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Hey folks,

I wanted to write a quick response to an article criticizing StarCraft II fans. You can find the original article here: https://medium.com/@SaintSnorlax/starcraft-ii-fans-suck-3ad34ecf517f#.i32pr2v8k

In particular, I want to address this point:

“Everyone agrees that there’s a need for more “quality” content, but no one wants to be the one who actually has to consume it. For the time being, maybe that’s something I’ll have to be at peace with.”

I think this confuses quality content with content that has mass-market appeal. I disagree that they are the same thing. (Addendum Edit: The point of this post is to highlight that mass-market appeal and quality are separate things, and that neither mass-market appeal nor unpopularity imply low quality.)

For instance, I wrote an article about Nation Wars (https://illiteracyhasdownsides.com/2017/01/10/starcraft-broadcasting-and-the-excellence-of-nation-wars/) highlighting its excellent production quality. The quality of this content is very high, it’s not merely folks talking over a live game. The GSL also features extremely high production values, and that is also not an accident: here’s a great interview with Artosis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-iEz0sTm4s) where he describes in detail how much work goes into the broadcast.

My point is that both of these events are very high quality and require professionalism, rigor, and hard work. They’re also two of the most popular events in the StarCraft scene. That’s not a coincidence.

It seems like many people take issue with content that is both mass-market and low quality. But as I pointed out in my post about the /r/Overwatch petition (https://www.facebook.com/brownbeargaming/posts/1836552473260539), this is usually an illusion. “Low-effort” posts are often the most effortful from an efficiency perspective - people sometimes spend hours producing fifteen seconds of GIF content.

I don’t think anyone cares about content that is neither mass market nor high quality.

Finally, the category that often draws concern from folks - high quality content without mass market appeal. A lot of my content falls into that category; many people are simply not interested in reading long-form articles on game design or watching long videos analyzing games.

I think it’s unfair to criticize consumers for not demanding niche products en masse; I think it’s equally unfair to claim that just because something is unpopular, it must not be high quality or worthy of people’s time.

High quality content is widely available in the StarCraft community. High-quality, niche content is harder to find because the content consumption base is simply smaller - if a content producer knows their content will only appeal to 1-2% of a community, they are strongly incentivized to choose a larger community. That’s not just for financial reasons, but that’s a topic for another post.

On the flip side, there are plenty of reasons to make high-quality, niche content for StarCraft, even if you know the audience is smaller. Again, a topic for another post.

For me personally, I make content for the games that I play regularly, which is why I make regular StarCraft content despite the low view counts. It’s a great game with a great community.

Thanks and all the best.

P.S. The next Banjo video will be out in the next few days.

--brownbear