830. so i go grab some dominos buffalo wings cuz they are amazing. i sit back down finish my food and the lady on the intercom goes flight 1052 will now depart from gate d27, idunno if you guys have ever been to atlanta airport before but thats a pretty far distance. so i leave a3 and walk down to catch the train i miss it the door closes on my face so that was good. so i decided to just walk u kno whatever. so i finally get to d27 and i get a sit and relaxing. at 756 i call ben up and im like im about 10 minutes away from boardin im so happy, and he laughs at me because my lucks been terrible. well little did i kno that the lady on the freakin intercom would say ooh 1052 flight is departing from b34. so im a lil pissed right now cuz i haveto go all the way to b34 in roughly 25 minutes. i get there in about 10 i kinda took my time cuz i didn't feel like runnin with a book bag on and gettin all sweaty and waht not. so i get on board with about 10 minutes to spare. Now once im on this flight im like YES this day is finally goin to be good im goin to land get my luggage and head on to bens place. no no no god did NOT approve of that idea of me being happy so instead delta loses my baggage. So im currently without my clothes and toothbrush, but i still have my controller and cellphone.


 


He's not even the worst in my opinion though. At least he can spell....kind of. I'm sure if i met and knew the guy he'd be ok, but MLG has to crack down on allowing himself to look like an idiot. I'm sure the smack talking thing sells. Even the NFL encourages a little smack talking before games for the hype factor, but the NFL also has PR people who try to help guys not make total asses of themselves.


Here's another guy who looks like a moron on MLG, Legit. On his pro report on the site his likes are simple enough; gaming, women and relaxing. His one dislike sounds like a beauty pageant contestant...fake people. I'm sure he's a cool guy, but don't ask him any hard questions.


I find most of the profiles and player reports on MLG to be much the same. Generally immature, and hopelessly unreadable. The Ogres, Saiyan, ShockWav3 and Karma seem to be the most intelligent of the bunch.


Profiles on MLG aside, some of these guys are portrayed negatively on TV. Walshy is probably the worst of the lot. I'm sure if I knew him I'd have a different opinion, but MLG makes him out to be a primadonna, a role he seems to relish. I can't help but feel he's a new Zyos in the making. He is one of MLG's posterboys, and the fact they're protraying him all squeaky clean is sure to bring a backlash at some point in time, especially since he seems to believe his own hype on camera. Tsquared is made to look like a petulant loser, and maybe he is. His team has the talent to win, but i think they just fall apart in the end because they expect to lose.


All of this helps to prove my point...and i do have a point. MLG has forsaken us, the average gamer, the older gamer, the female gamer. They are catering to the lowest common denominator, Timmies. Why? Same reason tobacco companies used Joe Camel, the Marlboro Man and the Kool Penguin, Kids are the future market. Hook'em while they're young. The show is simplistic with quick cuts, and idiotic comments and excessive trash talking because that is what provokes an interest and response in kids, immature teens, and dare I say it, some adults.


I enjoy my video games. I am super competitive. I love it when a plan comes together. But please, please! MLG. Stop watering down your content.


 


disclaimer: I don't know any of the people I spoke about personally. I'm only commenting on impressions I get while using MLG's content.

Comments (28)

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eksessiv·
I can't really agree or disagree. I honestly don't pay that much attention to them. I respect the players based upon their gameplay. Since you mentioned Walshy as a posterboy then I'd have to say yea. Him and ghost are imo the top two objecctive players in the circuit, and watching their gameplay is just a treat in itself most of the time. I don't really expect much out of them since they're still just kids. I've never watched the show though. I didn't figure it could be that good.
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eksessiv·
I can't really agree or disagree. I honestly don't pay that much attention to them. I respect the players based upon their gameplay. Since you mentioned Walshy as a posterboy then I'd have to say yea. Him and ghost are imo the top two objecctive players in the circuit, and watching their gameplay is just a treat in itself most of the time. I don't really expect much out of them since they're still just kids. I've never watched the show though. I didn't figure it could be that good.
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Fetal·
I respect their ability to play too. they have tons of dedication to the game. i can't play 10 hours a day, and even if i could, i wouldn't physically be able to day in and day out.\r \r I just got pissed because of the recent television coverage. i watched all three episodes last night and came away feeling like halo 2 is the new joke. these kids are being exploited, and if they're cool with that, then so am i, but couldn't they make readable profiles for these guys? couldn't they show more gameplay on tv?the show is 45 minutes long, and only 10 minutes of it is gameplay, and generally those are snippets of gameplay. most of the show is advertisment towards kids for red bull, cell phone acessories, other video games and of course the 360. \r \r let me put it this way, if you went to an hour long football game and only saw 10 minutes of actual gameplay, the rest of it product placement/MTV real world-like docudrama, you'd be pissed they're selling out your favorite game too.
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Fetal·
I respect their ability to play too. they have tons of dedication to the game. i can't play 10 hours a day, and even if i could, i wouldn't physically be able to day in and day out.\r \r I just got pissed because of the recent television coverage. i watched all three episodes last night and came away feeling like halo 2 is the new joke. these kids are being exploited, and if they're cool with that, then so am i, but couldn't they make readable profiles for these guys? couldn't they show more gameplay on tv?the show is 45 minutes long, and only 10 minutes of it is gameplay, and generally those are snippets of gameplay. most of the show is advertisment towards kids for red bull, cell phone acessories, other video games and of course the 360. \r \r let me put it this way, if you went to an hour long football game and only saw 10 minutes of actual gameplay, the rest of it product placement/MTV real world-like docudrama, you'd be pissed they're selling out your favorite game too.
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SoupNazzi·
The show sucks. Period. But it isn't geared toward us, the older crowd, nor is MLG.\r \r It is geared toward timmies, because they have the ability to play the game, and follow the game. That's why the marketing is focused like it is. \r \r Boost Mobile? Red Bull? These are not the products of people 25+ years of age.\r \r Advertisements during NFL games are beer, big-screen TVs, and other \"Man\" things. Because they are the target audience.\r \r As for Walshy being a Prima Donna and acting like it, I would have to disagree. I've never seen him act anything like that, nor have I ever read anything in the forums about him acting like that.\r \r However, T2 being the petualant loser is pretty much spot-on. Str8 is going to have to adjust their attitude if they are going to maintain their #3 ranking and possibly join the other 2 teams in the upper-echelon.
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SoupNazzi·
The show sucks. Period. But it isn't geared toward us, the older crowd, nor is MLG.\r \r It is geared toward timmies, because they have the ability to play the game, and follow the game. That's why the marketing is focused like it is. \r \r Boost Mobile? Red Bull? These are not the products of people 25+ years of age.\r \r Advertisements during NFL games are beer, big-screen TVs, and other \"Man\" things. Because they are the target audience.\r \r As for Walshy being a Prima Donna and acting like it, I would have to disagree. I've never seen him act anything like that, nor have I ever read anything in the forums about him acting like that.\r \r However, T2 being the petualant loser is pretty much spot-on. Str8 is going to have to adjust their attitude if they are going to maintain their #3 ranking and possibly join the other 2 teams in the upper-echelon.
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KingDrewsky·
MLG caters to Timmies because they are the ones that win the tournies.\r \r Seriously though, I watched the first USA MLG episode and that Ghandi is one hell of an annoying fucking brat. I agree with you that they need to limit his screen time.\r \r The show needs more gameplay and better announcers; announcers that actually know what is going on in the game. I think one of the guys is alright but the other guy is a pretty boy tool who doesn't know a damn thing about video games.
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KingDrewsky·
MLG caters to Timmies because they are the ones that win the tournies.\r \r Seriously though, I watched the first USA MLG episode and that Ghandi is one hell of an annoying fucking brat. I agree with you that they need to limit his screen time.\r \r The show needs more gameplay and better announcers; announcers that actually know what is going on in the game. I think one of the guys is alright but the other guy is a pretty boy tool who doesn't know a damn thing about video games.
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TheCrazyPerson·
HUH??? What is Halo?...lol
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TheCrazyPerson·
HUH??? What is Halo?...lol
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Neks0ne·
so your saying Sundance doesnt know what hes talking about......hmm, thats weird, being is one of the founders.\r \r On top of all of it, when these \"kids\" come off winning, mind you alot of them are early 20s...they are dubbed \"timmies\"....Yet when we cry about it all the time what does that make us?\r \r Sore losers?
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Neks0ne·
so your saying Sundance doesnt know what hes talking about......hmm, thats weird, being is one of the founders.\r \r On top of all of it, when these \"kids\" come off winning, mind you alot of them are early 20s...they are dubbed \"timmies\"....Yet when we cry about it all the time what does that make us?\r \r Sore losers?
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Neks0ne·
I will also add, RedBull, Boost, and all these sponsors.....including USA, sought MLG, not the other way around.
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Neks0ne·
I will also add, RedBull, Boost, and all these sponsors.....including USA, sought MLG, not the other way around.
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Fetal·
i think you're totally misunderstanding what i'm saying. as for sundance, i have no clue who he is...see, you have some insight to MLG i don't. i think someone who just watches the tv show and doesn't know anything about mlg, like me, will come off with pretty much the same opinion.\r \r so sundance is the creator...yes, i think he's venturing into some unknown territory. i think he's making some mistakes. MLG doesn't seem polished like a \"real\" sport, which is what i assume they're trying to promote mlg as. you can't have half literates write their own public profiles and expect people to take them seriously. better to not make their profiles public at all. limit the questions, no likes or dislikes, that stuff will turn away as many people as it brings in.\r \r basically mlg is being run like some tiger beat magizine.\r \r i'm not crying about losing. i'm not even competing, but the behavior of some of these kids is \"timmy-like\". even the early twenty somethings, and even the late twenty-somethings.
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Fetal·
i think you're totally misunderstanding what i'm saying. as for sundance, i have no clue who he is...see, you have some insight to MLG i don't. i think someone who just watches the tv show and doesn't know anything about mlg, like me, will come off with pretty much the same opinion.\r \r so sundance is the creator...yes, i think he's venturing into some unknown territory. i think he's making some mistakes. MLG doesn't seem polished like a \"real\" sport, which is what i assume they're trying to promote mlg as. you can't have half literates write their own public profiles and expect people to take them seriously. better to not make their profiles public at all. limit the questions, no likes or dislikes, that stuff will turn away as many people as it brings in.\r \r basically mlg is being run like some tiger beat magizine.\r \r i'm not crying about losing. i'm not even competing, but the behavior of some of these kids is \"timmy-like\". even the early twenty somethings, and even the late twenty-somethings.
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Fetal·
and i will also add, if the columbian drug cartel pursued mlg, they'd probably let them sponsor as well. they need to limit the sponsorship. their television show is one big advertisement.
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Fetal·
and i will also add, if the columbian drug cartel pursued mlg, they'd probably let them sponsor as well. they need to limit the sponsorship. their television show is one big advertisement.
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Em·
Yes the show is geared towards younger people....most shows are these days,a dn it IS about a video game. Walshy is actually really squeaky clean in real life, and works his ass off for his clothing line thing...all he talks about. T2 isnt as bad as they make him out...always has time for someone like me at an event, always very polite and relaxed. Ghandi, well, even he isnt tht bad, hes just a smart ass. I think the point of the diverse profiling is to show just that...how diverse the gaming community is.
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Em·
Yes the show is geared towards younger people....most shows are these days,a dn it IS about a video game. Walshy is actually really squeaky clean in real life, and works his ass off for his clothing line thing...all he talks about. T2 isnt as bad as they make him out...always has time for someone like me at an event, always very polite and relaxed. Ghandi, well, even he isnt tht bad, hes just a smart ass. I think the point of the diverse profiling is to show just that...how diverse the gaming community is.
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SoupNazzi·
The problem with the behavior of the timmies, is that they are learning it from us adults.\r \r Maybe not from the adult gamers, but from the professional sports athletes.\r \r Talking trash, taunting, being arrogant asses is what is predominantly displayed by our so-called \"role models\" for todays youth, and today's youth immitate those role-models.\r \r I think MLG could police up some of what is perceived negatively by its players, but in the end, it is up to society / parents to police up and mold the athletes / gamers of the future.
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SoupNazzi·
The problem with the behavior of the timmies, is that they are learning it from us adults.\r \r Maybe not from the adult gamers, but from the professional sports athletes.\r \r Talking trash, taunting, being arrogant asses is what is predominantly displayed by our so-called \"role models\" for todays youth, and today's youth immitate those role-models.\r \r I think MLG could police up some of what is perceived negatively by its players, but in the end, it is up to society / parents to police up and mold the athletes / gamers of the future.
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SoupNazzi·
BTW, your post is still an excellent post, no matter how it is perceived.
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SoupNazzi·
BTW, your post is still an excellent post, no matter how it is perceived.
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OldManRiver48·
For the little I know of the MLG show etc.\r I agree w/ soup, nice post.\r Its good for people to be entusiastic and\r arm themselves with information which includes\r our own perspective and uptakes.\r You are doubtfully the only one with shared\r views in these areas and hopefully they will\r trickle to MLG and help them improve on what\r they are trying to do here.\r That is if it makes another season, if it does\r I think thay will make improvements.\r Outspoken people can only help with this,IMO.\r Dont hold back Fetal (not like you ever do anyway). :)
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OldManRiver48·
For the little I know of the MLG show etc.\r I agree w/ soup, nice post.\r Its good for people to be entusiastic and\r arm themselves with information which includes\r our own perspective and uptakes.\r You are doubtfully the only one with shared\r views in these areas and hopefully they will\r trickle to MLG and help them improve on what\r they are trying to do here.\r That is if it makes another season, if it does\r I think thay will make improvements.\r Outspoken people can only help with this,IMO.\r Dont hold back Fetal (not like you ever do anyway). :)
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CrypticCat·
*Everyone on this side has played Halo2*\r \r Uhm... I didn't, dude. :D\r \r No harm done, tho. When I saw Halo and Halo2, and saw the hype around it, I saw the title litterally morph into \"Timmy\" while I looked at the box.\r \r I did put it back on the shelf and never looked back.\r \r As far as illiteracy (paramount of irony, did I spell that right?) goes, I can't even get a readable note from co-workers right out of school over at the job. Me thinks it's a sign of the times.
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CrypticCat·
*Everyone on this side has played Halo2*\r \r Uhm... I didn't, dude. :D\r \r No harm done, tho. When I saw Halo and Halo2, and saw the hype around it, I saw the title litterally morph into \"Timmy\" while I looked at the box.\r \r I did put it back on the shelf and never looked back.\r \r As far as illiteracy (paramount of irony, did I spell that right?) goes, I can't even get a readable note from co-workers right out of school over at the job. Me thinks it's a sign of the times.