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The Puma issue I think is very interesting and I think it is controversial because of something missing for SC2 to become a legitimate sport. It really got me to thinking about KeSPA and what they play in Brood War and this situation.
Technically, this doesn’t break any official rules and the signing of Puma was entirely legit, but everyone knows this. It is an issue because we have no sort of body that regulates this. I know all the SL named things are calling themselves leagues, but in the long run Starleagues are tournaments that run regularly.
What I think there should be an opening for and what I hope there might be in the future is some sort of Starcraft organization that major tournaments and teams work within in a way like KeSPA did in the Korean Brood War scene just without the evil.
What are the advantages of this? Well an organization like this would be able to set up standards and rules for tournaments and teams which currently there is complete chaos. They could be the people to determine the proper way to manage the switching of teams. I feel for TSL because they lost a player, someone they expended resources to house and train to win the NASL in the first place only to lose their player without any compensation at all (That I am aware of), a formal organization I hope would be able to organize this and make sure that TSL won’t be so hurt by such a movement.
Other jobs this sort of regulatory body could achieve for professional Starcraft 2 is put together an official map list so every tournament isn’t a pain for pro players to practice. Professional players could use such an organization to negotiate formal rules like those for wages or resources. A formal way for teams to draft new players to give the player the deal that he wants would also benefit players. (I mean imagine if teams bid for players). As more and more money enters SC2 as it grows we would need to do something like this to ensure more ambiguous things like the Puma incident don’t happen. And to ensure things like soundproofing and anti cheating measures.
I know that the insidious KeSPA will sour many players to an organization like this as KeSPA did the same job in Korea and made life terrible for many pro players, instituting harsh working conditions, under payed players, and lobbied to try and stop SC2 from taking off in Korea.
I would argue that since the professional scene of SC2 is not like BW and is truly an international sport, that the draconian policies of KeSPA would not be able to survive.
Postscript: I want to point out I take no stance on the situation, some of the players on EG are friends of mine and honestly I think most of the issue was due to there really being no easy way to pick up a player.
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It's only able to survive because all the BW pro events are sanctioned through KeSPA.
It's practically impossible to have one governing body to enforce SC2 tournaments. Sure, there are some invite only tournaments, but the vast majority have slots open to the public.
All the majors would have to become closed circuit tournaments. Not only that, but new teams will continue to pop up, add in the fact SC2 is a truly international; and last but not least, many organizations across the world hosting events. Chances are next to nil. What are you going to do? Add another fee on top of Blizzard's fee to sanction the event? o-O
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They could be the people to determine the proper way to manage the switching of teams.
The proper way is the will of the player, observed the stipulations of his contract. Just like it is today. I can't imagine why anyone who's not a team owner/manager would want otherwise.
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Yup, this aint gonna happen. Or rather shouldn't.
I think specifically from a player point of view, it would be best for a players association to be formed, that provides support for professional players. This whole Puma thing could have been handled better if the expectations around contract negotiations was clearer. This has to be driven by players, and you don't need a formalised structure to improve the situation. A players association could provide advice on contract negotiation, help with networking etc. It doesn't have to be prescriptive.
The fact is that players can be exploited because they act alone. That doesn't mean that collective bargaining is the only way to go.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
KeSpa is interested in SC2 somewhat, there was an interview on gamefy with the secretary-general of KeSpa about it. Due to the Puma event alot of koreans actually say that something like KeSpa is needed aswell, even though you might not want it to happen I'd say that there is a fair chance that KeSpa or a KeSpa like entity will emerge atleast in Korea.
Besides, who is going to fund this huge international ''governing'' body anyway? KeSpa is on a local scale so to speak, but youl need to have funding to get something going for international purposes.
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I really hope we don't see any governing bodies. I wasn't following the BW pro scene at all but just from the description it seems like KeSPA wasn't a good thing. You said you wanted it without the corruption but to be quite frank few things come without corruption. Just about any country has its corrupt figures and organizations.
Players, managers, team owners, etc., should be the ones to regulate it. Now if some former player or current player or someone with experience in the scene decided to help players negotiate contracts i could maybe see that. But even then that could turn messy. Not many people are a fan of "agents" in traditional sports because many hold outs are caused by them pleaing with the player to seek every cent. Don't get me wrong, thats good for the player. But right now we don't see any of that.
So when a contract is renewed or a player signs with a new team after his/her contract is up its usually a clean transition.
I see it working fine right now if teams just honor contracts and show some ethics in the business. It seems unfair for EG because this whole topic was sparked from their getting PuMa. Really if you step back and look at it now EG and PuMa had the right plan. It was just that it was all leaked too early before it had all been carried out.
I think it would be absurd to have some organization tell EG that they couldn't sign a player like PuMa who isn't under contract at all. Or to tell EG or PuMa they owe something to TSL. Yes I won't deny TSL has helped PuMa a lot. I don't really understand why they hadn't put him under contract, even without sponsors you could get some form of contract or agreement so that another team at least has to bargain with you on it.
People continue to compare SC2 and esports to traditional sports and systems they use. It would be absurd for a professional baseball team or basketball team to have a player without a contract. TSL jumped on signing everyone else on their team to a contract when PuMa left. So it would show that it really wasn't that far fetched to do it in the first place. I don't think anyone is at fault for the EG/PuMa/TSL situation. I think its business 100% and should have just been a news story, no drama. But how it was presented certainly made it look that way. And then many notable players calling EG the bad company of e-sports certainly hasn't helped.
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Well an organization like this would be able to set up standards and rules for tournaments and teams which currently there is complete chaos.
Complete Chaos? EG did nothing wrong and the only reason the public thinks so is because of coach lee. People have some misconception that going through coach lee first is different then going through coach lee when you know theres player interest.
Also, for setting up standards and rules for tournaments, there also isn't complete chaos.
I realize someone was going to make threads about this, given EGs response to criticism, but i still cant agree.
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Can you imagine what would happen if sc2 gamers are told to earn "pro liscense" through a courage tournament?
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EPT
