[jrpt]

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.

[htag]

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].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-XbHBQAco8 (Around 4:20, Terran player didn't see obvious thing and it cost him the game)