Prize money in Starcraft 2 - Page 49

On November 01 2011 07:21 ReachTheSky wrote:


lol yeah he really knows how to represent ;P

someone hire a pr guy for him ;P

On November 01 2011 08:06 Srule wrote:
OK.... Cloud, If you play Terran you have no right taking any credit for your results anyway (never mind actually getting money for them!!)... .GTFO and play a race that takes skill plz.

On November 01 2011 07:11 FlyingDJ wrote:
Well, this thread pretty much shows how most have not been around for a long time.

It's clear that most StarCraft 2 players have not been exposed the the delays in paying out prize money because they were rarely part of major esports tournaments before the release of that game. Ask someone who's been playing before 2009. That was when ESL was held in high regard because they paid out, even if it took a long time. Not a thing you could take for granted.

Now with money being thrown at SC2 like there's no tomorrow, everyone here is suddenly going crazy about how delays cannot be and how apparently players starve when they're not being paid on time. A couple of years ago you would have ended up with no tournaments at all had you decided to boycott those who had delayed payout in prizes. That's what this has always been like. Does it need to change? Probably, but it's not going to happen over night. ESL is one of the only tournaments that made it through the recession that followed 2008, and they don't get the amounts of venture capital that MLG carries around these days.

Instead of posting about it on a forum, the players might consider actually forming some kind of organisation to help in those matters. Doesn't seem too much work to me. And even if not, they could just boycott the tournaments they think do not pay out prize money on time. What's that, there are almost none left then? Oh well...

It's such a hypocrisy that everyone is always applauding insane prize pools and players tend to follow the sums instead of the reputation yet at the same time, any delay is totally unacceptable. Do you honestly believe most of the current tournaments have a sustainable business model that returns their investment?

On November 01 2011 08:09 D.Devil wrote:

I don't see any reason to continue discussing this matter publicly, especially because I simply don't know some details after all these years. Would make me look stupid if I was wrong (or actually it's just enough to claim I'm wrong).

Just one last thing: I have nothing to be ashamed of in regards to how NaNiwa was treated in hoorai. I always tried my very best to keep him happy and he got everything he needed (even though, in the 3 years I managed hoorai, there wasn't one single player who was more exhausting to take care of than him). Apparently, I failed and he now hates my guts. Fine, then that's the way it is.

Nonetheless, I believe hoorai was quite different from the actually scammy organizations – and there were tons of those ones. I didn't even have access to the bank account, but I know for sure that he did get his normal monthly salary. Anyway, not going to continue justifying myself... that was a long time ago and certainly there were quite some things that went wrong (if they hadn't, hoorai probably would still exist today). Think of me what you want.

On November 01 2011 07:29 aTnClouD wrote:

I think the same, but he thought it was wise to PM me saying I put ESWC in bad light for no reason and I might not get invited next year because of it. lol.

On November 01 2011 08:02 iNcontroL wrote:
btw it has been proven one of the absolute best ways to get tourneys to reform/pay money is to publicly out them.

It is of course met with tourneys saying "you are hurting esports" and threats of "we won't invite you any more" but if people are willing to run the risk of being unfairly punished for the poor behavior of tourneys we eventually will see a day when tourneys that don't pay / don't respect deadlines will be punished.

On November 01 2011 07:52 csn_JohnClark wrote:


You are right.. you should not have to wait 90 days..but if the contract calls for those terms..then you must accept them. You can not whine and cry that they are not 'fair'. Might as well start "Occupy eSports".. and waste everyone's time crying about something that is just part of life (I expect flame for that remark ). The point is though.. the stage in the process that requires professional communication between the players and those ultimately responsible for paying them is just as important as the terms put in place. I think people misunderstand me.. I strongly dislike it that there are large organizations in this industry that can continue to get away with not meeting those terms and players continue to support them because they put on a good 'show'.. while companies like mine (CSN) continue to work hard to get sponsorship money and work hard to make sure every player is paid in a timely manner. Shit.. I have paid out of my own pocket (not with CSN).. just to make sure a player is paid and happy. For us (my organization and others like it)..the players (not the stream #'s...lol) are the most important commodity.

On November 01 2011 08:02 iNcontroL wrote:
btw it has been proven one of the absolute best ways to get tourneys to reform/pay money is to publicly out them.

It is of course met with tourneys saying "you are hurting esports" and threats of "we won't invite you any more" but if people are willing to run the risk of being unfairly punished for the poor behavior of tourneys we eventually will see a day when tourneys that don't pay / don't respect deadlines will be punished.

On November 01 2011 08:11 Dodgin wrote:


sure took you a while to respond to that.

On November 01 2011 07:29 aTnClouD wrote:

I think the same, but he thought it was wise to PM me saying I put ESWC in bad light for no reason and I might not get invited next year because of it. lol.

On November 01 2011 08:13 mYNDIG wrote:


Maybe he had some other stuff to do? Like work, dinner, family, friends...

On November 01 2011 08:12 kellymilkies wrote:
I wrote this on my twitter but I am not sure if someone has already covered this.

Basically, I mentioned that some form of Players Association is needed.

For tournaments, there should be a very strict deadline on when the money should be sent out, and I think 90 days is a good guideline.
However, I do understand that most of the time, the problem is that the sponsors take really long to pay the events. In this sense though, what events should do is not jump when they are being offered money to run events. Some sort of Escrow account has to be set up between Sponsors and Event Organizers.

This P.A does not only include teams that are involved in SC2 but a general P.A for most competitive video games in general.
Concerns listed to me were who does this Players Association comprises of?

Firstly, team owners. Because they understand the industry a lot better than everyone else because they have to work with the 3 biggest factor that makes video games what it is today -
1)Organisers/Events, other team owners, Sponsors.
2)Players / Talents / Individuals who compete
3)The community.

However, due to the fact that it is a PLAYERS Association, it is common knowledge that not only do players have issues with Organizations or events, they also have problems with their teams be it leaving, contracts, joining, conflicts etc, here is where I specifically mentioned that various other individuals should be on the board as well.

Ideally speaking, this is just a general structure from me, but the ratio should be 40:40:20.
40% of the board should be Team Owners, 40% should be key individuals in the industry, and MAYBE 20% be individuals RELATED to the industry, that are professionals in other industries related to the Video Games industry.

Not sure if this sounds right but that is what my opinion has been on this for a very long time.

On November 01 2011 05:36 divito wrote:
What people don't seem to understand is that the companies that are contacted, or are behind the events that take place, do not put aside the lump sum in most cases. They have monthly budgets, and their marketing dollars are allocated among many other things, such as advertising, or other promotions outside of gaming.

Unless a chunk is paid upfront to the organizers of the events, tournaments usually have to wait several months until said money is paid out in full, and can be forwarded to the players appropriately.

Having been both a player and part of tournament organization, it pains me to see such threads every time and the irrational outrage that ensues.