KeSPA asks blizzard to stop ~ - Page 24

I am actually astonished at the amount of personal hatred being directed toward MJY...

I may not have been around for nearly as long as most of the guys here, but long enough to have followed the news of the matchfixing scandal back in the days when it was still in the headlines. Back then, I remember, the media wasn't all about throwing brown stuff at Ma Jae-Yoon, or indeed any of the players involved. Instead, they were all asking the same question that people naturally ask after such a huge scandal: Why?

Why did so many players, among them once legendary ones like MJY, do literally the worst thing they could have done in their capacity as a professional gamer?

It was not like MJY actually needed money; he earned more than some pro-gamers ever did during their entire career. And it was not like MJY needed fame either; there is no evidence that he ever cheated to win. Had he simply retired in, say 2009, he would probably have forever remained THE legendary Zerg. People did not understand. The fact that someone like MJY would become involved in such a scandal strongly hints at the fact that it is not simply the problem of several individuals. Indeed, by common logic, if someone like MJY could become corrupt, then anyone else could. There's bound to be something systematically wrong.

It was then that the true problem behind the BW scene in Korea, or indeed pro-gaming in general, became exposed to the public eyes: that the pro-gamers lacked any formal education that most other people of their age would have received. They were taught to become the best among pro-gamers; they were trained to play and win games. But they were not taught some basic lessons like morality, like how to interact with other people. In fact, a large portion of them have been school drop-outs. Think about it. They maybe adults, but adults who haven't been taught that they should be responsible as an adult. And unlike other sportsmen, they don't even live a "normal life"; they sat in a room facing a computer for years. It was after this scandal that the Korean pro-gaming scene became truly aware of the seriousness of this problem, with pro-gaming teams bringing in cultural teachers in addition to gaming coaches.

What I am saying is that it is really unfair to say they "tainted" the BW scene; they exposed a problem that existed long ago. If it were not these players who did it, there would eventually be someone else. And this, imho, is the true reason that a few matchfixers "scared sponsors away and changed public opinion for the worse" for pro-gaming while thousands, multitudes of cheaters/matchfixers failed to do the same for other sports. If we caught someone matchfixing in say, soccer, we all know that the matchfixers are at fault, not soccer itself; but the pro-gaming scene inexplicably played a part in contributing to the scandal. MJY was a convenient scapegoat because he was such a visible figure, and most of his ex-fans would direct their immense hatred toward him anyway.

Now I am not saying that MJY should not be held responsible for what he did; he violated the very basic decency for a pro-gamer: to play fairly. For that, he should pay dearly. But chasing him everywhere to the point of not even allowing him to touch the game for life seems just... unthinkable to me. Come on people, we even give some murderers a second chance. Committing matchfixing as a pro-gamer is not in any way worse than committing murder as a human being, although probably not in any way better either; just like "showing remorse" does not mean having to give up their own lives for murderers, it should not mean having to give up gaming for a pro-gamer either.

I am disgusted by the fact that KeSPA is now trying to direct all the blame to MJY and even trying to prevent him from playing in a foreign event that they don't even have anything to do with now, but I don't ever recall seeing them acknowledge their part of responsibility.

Exclusive Interview: Ma Jaeyoon (Savior) addresses the endless controversy surrounding him

A recent incident resulted in the Internet being flooded with comments about Ma Jaeyoon (Savior). Controversy erupted when it became known that Ma---who was permanently banned by KeSPA in 2010 for his role in the match-fixing scandal---competed in a Chinese Starcraft Brood War (henceforth S1) league.

As the most infamous man in eSports, Ma's participation was by itself enough to cause a huge shock. When it was reported that he had even won the tournament, sharp criticisms such as "He has no shame", "He destroyed S1 and has no conscience", "Does he love money that much", and more were posted one after another.

Fomos then attempted to contact Ma directly. He has frequently been a hot topic since the match-fixing scandal because of, among other things, his broadcasting activities on AfreecaTV and his lawsuits against online commenters. He has never made an official statement, but we wanted to find out his position on the various issues that are centered around him.

The interview with Ma was unexpectedly easy to arrange. We contacted him through Yoo Jinwoo (Beast)---a former practice player on the Hwasung team---and he accepted our interview request immediately. On December 5th, a few days after the controversy first arose, we met a coffee shop in the Gangnam area. According to him, this is the second interview that he has done with the press since the match-fixing scandal. We first asked about the facts relating to his participation in the Chinese tournament and then moved on to the topic of his past transgressions.

Q: How did you come to participate in the Chinese tournament? Did you know about the shock that it caused in Korea?

A: The Chinese side contacted me first via e-mail. We had some back-and-forth communication before I came to participate in the 2v2 tournament, as is already known. I knew that my participation would cause an uproar. The reason I decided to participate despite anticipating this reaction is the same as the reason that I am streaming on AfreecaTV. I will answer this question in more detail a little bit later in this interview.

Q: The Korea reactions are overwhelmingly negative in nature. What do you think about this?

A: It's inevitable. That's the way it has been until now, and will be in the future. I will have to withstand these critical opinions about me for many more years, perhaps for my entire life.

Q: Why did you go even though you knew that it would result in such a negative public response?

A: I made a very selfish decision to participate in the Chinese tournament. I knew that the fans and those involved in eSports would not like it. However, my current situation demands that I participate anyway. It is not as if I stream and play in tournaments because I want people to be mad at me.

Q: What happened on your trip to China?

A: I visited China back when I was a player (trans. note: on a pro team). I was surprised that the Chinese welcomed me nearly as much as they did back then. It made me wonder if it was okay for me to be welcomed thusly. However, during a session when the fans in attendance were allowed to do a Q-and-A with me, the host instructed the translator not to translate some questions. I asked about it later and found out that the fan had asked "How do you feel about hitting rock bottom after the match-fixing scandal in Korea?" It made me realized that the Chinese organizers and fans are informed about what I did in Korea.

TC: Perhaps this confirms that the earlier post about the Chinese organizer claiming ignorance about the scandal was a lie?

Q: Do you intend to participate in more Chinese tournaments.

A: As of right now, I am willing to go if they are willing to invite me. I know that other Korean players have attended Chinese tournaments in the past and are willing to do so again in the future. A tournament of this scale is held about once or twice a year; the rest are mostly online tournaments.

I asked the organizers, "How do you feel about the negative reaction in Korea because of my participation?" They replied that they want to continue supporting me. They went so far as to ask if there is anything they could do to improve my public image in Korea. I really couldn't give an answer to that question.

Q: As far as we know, you haven't done any interviews since news of the match-fixing scandal first broke. Why did you so readily accept our interview request?

A: I never avoided interviews; I just didn't have any opportunities for interviews. Fomos interviewed me right after the scandal first became known, but the interview was never published anywhere. It was the only interview that I did during what was a very difficult time for me. I was suspicious about why the interview never appeared anywhere, and also why no one contacted me again, but just thought that I should let it be. If I look back on it now, I think that doing nothing after that interview was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Fomos: Ma was under the false impression that the earlier interview that never appeared was with Fomos. The earlier interview was in fact with another media organization. Ma said that he has twice apologized, once on the web and once on his personal stream. He claims that Fomos interviewed him through his apology on his personal stream. However, at the time the scandal first became known, Fomos contacted Ma's mother to arrange an interview, but the interview was never realized because she suddenly broke off all contact. After we explained this to him, Ma admitted that he had confused Fomos with another media organization.

Q: What was the content of that earlier interview?

A: At that time, we did the interview in my hospital room. I met with two reporters with whom I was well-acquainted. I was hospitalized because of my knee, so I talked about my health, and I also apologized to the fans and those involved in eSports. I also talked about the things I saw, heard, and did during the match-fixing incident. After that, no one wanted to interview me no matter what I did, be it broadcasting on Afreeca or something else. If anyone requested an interview, what I am saying now would have come out much 1-3 years earlier.

Q: Regardless of that earlier interview, this is the first official interview, so we have to ask about the match-fixing scandal. You might feel uncomfortable about talking about the distant past.

A: It's okay because I don't have anything more to lose. There's nothing to hide. I don't think that this interview will change anyone's mind.

Q: First, is there anything unfair to you about what transpired as it relates to the match-fixing scandal?

A: I didn't personally fix any of my own games. I know that this particular aspect is not that important to people. Even people who know that I did not fix my own games believe that the things that I did actually do are even worse than fixing my own games. This is not that surprising if we consider the exceptional position I had in the community at that time. However, in the case of the game against Shin Daegun (hyvaa) people are convinced that I lost on purpose and that I just left no evidence.

TC: The game against hyvaa is the one that made Nal_Ra say that he wanted to see a slowed down replay. First, Hyvaa kills three drones in Savior's natural with one zergling. Hyvaa and Savior then engage in the decisive air battle near Savior's natural. Hyvaa has 2 scourge + 10 mutalisk on one gas production. Savior has 8 scourge and 8 mutalisk on two gas production. Savior seems to a-move his scourge and does not micro to avoid Hyvaa's scourge. People believe that Savior left no evidence because he was very careful about covering his tracks and also there were problems with obtaining evidence from online betting sites, which were mostly located overseas. Many of those sites also evaporated once the scandal became public. Movie said on his stream that Savior wrote a fake entry in his diary about how he wasn't playing well, and left it open where everyone could see it. The underlying premise is that Movie---who was on the same team---believes that Savior is lying. Of course, we don't know if he has extra information, so it is unclear what to make of it.

Q: Are you saying that you did not lose that game on purpose?

A: While my annual base salary was cut significantly, my contract had strong incentive payments, which made me want to win as many games as possible. From December on, I practiced for nearly three months on 4-5 hours of sleep per day without going out. That was the hardest I've practiced since I became a pro gamer. I was considering a February retirement, so I wanted to go out on a high note. However, even I admit that it was such a ridiculous game (vs hyvaa) so I am frustrated by the fact that there is nothing I can do to convince others that I am innocent in that case. Later, I even thought about just telling others that I did it since no one would believe anything else. Rather than feeling that it was unfair, I was upset about it.

TC: The part about incentives seems roughly correct. It's been written in some places (without source attribution) that Savior would receive about a $3000 bonus from the team for each win at that time.

Q: Why were you thinking about retirement?

A: It hurt my pride to be collecting a salary from the team without playing. However, I was losing every time I did get to play, so that made me want to retire.

Q: It shocked people why a player of Ma's caliber would need to do something like this.

A: The prosecutor in charge of the case also asked me the same question. He said that the paper trail showed that they were only able to trace only $2000 (USD) in my bank account from the match-fixing activities. At the time, I did not know that match-fixing was a bad thing and never imagined that it would become such a big deal. When I was first approached about the possibility of fixing my own games, I refused quite easily. As I was saying earlier, I was considering retirement anyways.

Q: And?

A: After getting the offer, I told Jin Youngsoo (Hwasin) over Battle.net about it. I told him that some hyung ("big bro") I knew had offered me $3000-5000 for losing a game intentionally. At that time, Youngsoo told me that he was going to be eliminated from the OSL Round of 16 even if he won all his games. After hearing this, I told Youngsoo to contact me if he was interested in match-fixing. Later, Youngsoo claimed that I suggested that he fix matches. Of course, it was my fault for saying things the way I did. It would have been better to simply pass on the contact information to Youngsoo and let him make the arrangements directly on his own without my involvement. However, the two parties did not know each other, while I knew both, so I acted as an intermediary to pass along payments. Both Youngsoo and I did not that we were doing something so bad, but we at least knew that this was something that should be kept a secret. However, Justin somehow found out about our conversation and contacted me. When I told Justin that I would not fix my own games, he asked me if I knew anyone who might be willing and I mentioned Kim Sung-gi (Darkelf). Jin Youngsoo and Kim Sung-gi are the only people to whom I passed on payments for match-fixing. Kim Sung-gi is the only one I recruited into match-fixing. You can confirm this in the judge's ruling.

TC: In the trial, Savior said that he tried to recruit both Much and Xellos in addition to Darkelf, but only Darkelf agreed. Hiya said that Savior asked him to fix matches. Since this was not mentioned in the trial, we can conjecture that perhaps there are more people Savior tried to recruit as well. Also, Savior says that he did not recruit Hwasin, but Hwasin's testimony in the trial directly contradicts this. Furthermore, Savior's own words above reveal that he did in fact recruit Hwasin. It's just wordplay; he didn't use the exact words, "I want you to fix matches". Beyond that, Savior has stated on his own stream that he tempted some players by telling them that he himself had fixed a couple of his own games and nothing bad happened. He claims that this is why so many people think that he fixed his own games: Because he lied that he had fixed his own games in order to make other players willing to fix their games! "If even Savior is doing it, then it must be okay." This video was floating around the web for a while and I have seen it myself. When he says that Darkelf is the only one he recruited, he's saying that Darkelf is the only one he successfully recruited. Just some wordplay. He is on record saying that he recruited others.

Q: A lot of people said that you betrayed Coach Cho, who raised you into a pro gamer.

A: After the Lunar New Year holiday weekend in February, I was supposed to return to the team dorms at 6pm. The coach called me and said that he was on his way to meet with KeSPA. He wanted to ask me one thing before he went. He asked me if I fixed matches. That honestly scared me, but I also did not think that things would become bigger, so I told the coach that I was not involved. He said okay and told me to return home. Following those instructions, I went home instead of going to the team dorms. I was suddenly overcome with fear and phoned Jin Youngsoo (Hwasin). I wanted to know if his coach at STX also knew about this, but he did not answer my calls or texts. Other than Jin Youngsoo (Hwasin) and Kim Sung-gi (Darkelf), I did not know who else had fixed matches and did not know how the betting system worked.

TC: Hwasin's interviews from way back once again directly contradict Savior's statement here. Both could be lying since both are criminals, even if Savior has been caught more often in public lies.

Q: Do you have anything to say to those guys?

TC: There is a screen capture of someone's summary of an interview with the prosecutor in charge of the case, who says that a player who likely is Savior (no names are named) was a broker of match-fixing rather than someone who fixed his own games.

A: Of course, I am sorry. Not just to the players, but also to the higher-ups at CJ Entus. I am especially sorry to the coaching staff who put their trust in me. Recently, an ex-pro named Kim Bong-jun (Britney) said that he was practice player but cut from the team because of me. There was nothing I could say in response to that. He probably wasn't the only one. I am sorry for the suffering that people endured because of me.

Q: You said earlier that your reason for attending the Chinese tournament was the same as your reason for streaming on AfreecaTV. Could you elaborate on that?

A: I knew that people would want to know why I started streaming on Afreeca without any sufficient period of self-reflection. There are many reasons---some of which I cannot reveal because of privacy issues---so I will only talk about the reasons specific to myself. After I was convicted in court and permanently banned, I became sociophobic and afraid of meeting people. I could not sleep without the help of sleeping pills, which I took as a warning sign. I also needed to earn some money, but I didn't have the courage to try anything else. Streaming on Afreeca allowed me to earn money at home by myself.

Q: So your ultimate purpose was to earn money?

A: That's somewhat true today, but I did not think that I could make any money by streaming when I first started. At first, I wanted to stream without letting people know that it was me, but news spread through word of mouth until the stream became what it is today. I could stream everyday if I wanted to do so, but I only stream when I want to these days. I don't think that I can do this forever, so I want to find some other work even now. At first, it was hugely comforting to be able to chat with people on my stream. For about a year, I could not even bring myself to meet people outside, but streaming helped me overcome that, so I am glad that I made the decision to stream on Afreeca. It was a way to start communicating with other people again.

Q: You are famous for banning users from your channel if they mention any word even vaguely related to match-fixing or say something you don't want to hear. Can you really say that you are communicating with others this way?

A: People who don't watch my stream say this. I admit that I did do this for a brief period 1-2 years ago, but it has been floating around the Internet since then. I leave it alone, because it is a sign that people are still interested in me. Whether they like me or not, they are still viewers of my stream. I don't care what they say about me, but I cannot stand them insulting my parents. It generated a huge buzz when I tried to sue them for that. I will continue to take severe actions against those who do that.

Q: Some people say that Ma possess a "steel mentality".

A: Like other human beings, I don't like being insulted. I am only accepting it because there is nothing else that I could do.

Q: Do you have anything else you would like to say through this interview?

A: I would like apologize for sending such a huge shockwave to the eSports industry through the match-fixing scandal. I know that I've done a series of things that are viewed negatively by fans and those involved in eSports. I've repented much over time. I reiterate that I don't want the public's perception of me to change because of this interview. However, I do regret that I did not actively apologize earlier.

I am actually astonished at the amount of personal hatred being directed toward MJY...

I may not have been around for nearly as long as most of the guys here, but long enough to have followed the news of the matchfixing scandal back in the days when it was still in the headlines. Back then, I remember, the media wasn't all about throwing brown stuff at Ma Jae-Yoon, or indeed any of the players involved. Instead, they were all asking the same question that people naturally ask after such a huge scandal: Why?

Why did so many players, among them once legendary ones like MJY, do literally the worst thing they could have done in their capacity as a professional gamer?

It was not like MJY actually needed money; he earned more than some pro-gamers ever did during their entire career. And it was not like MJY needed fame either; there is no evidence that he ever cheated to win. Had he simply retired in, say 2009, he would probably have forever remained THE legendary Zerg. People did not understand. The fact that someone like MJY would become involved in such a scandal strongly hints at the fact that it is not simply the problem of several individuals. Indeed, by common logic, if someone like MJY could become corrupt, then anyone else could. There's bound to be something systematically wrong.

It was then that the true problem behind the BW scene in Korea, or indeed pro-gaming in general, became exposed to the public eyes: that the pro-gamers lacked any formal education that most other people of their age would have received. They were taught to become the best among pro-gamers; they were trained to play and win games. But they were not taught some basic lessons like morality, like how to interact with other people. In fact, a large portion of them have been school drop-outs. Think about it. They maybe adults, but adults who haven't been taught that they should be responsible as an adult. And unlike other sportsmen, they don't even live a "normal life"; they sat in a room facing a computer for years. It was after this scandal that the Korean pro-gaming scene became truly aware of the seriousness of this problem, with pro-gaming teams bringing in cultural teachers in addition to gaming coaches.

What I am saying is that it is really unfair to say they "tainted" the BW scene; they exposed a problem that existed long ago. If it were not these players who did it, there would eventually be someone else. And this, imho, is the true reason that a few matchfixers "scared sponsors away and changed public opinion for the worse" for pro-gaming while thousands, multitudes of cheaters/matchfixers/drugabusers/dopers/whateverbadguys failed to do the same for other sports. If we caught someone matchfixing in say, soccer, we all know that the matchfixers are at fault, not soccer itself; but the pro-gaming scene inexplicably played a part in contributing to the scandal. MJY was a convenient scapegoat because he was such a visible figure, and most of his ex-fans would direct their immense bitterness toward him anyway.

Now I am not saying that MJY should not be held responsible for what he did; he violated the very basic decency for a pro-gamer: to play fairly. For that, he should pay dearly. But chasing him everywhere to the point of not even allowing him to touch the game for life seems just... unthinkable to me. Come on people, we even give some murderers a second chance. Committing matchfixing as a pro-gamer is not in any way worse than committing murder as a human being, although probably not in any way better either; just like "showing remorse" does not mean having to give up their own lives for murderers, it should not mean having to give up gaming for a pro-gamer either.

I am disgusted by the fact that KeSPA is now trying to direct all the blame to MJY and even trying to prevent him from playing in a foreign event that they don't even have anything to do with now, but I don't ever recall seeing them acknowledge their part of responsibility.