Funny thing with Starcraft 2 is since you can have duplicate user names, all the top players would ladder with a ||||||| user name to prevent the other player from knowing who they are and what they would do.
* SC2 is now free to play, so anyone can create a barcode account. The biggest barrier for top level players is needing to play ~10 hours to have a high enough rank to get interesting games.
* For top 1000 players this allows them to play games without the opponent knowing their style before hand.
* For top 100 players this allows them to experiment with different styles in public games without their tournament opponents knowing how they have been playing recently.
* Professional SC2 is changing from having a couple of big tournaments every year to having frequent smaller tournaments. Previously the top 10 players might publicly play only a handful of events throughout the year so their opponents would have less information about their strategies and play styles. Now, the best players are being forced to play publicly multiple times a month or not be able to generate enough winnings to support themselves. This is making barcode play less attractive for top 100 players, as being secretive is less important than being consistent.
* Along with this change, many professional players are shifting into content creation/streaming. Players like Hero Marine(Germany) and Harstem(Netherlands) are leading the way on being a professional level player and a content creator. Players like PiG(Australia) are leading the way on being pivoting a former professional career into a content creating business.
* There's a surprising number of players with lifetime winnings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. Serrel(Finland) and Maru(S. Korea) have crossed over one million. Dark(S. Korea) is going military service soon with over $990,000 in total winnings.
Yeah, the barcode only makes sense if you value secrecy over your brand. But streaming and content creation is way more lucrative than tournaments, so branding is more valuable. Even in major sports like golf or baseball, your brand is way more valuable. Pro athletes like Tiger Woods make way more money from their brand than their tournament winnings.
In the games I'm familiar with, pro players can still practice together secretly when prepping for a major tournament. But everyday play is just under one's own username.
I think SC2 is a little unique. Over half of the top 10 players do not speak English fluently enough for the amount of content creation expected. The majority of the viewers do expect content in English. This means many of the best players do have trouble converting their brand into cash and have been primarily funding themselves through tournament winnings. This dynamic has created the perception of match fixing [0].
