EPT
In Blizzard Community Manager Cloaken's Reddit Q&A, the only public statement regarding the matter, appeared to clear things up for for good.
We too agree that Korean players currently playing in GSL were put in a difficult situation regarding making a year-long commitment to a WCS league as GSL started right on the heels of our announcement. With this being the case, we will be making a one-time exception at the end of Season 1 to allow players to make a change in their regional commitments for the rest of 2013. If a player currently playing in GSL would like to make a change at that time then they will be able to do so. We will have more information on exactly how this process will work well in advance of the conclusion of Season 1.
However, information suggesting that the Q&A is incorrect is emerging. Following SK_MC's elimination from Code S, Gamespot journalist Slasher and Evil Geniuses' HuK had the following exchange on twitter.
@Slasher:
Woke up just missing DRG eliminating MC from #WCS KR. Huge win for DRG. MC to USA/EU soon enough?
@LorangerChris: He cant swap now, its to late
@Slasher: I thought as clarified in the AMA, you are allowed one exception
@LorangerChris i was told i cant play code a, and code s players in korea cant change even if they wanted to
Furthermore, a different account from other sources state that the a season 2 region change has been offered to KR region players on the condition that they make the decision immediately, and not at the end of season 1 as previously reported.
Originally, it appeared that the policy was that players choosing the Korean region in Season 1 (the current season lasting until June) would be allowed a one-time-only opportunity to change their region at the end of the season. This was told to Korean teams in materials sent out before the April 3rd WCS announcement, and was said by GSL director Mr. Chae during the first broadcast of WCS Korea GSL. However, multiple pro-gamers and esports related persons made statements suggesting that this was straight out incorrect, or that there was difficulty finding any clear information.
Acer's Scarlett made the following post in her fanclub.
On April 06 2013 07:38 Acer.Scarlett` wrote:
i talked in the IRC that since we were told today it was changed to not be able to switch region, i might end up not playing code a quals afterall
and I think i'll spend just a few more minutes relishing in the original AxiomAcer vs IM GSTl thread comments section where everything was initially "MVP ALLKILL INCOMING" and "SCARLETT WILL GET SMASHED". What up now blind ppl! 
i talked in the IRC that since we were told today it was changed to not be able to switch region, i might end up not playing code a quals afterall
Western Wolves' Martijn also posted on the topic.
On April 06 2013 17:46 Martijn wrote:
Just to go on record, a lot of us knew nothing about WCS until it was announced and for many teams there's still a lot of uncertainty.
It's been extremely hard to get any details about the structure, dates and regulations around WCS. The only ones that have been responsive to us are ESL (thanks) and even in that line of communication there's a lot of confusion.
We have SortOf in Korea right now and Blizzard basically dropped the announcement on us, meaning we have 10 days or something to get him back to EU if he wants to compete there. I don't know how every team functions of course, but our plans are set for a lot longer than 10 days. We have players that were planning to attend the Code A qualifiers and now suddenly there's the question of whether they should.
At first we were told that if you competed in code A qualifiers, you were instantly locked in for the year. Then came the exception that people in Korea would be allowed to switch after the first season. Then the EU side of things told us there was no such exception. Then we were told there was such an exception but it only applied to Koreans and not foreigners in Korea. Then we were told it applied to everyone in the first Korean season. Now we're not sure whether they're locked in or not...
...We have manager chats on skype and people are just scrambling to pick up scraps of new information
tl;dr: Many teams got no notice. It's been extremely hard to get the information we need. There's 0 clarity.
Just to go on record, a lot of us knew nothing about WCS until it was announced and for many teams there's still a lot of uncertainty.
It's been extremely hard to get any details about the structure, dates and regulations around WCS. The only ones that have been responsive to us are ESL (thanks) and even in that line of communication there's a lot of confusion.
We have SortOf in Korea right now and Blizzard basically dropped the announcement on us, meaning we have 10 days or something to get him back to EU if he wants to compete there. I don't know how every team functions of course, but our plans are set for a lot longer than 10 days. We have players that were planning to attend the Code A qualifiers and now suddenly there's the question of whether they should.
At first we were told that if you competed in code A qualifiers, you were instantly locked in for the year. Then came the exception that people in Korea would be allowed to switch after the first season. Then the EU side of things told us there was no such exception. Then we were told there was such an exception but it only applied to Koreans and not foreigners in Korea. Then we were told it applied to everyone in the first Korean season. Now we're not sure whether they're locked in or not...
...We have manager chats on skype and people are just scrambling to pick up scraps of new information
tl;dr: Many teams got no notice. It's been extremely hard to get the information we need. There's 0 clarity.
Total Biscuit expressed concern on reddit as well:
This whole thing is a goddamn mess. I have contacts at Blizzard yet I'm still not 100% sure about how this thing is working. The information we got came through Gamespot and appears to be incomplete. Pretty much all Korean players were confused as hell about it and most were under the impression that competing in WCS KR would ban you from playing MLG and IEM events (some even thought ALL foreign events).
The reality of the situation now seems to be, if you're in Code S right now you have an inherent advantage going into Season 1 of WCS KR and due to forced equivalency in WCS which now says "hey, GSL is now the same as WCS NA and EU", a lot of Korean players are very upset. They're saying "what's the point in trying to work hard to get into GSL now? WCS NA and EU have the same prizemoney and are much easier, plus we get to go to foreign events." Not only that but if WCS is held at IEM and MLG events in parallel with the main tournament (which we don't know yet), then competing in WCS NA or EU gives you double the chance of attending a foreign tournament, which is very desirable to Korean players since they like to travel to different countries and those tournaments are easier and shorter yet reward you more often than not with more prizemoney.
It's becoming abundantly clear that the difference between the way WCS KR and WCS NA/EU are operated is actually a problem for Korean players. It's meaning less events for them in terms of GSL and OSL tournaments (though hopefully GOM and OGN will put on side events to make up for this) and also devaluing the GSL in the eyes of many Korean players. Can you blame em? Why play KR when you can play NA and slap some foreigners around for the same amount of money? WCS KR is going to be ridiculously hard, NA and EU? Less so. This would have been perhaps less of an issue if participation in WCS NA/EU required physical residency, then you get a few players like Polt and ForGG playing in their respective regions of residency, rather than a flood of Code Bs coming in and taking over the regions. Plus hey, you gotta pick, so if you pick and then don't actually get into WCS KR, you can't suddenly switch around and change your mind. Other way around applies to, wanna play in GSL? Then you have to pick WCS KR and you're locked in there outside of this one-time change they're gonna give you at the end of Season 1.
Add to that the rumors of a significant, lengthy offline portion of the event rather than just a short weekend tournament and the whole thing is just one big mess right now, not to mention they sprung it on people with very short notice.
The reality of the situation now seems to be, if you're in Code S right now you have an inherent advantage going into Season 1 of WCS KR and due to forced equivalency in WCS which now says "hey, GSL is now the same as WCS NA and EU", a lot of Korean players are very upset. They're saying "what's the point in trying to work hard to get into GSL now? WCS NA and EU have the same prizemoney and are much easier, plus we get to go to foreign events." Not only that but if WCS is held at IEM and MLG events in parallel with the main tournament (which we don't know yet), then competing in WCS NA or EU gives you double the chance of attending a foreign tournament, which is very desirable to Korean players since they like to travel to different countries and those tournaments are easier and shorter yet reward you more often than not with more prizemoney.
It's becoming abundantly clear that the difference between the way WCS KR and WCS NA/EU are operated is actually a problem for Korean players. It's meaning less events for them in terms of GSL and OSL tournaments (though hopefully GOM and OGN will put on side events to make up for this) and also devaluing the GSL in the eyes of many Korean players. Can you blame em? Why play KR when you can play NA and slap some foreigners around for the same amount of money? WCS KR is going to be ridiculously hard, NA and EU? Less so. This would have been perhaps less of an issue if participation in WCS NA/EU required physical residency, then you get a few players like Polt and ForGG playing in their respective regions of residency, rather than a flood of Code Bs coming in and taking over the regions. Plus hey, you gotta pick, so if you pick and then don't actually get into WCS KR, you can't suddenly switch around and change your mind. Other way around applies to, wanna play in GSL? Then you have to pick WCS KR and you're locked in there outside of this one-time change they're gonna give you at the end of Season 1.
Add to that the rumors of a significant, lengthy offline portion of the event rather than just a short weekend tournament and the whole thing is just one big mess right now, not to mention they sprung it on people with very short notice.
Liquid`Nazgul commented on the matter in this thread as well
On April 07 2013 07:17 Liquid`Nazgul wrote:
If you don't join Europe or North America now it means you can't be Premier League in season two either. Because if you join next season you will have to start at the bottom which means a season of Challenger league before you can get to up and downs. This is pretty brutal for players who are already part of WCS KR by being in GSL. It also means the decision for all the others is really hard, because previously everyone thought you could at least play one season of WCS KR and make up your mind after.
This whole thing is so complicated, and not having all the information makes it incredibly hard. The search for information has kept us busy the past couple days. Small bits are trickling in depending on who you ask at which organization, but other information simply isn't going to come at all. I want to make the best decisions for my team together with my players, but right now it seems I may as well be playing roulette.
If you don't join Europe or North America now it means you can't be Premier League in season two either. Because if you join next season you will have to start at the bottom which means a season of Challenger league before you can get to up and downs. This is pretty brutal for players who are already part of WCS KR by being in GSL. It also means the decision for all the others is really hard, because previously everyone thought you could at least play one season of WCS KR and make up your mind after.
This whole thing is so complicated, and not having all the information makes it incredibly hard. The search for information has kept us busy the past couple days. Small bits are trickling in depending on who you ask at which organization, but other information simply isn't going to come at all. I want to make the best decisions for my team together with my players, but right now it seems I may as well be playing roulette.
Whatever the case is, it's imperative that the situation be clarified so that players and teams can make important decisions. Unfortunately, with the Code A qualifiers beginning tomorrow morning in Korea, it may already be too late.
