Does anyone even care about MLG

All I know about PS2 MLG is:
1) that I was able to get an MLG Decal on one of my Characters,
2) there has been some references to its existence by various forum posters once every while
3) I saw one early video of it where they seemed to be more giving an early taste rather than actually following a game

Out of sight out of mind
If SOE or PS2 Devs want to promote PS2 MLG, then they should add it as a section on the main forums. That way they can communicate info on it and provide an intro to it, and also people can find it and follow it. Without that, it's just lost somewhere in the net, and players aren't gonna stumble on it unless they do work to find it. That's not good Marketing or Support.

In that video I saw, the announcers were just talking about basic gameplay, and the camera was just floating around looking for something flashy to show. No real sense of any current objective, what anyone was doing or trying to do, and no time spent on any player to actually be able to follow them. This is probably just an early effort its gotten better, but nothing in game or on the forums has directed my attention to any links or sites where I could follow it.

^This sounds good.

TONS of PS2 players check out videos of other players on youttube: tutorials, gameplay footage, montages, reviews, etc. The easiest way for PS2 MLG to get peoples interest is to offer something (or something similar to what) these people are obviously already looking for.

What do people WANT to see in an MLG type format?

Would they be more interested in watching 1-on-1 ESF duels like this mixed with this?
Or other similar format smaller 1-vs-1 or 2-vs-2 unit type face-offs?
Would they be more interested to see a 3-way 48+ fight at the crown?
Would they be more interested to see 2 squads going heads up at a base?
Maybe have fixed unit fights, where say on 24 man teams 1 have to be ESF, 1 a Lib, 1 a Gal, 1 MBT, 1 Harasser, 1 Lightning, 1 Flash, 2 of each other unit, and the leftover can be used in any free selection desired?
What would people be interested in seeing?

Perhaps they'd like to see how 12-man, 24-man, and 48+-man teams face off at each map... just like the real game. So players could then just reference these to see effective strats for such maps when it happens to them in game. See all the secret spots on these maps, see which loadouts or units to select for each base, see which key strategic spots get selected, etc.

And they SHOULD be explaining (or have links) to all loadouts being used by all players. Like decklists in Magic and how that info is of key interest to players following that game.

Who? I've never seen anyone that even comes close to this description.

Then you've been selectively ignoring the frequent posts of "this is how sports work" when it comes to cheating or cheap behavior, or for that matter "esports make money" as a singular focus and justification for emphasising them (ignoring that they often COST a lot of money especially when they flop like they are here).

Then again, cherrypicking and selective observation seems to be a primary tactic for NUC's supporters in this forum too.

I'm not a supporter or follower or e-sports but isn't some of the problem in the case of PS2 is that the game itself is in it's infancy ?

To me IMHO the Dev's should have worked first on creating a balanced , stable game with a good player base first, and let the e-sport side come naturally from any success the game had ... Due to it being a good game ..

Rather than try to force the e-sport aspect from the get go , leading to a lot of maybe misuse of resources in the wrong areas.

Wanting e-sports to be part of the game is all very well, but for that to be a success first the game itself needs to be one.

I actually agree with you here.

A huge problem here is that the devs have tried to steer their "bigger is better" FPS MMO artificially in some e-arena direction, and it's not working out.

Just about every successful "professional" esport (which I don't care for but I do acknowedge exist) emerged naturally from a game that was doing its own thing and then its playerbase started organizing itself.

MLG itself as an organization is a puffed up bunch of hype and greed that is trying to force itself upon games not ready, or even FIT, for its presence.

I dont even know wwhat it is.

You're speaking in very broad terms, but it appears you mean a very specific group. Point me to these "frequent posts" of cheating and cheap behavior in MLG Dota, LOL, COD, or SC2. Find me some of these top tier (profitable) players that act in the way you're describing.

I'm not going to waste time with you because either you're already too dense to see it happening or lack the years of first-hand observation, or you're being deliberately obtuse as a cheap tactic to turn me into your living Wikipedia to please you.

In either case, take a hike. You're not helping your cause at all being like that.

What do you believe my cause is? I'm pretty sure you think I'm arguing for something that I'm not. You on the other hand, appear to be painting MLG, and sports in general, in an evil, demonizing light.

Well, since you made that assumption about me, I can flip a mirror on it and definitely confirm that you're white-knighting for MLG right there, in that post.

I'm expecting a "you can't prove it I want links!!!!1" counter, so go ahead.

MLG is fine, PS2's attempt at MLG is not fine and needs a ton of work.

What the folks at MLG should do is pool their monies and approach a game development studio to fund a game specifically with MLG in mind.

I stopped playing PS2 last February. Largely due to the very poor dev design decisions and OP aspects of a few classes/weapons that went unaddressed...all the while that Higby kid was going off about MLG MLG MLG!! ZOMG MLG!!!

Combined, these things showed me the direction Higby and the SOE team were taking PS2 and it wasn't of interest to me. Based on the player base drop in numbers since release, I'd say I wasn't alone in that.

I've checked back a few times since February and despite the shrinking pop SOE hasn't seemed to change direction.

But ZOMG!!! BAM!!! LOLOLOLOL MLG BABY MLG!!!!!

No, a game needs an established player base before it can attempt organized competition.

At first glance, this may be mistaken for a cheap shot towards NUC but in reality it is the core of the problem with MLG. There aren't enough players who's into the competitive side of PS2. The reason should be obvious, as PS2 market itself as a game on epic scale and big battles. MLG, on the other hand, is instanced PvP in a controlled envoirment... Ok, just kidding, in a chaotic disorganised mess but other than that it is a controlled envoirment. People, quite simply, are not going into PS2 looking for instanced outfit vs outfit matches. That comes later, usually 50 battle ranks or more into the game.

Second aspect is the high numbers requires for a full team. 48 players is a lot, and getting 96 players to face off in a competitive envoirment is quite a lot more. That's pretty much the number of players you have in total in other esport games tournaments, and in PS2 these 96 players are only two outfits.

Same pattern is seen on Miller where certainly outfits actively headhunt players cross factions in order to become the best. A claim which in this game is pretty damn meaningless considering there isn't a competitive scene to begin with. Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of competitive outfits I can think of. As it stand, sadly, being the best outfit in PS2 is being a big fish in a very very tiny pond.

...And to think I was the one who was so optimistic and vocal about how good MLG would be for this game. Well, I'm man enough to admit I was very much mistaken.

the only people who care about MLG are

Pikachu made an alt?

MLG and Esports is a fad that has started up because of tightassed competitive people wanting to be acknowledged for not being ******** with videogames while companies see the big money going on with koreans and starcraft.

two and two came together and the whole thing is a joke.

Companies use it to market games, and people think they'll make a living from it or something.

Hey man, it's a pretty attractive supplementary income to your pocket money.