Maintain Profile Joined June 2011 United States 22 Posts Last Edited: 2011-11-23 05:45:14 #1



I had such a blast this weekend at MLG Providence that I couldn't help but post some of the more fun and memorable experiences and pictures. I met a bunch of pro's, saw some of the most exciting games I've seen in SC2 thus far, took some pictures (unfortunately the camera on my droid isn't great...) and had a blast being a part of e-sports! MLG Providence has already been talked about quite a bit in terms of the outcome, so I thought I'd just share what being there was like for me! As most of you have already watched the games and know the results, I am not going to go into those. Watching the vods is probably the best way to experience that if you haven't already, which all can be found on MLG's website. Basically I want to share my perception of the event via the venue and the player interactions.



First of all the venue in Providence was absolutely perfect for hosting this event. There are two convention centers right next to each other, Rhode Island Convention Center where MLG was and the Dunkin Donuts Convention Center, which are both gigantic buildings made for hosting big events. In addition to these there is a huge mall, a couple of hotels, and a gigantic parking garage (along with a couple smaller ones) most of which are connected by sky-walks. These buildings are all well kept both inside and out, and frankly look brand new. This area is built perfectly for an event of this caliber and made it easy to park and navigate around. The mall had a great food court as well which made it super easy for everyone to eat (I had Popeye's one night and Sarku Japan the other in case anyone is wondering ^^). Security around the place was just enough but not overbearing, and pretty well-tempered considering what they were dealing with... I saw multiple people get denied trying to sneak into both the event itself and the players-only areas, and got a good laugh out of an un-knowing security guard chase down Nestea who slipped under the rope into the players area without showing his badge first.



Inside the event, Starcraft 2 was up on the main stage with COD (later LoL) on the left and Halo on the right as you walked in.

Main Stage:









Also on the right as you walked in was a Dr. Pepper stand where there were a couple laptops to play games on and essentially unlimited free Dr. Pepper. This room was absolutely gigantic and there was more than enough room in there to host all three games.

View across the room (bear in mind halo and the MLG apparel booths were behind me:





After the other games were done for the day they would open up the side parts for SC2 as well which provided extra seating (moar chairs!).

View from the COD side after they shut down:





I have literally zero complaints about the venue and the parking was even fair at $10 a day which was cheaper than normal.



Now for some of the player interactions:

My prize possession from the weekend:



This is an awesome mousepad you could buy at the event for $21 which also came with a permanent marker which came in handy. It's custom made by steel series for MLG and is huge, about 16"x16". These are the autographs I got that you see on the pad, and a brief description of the interaction with each player (unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of them):



Destiny: Destiny was hanging out with fans the entire time he wasn't playing. I saw him constantly walking around and just having fun talking to people. He was wearing a bomber jacket which you can kind of see here, which I heard Painuser comment on (positively).





Painuser: Painuser was also one of the people I saw the most of at the event. Granted he is super tall... he was walking by and I asked him for an autograph which he glady obliged. I asked him how tall he was and he told me 6'8" which to be honest I think is a bit of a stretch... I am 6'4" and I don't think he had 4" on me . I also asked him if HD was hanging out somewhere (HD's youtube vids were what originally got me into the SC2 pro-cast's scene so I've always been a fan) and he told me about how HD slept through his games last MLG and so they (x6) didn't bring him to this one. Painuser was a super nice dude and I definately became even more of a fan than I was before.



Hero: Hero was the first autograph I got, and seemed to be a nice guy. I said to him "big fan" to which he replied "thanks" and that was the extent of it. Obviously with the Korean players there wasn't much of a conversation had.



TLO: I was pretty excited to get TLO's autograph and actually saw him multiple times after doing so. He was happy to oblige as well but I just told him also that I was a big fan and thanked him. A few hours after, me and my 3 friends I went with were standing by ourselves near the Dr. Pepper booth when he came through the front by himself walking in front of us. He gave us this sideways glance and a smirk which was totally awesome, and then proceeded to accidently kick my friends water-bottle about 10 feet across the floor as my friend had it standing in from of him. He laughed but was like "Oops I'm so sorry!" and ran over and picked it up and brought it back. Super nice dude as one would imagine, and one of the highlights of the weekend for me.



Tyler: Tyler was completely surrounded by people when I got his autograph, and seemed in a jovial mood considering he had been knocked out earlier that day. When I was getting it Destiny walked by and poked at him saying "Oh your actually signing stuff now!", which to put in context - I guess he was refusing people after the loss. All in all seemed like a nice dude.



MKP: I was also pretty excited to get MarineKing's autograph, but didn't really get to interact with him as people were all over him too (not surprisingly...). He was definitely happy to interact and even let some guy get a picture giving him a piggy-back.



Losira: Losira was with MKP when I got his, and I was so glad I asked him for his. He was all smiles and seemed so happy to be there, he gave me a little bow which I returned and that was pretty much that. Even with the language barrier it was a great interaction and Losira was great to meet.



Kiwikaki: Kiwikaki was around quite a bit also, and was a nice guy as well. I didn't really talk to him but my friend tried to say something to him about a charity stream he was putting together and came back saying "wow that's a strong accent". Was happy to get Kiwi's as I've always loved watching him play.



Slush: Slush was with Kiwi and seemed like a nice guy but I didn't really get a chance to talk to him.



Spanishiwa: I've always enjoyed watching Spanishiwa play, and irl this guy is pretty much the man. He was around a lot and was super happy to talk to people and sign stuff. I waived him down at one point when he was not around anyone and talked to him briefly. I was just watching him and he told me he had just got out of the open-bracket and seemed pretty excited about that. I wished him gl in rest of tourney and shook his hand and that was about it. Super nice dude.



Machine: Machine was around quite a bit as well, and I've become more of a fan recently as he's been streaming quite a bit. He is very approachable as he advocates, and chatted for a minute as well. We talked for a minute about his stream and how he's been trying to popularize it, and he also advocated Axslav's stream to my protoss friend. Real nice guy, I'm sure he is a super chill dude to be around.



Idra: Idra was probably at the top of my list for autograph's I wanted to get. He was walking through the front door by himself and I took the opportunity and said "hey Greg can I get a quick signature" to which he said sure. Unfortunately for him, quickly after he got completely mobbed because of it which makes me understand their reluctance at times. No one actually said no to me the entire time however, although I heard of a couple people getting denied. Idra seemed happy to interact when he could... A girl of about 8 asked him for an autograph directly after me which he couldn't help but crack a smile to.







Huk: Huk is obviously an awesome dude and I stood directly behind him (<10 ft) when he played MC for 5th place. He was clearly down in the dumps from getting knocked out but was happy to sign some autographs after he beat MC. It was awesome seeing him play and the best part was him talking with MC... the conversation went as follows:



MC: fml

Huk: I know me too

Huk: f***ing Leenock

~Admin comes and tells him he can't say that

Huk: Can we abbreviate?



Also I dont' know if anyone else caught this but when Huk was about to engage MC right in front of MC's base (the game on dual-sight) he tried to kill one of the pigs that was walking around, only to find out that that particular one was un-targetable. A subtle Huk'ism that made me lawl. I got his autograph right after he won, along with a bunch of other people.



Here are some pics I took while he was playing MC:





You can also see Puma playing Hero in the background in this one:









In addition to these pics and interactions, I also saw a bunch of others walking around that I didn't get a chance to talk to, including Leenock, Incontrol, Sheth etc. My brother got those 3's autographs in addition to the one's I get (with the exception of Huk) so I was a bit jealous of him there. I also took some pictures of the awards ceremony but unfortunately they didn't come out good enough to make worth posting. One mild dissapointment of the weekend was that I didn't get to meet any casters! I was there super late on Friday cuz of work and I guess they were talking to people earlier that day.



All in all what a great weekend and definitely my favorite e-sports experience I've had so far. Thanks to everyone who went into putting such an event together, and may there be many more memorable experiences for e-sports to come.



Feel free to pm me or hit me up in game maintain.317 and I'm also a Master's Z who is now streaming pretty regularly w/ commentary so you can check that out



Thanks and go e-sports! <3 Hey All!I had such a blast this weekend at MLG Providence that I couldn't help but post some of the more fun and memorable experiences and pictures. I met a bunch of pro's, saw some of the most exciting games I've seen in SC2 thus far, took some pictures (unfortunately the camera on my droid isn't great...) and had a blast being a part of e-sports! MLG Providence has already been talked about quite a bit in terms of the outcome, so I thought I'd just share what being there was like for me! As most of you have already watched the games and know the results, I am not going to go into those. Watching the vods is probably the best way to experience that if you haven't already, which all can be found on MLG's website. Basically I want to share my perception of the event via the venue and the player interactions.First of all the venue in Providence was absolutely perfect for hosting this event. There are two convention centers right next to each other, Rhode Island Convention Center where MLG was and the Dunkin Donuts Convention Center, which are both gigantic buildings made for hosting big events. In addition to these there is a huge mall, a couple of hotels, and a gigantic parking garage (along with a couple smaller ones) most of which are connected by sky-walks. These buildings are all well kept both inside and out, and frankly look brand new. This area is built perfectly for an event of this caliber and made it easy to park and navigate around. The mall had a great food court as well which made it super easy for everyone to eat (I had Popeye's one night and Sarku Japan the other in case anyone is wondering ^^). Security around the place was just enough but not overbearing, and pretty well-tempered considering what they were dealing with... I saw multiple people get denied trying to sneak into both the event itself and the players-only areas, and got a good laugh out of an un-knowing security guard chase down Nestea who slipped under the rope into the players area without showing his badge first.Inside the event, Starcraft 2 was up on the main stage with COD (later LoL) on the left and Halo on the right as you walked in.Main Stage:Also on the right as you walked in was a Dr. Pepper stand where there were a couple laptops to play games on and essentially unlimited free Dr. Pepper. This room was absolutely gigantic and there was more than enough room in there to host all three games.View across the room (bear in mind halo and the MLG apparel booths were behind me:After the other games were done for the day they would open up the side parts for SC2 as well which provided extra seating (moar chairs!).View from the COD side after they shut down:I have literally zero complaints about the venue and the parking was even fair at $10 a day which was cheaper than normal.Now for some of the player interactions:My prize possession from the weekend:This is an awesome mousepad you could buy at the event for $21 which also came with a permanent marker which came in handy. It's custom made by steel series for MLG and is huge, about 16"x16". These are the autographs I got that you see on the pad, and a brief description of the interaction with each player (unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of them):: Destiny was hanging out with fans the entire time he wasn't playing. I saw him constantly walking around and just having fun talking to people. He was wearing a bomber jacket which you can kind of see here, which I heard Painuser comment on (positively).: Painuser was also one of the people I saw the most of at the event. Granted he is super tall... he was walking by and I asked him for an autograph which he glady obliged. I asked him how tall he was and he told me 6'8" which to be honest I think is a bit of a stretch... I am 6'4" and I don't think he had 4" on me. I also asked him if HD was hanging out somewhere (HD's youtube vids were what originally got me into the SC2 pro-cast's scene so I've always been a fan) and he told me about how HD slept through his games last MLG and so they (x6) didn't bring him to this one. Painuser was a super nice dude and I definately became even more of a fan than I was before.: Hero was the first autograph I got, and seemed to be a nice guy. I said to him "big fan" to which he replied "thanks" and that was the extent of it. Obviously with the Korean players there wasn't much of a conversation had.: I was pretty excited to get TLO's autograph and actually saw him multiple times after doing so. He was happy to oblige as well but I just told him also that I was a big fan and thanked him. A few hours after, me and my 3 friends I went with were standing by ourselves near the Dr. Pepper booth when he came through the front by himself walking in front of us. He gave us this sideways glance and a smirk which was totally awesome, and then proceeded to accidently kick my friends water-bottle about 10 feet across the floor as my friend had it standing in from of him. He laughed but was like "Oops I'm so sorry!" and ran over and picked it up and brought it back. Super nice dude as one would imagine, and one of the highlights of the weekend for me.: Tyler was completely surrounded by people when I got his autograph, and seemed in a jovial mood considering he had been knocked out earlier that day. When I was getting it Destiny walked by and poked at him saying "Oh your actually signing stuff now!", which to put in context - I guess he was refusing people after the loss. All in all seemed like a nice dude.: I was also pretty excited to get MarineKing's autograph, but didn't really get to interact with him as people were all over him too (not surprisingly...). He was definitely happy to interact and even let some guy get a picture giving him a piggy-back.: Losira was with MKP when I got his, and I was so glad I asked him for his. He was all smiles and seemed so happy to be there, he gave me a little bow which I returned and that was pretty much that. Even with the language barrier it was a great interaction and Losira was great to meet.: Kiwikaki was around quite a bit also, and was a nice guy as well. I didn't really talk to him but my friend tried to say something to him about a charity stream he was putting together and came back saying "wow that's a strong accent". Was happy to get Kiwi's as I've always loved watching him play.: Slush was with Kiwi and seemed like a nice guy but I didn't really get a chance to talk to him.: I've always enjoyed watching Spanishiwa play, and irl this guy is pretty much the man. He was around a lot and was super happy to talk to people and sign stuff. I waived him down at one point when he was not around anyone and talked to him briefly. I was just watching him and he told me he had just got out of the open-bracket and seemed pretty excited about that. I wished him gl in rest of tourney and shook his hand and that was about it. Super nice dude.: Machine was around quite a bit as well, and I've become more of a fan recently as he's been streaming quite a bit. He is very approachable as he advocates, and chatted for a minute as well. We talked for a minute about his stream and how he's been trying to popularize it, and he also advocated Axslav's stream to my protoss friend. Real nice guy, I'm sure he is a super chill dude to be around.: Idra was probably at the top of my list for autograph's I wanted to get. He was walking through the front door by himself and I took the opportunity and said "hey Greg can I get a quick signature" to which he said sure. Unfortunately for him, quickly after he got completely mobbed because of it which makes me understand their reluctance at times. No one actually said no to me the entire time however, although I heard of a couple people getting denied. Idra seemed happy to interact when he could... A girl of about 8 asked him for an autograph directly after me which he couldn't help but crack a smile to.: Huk is obviously an awesome dude and I stood directly behind him (<10 ft) when he played MC for 5th place. He was clearly down in the dumps from getting knocked out but was happy to sign some autographs after he beat MC. It was awesome seeing him play and the best part was him talking with MC... the conversation went as follows:MC: fmlHuk: I know me tooHuk: f***ing Leenock~Admin comes and tells him he can't say thatHuk: Can we abbreviate?Also I dont' know if anyone else caught this but when Huk was about to engage MC right in front of MC's base (the game on dual-sight) he tried to kill one of the pigs that was walking around, only to find out that that particular one was un-targetable. A subtle Huk'ism that made me lawl. I got his autograph right after he won, along with a bunch of other people.Here are some pics I took while he was playing MC:You can also see Puma playing Hero in the background in this one:In addition to these pics and interactions, I also saw a bunch of others walking around that I didn't get a chance to talk to, including Leenock, Incontrol, Sheth etc. My brother got those 3's autographs in addition to the one's I get (with the exception of Huk) so I was a bit jealous of him there. I also took some pictures of the awards ceremony but unfortunately they didn't come out good enough to make worth posting. One mild dissapointment of the weekend was that I didn't get to meet any casters! I was there super late on Friday cuz of work and I guess they were talking to people earlier that day.All in all what a great weekend and definitely my favorite e-sports experience I've had so far. Thanks to everyone who went into putting such an event together, and may there be many more memorable experiences for e-sports to come.Feel free to pm me or hit me up in game maintain.317 and I'm also a Master's Z who is now streaming pretty regularly w/ commentary so you can check that out here ! I don't know about anyone else who attended the event but man I could not way to play afterwards :D.Thanks and go e-sports! <3 N.A. Zerg | Master's division Artanis Omega | maintain.317