All I can see is DDK and autism.

made me click

DDK IS HOLDING IT DOWN 4 QUAKE BRUV

ddk = :D

Why do I have to + all your comments

It's my hairy face.

surprised he called out his ex-teammate fifflaren in there, too. he's probably just mad that thorin rated them 4th best in the world atm, which i'd say is accurate.

well, i don't know the background of this story, but considering what kind of imbecile thorin is, i agree with everything get right said.

the cs go 'analyst desk' is usually a bunch of awkward one-upmanship, with thorin playing his devil-may-care persona into the ground by condescendingly pushing others to drop their social graces to wallow in the muck with him.

brandan, just log in already

-anon

prodx, you don't have to sign your posts with "-anon" when the post says you're "Anonymous."

wait, did you change your name?

-adis

i think, given the kind of character and "media personality" he is trying to build up, this is a great success for thorin. And it is even if he's not building a persona but that's just who he is.
Getting named on a big stage, by a big time player = More people knowing his name and more drama around his opinions. Now he can make his "Thorin toughts on Get_right on Thorin" which will have a lot of views and clicks.
If his opinions stop getting attentions, eventho in lame ways as well, he's pretty much out of business.

To me, Thorin's #1 problem is his huge ego and arrogance. It impacts negatively both his analyses and his interactions with players.

1. In his analyses, you can tell that whenever he has an intuition and the facts end up disagreeing with him, he disregards the facts in favor of his own view on things. Whatever he thinks must be right, so any contrary evidence will either get ignored, get discarded as an anomaly or will be twisted in other to make it fit with his perspective.

He sometimes also creates narratives which are analytically devoid of any substance - a good example of this is his use of the term "nip magic", which he keeps using when referring to NiP comebacks. The expression is analytically empty: we obviously know that there is no such thing as real "magic" per se in CS:GO, so what Thorin does when he uses the phrase is replace an analysis of the actual reasons NiP wins in tough situations or in matches where they're not expected to win (whether in terms of comebacks during a map or suddenly performing better towards the end of a tournament than during group stage) with a meaningless expression which allows him (and other analysts) to not talk about (or barely), and do the work of studying, these real factors.

When GeT_RiGhT therefore complained about talking of "NiP magic" for their comeback a couple of tournaments ago against Virtus Pro, he was absolutely right - the expression clouds and hides where the actual credit was due, for example in natu's performance. And this goes way beyond this single map: NiP's ability to overcome difficult situations should be analyzed with regards to their ability to keep calm under pressure, to effectively distribute their efforts (throughout a single map or an entire tournament), to communicate well together, to be able to maintain a solid mindset whatever the situation (whether they are winning or losing convincingly, since overconfidence and under-confidence can both be detrimental) but also perhaps to assimilate and develop counters to their opponents' game plans (particularly in the person of Xizt) - again whether it be within a single map or throughout a tournament. This is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg, but the point is that talking of "NiP magic" completely masks these factors, which are at most mentioned in passing without being analyzed in the slightest. Another factor may be some analysts' tendency to underestimate NiP since they haven't been the top team, resulting in them being surprised when the team does manage to win against top opponents. Suddenly, a comeback is treated as "nip magic", because of how surprised Thorin & co are, instead of being treated as a regular comeback when it's fnatic or others that do it.

Using the expression "NiP magic" is therefore not only pure intellectual laziness (since it allows Thorin to wash his hands of doing actual analysis of the real factors at play - all he has to do is mention that "NiP magic"), it's also insulting to NiP (even though the term "magic" can have a positive connotation) because it masks where credit is due for their hard work and the competitive advantages they've developed throughout their CS:GO careers together.

Because of Thorin's huge ego, he sees any criticism of what he says, in this case of his use of the expression "NiP magic", as necessarily invalid, and is in his mind only the product of his "telling it how it is" and of players not liking his bluntness (when it's simply the result of players knowing that he's often wrong). Sure, you're blunt and you speak your mind, and there are many people who like it when analysts are honest, but speaking your mind is not the same thing as being correct in your analyses and statements. He called GeT_RiGhT a whiner for his completely legitimate criticism of the expression, so that tells a lot about the extent to which he takes it to personal attacks whenever his supposed insight is questioned. I'm certainly not saying that he isn't capable of interesting analysis, but in this case GeT_RiGhT was 100% right in his criticism of the expression and Thorin was clearly in the wrong.

2. This brings me to Thorin's interactions with players. Now, I understand that he has an autism spectrum disorder, and it must not be easy to live with it and I entirely sympathize with that. I truly wish him the best. Surely, though, even if that disorder has an impact on his social interactions (I don't know that it does, but it's possible), it should be possible for him to realize that he has to work on taking things to a personal level less often. Each time somebody disagrees with him, he makes it a personal issue. He insults and taunts players on twitter like a twelve-year-old... it's embarrassing. Even if someone takes a jab at you, just let it go. There's no need to try to "win" every exchange with taunts and by insulting the careers of players. It's like he can't see how petty he looks to any mature adult. Sure, there's a crowd of kids who are loving the drama, but it only serves to make you look like a bitter kid in the eyes of people who have grown past stuff like that.

Because he immediately takes criticism to a personal level, it also prevents him from assimilating legitimate points raised against his analyses. When players tell you that you don't understand anything about CS, obviously it's hyperbole since you are capable of analyzing various aspects of the game. Since you've never actually been good at the game, however, you simply do not understand some of the internal dynamics of players' reactions to events and calls from their mates - this is something that you learn through playing, hardly through observing. Sometimes such elements won't matter in terms of analyses at a more general level, but sometimes they will. And when you're called out because of your lack of knowledge of the internal dynamics of CS, the least you can do is ask how they invalidate your analysis (perhaps they don't and the player is wrong, but perhaps they do and he's not) instead of immediately insulting the player and discarding the criticism.

A final word about Thorin's self-describing as "the e-sport historian". Again with the ego - get off your high horse. Unless you have a Master's degree in historical studies (maybe you do, I don't know, but you're sure as hell not applying it here), you're not a historian. Nothing of what you do can be considered the work of an historian, any more than football aficionados or analysts are "football historians". That title is almost an insult to the work of actual historians.

Long text, but I thought I might as well try and help him in case he still reads ESR. I don't follow CS as much as I used to, but I still watch streams often enough to be frequently bothered by him when he's on. He does have qualities, but he'd be more interesting and less cringe-worthy if he could work on his flaws.

?

just another analyst analyst, that doesn't know anything about top level huge egos.

Now, I understand that he has an autism spectrum disorder, and it must not always be easy to live with it and I entirely sympathize with that. Surely, though, even if that disorder has an impact on his social interactions (I don't know that it does, but it's possible)

Poor (or no) social skills is the main diagnostic criterium for autism. AFAIK, it stems from impaired development of theory of mind (basically putting yourself into another person's shoes). This video displays it pretty well


also, despite all those funny shows like Sherlock, Community and The Big Bang Theory, autism is no joke. The brain handles sensory stimuli differently, something as simple as a crowded street can be an absolute nightmare for someone with autism.

autism is not funny but the big bang theory is?

get the fuck out of here

real life doesn't have laugh tracks

oh I disagree

have you not met any people who laugh at their own "jokes" ?

I laugh at my own jokes because nobody else is gonna do it :(

I like thorin. He has well thought out opinions and he is articulate. Plus he hates Poland.

I like him too. And who doesn't hate Poland?

I like poland, gienon is from there

what's there to hate about Poland?

I don't like mushrooms in bigos.

I'm glad that happened, it's hard to take casters/analysts seriously when they have little experience being competitive/pro themselves. The same applied to Quake, QL.TV was the easiest thing to watch muted because no casters understood the decision making that went on, hearing casters ask why a player didn't contest mega when they were obviously at a worse position and lower HP. The same applies to CS, thorin would be the last person I'd want to listen to since he never got on any decent level in anything, he's just a talker. get_right feels the same as everyone else, 'analysts' talking for 20 minutes when in reality they said nothing of value or substance.

You guys do realize GeT_RiGHT was joking about it

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGetright/posts/10153962191547788
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGetright/posts/10153962127587788

No he wasn't. It was hyperbole, but he was still serious in his criticism of Thorin's analyses (it echoes some of his previous statements). His later messages are an attempt to cool down the "controversy" and the inflammatory nature of his initial "they don't know shit", but he still meant it.

#care

lol ddk is such an handsome guy (no homo)

did you write "an handsome" because you don't pronounce the h in french?

Wait... So an (e-) athlete disagrees with someone doing interviews and analysis?

HOLY FUCKSHIT STOP THE PRESS

when i say thorin knows shit im getting bashed. when get_right does it hes being praised.

oh dear god.

that might've to do with the fact that get_right is a god in cs and has been for years... and you're not?

it only shows how limited and narrow minded gamers are :b

Hello guys what's the hell

nice GTR

Get_The_Right

Thorin makes good CSGO videos, I sometimes watch is LoL videos too because he has a compelling creates a compelling narrative