Tasteless Talks: Brood War vs. SC2, 'Blizzard Esports Disintegrated', Plans for Stormgate and more!

This piece is one I've been looking forward to for a loooong time. This video with Tasteless is my 2nd upload from my time in Korea, and I am so happy with how this conversation went! We got to talk about the poor business practices of Esports orgs, Nick's start in StarCraft, his life in Korea, and so much more! Please watch, and enjoy.

Chapters:
0:00 Coming Up
0:32 Intro and Tasteless Start in StarCraft/RTS
05:35 Brood War Idols
07:25 SC1 vs SC2 in Korea
18:58 Devoting a life to StarCraft
22:44 Life in Korea
27:10 Failure to Monetize GSL/Esports at large
32:55 GSL Crowdfunding
37:20 Dispelling the idea of lack of passion in SC2
42:50 Dreams for Stormgate and other next Gen RTS titles
53:24 History as a competitor
55:40 Negativity in the StarCraft community
57:45 Participation in other games/communities
1:00:00 Advice for people new to the Esports world
1:04:45 Closing Words

[kylehill]

The oral history of the start of Esports was really interesting!

[SN.LurkinG]

Something about Tasteless, I can enjoy hearing him speak about anything

[tacticalchunder]

Nick is such an intelligent guy and it’s really cool he’s been able to do what he loves in life. I could listen to him and his brother talk for hours about anything. Great interview.

[JOEMAMA]

Tasteless was such an important part of me getting into eSports. As a teen I used to stay up late watching brood war casts. I had the pleasure of meeting him and artosis when I visited Korea in 2017, went to watch them cast in the Africa TV studio. Thanks for all your hard work tasteless, especially on those early days. You have inspired an entire generation to carry on and grow eSports to where it is today.

[duskworker]

idc who was technically the goat, ill never forget Boxer's MM micro against lurkers, and when he locked down like 100 carriers in one second.

[thomasgrimm]

Those GomTV days, watching GSL late at night... what a great time! Thanks so much Nick & Dan!

[ShirpaTheShirpa]

Brood war campaign was what first hooked me as a kid. Even with cheats to fall back on I could barely make it through to the end. But those cut scenes were so captivating I felt like I had to make it to the end.

[MondSemmel]

Thanks for making this channel! I really liked this interview. There were a bunch of really interesting highlights, like about a Japan import ban contributing to success of American video games in Korea, or the IP situation and early (non-)relationship between Blizzard and Korean StarCraft esports.

[briantoplessbar]

I appreciate this so much! I feel like I will watch this again in ten years along with day9 101 (or 100 I forget) for big nostalgia bombs. Glad it’s on record!

[randomnameisrequiredapparently]

Both Tasteless and Artosis were the first pro gamer caster that I was exposed to and they set the standard of what it means to be a shout caster. If there was a shout caster HOF Tasteless would definitely be in it

[BitChad]

Tasteless and Artosis are legends for bringing Korean SC to english speaking homes with their casting. Also they're the reason the world has slowly caught up. I firmly believe if not for the casting archon we wouldn't have Serral being the best player in the world in SC2.

[lm-rhqo]

In early E-sports it was as if every tournament was working towards legitimizing the category. It doesn't quite feel that way anymore. Has not for a long time.

[facundosoler]

Nick is so chill and charismatic it's a pleasure to listen to him talk about any topic ! So interesting to pay attention to what he's saying and always has opinions to share and takes on things ! He's such a legend now for the Starcraft scene ! And e-sports now I would say !

[scientistforscience]

That thumbnail had me singing "Nick, Tasteless, Plot. Your commentary is getting me so hot" you can find that song on youtube. Funny that Tasteless was just talking a few days ago about how esports was run so bad it couldn't support itself. One day, maybe Msft will fund Tasteless to run some tournaments and promote SC2. Maybe get Sean to help. A girl can dream.

[danieln]

What a good interview. Its so interesting hearing about this early days esports stories that hardly anyone knows or will know about.


Great interview

[hashslingingslasher]

I've followed Nick for years and years, but I've never known him to be so well spoken. Dude knows what he's talking about!

[nicklachen]

i love when interviews parse the chapters with the topic. very nice

[ALittleGreeky]

The teaching part is so real. AoE 4 does a decent job with the fundamentals and it's one of the only RTS games I've been able to expose people who aren't fans of the genre to and have them pick it up to a decent level. Good training scenarios are so important to getting people into the game.

[paradoxicaldragon]

What a fascinating interview. I've read many theories about the differences in the esports scene in SC:BW and SC2 from the perspective of the games' designs, but I didn't know about the 'political' aspects of it. Was a pleasure to listen to Tasteless talk about all this.

[pandabearguy]

Tasteless had a special place in my heart (no homo), for really getting me into professional StarCraft (as a spectator) in the GomTV days (2006-2009 ish?). I still member the Pandabearguy