That was probably the most comprehensive and detailed insight on the issue from both sides. Everyone should read this before they post any trash talk, ESPECIALLY people who haven't though of or don't realize the business perspective of GOMtv and NaNiWa's opportunity in the Cup. I have nothing against him, but a company has to do what it has to do to enforce what's in their best interests for not only their customers, but ultimately the players as well.

Risen

United States7927 Posts

December 15 2011 18:20 GMT

#82

I perfectly understand your statement DOA. Thank your for taking the time to write this out. If it was me in the situation, I would have tried my hardest, because you're correct in your statement that ""It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game."

Having said that, I do not agree with the tournament format, nor GOM's reaction to the situation.

MechaCthulhu

United States136 Posts

December 15 2011 18:39 GMT

#83

On December 16 2011 00:35 [F_]aths wrote:

Show nested quote +

If I understood Doa correctly, he was arguing in a sense that the punishment for Naniwa was the lesser damage. If Gom had led Naniwa go away with this, the reputation and the spirit of GSL tournaments would suffer.

That means they just came up with an arbitrary punishment to deal with behavior they didn't like, not that Naniwa broke any rules. Doa kept saying variances of "you have to play by their rules" through his post, so I'd like to know which rule Naniwa didn't play by. As far as I'm aware, there was no explicit rule broken, but I assume DoA wouldn't just be using "play by the rules" as a meaningless rhetorical device to get people on GOM's side.

ohokurwrong

Brazil283 Posts

December 15 2011 18:51 GMT

#84

its glad to see basically everyone who wants exposure taking part in giving his 2 cents on the situation

i didnt know who egalex was and now i do. thanks guys

MechaCthulhu

United States136 Posts

December 15 2011 21:57 GMT

#85

On December 15 2011 05:04 DoA wrote:
<snip>
They invite this guy to come and play and he repays them with this. The big issue here is that I don't think Naniwa realized what a big honor he was being given by being invited to the Blizzard Cup. He certainly didn't deserve it more than anyone else. HuK won an MLG too and has been much more successful in the GSL overall. MarineKing came in 2nd in multiple GSLs throughout the year and won other tournaments. I'm sure I could find more examples. What I'm saying is that there were other people out there that deserved his spot as much as he did, but GOM chose to give it to him. They saw that he was popular with the foreign fans and I happen to personally know that (up until now anyway) the leadership at GOMtv actually liked him. His spot in the Blizzard Cup was a gift and in their eyes he basically threw it back at them by refusing to play his match. Of course they're going to be furious.
<snip>

DoA, if you would, please tell us how this explanation squares with GOMs announcement (through MLG) that Naniwa got the invitation to the Blizzcup in lieu of the Code S spot he won at MLG. It looks like you want it both ways: 1) Naniwa should have been honored to be invited to Blizzcup because others deserved it as much, and 2) he didn't actually get his invitation to Code S taken away; he got invited to Blizzcup instead.

Obviously, both those things can't be true at the same time. Either he earned an invitation to Blizzcup, therefore it was not a "gift" from GOM so they have no right to be offended by him "[throwing] it back at them", or he earned an invitation to Code S, which means GOM took something he had rightfully earned.

Taug

United States146 Posts

December 16 2011 23:47 GMT

#86

On December 15 2011 10:03 MrCon wrote:

Show nested quote +

You like it but it's false, GOM hasn't been "nice". Naniwa earned his spot and wasn't invited. In fact, he's the first foreigner to do so, every other player that won this spot was korean.

Good article DOA, but your reasoning includes "GOM decided to invite Naniwa", so I think it's flawed. GOm didn't decide anything, they gave a list of tournament from which winners would gain a spot in the blizzcup. Naniwa won one of those tournament. Naniwa won his spot, and GOM certainly not "decided to invite him".
Same for his code S spot, like his Blizzcup spot, were the very first time since open season that a foreigner EARNED a spot in the GSL and was not invited. Unless you say MC and MMA were "invited" in code S too ?

When I said i liked it, i meant the quote below -.-
How did he earn his spot? Naniwa didnt win anything, he got 2nd at MLG providence, and this was AFTER the patch that improved toss (upgrades). I'm not sure about the blizzard cup spot but i think he was invited to that as well.

Shanlan

United States41 Posts

December 17 2011 00:26 GMT

#87

Thank you DoA for explaining GOM's view and the impact of Naniwa's actions.

While I do agree what Nani did was against the spirit of competition; I think a debate should be had as to what kind of punishment GOM should dole out.
The part I'm most confused about is what Naniwa was entitled to from his results at MLG. It seems to me GOM is trying to mitigate the perception of the punishment by restating what Naniwa was entitled to.
There is also the issue of Naniwa not breaking any explicit rule, implying any punishment GOM deals out would be arbitrary. This brings into question of the powers a tournament host has in responding to unstated violations.

I don't think the punishment GOM dealt out is too extreme but the manner in which it is justified and explained raises questions of legitimacy and integrity.

Jetaap

France4814 Posts

December 17 2011 00:47 GMT

#88

The reasoning is good, but there is something factually wrong: Gom did not "offer" an invite to the blizzard cup to Naniwa, there was a rule that the 1st and 2nd place of MLG anaheim (orlando? i don't remember, the last one with the big prize pool) would get a spot to the blizzard cup. Naniwa won his spot. It's still an honour, and I don't think he realized that the simple fact of having the possibility to play a broadcasted game against Nestea is something that a lot of b-teamers dream of in korea.

It also leads to the problem of Gom giving random invites to foreigners, they really need to make qualifiers. I feel like it's really unfair to invite players based on their popularity, GSL has to be the tournament for the best of the best, no one should get a free spot. I understand that it's really hard for foreigners to go to korea, and that's it'ts good for Gom business to have foreigners playing. But make a freaking online qualifier, Gom is losing a lot of credibility in my eye by inviting Idra and Sen directly in code S. (I don't say they don't deserve it, they're definitely top foreigners, the problem is that they got into code S without winning anything, and code S should be one the most prestigious "title" in sc2, and as such should not be givent away like this).

Taug

United States146 Posts

December 17 2011 00:54 GMT

#89

They need to make qualifiers? Make a freaking online qualifier? If you didnt know, gsl has tournaments to qualify for CODE A, most of these ppl that play in it are 'Code B'. And to be honest, they probably won't make it past that. So the only way they would get into these gsl code a/code S tournaments, is through seeds, from far less competitive tournaments.