E-sports organisations don’t cover themselves in glory most of the time. If they’re not being serially inept and getting players to sign contracts that would be more legally binding if they wrote it in shit on the back of a fag packet, they’re then robbing players of any sort of money they can think of to prop up their failing venture. They like to talk about solidarity and growing the e-sports scene, they like to bandy words around like “professionalism”, but when it comes to the crunch they’ll happily slander rivals where possible, poach their players and try and pressure media outlets into not publishing the truth.
Of course, I mean those other organisations, not the ones that are “household” names (if your household is solely populated by the kind of nerds that find the C:DOS/Run T-shirt funny) because they always behave properly and have nothing but the best interests of e-sports at heart. And that’s even if you discount the whole hilarious G7 thing as little more than the dick measuring contest that it clearly is. Regardless, these guys have their finger on the pulse.
Why then did so many of them support the dumbest proposed boycott in e-sports history? Yes, I’m referring to the big organisations that decided if ESWC were going to let people pay an entry fee to try and bolster sign-ups they simply wouldn’t attend. I mean, you can totally understand it right. How dare they try and get more teams to attend. How dare they try and cover some overheads since their costly relaunch that saw them saddled with a previous company’s debt and struggle to hold on to major sponsors after their first event. Those filthy fucking swine.
After all big organisations, such as the ones in the G7, definitely have a grasp of the bigger picture. They are the people who care the most. The G7 mission statement wouldn’t lie:
“ – Improve and represent e-sports in all its aspects, as well as provide a platform for stability for member teams
– Provide a communication channel for the community to improve e-sports, through the unification of teams
– Strive to achieve the following; cooperate with leagues and tournament organizers, standardize player transfers amongst teams, represent stability for players signed to member teams, provide a professional, information based website about e-sports.”
It’s a series of directives that even Robocop would approve of. And even if it wasn’t, they could just reprogramme him or hold back on his baby-food until he got the message. It’s clear then that even the organisations that aren’t invited to sit at this incredible round table still hold themselves up to the lofty ideals. Organisations such as mTw, who embody professional gaming, or Na’Vi who seem completely oblivious to the irony of lecturing others about conduct. Yeah, G7 or not, big organisations know just how important they are in the big picture and the burden that comes with it.
Which is why I fail to see exactly what form of “co-operation” was occurring when they decided to call their little boycott. It seemed to have no other foundation than to be some sort of monstrously arrogant statement about the importance of the organisations themselves. How else can you explain utter guff such as what mTw’s CEO (Really?) Lars Eiben said during the announcement of the boycott:
“We are not willing to pay a fee for a tournament that, on the one hand, solely exists on our players, and on the other hand, we have to bear all the costs for accommodation and travel. All teams share this opinion and have agreed on this boycott. We have decided to make a statement. The sport primarily thrives from us, the clans, and in recent years we have repeatedly seen such scenarios, and we never resisted.
Due to this fact we have decided that this is the last straw, therefore we are taking this measure. We are open for discussions and are willing to find a compromise. The next step has to come from the ESWC management.”
The tournament solely exists on their players? I’m not so sure I agree with this logic. Surely it’s the size of the tournament itself that attracts the best players to compete in it, most of whom I’m sure would like to have that opportunity. However, not only would these organisations prevent them from doing that (simply to save more money on the surface of things) they also want to stop other teams from having a chance to experience it.
The only thing I can agree on is the sense that if this were the ESWC in its purest form it would be one team per country, all who had won national qualifiers, and it’d be an all-expenses paid, red-carpet rollercoaster ride for those lucky few. Sadly, the shape e-sports is in at the moment we have to settle for the next best thing, which is a series of highly competitive tournaments with the best players who are able to attend there. Any boycott that stops the best from attending serves no other purpose than devaluing the tournament. Even if they did do this all that would happen is a third outcome… A decent tournament that leaves e-sports wondering what could have been if everyone went but one that would be watched and appreciated all the same.
What goals are achieved by kicking up a stink? Well, firstly there’s the money saved. They’ll say this is a matter of principle, that money means nothing to the super-orgs such as them. All big organisations do this. They make it look like they have more than they do and any outward opulence is usually papering over the cracks that they are skint. Not entirely their fault a lot of the time. It’d be nice if people, such as ESL, paid out their prize money in a timely fashion instead of making up excuses that wouldn’t appease even the most naive of creditors in the real world.
On top of that it’s a cynical attempt to exploit the problems facing the new ESWC outfit. Last year’s event didn’t hit some key targets and while they might not want to publicly talk about it, there were some failures that saw some big sponsors not return. For example, you won’t see Peugeot back after they were disappointed with the whole spectacle and clearly didn’t get the exposure they were hoping for. With the new set of sponsors and “strategic partners” having that all too familiar “e-sports feel” about them (Ooooh look – A server company) clearly the orgs thought they could twist the knife and get some benefit for themselves into the bargain.
I’m sure most people didn’t even believe the boycott was real. I mean, they did say they were boycotting last year’s event as well until the prize money from past events were paid out. Still, as soon as the trough of prize money was unveiled they all wanted to stick their snouts in again. And hilariously it’s not been this much different this time around.
While publicly declaring themselves to be all up for boycotting the event, they still managed to cover the bases of actually applying and making sure they had a valid application in. Strange behaviour for people that are indifferent about the event itself and their attendance. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt on that one… Why is it then that some of the teams were complaining about not being invited when the list of invited teams was published? Talk about wanting your cake and eating it.
This is what it’s really all about… It’s like corrupt conservative politicians bleating about the lack of morals that single mothers have then being exposed as having a string of illegitimate children. Or talking about how we should start to get back to a traditional view of sex, then being caught paying a prostitute to hammer drawing pins into the base of their penis with a heavy book. It’s hypocrisy, double standards and the complete barefacedness to present one image to the public while behaving in a very different manner when they think it’s anonymous. Thankfully it seems that most people weren’t taken in this time and didn’t support the calls for the boycott.
Credit then to ESWC. I know they did decide to drop the registration fees in the end but it seems to have genuinely been for the greater good as opposed to the pathetically transparent attempts at bullying from organisations that are given too much leeway within the scene as it is. The decision ensures the best outcome for the competition and for the fans, while at the same time showing that short term they are prepared to waive money in the hope of getting ESWC back to some semblance of its former glory. This is to be commended, especially at a time when the biggest events on the e-sports calendar seem to be in a decline, with the exception of SC2 and undoubtedly DoTA 2.
This, combined with the smart partnership with ESL for online qualifiers, has rescued what once looked likely to be a catastrophic failure. It also seems to have brought the best out of the CS:S community, the numbers for the online qualifier dwarfing that of 1.6. There have been a lot of positives to take from it and where once I was cynical and borderline weary ahead of the prospect of ESWC and having to report on it, I’m now actually looking forward to a major competition for CS:S.
The only thing that now leaves a nasty taste in my mouth is the behaviour of the organisations that honestly think they are entitled to special treatment at the hands of the people that are trying to resurrect the ghost of e-sports past. Sure, I have no doubt somewhere down the line somebody is getting paid. ESWC are not doing it out of the kindness of the hearts. But they did waive the fees for something close to that and gave these orgs a fright or two when it looked like they might be forced to stick to their guns. It’s just a shame they can’t come out and gloat about it.
Big organisations make e-sports what it is and deserve special treatment? What a load of Bollocks.