In March,
@Ninja
became the first ever gamer to make the top ten list for social interactions among all athletes. Haters said it was because of Drake, a fluke, etc.
Last month, he hit
#1
- ahead of Ronaldo, Shaq & Neymar.
Via
@hookitcom
(advanced sponsorship valuations company)
Scrolling through my timeline and did a double take...
@Ninja
was third in social interactions among ALL athletes last month - only behind Ronaldo and LeBron. That’s insane.
Via
@hookitcom
(advanced sponsorship valuations company)
This is a super common take, so let's discuss why it's wrong.
Innocent until proven guilty in criminal court makes sense; we're setting the process by which someone's freedom is taken by the state. But twitter isn't criminal court - we shouldn't have the same process/standard.
ATTENTION TFT COMMUNITY:
We're on the verge of losing one of the best parts about the game/community. If we keep this up, Mort is going to pull back from being one of the most engaged, transparent game devs in the industry. We need to make sure that doesn't happen. 🧵
@KEEMSTAR
Here's the thing...
You think you're being edgy, but you're actually being a misogynistic piece of garbage. If the entire point of your tweet is to tear someone down, start over.
I'm so tired of the bullshit narrative that violent video games cause mass shootings. There have been dozens of studies on this point and NONE support that conclusion.
To all the spineless politicians using video games as a scapegoat: try doing your job instead.
A thread...
Name another esport and I’ll tell you why CS is objectively better to watch.
It has everything:
- Simple for newcomers, but with unbelievable strategic depth
- No game builds more tension for big moments
- Flashy plays
- Perfect pacing, both round by round & within rounds
Anti LGBTQIA+ rhetoric, actions, and lawmaking have surged lately—particularly against the trans community. I want to believe it’s just the vocal minority, but the voices on the right side of these issues need to WAKE THE FUCK UP AND GET IN THE GAME. 🧵
I have so many thoughts on the Tfue-Faze situation. Tweet storm incoming...
TLDR:
1. There are some non-standard & bad things in Tfue's contract.
2. People misunderstand how esports businesses work. The economics look worse in a vacuum than they are with proper context.
I have something I’ve needed to get off my chest for a while. I’m a huge believer in the esports industry. I bet my career on it, after all. But the industry as a whole needs to do a better job of representing things accurately to outsiders. A thread...
What in the actual fuck?
You are not entitled to Mort’s support for a TFT event. FULL STOP.
Mort choosing to do his regularly scheduled stream and play this game is his personal choice. That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring the learnings of the tourney. Tons of pros are watching and
Now that the show is over, I have a message to the dozens of people who complained about the simple fact that the TFT broadcast this past wknd included pronouns for players/casters:
Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. TFT.
If you're more upset about the fact that an NBA game isn't being played right now than the problem of police brutality and racial injustice in America, you are part of the problem.
I. Fucking. Did it.
Real talk: hitting this milestone genuinely meant a lot to me. It's admittedly a little silly, but I work a lot and I wasn't sure if I could actually do this. It wasn't easy and I doubted myself along the way. Made the end result truly worth it.
Baby Blum decided to come pretty early. Ngl, I panicked a bit (wife caught the moment & won’t stop laughing). But now I’m on the other side. She is perfect. No other word for it. My heart is outside of my body.
Welcome to the world, Shea. There is nothing I won’t do for you.
So,
@Ninja
just casually hit 160,000 subs on Twitch. 200,000 is not only doable, it seems inevitable at this point. This is a testament to the incredible growth of Fortnite and the insane quality of his stream day in and day out. Huge congrats man.
In 1944, the CIA wrote a field guide on how to sabotage something. It's now declassified, and some of the basic tips look like a description of how some businesses I know operate. Pretty crazy.
Moral of the story: think before enacting bureaucracy.
It’s now abundantly clear that the general gaming public is shockingly & tragically under informed re COVID-19. We need a concerted effort to address this immediately. If you’re passionate about this issue & willing to help in any way, please respond here or message me privately.
@Ninja
I’m with you, but kicking is almost purely mental at the highest level. These guys can casually make 50+ yarders outside of game conditions but it’s a different thing entirely in game.
Let's also stop to consider the context. When it comes to sexual assault, there is a massive issue of under-reporting. One of the chief reasons for that is we tend to put victims on trial. We don't believe them. We attack their credibility. This is a HUGE problem.
@BebeAutoChess
@MilkTFT
@Frodan
I have no idea what lawyers you're speaking to, but they should probably learn the law:
Milk has a higher chance of hitting a legendary on level 3 than going to jail over this.
Saying "innocent until proven guilty" in response doesn't actually mean anything. It's not remotely applicable to this context. We're not in court, and we're not decided whether to put someone in literal prison.
More importantly, it dismisses their reality and their pain.
The fact that this shooting happened at an esports event hits too close to home.
This is not an unsolvable problem. Gun laws in this country are broken. Use your voice and your votes to do something about it.
Ever wonder why OJ won his criminal case, but lost the civil suit? Part is what happened at court, but it's also the standard:
Murder: 12/12 jurors had to find him guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.
Civil: 9/12 jurors had to find the preponderance of evidence showed he did it
Also, businesses, administrative hearings, collegiate review boards, and many other bodies don't use innocent until proven guilty. So let's stop using it as a buzzphrase that promotes justice for all in all situations. It's not. It works for criminal court, but not everywhere.
Let's start by stating the obvious: having a very engaged/transparent lead dev is too lit. We get rundowns & post mortems for every patch, long dev reflection articles post set, and regular additional perspective via his stream and discord/twitch/reddit comments.
Never forget that the Supreme Court has also decided black people couldn’t be citizens (Dred Scott), Japanese internment was ok (Korematsu), and separate but equal is a thing (Plessy).
Racism masquerading as good law wins the day too often, but it doesn’t have to last.
And it happens even though all of the data shows false reporting of sexual assault is incredibly rare. So, please, when you read a credible story of sexual assault, listen to what they're saying. Don't dismiss it because you haven't heard the other side yet.
I went 5 yrs w/out a real vacation. I remember feeling somewhat proud as it was happening, in part because grind to death culture is so glorified in certain circles.
In hindsight, all I can say is fuck that. Take the time to recharge. You’ll be better at your job & life.
Are you a struggling NA esports fan? Are you tired of losing to everyone outside our borders? Is your hopium tank running on empty?
Look no further, it’s time to become a
@TFT
enjoyer! The game is sick, our lead designer is a boss & NA has held the world title for 2 whole hours!
I’m so sad. These members of our esports family were gunned down doing something they loved.
I’m fucking furious. It seems no number of deaths is enough to spur real change.
I’m overwhelmed. The outpouring of support from across the gaming community is unlike anything Ive seen.
I've worked across every major esport for the past decade and Mort's investment in the community is an outlier. It's also so helpful. He's more responsive to our concerns and we better understand why his team makes so many different decisions.
It's also NOT his job.
BTW, this is absolutely not an attack on Summit. I think he's dead wrong here, but I don't think it's coming from a malicious place. I hear this kind of thing all the time, so I thought it was a good chance to educate people on why it's often misused.
My Twitch chat / SLOBS sync wasn't working properly for my first streamed game yesterday, so I couldn't see what anyone was saying to respond. Luckily, my main man
@Voyboy
actually spent the entire game typing out chat messages so I could interact.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Preponderance of evidence is just a fancy way of saying that it's more than 50% likely the thing happened. The burden starts w/ the plaintiff (accuser) to prove their case, but it SHIFTS to the defendant once a moderate amount of evidence establishes the claim.
PS - if you're a lawyer currently getting tilted by the way I jumble together a conversation about the presumption of innocence, standards, burdens of proof, and judicial philosophy... I'm sorry. I wanted to get more core message across in fewer than 50 tweets.
Today sucks. This week sucks. I hate the fact that every time I go on social media it just makes me more depressed.
What a fucking privileged perspective I have.
Women in gaming have lived this nightmare for years. We did virtually nothing.
People can argue about whether gamers are athletes or if Ninja's insane run reflects on esports or just gaming more broadly. All of this misses the point.
In 2018, a gamer can drive more social engagement than Ronaldo, LeBron, or Brady. What at time to be alive.
What downsides, you ask?
Death threats, people saying he should be fired, vicious personal attacks, etc.
No one should have to deal with that, let alone someone taking on tons of extra, unpaid work to improve the player experience for a fucking video game.
Are you’re getting into TFT? Simply looking for who to follow? I got you.
TFT Twitter has been popping off lately, and it only gets better by the day. So much great content out there if you know where to look.
It’s time for the unofficially OFFICIAL
@TFT
Twitter tier list…
In short, we're trying to figure out what happened, and not with 100% certainty. We adjudicate massive commercial disputes by this process/standard every day, and that's because it's the most just system we can find.
Not enough is being said about the incredible work
@CarlosR
& his team did in building the
@G2esports
brand. It was always good, but every member of the org - from owner to staff to player - really leaned in this year. Love to love or love to hate - that’s a powerful brand.
Our family has officially grown by two. Having identical twins boys (while being one myself) is completely surreal. They came pretty early so they’re tiny, but already mighty. Mom is a champ.
My heart is two sizes bigger and so, so full.
Reddit is a forum for elevating relevant news & facilitating discussion. Blocking valuable content because of who wrote it is antithetical to entire purpose of the platform.
Whether you agree with the r/lol mods decision to ban
@RLewisReports
or not, this decision is asinine.
If anyone out there thinks this verdict is evidence that our systems are not fundamentally broken, remember this:
George Floyd was murdered on camera and in front of witnesses, yet this outcome wasn't inevitable. If our systems were just, no one would be relieved right now.
My wife basically doesn’t game. For this holiday season, she evaluated all of the available switch games and decided to get into Skyrim. This is either the best or worst idea she’s ever had. I can’t decide. What say you, internet?
OK this was a lot of tweets. I’m just tired of armchair analysts talking about this controversy without context. This is a complicated situation inside of a complicated ecosystem. It deserves all the nuance it can get.
If you learned nothing else, CONTEXT MATTERS.
Are you a fuckhead sending Mort death threats, personal attacks or other forms of hate? STOP
If you can't stop, seek help.
If you still can't stop, I'm down for you to leave TFT. We all should be down for these clowns to leave TFT.
This approach is incredibly rare because it's far beyond the scope of the already incredibly busy job of a lead game designer for a major game (read: he's doing a lot more work and not getting paid extra for it). It also has huge downsides for the game dev.
This thread is so scary. I totally see why casuals would be turned off by Set 10. This set is super hard.
But personally, I’ve been waiting for TFT to feel like this again for 1.5 years. Sets 7-9 just weren’t that fun for me. I’ll be so sad if TFT needs to be like 7-9 to keep
This might make TFT devs very unhappy. But commuity feedback says they don't like Set 10.
The main reason for this is Set 10 requires very strong skills of competitive decision makings, including positioning, itemization, pivoting, chosen (but with restriction) and augment.
Milala’s run this set will never be matched in the history of TFT. He won Vegas, KDA, Regionals (T1), and Worlds. This level of domination in a game with so much variance shouldn’t be possible. ALL BOW DOWN TO
@milalatft
.
My wife basically doesn’t game. For this holiday season, she evaluated all of the available switch games and decided to get into Skyrim. This is either the best or worst idea she’s ever had. I can’t decide. What say you, internet?
This week in TFT:
- NA wins worlds ✅
- Riot announces massive LAN, 512 person open bracket event in Vegas, Dec 2023 ✅
- Set 9 hits PBE tomorrow (testers say the set is amazing btw)
- Gangly’s doc on Soju airs Thursday
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE
ESPN article on
@Ninja
:
“Some kids are too shy to ask for a photo, staring at him in awe. When that happens, he leans over and says, ‘Hey, buddy, I'd like to take my picture with you. Is that cool?’”
Hard to imagine a better ambassador for gaming.
(1/8) Now that Runeterra Reforged is shipped and patches are mostly put together, I want to talk about something I tried to ignore the last few weeks in order to focus on shipping. Something that put pushed me harder than it has in a long time. How we treat game devs.
@KEEMSTAR
If this makes me a complete fucking dork, I’m good with it. 2.8M people are following you, and the example you’re setting for them is pretty tragic. Maybe you should try to be a dork instead of weaponizing your fan base to attack someone.
This looting debate is such utter nonsense. It’s a red herring argument. Let me break it down for all the people that seem to only want to talk about looting right now...
While TFT twitter debates how skill expressive this patch is, I think it's worth noting that
@setsukotft
is 200lp clear of the NA ladder with a 38% win rate. Must be the luckiest man alive.
A little positive news for the timeline...
Esportslaw jr is on her way (arriving late May)! I’m so excited to be a girl dad. 🐣❤️🎉
PS - here is a video of when my sister-in-law found out to brighten up your day
Sure, Mort benefits from being more public facing as well. His stream is hugely successful, I'm sure it bolsters how he's viewed w/in Riot, and he may even derive some additional personal fulfillment.
But the biggest benefits are felt by us and the biggest negatives by him.
I’m just gonna own this...
I came on twitter to commiserate with everyone about how bad that episode of GoT was, but apparently you all loved it. We must not have watched the same thing. Maybe HBO sent the hot garbage version directly to my TV? I honestly don’t get it.
Why would he continue indefinitely under these circumstances? I know I wouldn't.
Stop. Think about that.
We're not entitled to this level of engagement from Mort or any game dev. We will lose it if we don't collectively improve as a community. Let's talk about how...
Everyone should read this article. I know many people are in the camp that the COVID panic is overblown. I was in that camp too. But this gives you all the data to understand why your behavior needs to change. Immediately.
That’s a wrap for the inaugural TFT Summit. Honestly, one of the best weeks of my life. This community is so special. The positivity, the way we support one another, the sweatiness - it’s a magical combination.
Also, TFT is the best game ever. No kap.
I woke up, tuned into the TFT worlds broadcast and the first thing I hear is an EU caster saying they’re surprised NA is doing well.
Personally, I’m surprised EU found it’s collective way onto the server. I’m not sure I’d show my face after the last 4 worlds performances.
So much has changed in the US immigration landscape over the past 6 months, and it’s having a major impact on the esports industry. Curious how? Check this out.
Spoiler: things are getting worse, not better.
If you're a streamer, understand that you wield tremendous power in this area. You help frame the community sentiment for the most engaged players on every issue.
Lead by example. Complain about the state of the game but don't tolerate hatred toward the dev team.
Most common reactions to this tweet:
1. Holy #%@&
2. Esports aren’t sports;
@Ninja
isn’t an athlete. LOUD NOISES
3. He’s a streamer, not an esports pro
Camps 2/3 kinda missed the point - I was simply remarking on the insane popularity of a gamer in 2018.
Scrolling through my timeline and did a double take...
@Ninja
was third in social interactions among ALL athletes last month - only behind Ronaldo and LeBron. That’s insane.
Via
@hookitcom
(advanced sponsorship valuations company)
First time playing the Main Event of the WSOP and I got on the featured table. Busted a pro. Solid experience so far.
Would be big stack but took an insane beat. Flopped boat with K9, but the run out was K99JJ. Villain had KJ.
Sitting just above even at dinner break.
Rick Fox: If I’m making an exclusive statement on this situation, I’ll do it through Richard because he’s a leading journalist & consistently shines a light on bad actors in the space.
r/lol mods: Richard is so evil we can’t allow his content on our sub.
🤔 🤔🤔🤦♂️ 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Exclusive: Rick Fox issues comprehensive statement to Dexerto explaining further details about the ongoing issues with Amit Raizada and rebuts statement presented by Raizada's legal team.