Probably not on that scale, but there have been cases of backlashes when critics gave scores which people deemed too low to their favourite movies such as some reviews of the The Dark Knight Rises - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/dark-knight-rises-fans-backlash-negative-reviews-prompts-rottentomatoes-suspend-comments-article-1.1116804
@the_big_doggg Add another 6,950 $ to that. And in cash not gift cards. Just for his 3rd place in his last tourney. For a Ukrainian, that should be quite a lot.
Anyway, the guy is married and funnily enough, thanks to his fans who have voted for him in some Ukrainian contest, he and his wife have won a honeymoon trip to UAE. Being a successful progamer does have its perks...
Firstly, if you are referring to his victory over "Nestea" mentioned in the article, it was not online, but proper offline event in studio with booths and everything.
Secondly, Dimaga is one of the most humbled and mannered guys in the whole competitive gaming. Cheerful when victorious, gracious in defeats. I have never seen him do anything stupid or cocky ever. And I've seen some stupid stuff.
Thirdly, affliction t-shirts? Sunglasses? So much projecting. Adidas ain't that expensive. Probably not in Ukraine anyway. :P
That said, if this is the image that progamers are evoking in lay public maybe they should reconsider how they market themselves.
It's a form of entertainment just like any other. Or better said, just like any other form of entertainment that is based on people competing against each other. It has a clearly defined goal (defeat your opponent/s) and rules within which one can accomplish that goal (game mechanics). And thanks to the competitive scene, it has even quite developed strategies and tactics already.
There's really nothing that would warrant looking down on Starcraft or the people who watch it.
@Ladiesman17 Blizzard is large, experienced and rich enough to be able to properly handle both singleplayer AND multiplayer components. If you think that they didn't, and funnily enough, I haven't seen ANY valid criticism from you other than vague "**** e-sports!!111", you should take your hate out on Blizzard, not on the people who actually enjoy specific part of the game.
@Mrod1212 @Sardinar @giantqtipz So do some progamers. There are charity events, charity streams, donations and whatnot as well.
Of course, the amounts of money aren't as great as donations made by players from much more popular and profitable sports, but the idea to help those less fortunate is basically the same.
@CircleCGamesh0p @SciFiRPGfan Yeah. In this regard, I feel little sorry for the US scene :(. In US, there are some of the best and most entertaining tournaments in Starcraft (MLG, IPL, NASL), some of the best casters in the business (Artosis, Tasteless, Wolf, Incontrol) and American fans are absolutely amazing (IMO), but the players... yeah they have it quite hard (the prize money probably aren't that interesting for American standards of living - not that American players have a shot at winning more interesting prizes unfortunately, there is distinctive lack of small local tournaments and on-line cups, huge distances and timezones can't be helpful either when it comes to practice and in general, it seems that competitive gaming is looked down a bit more in America than let's say in Europe or in Asia).
But not everything is lost. For example, Collegiate Starleague, basically an intercollegiate league for NA colleges and universities (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Collegiate_Starleague) is a very promising project, that could turn out to be quite successful in future. I mean American universities and colleges have a good reputation for producing successful sportsmen in various sports. Maybe one day they will be good at producing successful progamers as well.
@CircleCGamesh0p I don't know about Halo's competitive scene, but for example in Starcraft and Starcraft 2, there's everything you've mentioned already - there are teams with very serious and solvent image with proper contracts and everything (for example the team Evil Geniuses mentioned in the article which is famous for buying but also paying well many prestigious and popular Starcraft players and entertainers or for example Korean Starcraft Brood War teams backed by huge Korean corporations like Samsung or SK Telecom which have been going strong for more than 10 years), there are players' associations like KeSPA (Korea e-Sports Association) or eSF (e-Sports Federation) which not only promote and support e-sports, but also oversee the teams' and players' activities, solve disputes between them and help solve other problems (teams disbanding, searching for new sponsors,...).
Also, for Starcraft's scene, it wouldn't be true that pros aren't doing anything for people trying to get involved in competitive gaming - not only the pros are constantly (!) releasing the replays of their own games and are streaming with commentaries every day, but they also offer coaching lessons. Also, the teams are constantly scouting for new players, plus there are projects like Razer - Quantic academy for further involvement in e-sports.
Now I am not saying that there's not some shady stuff in SC scene as well - there have been problems with everything from players cheating to teams, tournament organizers and even broadcasters not paying people properly or on time, but this kind of problems are present in "real" sports as well. Point is, some gaming scenes are far more developed and serious than you are giving them credit for.
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