Guild Wars 2

I watched Helseth’s new video a little bit ago. It’s very useful. Thank You, Lord Helseth.

What struck me more than that was the attitude and it took me back to this last “world finals.” One example of what I mean was the final award presentation.

In most team sports, you have a winner’s interview. Pros almost without exception say something like “I’d like to thank ; my sponsor [//list], My wonderful team [//list] and my family [//list].” Of course you’re going to give your sponsor air time whenever possible, right? That’s what they pay for.

It’s normally followed by something like “You know? Everyone out here was really great and I feel privileged to come out on top this time.”

At the GW2 worlds, I saw a lot of trolling happening from multiple sources. Sure there were obligatory handshakes and smiles. There wasn’t much of the kind of “sportsmanship” I expect to see.

Trolling and attitude do please a certain segment of the population. I don’t think they will lead to being taken more seriously as an “Esport.”

ANET should consider whether that’s the best path for ESL and for the wider game.

To be honest Gw2 PvP is far from an ESport, and unfortunately will probably never be close to resembling one.

It begs the question:

Is the balled faced “trolling” really trolling? Or is the lie of an orchestrated post sport interview the true troll?

It makes you wonder how much, or how little, our society really does appreciate honesty. “Sportsmanship” could very well be the dirty word here, making your expectations just another part of the theater.

:D

@SliEagle

That’s kind of the point I was driving at. More at the reasons why.

@Ross Biddle

I think the value of honesty depends on your age bracket, unfortunately.

I keep seeing over and over people complaining about Helseth’s… let’s say unique style.

The thing is, he is the most popular gw2 streamer, and it is not “despite” his attitude but “thanks to” his attitude. I would think this is clear for most people, but apparently not: he is a showman. He stands out not only because he’s a good player but because he has a very distinct style. It serves him, and to some weird extent it also serves the gw2 community.

So just enjoy the humour and assume that he may not be as much of a jerk in reality.

Oh, I like Helseth. He is an outstanding Mesmer. The attitude is shades of early Arnold Schwartzeneger, though, Arnold did it better.

That’s not really what the post is about. The whole presentation seemed to lack a kind of “pro bearing” for lack of better words.

People just get triggered when the champion doesn’t show character traits of a “run of the mill” hero. I don’t play other videogames (because time is money and im poor) but if you watch other Esports such as league or dota you’ll realize the players have near 0 personality and are for the most part sweaty nerds (no offense but this is general stereotype, inb4 i get perma banned from forums) with 0 microphone skills. I feel like once you watch a few of those interviews and come back to GW2 you can appreciate helseths interesting and rather unorthodox personality on the mic.

I mean I’d rather have people like Helseth than your average greasy, hipster glasses wearing guy who answers nearly every question the female interviewer askd with single words because of his anxiety and lack of experiance talking to someone of the other gender.