The following rant will cover my feelings regarding affirmative action in the context of the GSL, or Global Starcraft League, the most popular and prestigious Starcraft 2 tournament. Although some of these facts may appear glaringly obvious by looking at my website, I would like to stress that I am a passionate Starcraft 2 fan; I am not a white male; and I do not support affirmative action in general. The most skilled person should get the job, period — not someone who is under-skilled, yet is a representation of a minority group, in hopes to diversify an organization. If two job candidates perform equally in a test to determine skill, other factors such as past work history, references, or anything tangible to determine skill and talent should be the deciding factor as to who gets the job. Not race, gender, religion or sexual preferences. (If you think that I am a flaming racist because I hold such a belief, you’re a fucking retard. Thanks.)

The GSL recently hired a new broadcaster who has in my opinion a very unprofessional and unclear broadcasting voice, with a extremely poor grasp on correct English enunciation. Also, this new caster’s game understanding and analysis is far below the level of what I expect from a top-level caster, and I feel that the organization behind the top-level GSL, GOMTV, has taken a massive step backwards and taken a shit on the development of e-sports in general with the introduction of this new vocal monstrosity. It is clear to me that superficial factors outside of skill, professionalism and knowledge allowed this female caster to land the job, and as much as I like to support e-sports and want it to grow, particularly in the west, I will not support an organization which doesn’t put professionalism first. GOMTV may have been attempting to reach out to a wider audience by hiring a “cute” (strong emphasis on quotes, here) Asian female, however, by doing so the organization is shunning mature audiences who care for clear, professional commentary and meaningful analysis so that they can ENJOY THE FUCKING STARCRAFT GAME BEING BROADCASTED.

I would like to now address several common and rather stupid, white-knight remarks which support the new broadcaster.

It’s just $10, you should buy the premium service to support e-sports anyway, even if you don’t like the new caster! – (FYI, the majority of people who watch the GSL are GOMTV’s paying customers. At the moment, it’s $10 per season for VODs and a premium live stream.) This remark is hilariously stupid. Yes, I can afford the $10 to gain access to GSL’s premium video service, however, if I feel that an organization is taking a glaring step backwards in terms of professionalism, that $10 can be better spent elsewhere. There are many other e-sport tournaments, organizations and e-sport related endeavors to support financially. Change happens within an organization when enough customers voice their opinions with their wallets.

Give her a chance to improve! The GSL observer sucked to begin with, but we gave them a chance to improve, and now they’re great. – Learning and improving how to click around a computer screen to successfully observe a Starcraft 2 match is in an entirely different field to learning proper English enunciation and developing a clear speaking voice suitable for broadcasting to English speakers, many non-native, across the world. Let me give you a hint – one of them isn’t something that can happen in a week, or a month. Paying customers of GOMTV, who have supported previous GSL tournaments, have every right to expect and request for clear, professional broadcasting, and master-level game analysis from the get-go.

People just hate on the new caster because they’re basement nerds who don’t want to see girls succeed in gaming. – I am clearly a pimply-faced basement virgin with no social skills. Idiotic cretins with this mentality are unable to comprehend that there exists many paying customers who just want to see a GOOD caster — they don’t give a shit about gender or ethnicity. They just want the broadcasting to be high quality, and they want to know that GOMTV is putting professionalism first when making decisions which affect their customers.

I want to see quality players and broadcasters succeed in Starcraft 2 e-sports, regardless of their race, gender, or number of toes. Unfortunately, GOMTV has taken a step backwards in the popularization of e-sports by hiring such a vocal monstrosity based on factors outside of skill and knowledge. I wonder how long a “cute” yet unprofessional broadcaster, with very poor analysis and English enunciation, would last in the world of physical sports, on TV in front of an English-speaking audience? Oh wait, they wouldn’t get the job.

Go Team Terran!