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With DH Masters Fall completed and the feedback from the community received, ESL is releasing some updates to the setup for the ESL Pro Tour. The changes are not final, rather ESL has released them now in order to solicit feedback from progamers and the community.
The full post is available here.
The most important change is to the rules for player eligibility in sub-regions, which has been a point of controversy for some time now, and has been particularly contentious (if not downright toxic) in the Australian/New Zealand community. The changes, which are not final, will go into effect with the 2021 season of the EPT.
ESL writes:
In keeping our rules fair and consistent for all competitors, we do not wish to create regional specific sub-ruling. Therefore dual citizenship holders will remain to be treated equally to those citizens who reside within the region. While this rule exists, we will continue to provide as fair as possible conditions for all players to complete. It is important to note that at no point can a citizen living abroad from the region they are competing in be at a server advantage:
1. No player playing from inside their home region will ever be put at a ping disadvantage against someone outside the region.
2. No player playing from inside their home region will ever be forced onto a server that would not also be a valid choice for players both residing inside the region.
With that said and as stated above, we will be changing our approach in 2021 together with other significant changes to the system. For additional transparency our initial thoughts are:
*There will be two methods of participation with a region:
1. Permanent residency within the region you are located at the time of
2. Citizenship within the region you are located at the time of matches.
*Exceptions can be made if an EPT tournament related obligation (e.g. GSL matches) prevent you from travelling to the other region for matches, in that case citizens can play in the region of their citizenship from abroad under the same conditions that we currently have.
This effectively would mean that players studying abroad would need to be participating in the region they’re living in during the season, but would not limit them from traveling home if they wish to join their local scene from where they are from. This would also include stipulations for players unable to travel due to GSL commitments, so those in Korea training would be able to maintain both a GSL schedule as well as play in their region of origin.
The proposed changes are being discussed on Twitter among progamers and organisers:
RiSky, who has been the center of the AZ/NZ controversy, writes:
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This part is just dumb. Either foreigners who want to play in GSL have to forfeit "their" DH Major or leave it as it is. But this is just stupid.
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On October 14 2020 18:27 dbRic1203 wrote:This part is just dumb. Either foreigners who want to play in GSL have to forfeit "their" DH Major or leave it as it is. But this is just stupid.
I don't understand what you think is dumb?
I am a citizen in EU, if I lived in korea/USA/wherever, I could still compete in EU region but I would have to play on their server and therefore be at a ping disadvantage. I makes sense, no matter if I am competing in GSL or not.
It makes total sense to me, they should of course take away this whole korea regionlock thing but that is a separate old issue that this change doesn't effect in the least.
Sounds like good changes to me. I don't really understand Riskys situation but if he feels forced to retire if the rules are fair then there isn't much to do about that. It is sad he lives in a place were he is at a disadvantage but that handicap shouldn't be forced onto other players due to a technicality in the rules.
Edit: Obviously I havent understood the rules properly, after re-reading it seems only GSL players can play in regions they are not located in at the time of playing. That does feel a bit iffy.
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Can someone give me a link or a brief summary of what's going on with the Austrial/New Zealand scene? Haven't been following that closely.
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On October 14 2020 20:36 Shuffleblade wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2020 18:27 dbRic1203 wrote:This part is just dumb. Either foreigners who want to play in GSL have to forfeit "their" DH Major or leave it as it is. But this is just stupid. I don't understand what you think is dumb? I am a citizen in EU, if I lived in korea/USA/wherever, I could still compete in EU region but I would have to play on their server and therefore be at a ping disadvantage. I makes sense, no matter if I am competing in GSL or not. It makes total sense to me, they should of course take away this whole korea regionlock thing but that is a separate old issue that this change doesn't effect in the least. Sounds like good changes to me. I don't really understand Riskys situation but if he feels forced to retire if the rules are fair then there isn't much to do about that. It is sad he lives in a place were he is at a disadvantage but that handicap shouldn't be forced onto other players due to a technicality in the rules. Edit: Obviously I havent understood the rules properly, after re-reading it seems only GSL players can play in regions they are not located in at the time of playing. That does feel a bit iffy.
Yep, the way you descibe it, was the way it has been this year. For next year they want to change it, so that beeing a citicen, e.g. beeing legally allowed to vote in that country, fight in their army and represent them in national teams, is not enough to play as a representative from that country.
Instead you have to fly there, no matter if it s an online or offline tournament. UNLESS you play GSL. Wich is just wrong either, they leave it as it is, or they include foreigners in korea.
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On October 14 2020 20:46 Exedo wrote:
Can someone give me a link or a brief summary of what's going on with the Austrial/New Zealand scene? Haven't been following that closely.
here is a thread, that gives a nice overview:
https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/560795-dh-oceania-risky-controversy
Can t remember, if it s up to date with all the links..
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On October 14 2020 20:46 Exedo wrote:
Can someone give me a link or a brief summary of what's going on with the Austrial/New Zealand scene? Haven't been following that closely.
Aussie community is composed of pretty terrible people and players who caused massive outrage (ok not everybody actually but most are bullies) because with nz nationality, Risky could compete there from uk.
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On October 14 2020 21:45 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Looking pretty perfect!
Yeah, if you re only looking at your own region and don t care about what the rest of the world does.
Yes I get it, it felt unfair, that Risky was allowed to play in Aus/RoA. But I belive, that
1) he isn t to blame, as he just followed the rules
2) the rules are actually fine, as they accomodate every other case
3) there shouldn t be a rule, stating "Risky can t play in Aus/RoA
Imo, there would be 3 ways, that are all better, than what has been proposed:
1) leave the systhem as it is now
2) foreigners have to choose between DH and GSL and everyone has to be physically in the region, he plays in
3) foreigners aren t allowed in GSL
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ESL is looking more like a joke in both SC2 and CS:GO...
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Czech Republic12134 Posts
So Risky is eligible to play only if he moves for the games to the NZ? uhhhh... sucks for him, but generally this is probably better and I wouldn't say it was built around him.
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Players should be allowed to participate in one region person season, and residency or citizenship should both qualify you to play in a region. To reward players for training on the local server (and thus developing the scene beyond participating in a tournament every few months) always give people living in-region the ability to force play on the home server. Not that complicated...
Even if it means a few top Koreans moving abroad that's fine, it's not 2015 anymore, 1-3 top Koreans moving to Europe wouldn't stop Europeans from placing highly.
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On October 14 2020 21:53 dysenterymd wrote:
Players should be allowed to participate in one region person season, and residency or citizenship should both qualify you to play in a region. To reward players for training on the local server (and thus developing the scene beyond participating in a tournament every few months) always give people living in-region the ability to force play on the home server. Not that complicated...
Thats what it has been all the time. But that s not enough for some Aus players unfortunatly
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Not sure if I like these changes or not.
Avoiding home players to have ping disadvantage is the right idea, theorically, but forcing people to travel might not be the right solution especially considering the pandemic situation we are in.
I don't think korean scene needs any protection, there are barely enough korean players to fill Code S and the only foreign player residing in Korea, Special, is struggling hard not to get ejected as far as I know(feel free to correct me there, I might be wrong).
Why would this change in rules make Risky retire?
He could still play in Europe.
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Czech Republic12134 Posts
On October 14 2020 21:54 dbRic1203 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2020 21:53 dysenterymd wrote:
Players should be allowed to participate in one region person season, and residency or citizenship should both qualify you to play in a region. To reward players for training on the local server (and thus developing the scene beyond participating in a tournament every few months) always give people living in-region the ability to force play on the home server. Not that complicated... Thats what it has been all the time. But that s not enough for some Aus players unfortunatly
Wasn't. Previously it was based on the visa system and Koreans were not staying on the right visas in Europe that's why they didn't stay in the WCS EU once the region locking was announced. Or do I remember it wrong?
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On October 14 2020 21:59 Xain0n wrote:
Why would this change in rules make Risky retire?
He could still play in Europe.
Risky probably thinks his level isn't enough to actually make a decent living as a progamer if he is forced to play EU in everything.
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On October 14 2020 22:07 Elentos wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2020 21:59 Xain0n wrote:
Why would this change in rules make Risky retire?
He could still play in Europe. Risky probably thinks his level isn't enough to actually make a decent living as a progamer if he is forced to play EU in everything.
I really don't like the tone of his message, nobody is forcing him to quit.
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Wait until you see the whole picture next year, we shared insight on potential plans to help provide transparency without the full context of next year. It will all make sense soon.
Apollo's second tweet here is by far the most interesting part of this story. We can squabble over minutia for DH: Winter, but this seems to suggest there's a lot going on under the hood that we're not privy to yet. I think it would be foolish to rush to a long-term judgement on the health of the scene before we hear what's coming. Prediction: It's big.
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On October 14 2020 21:53 deacon.frost wrote:
So Risky is eligible to play only if he moves for the games to the NZ? uhhhh... sucks for him, but generally this is probably better and I wouldn't say it was built around him.
No, he's still eligible to play, he just needs to play in the region he's in. The only reason he doesn't is because it gives him an advantage to get more money and points.
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EPT
