Tip of my hat to Godsmurf and Tal. Clanbase had a nice run and I had the privilege to attend several of their LAN events. Thanks for everything.
Don't forget Amsterdam Rob (Wob?), he was one of the original founders as well I believe.
ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
31–40 of 49 posts
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#32Wow, sad. More than a decade ago Clanbase was all the rage. Their Eurocup tournaments were among the biggest and most prestigious in Quake3 and i loved to watch the big teams fighting for the crown each time.
In 2002 i even went from Germany to the Quake Pub in Rotterdam to watch the Eurocup 3 Finals live. A few years later their best times were over though and the gaming community was different, they have been on a decline ever since.
Good times...sad to see them go :/
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#33Sad state of affairs in gaming. My memories of a number of high profile "pro-gaming" organisations is almost entirely tainted by broken promises of paying out prize money to the winners of their competitions (delays, partial payouts, not paying out at all). With the GGL buying ClanBase in 2004 it was - unfortunately - only a matter of time before something like this happened. I've often wondered why so many big name…
Seems like the only ones who built a really sustainable business out of it is Turtle Entertainment (ESL). The Intel Extreme Masters stuff is huge!
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#34That's sad indeed.
I'm not blaming staff, but I think there's something they could have done indeed. Esport[1] is doing quite well nowadays, especially around blizzard games.
Blizzard has a lot of money to invest in this, seeing a big return value in turning a game into a sport, but it may not be possible without sponsors. If you want to organize tournaments with prizes, you have to have sponsors. In big esl events, those are intel, acer, nvidia, etc. Esport events are extremely well targeted events for them, the only better option would be to add ads directly in games.
Crowdfunding prizes is also an option. This week-end, a bitcoin starcraft challenge[2] was organized, mainly funded (to the words of organizer during stream) by reddit users giving bitcoins, and a few other sponsor - mainly bitcoin trading websites. Don't try to hide this into some kind of premium account. People don't want that, they want to see events.
You can't just rely on a company you seem to have no contact with to just give away big money (even if they are indeed the ones to blame, if that's article is true, because they were no right to their word).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_sports
[2] http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Bitcoin_StarCraft_Chal...
(edited links formatting)
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#35I'm sad to see this. I can't say I've been using it even in the last 5-6 years, but I used to follow the NationsCup tournaments and we used to play on the ladder a lot back in the day.
It truly is like seeing the pub you and your friends used to go to close up shop and wondering why you ever stopped going there.
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#36Wow, it is over 12 years ago that I used that website with Unreal Tournament clans! Seems like it was yesterday! Good times...
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#37I read this a "Coinbase is no more - we are sorry" and panicked for a second.
Just shows how risky putting your money into coinbase is; no safety net if they decide to pull the plug. Not until bitcoin is considered legal tender and coinbase gets a bank audit and becomes part of insurance policies to recompensate people if they did end up going bankrupt.
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#38Sad state of affairs in gaming. My memories of a number of high profile "pro-gaming" organisations is almost entirely tainted by broken promises of paying out prize money to the winners of their competitions (delays, partial payouts, not paying out at all). With the GGL buying ClanBase in 2004 it was - unfortunately - only a matter of time before something like this happened. I've often wondered why so many big name…
I worked for a few of these organizations (CPL, WSVG) and have always been sad to see what's happened to esports/gaming. As you mentioned, GGL was a particularly sketchy organization. To be honest I'm happy to even see a fellow former Q3 player here :) Most of my gaming buddies and clan mates moved on to other fields. Who did you play for?
I'm sure there are many ex gamers lurking around on HN! I played clan games in the early days for a euro team called GZD.
What happened to the CPL was interesting to watch from a distance. Before I became good enough to compete at any level, I remember wanting to compete at CPL events. That, and legendary Doom tournaments, were a driving force for me to practice and get good.
What was your experience like working there? I can imagine it was awesome until the discussion about money came up.
Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#39Re: ClanBase is no more – we are sorry
#40Unfortunately, this is what happens to online communities. Particularly those run by teenagers. I've been a member of a number of communities that have suffered deaths in very similar ways -- choked by the people who own the rights at the expense of the volunteers and the community. It's unfortunate, because I find that often volunteer teenagers are the ones that truly have a passion for doing what they are doing, bu…
> * have a passion for doing what they are doing, but they get held up by corporations or by people who want to monetize. *
Could those "passionate teenagers" have kept it running instead of selling the site in 2004 (why didn't they?), or would it have died much earlier if some "greedy" corporation hadn't picked it up and paid the bills all these years? It's great to have the passion to build something cool, but it's a little cooler if it's sustainable.