I like this idea. If a unified "Esports players union" decides to boycott a tournament by not sending players from multiple games, it would definitely have a larger impact than losing the players from a single game. I can imagine this being an organizational nightmare though

aike

United States1629 Posts

October 31 2011 17:12 GMT

#242

On November 01 2011 02:08 iNcontroL wrote:
idra had to threaten to not play esl events any more to get paid for something he was owed over a year ago O_O

Sounds like we need an International eSports Players Association... IeSPA

Waxangel

United States33627 Posts

October 31 2011 17:12 GMT

#243

Just saw on twitter:

mbCARMAC Michal Blicharz:
"Intel Extreme Masters: season 5 paid, season 6 events: on schedule."

Diamond

United States10796 Posts

October 31 2011 17:12 GMT

#244

Cloud is right (haven't had time to read all the replies yet).

It's a horrible thing and mostly comes from a sponsor side, for example I am 6 weeks behind on Korean Weekly payouts and it KILLS me but the sponsors are in no hurry to spend the money, I literally email them every single day. They are just so used to paying out whenever.....

I hope this "standard" goes away.

Edit: 30 minutes after I posted this I got word I am being paid today, so we are no longer behind, but the point still stands.

Baerinho

Germany257 Posts

October 31 2011 17:12 GMT

#245

to me it seems the only way to make people pay up is to make a massive list that would get sponsors into a bad light and therefore put pressure on them and tournament organizers to pay up.

Wonder if Mr. Bitter and Rotti also have to wait up to 2 years for their salary

Carmac

Poland375 Posts

October 31 2011 17:13 GMT

#246

For anyone asking:

Intel Extreme Masters is on schedule with prize money payouts. 2010/2011 is paid out. Next event to get paid out is the Cologne Global Challenge (either paid out or until 3 months after the event, which is in November). Guangzhou & New York Global Challenges will be paid out within 3 months of the respective event dates.

ToT)OjKa(

Korea (South)2437 Posts

October 31 2011 17:14 GMT

#247

CPL took just over three years to pay ToT some prize money.

you just have to be patient

eNtitY~

United States1293 Posts

October 31 2011 17:14 GMT

#248

Sry double posted.

MrBanana

United Kingdom13 Posts

October 31 2011 17:15 GMT

#249

This is just sick...it's interesting that it's taken this long for something as gigantic as this to come out. Maybe now that it's been publicized tournaments will stop dicking around with what is essentially someones means of feeding themself for that month/next few months/whatever.
Makes me sad...

BoomNasty

United States265 Posts

October 31 2011 17:15 GMT

#250

On November 01 2011 02:01 TI51 wrote:

Show nested quote +

ROFL of course they're gonna pay when they have the lowest prize pool of every live event ever (and many online events)

you realize they pay out halo and mw2 at the same time.... if they couldnt pay out in time, why would they increase prize pool for next year if it could hurt their rep if they take longer to pay out.... think before you post

dre2k

Netherlands215 Posts

October 31 2011 17:15 GMT

#251

definitely cancelling my esl subscription

zachMEISTER

United States625 Posts

October 31 2011 17:16 GMT

#252

On November 01 2011 02:13 Carmac wrote:
For anyone asking:

Intel Extreme Masters is on schedule with prize money payouts. 2010/2011 is paid out. Next event to get paid out is the Cologne Global Challenge (either paid out or until 3 months after the event, which is in November). Guangzhou & New York Global Challenges will be paid out within 3 months of the respective event dates.

Corporate Responsibility right there.

Pat on the back Carmac.

Jetaap

France4814 Posts

October 31 2011 17:16 GMT

#253

The issue seems to be with EPS which is also run by ESL if i'm not mistaken. Good to see that IEM is fine though (evenethough 3month is still long it's still reasonnable compared to the industry standards..)

LaLuSh

Sweden2358 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#254

I've found mid sized LANs (non recurring and not big franchises like dreamhack) often excuse themselves by blaming sponsors. "Haven't received the money from the sponsors yet, soon (ad infinitum)". But if organizers announce a tournament and promise x amount of prize money, they really should demand the sponsors to be paid in advance, or otherwise sign a really watertight contract.

The secondmost annoying thing is admins in certain online tournaments almost going out of their way in regards to having no clue and being totally oblivious to who handles payments/economics for their tournaments. You win a tournament and ask the admins what details they need and sure enough like clockwork they respond "I don't know, ask some higher up admin who maybe knows" (and who happens to not be online at the moment; meaning you have to spend your time chasing them down on IRC everyday and hope they're online whenever you're in the mood for tracking them down). After tracking the higher up admin down, he/she in turn refers you to the head admin (who in turn is online even less often).

When you finally catch the head admin online after 2-3 weeks (usually it's not because you've actively tracked them down, but because you happened to play another one of their weekly cups and this admin with "special insights" into the payment processes happened to be online this week), you ask him and he anticlimactically responds: "Oh, you just need to send a mail to our accountant/economics guy at agjkgjlkfag@tournament.de". And you always have to send a first mail asking about what payment details they require, because the head admin of course had no clue.

That or the head admin asks for my e-mail and has the economics guy e-mail me or send me a PM through their internal website system. After which I respond with my details... And by general rule they will never reply to confirm they've received the details or that they are "processing" the details or that the payment will take "X days/weeks/months".

So after about 3-4 weeks of no communication and nothing happening, you have to fire off another e-mail/PM to them. "Hey, I know you might be busy (and in certain cases that your organisation is known to be tardy with payments), but I would appreciate at least a confirmation that you received my previous e-mail/PM, or whatever to know that the payment details i provided didn't just vanish into thin air. Thanks. /Lalush".

Props to the tournaments where admins ask you for details directly after finals. Because the ones described above are really annoying to deal with.

ES_JohnClark

United States1121 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#255

again.. I see a lot of comments that are misguided. It is very important the the community understand that an acceptable wait period is 3 months and in some cases 6 months. ESL has it's problems and anything over 6 months is unacceptable.. but we all need to be on the same page regarding that. Any company that promises a time frame should be held to that.. however, if the company has a player sign a contract with it written that payment could take up to 6 months there can not be disgruntle players that have not been paid in 2 weeks ..throwing crap all over the intertron about how a company has not paid out in 14 days. We must be careful here.

As Joshy has pointed out.... many of these large organizations must jump through hoops to make sure the prize money is paid out. This process can take time. As for smaller organizations (like mine).. we are often at the mercy of an investor or sponsor. For CSN, its very important to us that we have our sponsorship money up front.. but this is not always possible and we must trust the sponsor we are working with.

The entire process of getting the organizations, players and sponsors on the same page and more structured requires a basic understanding of the process and time involved in many cases.

another 3 cents..

ThisGS

Germany255 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#256

if thats the case, everything is fine.

i believe the IEM organizers are not responsible for EPS, although both are ESL events?

qck

United Kingdom201 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#257

Unfortunately, one of the reasons the UK are no longer as dominant in competitive games is because our own tournament organisers tend to have a very relaxed attitude when it comes to paying out prize money. It's honestly atrocious, and I don't envy any of the pros that deal with organisations such as ESL, who've had a track record spanning many games for not delivering on their promises promptly.

coolphantom

Canada17 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#258

this is so fustrating to hear about.These tourney make a shit load of money off players and don't pay them?!?!?!

You and other players should talk to a lawyer a sue these people.

templar rage

United States2509 Posts

October 31 2011 17:17 GMT

#259

On November 01 2011 02:08 iNcontroL wrote:
idra had to threaten to not play esl events any more to get paid for something he was owed over a year ago O_O

I wonder how many players actually have the leverage to do this (assuming it worked for Idra)

Voldron

Greece91 Posts

October 31 2011 17:18 GMT

#260

Guys i trully believe Team liquid should take action on this. Team liquid is basicaly the comunity of starcraft. Players practice and work hard for these tourneys wich WE enjoy. I realy think we should do something to return the favor. I didnt know about this but i see many pro gamers are so angry about it. We should do something to help these guys get what they earned in the first place..