EPTAlso, please don't quote that huge wall of text from the previous page. Just mention it or hide it under spoilers. Don't want to scroll down just to know you haven't read it, but have your own opinion of it.
What Gus of the PPSL has done - Page 25
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BirdKiller
United States428 Posts
Also, please don't quote that huge wall of text from the previous page. Just mention it or hide it under spoilers. Don't want to scroll down just to know you haven't read it, but have your own opinion of it. | ||
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iSometric
2221 Posts
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pdd
Australia9933 Posts
On November 09 2011 10:48 iSometric wrote: One of the most confusing/bad events, I've seen. must've watched 30min of commericals and all these edrama. You only watched 30 minutes of commercials? I swear there was more than that. Also, it really seems like a lot of people within AZK were caught unaware by Gus's actions also. Seems like this guy is heading for a permanent exit from the esport scene. I'd just like to know though, how did Gus come to that position, and how did he manage to attract so many sponsors, particularly big ones like S2, IPL, and Nvidia? What sort of e-sport history and background did he have before this? | ||
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Buruguduy
Philippines238 Posts
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7thseal
5 Posts
It really saddens me to see people wasting what we've been working so hard to build.  | ||
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PiGStarcraft
Australia976 Posts
Personally in the next month I will be attending a $1000+ LAN in Adelaide, a $2000 online tournament and another $1500 online tournament as well as a small local LAN for about $500 pool at Cityhunter. Even this little "chinese-owned" LAN at Cityhunter clear out some of the private rooms and set up a projector so that as the tournament progresses people can view the events live and cheer on the players without them hearing. All of these events are SEA or Australian only events, the $2K one also having a plethora of international invites. You can't say the Australian SCII scene isn't growing. Earlier this year the NRG tournament was held with $10K prize-pool (but unfortunately no good way to observe the games) and is planned to become a thrice-a-year event. Another organisation is in the process of organising a $6K LAN finals to the end of a short online season to be held at a live venue for up to 1000 spectators. All of this on top of the many weeklys, ESL SEA cups and such shows just how much interest there is in SEA and Australia for eSPORTS. The PPSL was the deranged brainchild of one incredibly stupid man, don't let your region-racism reflect his retardation on all of us. It's only a matter of time till we start organising live-spectator events of a great quality in Australia. And I'm sure the rest of SEA will be soon to follow (FXO malaysia etc!) | ||
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7thseal
5 Posts
We have players that has world-class talents. Some of our top players are already Masters in KR server and still doing their way to GM. A group in the philippines is already planning a big SC2 tournament (and it's not a bluff since they are already proved that they can pull out a great event *Pinoy Gaming Festival or WCG Philippine Qualifier) We maybe small but we're doing everything we can to make something big (positively). | ||
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Marcus420
Canada1923 Posts
On November 09 2011 09:29 threehundred wrote: it's 7am so if someone can please find the internet linkable evidence for me go for it. it exists, trust me. (i'll edit it later) i personally need closure on this matter (for the sake of moving on/getting justice done) and for the sake of people asking why i know/remember so much, it's pretty much because gus is the only person i've ever met in the field of 'esports' (or probably my 26 year existence for that matter) that never failed amaze me with stupidity and lack of common sense with each dealing with him since the beginning of the year. SYNTHESIS: gus is either really stupid/noob at producing events, or just failed completely at conning (trust me he won't get away with it, and besides the money he may have taken (philippine pesos) is outstandingly laughable. like what 4-5k usd? 200k~ PHP? lollolol) no official statement though... he could just be looking for money right now to pay the proper parties their invoices (mine included) OR he could be THE MASTERMIND troll that won completely by forcing me to write all this (and maybe you for reading all this) ^_^)v for those that HATED MY ENDLESS CRITICISM OF AZK IRL or on STARCRAFTPH facebook group or elsewhere on the internet OR EVEN IN GUS LEDESMA'S face in person on several occasions weeks and months before this shitstorm happened, i told you so... and why i did the stream for him regardless btw if you actually read most/part of this TLDR rant? i wouldn't waste the opportunity to help try make esports grow, besides nobody else in the city does what i do, so i feel obliged to do what i can even at my current experience level to see tastetosis/the progamers and the amazing guys behind the scenes at work, the true heroes why the ppsl last day became actually QUITE FRANKLY awesome. anyway here we go. INTRO my name is john, i'm the lead stream engineer (moderately experienced streamer by my standards), and the third-party guy hired to interface/livestream the 'hdmi game-feed, 2 hdmi cameras and 2 player booth cameras', with third-party mobile cams and the live audio/LED video billboard system. you can find my previous work (a week before for mineski.net pgf feat. dota/dota2/sc2 wcg philippines @enter link here, and for garena philippines league of legends wcg philippines @enter link here, and for pcxpressgamingexpo (a current project feat. dota/sc2/kos(a counter-strike variant)) at http://www.twitch.tv/ktgameone. PART I: POINTS OF INTEREST 1. stream bitrate. in before anything else, we had 500-700kbps upload bandwidth to work with (the line that was given to the production desk at least). i was suppose to test the stream on-site with thegunrun the morning before (sunday 7am) by IGN's request directly to gus, but apparently the 'isp service provider fucked up and couldn't make it to allow for internet testing' thus 360p to 480p was pretty much it. MY TAKE: i badgered gus consistently about stream requirements for 720p (1.5-2.5 mbps up), he said the isp will provide it but provided no details such as contact numbers of their engineers or even assurance. FU MOMENT: i get up at 6am to get to the mall with my streaming equipment (50lbs of equipment) by 7am to call gus around 730am knowing it's way too quiet and sounds like he just woke up (he lives fucking 45mins-1hour away from the mall), then 2 1/2 hours after with thegunrun (just chilling out) 930-11am have gus say the isp guys fucked up. (gunrun covers ign btw by asking for a testing at 12nn, which again gets rescheduled to monday 1am (which the isp guys still aren't there for until 10am'sih) i go home to get rest because ima be moving shit into the mall at 11pm in the night. -> unacceptable stream standards for IGN as i recall. i have been contracted by gus/azk in the past for PPSL qualifier 5 @enter link here (on the teamazk twitchtv archives) where azk closed down a net cafe to stream at 720p, to show IGN that 720p was possible in the philippines) MY TAKE: 720p (streaming) all the way up to 1080i realistically is possible in the philippines, you just need to know the isp to talk with and either pay them properly or choose a good location to ensure solid bandwidth. FU MOMENT: hahaha, so gus is like, 'we are streaming for IGN and we need to make sure it's 720p', i'm like ok, what will it involve? 'we are closing down a net cafe and you are streaming casted ppsl qualifier 5 games'. i'm like that's it? gus goes 'yeah'. when i arrive with my cameras/microphones mixers etc... he tells me, the casters aren't here, they are at home (farmboy) and one is in australia (cheekyduck) via skype. i'm like fuck you (to myself), aren't you suppose to tell me these things? brought 40lbs extra equipment across the city for nothing. RETROSPECT: requirements gathering failure on my part too. but logically speaking you'd expect these MAJOR details to be ironed out for someone providing a service that is more then bringing just a fucking xsplit/afmle computer around. -> preparation. hmmm. we don't get a week to setup at the mall (it's not a convention center), we setup night before till mall opening. but more importantly we didn't practice our interfaces/the show program plan itself (if it existed) before the event. (something i now have vividly/emotionally experienced is A BAD THING). MY TAKE: it takes money to get the streamers/av guys/show producers, marshals together for a dry-run, something gus probably didn't have / OR conversely he was noob and thought things could run themselves. FU MOMENT: i had 4 major requirements (posted NOV 2, i have more on why i was hired a week+ before the event btw) for my prod at the ppsl -> my laptop sucks atm as my equipment is still in boxes but here is the basic copy/paste: 1. draft layout plan of the glorietta activity center for cabling/positioning <- CHECK 2. network requirements (1mbps UP for standard 480p, 2.5mbps UP for 720p) 3. contact number of logistics provider of the bigscreen/sound system (integration) 4. detailed daily plans for broadcasting eg. event stuff like introduction / sched for games 5. ingress procedure (bringing stuff into glorietta req permits or what not) 6. graphics production (c/o **azk member or what not). ZERO FUCKING REPLY from gus for any of these requirements except general text replys like yeah the isp has got it covered. i heard NOTHING about the general program plan except a 1-page document that ***azk member showed me that i said was fucked up as it was like general guide for what 'may' happen on the day itself and not a say ' per 15 minute guide' of who is up on stage or caster duties/runners/people running activities around the floor. i heard nothing since about a production plan until the unfolding at day one that one DIDN'T EXIST. RETROSPECT: i should have critically pushed to see a production plan out in the open as it reflects my productions personal preparedness to interface with their plans (if they existed) -> DAY ONE. i'll be accountable for the graphic errors, and probably along the lines of scene switching 'professional cue'ing with casters/stage/av crew that we worked with for the first-time WITHOUT a floor director/production plan/executive director on the first day of the ppsl, before torch/justin/rachel/allyn++ and some dedicated members of azk that knew that something was wrong stepped-in to try to make things right. basically azk let them run the show (no joke as azk needed it (well you have to blame the guy assigning (or lack of assigning) the job to lead the show: gus) i was not contracted to run the show, nor in the personal/proper capacity to step-in and take-charge of 'content' per say, but just manage and execute the delivery system with what i had. on a personal note mega props to the guys mentioned above for taking it upon themselves to create content in absence of azk executive decision making. MY TAKE: i'm gona be honest that i wasn't expecting nor in the physical/mental capacity to even try to sort out the mess that morning. i was pretty much heavily yelling/suggesting to the azk marshals/submanagement wtf is going on and why the fuck nobody was directing shit for stuff to get up on stage. FU MOMENT: ok so basically we were running a stream without any planning / camera angles / preparation for this scenario. i felt really bad for azk (yes even gus) and of course allyn/rachel that were trying to buy time, as it reflected not just a lack of a contingency plan but it also created a massive migraine filled first 6-8 hours (with major internet hiccups included) on what the fuck we were suppose to be doing. it made everyone look like an ass from my desk, to the marshals, to registration booth, to the standby a/v guys to the players. FU MOMENT 2: i have friends in the HON community in the PH i personally invited and greeted and talked with during the event. til i found out that night that they've been waiting all day for a motherfucking decision whether or not the tournament is a go or for tomorrow. they were practically dodged by gus apparently and gus didn't even tell his marshals or 'lower in commands' what to do apparently. they are the main instigators of the teamazk facebook page badmouthing (lol if gus didn't just set it to admin only posting mode), primarily because all they wanted was an answer from their 10am call-time if the HoN tournament would push through or not. official statement on HoN S2 games funds 2k? have no clue about this if S2 actually did send funds over in the first place. the hon guys (duskbin/zek friends included) stayed til 9pm because they just wanted to confront the head-organizer. in talking with them personally, they only wanted gus to man-up so they wouldn't absurdly (in it's own right) try to prosecute him legally.... FU MOMENT 3: did you guys know gus got to the event that he's supposedly at the helm at 3pm in the motherfucking afternoon? nobody was able to contact him til he arrived (obviously he had a lot of phonecalls/texts that day), that's either irresponsibility, avoiding something, or just overall wtf did you even bother showing up are you stupid that you let your event start without manning the helm. gross mismanagement. FU MOMENT 4: cebu guys not able to fly-in. gus couldn't admit he didn't have funds to fly them in straight-up (cebu is just a different part of the philippines with a total of 4 players (Cube guys on the player list) that were also suppose to be flown-in. but weren't) alright that itself is MESSED UP. you already have the circus of foreigners (only looks like a circus because the event is called the PPSL (philippine pro-starleague) which I HAVE TONS MORE TO TALK ABOUT BTW, but really, you fly-in (no hard feelings zanooku you're cool in real life and i fly-in for free with accommodations if id was ignorant of the entire situation or some other guy that you just want to brand AZK under instead of going by the standards/rules you've set forth in 'online qualifiers (which should have been marketed as invitational qualifiers ZzZZZ noob shit etc... FU MOMENT 5: YoonYJ / Dox's post + i guess random articles read at 3am in the morning on tuesday (day 2) about what happened with dealings with some korean pro-gamers and how azk changed conditions around etc... Dox you're a great writer/reporter of what went down. it just solidified my next set of actions. -> PRE-DAY TWO on the internet / ppsl production group (the ppsl prod group is the azk group + me as the third-party streamer only) i learned about what happened to the HON guys, SC2 cebu/australia/korea guys, then i go into the ppsl production group and post the following. 'sorry im holding your event hostage gus, im not doing shit tomorrow without 50% upfront and written contract to pay the 50% after the said amount of time. if the rest of you people FEEL in anyway that what i'm doing is WRONG, then fuck off.' - no replys (well one reply (not from gus), but it didn't answer) - i follow up with 'and if you think this is being greedy it's to protect myself from getting screwed over like my HoN friends i personally invited and couldn't for the sake of it say a thing when i realized what happened. FUCKING MAN THE FUCK UP' - long story why i requested 50% upfront (also below in storyline mode) at this point around 4am, clive (yes the guy with the hotel issues, and i guy also in the group), msgs me (translation) 'brotha, i feel you on this, where are you going to get contracts to file a 'case' against gus? if ever i'm with you on this with toot*, thinks are going sour' - i reply, well i can get some notary stuff done simply and what not, but i'm not completely serious about it yet... i sleep-in intentionally, i get to the venue 1 hour after mall opening (justin calling me/texting when i come, i lie to him and tell him i'm leaving, but yeah sorry man, i was actually contemplating whether i should just come and pick-up my shit or what not as gus hasn't replied to my ppsl group post nor answer my texts). oh that reminds me: here is something juicy, the only comm i have with gus after the event (actually during day 1, we shared zero words, as i felt he was avoiding me anyway) gus texts me : we need to talk about the stream. i reply - (paraphrased) 'talk demand shit from me, talk with the ISP, then talk with the imaginary floor director, then talk about the 50% we agreed upon upfront, we (dedicated azk members and the cast of foreigner friends that put themselves out there) want to make this work, just fucking pay some to plan for you or something, playing the finger pointing game won't get you points with your staff that you promised glory. he replied 'wtf are you talking about', RETROSPECT: it's either he's stupid or playing dumb (conning) or i used weird metaphors lol. anyway when i wake up, i read IGN's post, and the rest of whatever on the teamazk page, personal groups etc... -> DAY-2: when i get to the mall justin and my crewmate, and trevor has everything started up. i feel overwhelmed by their dedication to do the right thing, that deep down i'm feeling too, but on the outside am absolutely sour about (i was suppose to protest doing stream work (maybe i was pussy to protest, but whatever, doing what's right takes more courage). i'm re-motivated to work honestly, what we do is damage control, stage management, computer management, etc.. management and finish the tournament not for AZK definitely but rather for the players that have been frustrated and have walked out from DAY 1, but also for the fans that were not just excited to see tastetosis, thebeeduck (right about now <3) but the their hero progamer players that AZK actually did fly-over play in an actual, watchable tournament.. not much to say about this day except that one internet restart, but that the games were marvellous and the net was still as shitty as ever. one thing to note is that gus was there from the morning to the end of mall closing, no words exchanged except that he was waiting for the money when i confronted him with our agreement. after mall ours we are cleaning our shit out, hey i'm sorry to spill this but like 5-15% of the peripherals that *** sponsored for use were missing? fucking hell. 39/50 headsets left?, mismanagement security or what? this was day 2, maybe disgruntled organizers cared less because of their leaders lack of 'leading'.... i confronted gus about my pay, he couldn't say anything concrete except i'll have it by the end of the week. wtf is that ... then i talk with some random people there, apparently gus also owes a six figure amount (in pesos) in plane fares, and yeah the nvidia guy needs solid convincing or what not about what happened.... i could only help but feel teary eyed for gus and what he's gotten himself into. DRAMA/CLICHE/IRONY incoming: if only he had listened to me months back, or only if he was smarter and actually wikipedia'ed or googled or fucking outsourced someone else to run his event. -> AFTER party GOODBYES. well i got their with my friends late (brought my equipment home and all), i'm going to say this honestly, it was good vibes. i personally enjoyed the games, the casting and the crowd during day 2. it was almost our country's esports dream come true (albeit the terrible condition it has generated which i seek to rectify through this personal journal etc... damn to see oGsMC, marinekingprime and Sen (well sen's been here before hihihihi) live! (my bias) with TASTETOSIS casting was an amazing treat that i'd never expect be pulled off in realistically 5-10 years. i gave gus a firm handshake and semi-hugged him. no plastic involved it was genuine. if it wasn't for gus persistence and almost LOL SACRIFICE AT THE CROSS, we wouldn't have a chance to meet EVERYONE, and even come together at this very point in time as a community/sea/world wide to DIFFERENTIATE the good from the bad, and the ugly. it's insane how much i enjoyed 30minutes of just congratulating each other for the most awkward sentiment of 'job well done we pulled off a miracle by finishing the tournament and generating hardcore FUCKING AMAZING games with insanely genuine casting. anyway, now it's time for the fun part of my post PART II. TIMELINE MODE (WHY I AM THE NUMBER ONE TEAM AZK CRITIC) 1. AZKwitchdoc is born, H2H a filipino 1v1 casual chatroom invites him and his friends to play. gus is caught ghosting LOL, and still loses to some guy named kTGameOne (me) not kidding, former SEA gm (if that mattered then or now =)- feb/march 2. PCxpress launches a tournament called the powercup for sc2, azkwitchdoc asks us to meet him in person at a mall as he'd like to talk with us about his contacts and his vision to create an event similar but with better sponsors. I along with other members of the community, progamers, fans, and advocates a like meet at this mall at the specific date and time. we wait 2 hours, and call him like 10-20 times, he texts me sorry i don't have sleep. FUCKING ASSHOLE, we were like 10 people waiting there for you because you had an idea and wanted to meet. -march 3. AZKwitchdoc puts together a crappy website (teamazk.co.cc? or something like that) gus says he's going to organize a tournament back in march called the AZK Open Invitational that will feature foreigners / rachel, (duno how the fuck he thinks when he mentions logistics) - LOL contradicting event title alone, OPEN INVITATIONAL? wtf, so what is it, open tournament that you register for or an invitational that you get invited to? or is the event just called azk open, but it's through invitations? - LOL 'hey guys' ford is sponsoring us. alright goodjob (community goes wtf, is that legit), ford doesn't sponsor in the end. - this is my 2nd official sc2 livestreamed on-site event, i did dota primarily for mineski at the time - LOL 'we will invite online players aside from having people play at the internet cafe venue', wait wtf, where did your brain go? what happens when the all the local players lose, so we sit there and watch the invites you had from korea/abroad play through the stream? idiot... - LOL btw rachel quirico will be there to co-cast... omg so that means i need to configure 2 mics and a skype window open so that there are 2 live casters and one over the internet? also how the hell are you suppose to cast a game at our high latency through skype webcam + the 2 live one? pretty revolutionary actually, tbh it's also pretty stupid to configure that much shit just to use rachel's name as hype (which gus never really mentioned anything about after he failed to deliver. - 20k php prizepool was it? hmmm more like 2500 to the top place guy + 1k + something else to 2nd and third, razer products to follow about a month after right? sleazy stuff, -end of march? or early mid april 4. BSG tournament - does offrace count as being gold? stfu, if you're in diamond zerg, then you shouldn't be allowed to play as gold terran right MutaKing? aka * hmmm this is a blind item, never did know what happened with the champion, but it doesn't matter because the sponsor backed out anyway (a school that offered a scholarship plus 10k cash) because not that many people joined anyway/especially those that actually needed the sponsorship - let me be honest, in the philippines if you HAVE the money to afford to buy starcraft 2 much less play it with an internet connection and a good computer then chances are you don't need a scholarship, the intention was good but gus' brain must have been fried or something. - iahgames (blizzard distributor) i HEARD paid off some of the expenses of the event - no stream production for the event, he couldn't afford me making more money then him probably (5k php 100$~ USD), which was fine as it's not like it was needed or anything because sponsors only care about those 1-2 kids that joined in hopes of winning, but you can't if you play against an offraced asshole. (tbh bsg, no real way of telling what level you're at, it's an honesty system really, but it was verified that, that players account was once diamond on a linked account - june? yeah june 4. aside from gathering enough troupe and new allies (CV) it's time to plan for something big. the idea of the PPSL is introduced! lemme recall from memory. there was this video and he proclaimed his direct competitor in the video (american politics style where you can use commercials to talk about your opponent) - LOL he said the *** event had 30+ participates and the AZK event had 56+ participants, first of all those numbers aren't even big nor worth talking about.... secondly the AZK event number of participants also talks about the 2v2 bracket and FFA bracket, bigggg lolllll, it's like he didn't even think any of it through - LOL Philippine Pro STAR LEAGUE, ok i've been criticizing the NAME EVER SINCE IT'S MOTHER FUCKING INCEPTION, let me post the jist of why i hated it so much based on my post back in the PPSL production group from around august 29 around after the time after we did the stream for the PPSL qualifier 5 for IGN's eyes '--- CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM --- if you think i'm hating then you're probably an idiot marshals: simply get organized, get your head marshal to create a schedule that you guys may follow and who you report to. casters++: watch and play more. @paul coming as a friend and now 'professional' workmate, i believe you can improve significantly as a caster by simply being yourself. for some reason or another my opinion tells me you were being overly nice while working with jessi that just lead to either weird conversations or a 'lost in translation' take of what you think happened in game. simply speaking, explain it in tagalog and let the audience/co-caster try to understand what you are getting at. tbhonest i think a lot of you already know im against the PPSL itself as a brand name because it's target market is somewhat 'non-existant' eg. 720p streams for the west but branding the name of show itself something specifically asian (after a country), thusly you lose out on A. local markets because of the intense quality stream (remedied by next 'session' with dual stream outputs (will talk with your twitch.tv account settings manager) and B. foreign markets: i'm thinking as a foreigner: 'wow these guys named an entire tournament after their country + they have foreigners winning their country's tournament' (it's exactly what i was thinking the entire time during the NASL (north-american starleague) face it, the brand isn't local, nor is it international. (argue with me on this one, i'm not the kind that will defend my point if i know i've lost trust me) my general remedies: 1. call the PPSL with foreigner upcoming event the grand inauguration with foreign invites and keep your marketing/social media consistent with that 'tag-line and brand' 2. change the brand name completely or sorta completely. you guys have marketing/pr firms that you know can do this. my current best attempt would be the 'AZK Starleague feat. South-East Asian IPL Qualifiers' <-- SEE THAT SHIT 5. ENDLESS NAME DROPPING, CLASS REMARKS, IN-HOUSE CRAP, EGO CRAP etc... (well alot of it probably did happen, but if you follow or read gus' message - 'meeting up with GSL guys' (so what then what happened? we are excited to hear that but are more interested in the results of the meet-up then care about your personal gain - 'at republiq (class A club) party'ing with team azk' (in direct response to mineski celebrating the philippine victory of dota/hon/sc2 at the tgx in singapore, at a lower class place that invited people to come and party/drink for free... - progamer name dropping (well what if they don't fucking confirm? thoughts on LiquidHuk replacing someone at the PPSL? how about thoughts on GusLedesma using his brain when he posts?) - '20k inhouse AZK only tournament, just a recruitment scheme... duh, nobody actually played or won anything, or maybe they did, we'd never know if they'd never publish anything about it beyond the headline - 'first ever barcraft in the philippines'. lol me streaming from my house with drinks is a better barcraft then what you guys did, it was even closed to 'AZK'ish good standing members? like wtf?, branding yourself as the first then using the country's name? talk about grabbing hype attention. idiot crap that generators haters for sure. - 'TL MULTIPLE ANNOUNCEMENT THREAD <3' if you guys saw it too, you'd be SHITTING YOURSELVES on how they marketed the tournament much less did people actually know who AZK is about - CV/Gus Ledesma and I meet about doing a stream at 720p for IGN - CV talks about how cutthroat he is about business and how he has lawyers and shit <-- amazingly turned off at this point it bites them fucking back in the throat *maybe i missed a few things been typing for 5 hours now -> this happened from like july'ish toward last month 6. about 1 month before the PPSL i get 'fired' from being the guy producing the stream for a mixup in stream addresses when streaming for another event. (total damage i caused when i got fired, 3-5 stream viewers at 11am in the morning, because i (or my associate) accessed the wrong stream id on xsplit for 10-15minutes) i have a lengthy discussion with gus on how arrogantly he's playing this, and how much it's opened my eyes to see what kind of a person he's become. awesome text messages i remember gus: 'you're fired for letting that happen' john: 'LOL i didn't even know i could be fired for something i wasn't officially hired for in the first place' gus: 'i even have the checked signed and everything' john: 'it's not even about the money now but it's about a lost opportunity to stream for huge event that may make or break the country and i'd like to be sure that i'd be there myself and not some noob. RETROSPECT: well i'm still not paid, he must have torn up the check =) 7. 2 weeks before the PPSL, gus messages me 'we need to talk' - i knew it was going to be about the stream BUT - i thought it was going to be a personal apology or something like that but i walk to the coffee bean area - 10-15 of them are at the table and i slowly approach and this one guy is like 'let's make it happen' - IM GRINNING MY ASS OFF - i gather GUS + CLIVE + *** and *** i say my piece paraphrased gus: 'it's crunch time we gota make this happen' john: WAIT WAIT. wtf so you bring me here and officially reinstate me gus: yeah i did overreact but you have to understand, ign is watching us, this is important for everyone in the ph john: what if i said no? what i do what CV said and be CUTTHROAT about my business, hey instead of paying me 50k php just flyin IGN guys and IGN equipment, you have the funds right? a backup plan? (i get really emotional at this point as i feel it's almost imperative i have a part in this to OVERSEE that things go right) so i give them 2 stipulations: 1. 50% upfront on or before the event (didn't happen) 2. my company's name KTS Game Media IS NOT on any of the pamphlets branding or stream credits or sponsor rolls or anything like that. AT THIS POINT IN TIME ALONE, 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE PPSL, I'M ALREADY NOT CONFIDENT IN HOW WELL THE PPSL WILL GO. btw did you know that the PPSL production group, comprising of me + AZK only guys was actually started by me then i was kicked after my 'HARSH' ppsl comments after the qualifier 5 production at the end of october, then reinvited back into it again as i re'joined' the crew 2 weeks back? it's messed up, nobody ELSE AZK wanted to talk about things that were happening. I ASKED FOR PLANS AND EVERYTHING NEEDED TO ACTUALLY RUN THE PPSL. NOTHING WAS THERE OR COMMUNICATED TO ME. Probably because Gus maybe offered everyone their own little side cut, like myself, doing production, in exchange for doing as they're told. unfortunately i've got the balls to say TONS of shit was WAY too wrong, and my friend clive canlas is paying a 40kPHP or 800$ USD~ price tag for Gus Ledesma's mismanagement, hey don't forget there are probably over 40kPHP of sponsor parts missing, 500k PHP in unpaid for travel agent airfare, 50k to me for bring my equipment in, and the rest of the wages or rental fees for the other shit there. @NVIDIA PH, and all sponsors, and those that have contributed, check your accounting records pls, that is all. I DON'T HAVE A SIGNED CONTRACT TO DO PRODUCTION WORK WITH GUS. whatever, as long he knows the everyone else knows that people have been cheated out which can EXTEND to the news and his co-workers, i'm more then happy to have helped contribute to his 'public reprimand', if he doesn't PAY UP and APOLOGIZE. and not just the mock APOLOGY EARLIER, or even the friendly apology to celebrate the miracle of an ending/closure to the PPSL, but a public apology addressing the way he's MISMANAGED THE EVENT, MISREPRESENTED THE FUNDING, GROSSLY SCREWED OVER HIS OWN TOURNAMENTS MECHANICS/RULES, and yeah in a sense, set back ph esports. (but not really, my take is you've opened the eyes of the blind following the blind ^_^)v Good read. lol You can feel the rage emanating. | ||
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XRaDiiX
Canada1730 Posts
Please stop fucking quoting it ; will be put in the OP soon enough If your goin to quote it; put it in a spoiler. It's kinda annoying having to scroll for 30 seconds on my smart phone | ||
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Jiddra
Sweden2685 Posts
Mama mia, what a trainwreck. | ||
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AEsgaims
United States237 Posts
I think the esports court on TL already has a verdict. | ||
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Trusty
New Zealand520 Posts
On November 09 2011 09:29 threehundred wrote: + Show Spoiler + it's 7am so if someone can please find the internet linkable evidence for me go for it. it exists, trust me. (i'll edit it later) i personally need closure on this matter (for the sake of moving on/getting justice done) and for the sake of people asking why i know/remember so much, it's pretty much because gus is the only person i've ever met in the field of 'esports' (or probably my 26 year existence for that matter) that never failed amaze me with stupidity and lack of common sense with each dealing with him since the beginning of the year. SYNTHESIS: gus is either really stupid/noob at producing events, or just failed completely at conning (trust me he won't get away with it, and besides the money he may have taken (philippine pesos) is outstandingly laughable. like what 4-5k usd? 200k~ PHP? lollolol) no official statement though... he could just be looking for money right now to pay the proper parties their invoices (mine included) OR he could be THE MASTERMIND troll that won completely by forcing me to write all this (and maybe you for reading all this) ^_^)v for those that HATED MY ENDLESS CRITICISM OF AZK IRL or on STARCRAFTPH facebook group or elsewhere on the internet OR EVEN IN GUS LEDESMA'S face in person on several occasions weeks and months before this shitstorm happened, i told you so... and why i did the stream for him regardless btw if you actually read most/part of this TLDR rant? i wouldn't waste the opportunity to help try make esports grow, besides nobody else in the city does what i do, so i feel obliged to do what i can even at my current experience level to see tastetosis/the progamers and the amazing guys behind the scenes at work, the true heroes why the ppsl last day became actually QUITE FRANKLY awesome. anyway here we go. INTRO my name is john, i'm the lead stream engineer (moderately experienced streamer by my standards), and the third-party guy hired to interface/livestream the 'hdmi game-feed, 2 hdmi cameras and 2 player booth cameras', with third-party mobile cams and the live audio/LED video billboard system. you can find my previous work (a week before for mineski.net pgf feat. dota/dota2/sc2 wcg philippines @enter link here, and for garena philippines league of legends wcg philippines @enter link here, and for pcxpressgamingexpo (a current project feat. dota/sc2/kos(a counter-strike variant)) at http://www.twitch.tv/ktgameone. PART I: POINTS OF INTEREST 1. stream bitrate. in before anything else, we had 500-700kbps upload bandwidth to work with (the line that was given to the production desk at least). i was suppose to test the stream on-site with thegunrun the morning before (sunday 7am) by IGN's request directly to gus, but apparently the 'isp service provider fucked up and couldn't make it to allow for internet testing' thus 360p to 480p was pretty much it. MY TAKE: i badgered gus consistently about stream requirements for 720p (1.5-2.5 mbps up), he said the isp will provide it but provided no details such as contact numbers of their engineers or even assurance. FU MOMENT: i get up at 6am to get to the mall with my streaming equipment (50lbs of equipment) by 7am to call gus around 730am knowing it's way too quiet and sounds like he just woke up (he lives fucking 45mins-1hour away from the mall), then 2 1/2 hours after with thegunrun (just chilling out) 930-11am have gus say the isp guys fucked up. (gunrun covers ign btw by asking for a testing at 12nn, which again gets rescheduled to monday 1am (which the isp guys still aren't there for until 10am'sih) i go home to get rest because ima be moving shit into the mall at 11pm in the night. -> unacceptable stream standards for IGN as i recall. i have been contracted by gus/azk in the past for PPSL qualifier 5 @enter link here (on the teamazk twitchtv archives) where azk closed down a net cafe to stream at 720p, to show IGN that 720p was possible in the philippines) MY TAKE: 720p (streaming) all the way up to 1080i realistically is possible in the philippines, you just need to know the isp to talk with and either pay them properly or choose a good location to ensure solid bandwidth. FU MOMENT: hahaha, so gus is like, 'we are streaming for IGN and we need to make sure it's 720p', i'm like ok, what will it involve? 'we are closing down a net cafe and you are streaming casted ppsl qualifier 5 games'. i'm like that's it? gus goes 'yeah'. when i arrive with my cameras/microphones mixers etc... he tells me, the casters aren't here, they are at home (farmboy) and one is in australia (cheekyduck) via skype. i'm like fuck you (to myself), aren't you suppose to tell me these things? brought 40lbs extra equipment across the city for nothing. RETROSPECT: requirements gathering failure on my part too. but logically speaking you'd expect these MAJOR details to be ironed out for someone providing a service that is more then bringing just a fucking xsplit/afmle computer around. -> preparation. hmmm. we don't get a week to setup at the mall (it's not a convention center), we setup night before till mall opening. but more importantly we didn't practice our interfaces/the show program plan itself (if it existed) before the event. (something i now have vividly/emotionally experienced is A BAD THING). MY TAKE: it takes money to get the streamers/av guys/show producers, marshals together for a dry-run, something gus probably didn't have / OR conversely he was noob and thought things could run themselves. FU MOMENT: i had 4 major requirements (posted NOV 2, i have more on why i was hired a week+ before the event btw) for my prod at the ppsl -> my laptop sucks atm as my equipment is still in boxes but here is the basic copy/paste: 1. draft layout plan of the glorietta activity center for cabling/positioning <- CHECK 2. network requirements (1mbps UP for standard 480p, 2.5mbps UP for 720p) 3. contact number of logistics provider of the bigscreen/sound system (integration) 4. detailed daily plans for broadcasting eg. event stuff like introduction / sched for games 5. ingress procedure (bringing stuff into glorietta req permits or what not) 6. graphics production (c/o **azk member or what not). ZERO FUCKING REPLY from gus for any of these requirements except general text replys like yeah the isp has got it covered. i heard NOTHING about the general program plan except a 1-page document that ***azk member showed me that i said was fucked up as it was like general guide for what 'may' happen on the day itself and not a say ' per 15 minute guide' of who is up on stage or caster duties/runners/people running activities around the floor. i heard nothing since about a production plan until the unfolding at day one that one DIDN'T EXIST. RETROSPECT: i should have critically pushed to see a production plan out in the open as it reflects my productions personal preparedness to interface with their plans (if they existed) -> DAY ONE. i'll be accountable for the graphic errors, and probably along the lines of scene switching 'professional cue'ing with casters/stage/av crew that we worked with for the first-time WITHOUT a floor director/production plan/executive director on the first day of the ppsl, before torch/justin/rachel/allyn++ and some dedicated members of azk that knew that something was wrong stepped-in to try to make things right. basically azk let them run the show (no joke as azk needed it (well you have to blame the guy assigning (or lack of assigning) the job to lead the show: gus) i was not contracted to run the show, nor in the personal/proper capacity to step-in and take-charge of 'content' per say, but just manage and execute the delivery system with what i had. on a personal note mega props to the guys mentioned above for taking it upon themselves to create content in absence of azk executive decision making. MY TAKE: i'm gona be honest that i wasn't expecting nor in the physical/mental capacity to even try to sort out the mess that morning. i was pretty much heavily yelling/suggesting to the azk marshals/submanagement wtf is going on and why the fuck nobody was directing shit for stuff to get up on stage. FU MOMENT: ok so basically we were running a stream without any planning / camera angles / preparation for this scenario. i felt really bad for azk (yes even gus) and of course allyn/rachel that were trying to buy time, as it reflected not just a lack of a contingency plan but it also created a massive migraine filled first 6-8 hours (with major internet hiccups included) on what the fuck we were suppose to be doing. it made everyone look like an ass from my desk, to the marshals, to registration booth, to the standby a/v guys to the players. FU MOMENT 2: i have friends in the HON community in the PH i personally invited and greeted and talked with during the event. til i found out that night that they've been waiting all day for a motherfucking decision whether or not the tournament is a go or for tomorrow. they were practically dodged by gus apparently and gus didn't even tell his marshals or 'lower in commands' what to do apparently. they are the main instigators of the teamazk facebook page badmouthing (lol if gus didn't just set it to admin only posting mode), primarily because all they wanted was an answer from their 10am call-time if the HoN tournament would push through or not. official statement on HoN S2 games funds 2k? have no clue about this if S2 actually did send funds over in the first place. the hon guys (duskbin/zek friends included) stayed til 9pm because they just wanted to confront the head-organizer. in talking with them personally, they only wanted gus to man-up so they wouldn't absurdly (in it's own right) try to prosecute him legally.... FU MOMENT 3: did you guys know gus got to the event that he's supposedly at the helm at 3pm in the motherfucking afternoon? nobody was able to contact him til he arrived (obviously he had a lot of phonecalls/texts that day), that's either irresponsibility, avoiding something, or just overall wtf did you even bother showing up are you stupid that you let your event start without manning the helm. gross mismanagement. FU MOMENT 4: cebu guys not able to fly-in. gus couldn't admit he didn't have funds to fly them in straight-up (cebu is just a different part of the philippines with a total of 4 players (Cube guys on the player list) that were also suppose to be flown-in. but weren't) alright that itself is MESSED UP. you already have the circus of foreigners (only looks like a circus because the event is called the PPSL (philippine pro-starleague) which I HAVE TONS MORE TO TALK ABOUT BTW, but really, you fly-in (no hard feelings zanooku you're cool in real life and i fly-in for free with accommodations if id was ignorant of the entire situation or some other guy that you just want to brand AZK under instead of going by the standards/rules you've set forth in 'online qualifiers (which should have been marketed as invitational qualifiers ZzZZZ noob shit etc... FU MOMENT 5: YoonYJ / Dox's post + i guess random articles read at 3am in the morning on tuesday (day 2) about what happened with dealings with some korean pro-gamers and how azk changed conditions around etc... Dox you're a great writer/reporter of what went down. it just solidified my next set of actions. -> PRE-DAY TWO on the internet / ppsl production group (the ppsl prod group is the azk group + me as the third-party streamer only) i learned about what happened to the HON guys, SC2 cebu/australia/korea guys, then i go into the ppsl production group and post the following. 'sorry im holding your event hostage gus, im not doing shit tomorrow without 50% upfront and written contract to pay the 50% after the said amount of time. if the rest of you people FEEL in anyway that what i'm doing is WRONG, then fuck off.' - no replys (well one reply (not from gus), but it didn't answer) - i follow up with 'and if you think this is being greedy it's to protect myself from getting screwed over like my HoN friends i personally invited and couldn't for the sake of it say a thing when i realized what happened. FUCKING MAN THE FUCK UP' - long story why i requested 50% upfront (also below in storyline mode) at this point around 4am, clive (yes the guy with the hotel issues, and i guy also in the group), msgs me (translation) 'brotha, i feel you on this, where are you going to get contracts to file a 'case' against gus? if ever i'm with you on this with toot*, thinks are going sour' - i reply, well i can get some notary stuff done simply and what not, but i'm not completely serious about it yet... i sleep-in intentionally, i get to the venue 1 hour after mall opening (justin calling me/texting when i come, i lie to him and tell him i'm leaving, but yeah sorry man, i was actually contemplating whether i should just come and pick-up my shit or what not as gus hasn't replied to my ppsl group post nor answer my texts). oh that reminds me: here is something juicy, the only comm i have with gus after the event (actually during day 1, we shared zero words, as i felt he was avoiding me anyway) gus texts me : we need to talk about the stream. i reply - (paraphrased) 'talk demand shit from me, talk with the ISP, then talk with the imaginary floor director, then talk about the 50% we agreed upon upfront, we (dedicated azk members and the cast of foreigner friends that put themselves out there) want to make this work, just fucking pay some to plan for you or something, playing the finger pointing game won't get you points with your staff that you promised glory. he replied 'wtf are you talking about', RETROSPECT: it's either he's stupid or playing dumb (conning) or i used weird metaphors lol. anyway when i wake up, i read IGN's post, and the rest of whatever on the teamazk page, personal groups etc... -> DAY-2: when i get to the mall justin and my crewmate, and trevor has everything started up. i feel overwhelmed by their dedication to do the right thing, that deep down i'm feeling too, but on the outside am absolutely sour about (i was suppose to protest doing stream work (maybe i was pussy to protest, but whatever, doing what's right takes more courage). i'm re-motivated to work honestly, what we do is damage control, stage management, computer management, etc.. management and finish the tournament not for AZK definitely but rather for the players that have been frustrated and have walked out from DAY 1, but also for the fans that were not just excited to see tastetosis, thebeeduck (right about now <3) but the their hero progamer players that AZK actually did fly-over play in an actual, watchable tournament.. not much to say about this day except that one internet restart, but that the games were marvellous and the net was still as shitty as ever. one thing to note is that gus was there from the morning to the end of mall closing, no words exchanged except that he was waiting for the money when i confronted him with our agreement. after mall ours we are cleaning our shit out, hey i'm sorry to spill this but like 5-15% of the peripherals that *** sponsored for use were missing? fucking hell. 39/50 headsets left?, mismanagement security or what? this was day 2, maybe disgruntled organizers cared less because of their leaders lack of 'leading'.... i confronted gus about my pay, he couldn't say anything concrete except i'll have it by the end of the week. wtf is that ... then i talk with some random people there, apparently gus also owes a six figure amount (in pesos) in plane fares, and yeah the nvidia guy needs solid convincing or what not about what happened.... i could only help but feel teary eyed for gus and what he's gotten himself into. DRAMA/CLICHE/IRONY incoming: if only he had listened to me months back, or only if he was smarter and actually wikipedia'ed or googled or fucking outsourced someone else to run his event. -> AFTER party GOODBYES. well i got their with my friends late (brought my equipment home and all), i'm going to say this honestly, it was good vibes. i personally enjoyed the games, the casting and the crowd during day 2. it was almost our country's esports dream come true (albeit the terrible condition it has generated which i seek to rectify through this personal journal etc... damn to see oGsMC, marinekingprime and Sen (well sen's been here before hihihihi) live! (my bias) with TASTETOSIS casting was an amazing treat that i'd never expect be pulled off in realistically 5-10 years. i gave gus a firm handshake and semi-hugged him. no plastic involved it was genuine. if it wasn't for gus persistence and almost LOL SACRIFICE AT THE CROSS, we wouldn't have a chance to meet EVERYONE, and even come together at this very point in time as a community/sea/world wide to DIFFERENTIATE the good from the bad, and the ugly. it's insane how much i enjoyed 30minutes of just congratulating each other for the most awkward sentiment of 'job well done we pulled off a miracle by finishing the tournament and generating hardcore FUCKING AMAZING games with insanely genuine casting. anyway, now it's time for the fun part of my post PART II. TIMELINE MODE (WHY I AM THE NUMBER ONE TEAM AZK CRITIC) 1. AZKwitchdoc is born, H2H a filipino 1v1 casual chatroom invites him and his friends to play. gus is caught ghosting LOL, and still loses to some guy named kTGameOne (me) not kidding, former SEA gm (if that mattered then or now =)- feb/march 2. PCxpress launches a tournament called the powercup for sc2, azkwitchdoc asks us to meet him in person at a mall as he'd like to talk with us about his contacts and his vision to create an event similar but with better sponsors. I along with other members of the community, progamers, fans, and advocates a like meet at this mall at the specific date and time. we wait 2 hours, and call him like 10-20 times, he texts me sorry i don't have sleep. FUCKING ASSHOLE, we were like 10 people waiting there for you because you had an idea and wanted to meet. -march 3. AZKwitchdoc puts together a crappy website (teamazk.co.cc? or something like that) gus says he's going to organize a tournament back in march called the AZK Open Invitational that will feature foreigners / rachel, (duno how the fuck he thinks when he mentions logistics) - LOL contradicting event title alone, OPEN INVITATIONAL? wtf, so what is it, open tournament that you register for or an invitational that you get invited to? or is the event just called azk open, but it's through invitations? - LOL 'hey guys' ford is sponsoring us. alright goodjob (community goes wtf, is that legit), ford doesn't sponsor in the end. - this is my 2nd official sc2 livestreamed on-site event, i did dota primarily for mineski at the time - LOL 'we will invite online players aside from having people play at the internet cafe venue', wait wtf, where did your brain go? what happens when the all the local players lose, so we sit there and watch the invites you had from korea/abroad play through the stream? idiot... - LOL btw rachel quirico will be there to co-cast... omg so that means i need to configure 2 mics and a skype window open so that there are 2 live casters and one over the internet? also how the hell are you suppose to cast a game at our high latency through skype webcam + the 2 live one? pretty revolutionary actually, tbh it's also pretty stupid to configure that much shit just to use rachel's name as hype (which gus never really mentioned anything about after he failed to deliver. - 20k php prizepool was it? hmmm more like 2500 to the top place guy + 1k + something else to 2nd and third, razer products to follow about a month after right? sleazy stuff, -end of march? or early mid april 4. BSG tournament - does offrace count as being gold? stfu, if you're in diamond zerg, then you shouldn't be allowed to play as gold terran right MutaKing? aka * hmmm this is a blind item, never did know what happened with the champion, but it doesn't matter because the sponsor backed out anyway (a school that offered a scholarship plus 10k cash) because not that many people joined anyway/especially those that actually needed the sponsorship - let me be honest, in the philippines if you HAVE the money to afford to buy starcraft 2 much less play it with an internet connection and a good computer then chances are you don't need a scholarship, the intention was good but gus' brain must have been fried or something. - iahgames (blizzard distributor) i HEARD paid off some of the expenses of the event - no stream production for the event, he couldn't afford me making more money then him probably (5k php 100$~ USD), which was fine as it's not like it was needed or anything because sponsors only care about those 1-2 kids that joined in hopes of winning, but you can't if you play against an offraced asshole. (tbh bsg, no real way of telling what level you're at, it's an honesty system really, but it was verified that, that players account was once diamond on a linked account - june? yeah june 4. aside from gathering enough troupe and new allies (CV) it's time to plan for something big. the idea of the PPSL is introduced! lemme recall from memory. there was this video and he proclaimed his direct competitor in the video (american politics style where you can use commercials to talk about your opponent) - LOL he said the *** event had 30+ participates and the AZK event had 56+ participants, first of all those numbers aren't even big nor worth talking about.... secondly the AZK event number of participants also talks about the 2v2 bracket and FFA bracket, bigggg lolllll, it's like he didn't even think any of it through - LOL Philippine Pro STAR LEAGUE, ok i've been criticizing the NAME EVER SINCE IT'S MOTHER FUCKING INCEPTION, let me post the jist of why i hated it so much based on my post back in the PPSL production group from around august 29 around after the time after we did the stream for the PPSL qualifier 5 for IGN's eyes '--- CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM --- if you think i'm hating then you're probably an idiot marshals: simply get organized, get your head marshal to create a schedule that you guys may follow and who you report to. casters++: watch and play more. @paul coming as a friend and now 'professional' workmate, i believe you can improve significantly as a caster by simply being yourself. for some reason or another my opinion tells me you were being overly nice while working with jessi that just lead to either weird conversations or a 'lost in translation' take of what you think happened in game. simply speaking, explain it in tagalog and let the audience/co-caster try to understand what you are getting at. tbhonest i think a lot of you already know im against the PPSL itself as a brand name because it's target market is somewhat 'non-existant' eg. 720p streams for the west but branding the name of show itself something specifically asian (after a country), thusly you lose out on A. local markets because of the intense quality stream (remedied by next 'session' with dual stream outputs (will talk with your twitch.tv account settings manager) and B. foreign markets: i'm thinking as a foreigner: 'wow these guys named an entire tournament after their country + they have foreigners winning their country's tournament' (it's exactly what i was thinking the entire time during the NASL (north-american starleague) face it, the brand isn't local, nor is it international. (argue with me on this one, i'm not the kind that will defend my point if i know i've lost trust me) my general remedies: 1. call the PPSL with foreigner upcoming event the grand inauguration with foreign invites and keep your marketing/social media consistent with that 'tag-line and brand' 2. change the brand name completely or sorta completely. you guys have marketing/pr firms that you know can do this. my current best attempt would be the 'AZK Starleague feat. South-East Asian IPL Qualifiers' <-- SEE THAT SHIT 5. ENDLESS NAME DROPPING, CLASS REMARKS, IN-HOUSE CRAP, EGO CRAP etc... (well alot of it probably did happen, but if you follow or read gus' message - 'meeting up with GSL guys' (so what then what happened? we are excited to hear that but are more interested in the results of the meet-up then care about your personal gain - 'at republiq (class A club) party'ing with team azk' (in direct response to mineski celebrating the philippine victory of dota/hon/sc2 at the tgx in singapore, at a lower class place that invited people to come and party/drink for free... - progamer name dropping (well what if they don't fucking confirm? thoughts on LiquidHuk replacing someone at the PPSL? how about thoughts on GusLedesma using his brain when he posts?) - '20k inhouse AZK only tournament, just a recruitment scheme... duh, nobody actually played or won anything, or maybe they did, we'd never know if they'd never publish anything about it beyond the headline - 'first ever barcraft in the philippines'. lol me streaming from my house with drinks is a better barcraft then what you guys did, it was even closed to 'AZK'ish good standing members? like wtf?, branding yourself as the first then using the country's name? talk about grabbing hype attention. idiot crap that generators haters for sure. - 'TL MULTIPLE ANNOUNCEMENT THREAD <3' if you guys saw it too, you'd be SHITTING YOURSELVES on how they marketed the tournament much less did people actually know who AZK is about - CV/Gus Ledesma and I meet about doing a stream at 720p for IGN - CV talks about how cutthroat he is about business and how he has lawyers and shit <-- amazingly turned off at this point it bites them fucking back in the throat *maybe i missed a few things been typing for 5 hours now -> this happened from like july'ish toward last month 6. about 1 month before the PPSL i get 'fired' from being the guy producing the stream for a mixup in stream addresses when streaming for another event. (total damage i caused when i got fired, 3-5 stream viewers at 11am in the morning, because i (or my associate) accessed the wrong stream id on xsplit for 10-15minutes) i have a lengthy discussion with gus on how arrogantly he's playing this, and how much it's opened my eyes to see what kind of a person he's become. awesome text messages i remember gus: 'you're fired for letting that happen' john: 'LOL i didn't even know i could be fired for something i wasn't officially hired for in the first place' gus: 'i even have the checked signed and everything' john: 'it's not even about the money now but it's about a lost opportunity to stream for huge event that may make or break the country and i'd like to be sure that i'd be there myself and not some noob. RETROSPECT: well i'm still not paid, he must have torn up the check =) 7. 2 weeks before the PPSL, gus messages me 'we need to talk' - i knew it was going to be about the stream BUT - i thought it was going to be a personal apology or something like that but i walk to the coffee bean area - 10-15 of them are at the table and i slowly approach and this one guy is like 'let's make it happen' - IM GRINNING MY ASS OFF - i gather GUS + CLIVE + *** and *** i say my piece paraphrased gus: 'it's crunch time we gota make this happen' john: WAIT WAIT. wtf so you bring me here and officially reinstate me gus: yeah i did overreact but you have to understand, ign is watching us, this is important for everyone in the ph john: what if i said no? what i do what CV said and be CUTTHROAT about my business, hey instead of paying me 50k php just flyin IGN guys and IGN equipment, you have the funds right? a backup plan? (i get really emotional at this point as i feel it's almost imperative i have a part in this to OVERSEE that things go right) so i give them 2 stipulations: 1. 50% upfront on or before the event (didn't happen) 2. my company's name KTS Game Media IS NOT on any of the pamphlets branding or stream credits or sponsor rolls or anything like that. AT THIS POINT IN TIME ALONE, 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE PPSL, I'M ALREADY NOT CONFIDENT IN HOW WELL THE PPSL WILL GO. btw did you know that the PPSL production group, comprising of me + AZK only guys was actually started by me then i was kicked after my 'HARSH' ppsl comments after the qualifier 5 production at the end of october, then reinvited back into it again as i re'joined' the crew 2 weeks back? it's messed up, nobody ELSE AZK wanted to talk about things that were happening. I ASKED FOR PLANS AND EVERYTHING NEEDED TO ACTUALLY RUN THE PPSL. NOTHING WAS THERE OR COMMUNICATED TO ME. Probably because Gus maybe offered everyone their own little side cut, like myself, doing production, in exchange for doing as they're told. unfortunately i've got the balls to say TONS of shit was WAY too wrong, and my friend clive canlas is paying a 40kPHP or 800$ USD~ price tag for Gus Ledesma's mismanagement, hey don't forget there are probably over 40kPHP of sponsor parts missing, 500k PHP in unpaid for travel agent airfare, 50k to me for bring my equipment in, and the rest of the wages or rental fees for the other shit there. @NVIDIA PH, and all sponsors, and those that have contributed, check your accounting records pls, that is all. I DON'T HAVE A SIGNED CONTRACT TO DO PRODUCTION WORK WITH GUS. whatever, as long he knows the everyone else knows that people have been cheated out which can EXTEND to the news and his co-workers, i'm more then happy to have helped contribute to his 'public reprimand', if he doesn't PAY UP and APOLOGIZE. and not just the mock APOLOGY EARLIER, or even the friendly apology to celebrate the miracle of an ending/closure to the PPSL, but a public apology addressing the way he's MISMANAGED THE EVENT, MISREPRESENTED THE FUNDING, GROSSLY SCREWED OVER HIS OWN TOURNAMENTS MECHANICS/RULES, and yeah in a sense, set back ph esports. (but not really, my take is you've opened the eyes of the blind following the blind ^_^)v USE YOUR ENTER KEY. My eyes HURT. | ||
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jimbob615
Uruguay455 Posts
Philippines is a third world country but they are very nice people, amongst the friendliest in the world. Ok, these guys could have done some things differently but people saying it's "disgusting" and the "worst thing in esports so far" need to grow up seriously. | ||
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BigBadBeaver
Canada272 Posts
On November 09 2011 11:32 jimbob615 wrote: i really don't see anything wrong with what's happened. where is the scandals? do you guys have any idea how hard it is to coordinate events? im still waiting for that "omg" moment where someone has done something wrong. where is it? all i see is a bunch of people whining because the tournament wasn't up to MLG standards where they have venture capital and what not. Philippines is a third world country but they are very nice people, amongst the friendliest in the world. Ok, these guys could have done some things differently but people saying it's "disgusting" and the "worst thing in esports so far" need to grow up seriously. For one, money has disappeared | ||
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jimbob615
Uruguay455 Posts
oh ok, sorry if im ignorant and he's stolen money. there's no defending that. | ||
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XRaDiiX
Canada1730 Posts
On November 09 2011 11:32 jimbob615 wrote: i really don't see anything wrong with what's happened. where is the scandals? do you guys have any idea how hard it is to coordinate events? im still waiting for that "omg" moment where someone has done something wrong. where is it? all i see is a bunch of people whining because the tournament wasn't up to MLG standards where they have venture capital and what not. Philippines is a third world country but they are very nice people, amongst the friendliest in the world. Ok, these guys could have done some things differently but people saying it's "disgusting" and the "worst thing in esports so far" need to grow up seriously. It's not just about the management failures of Gus that were pissed about it's the fact that he also Shafted 5 players out of their qualified spot for the tournament by failing to buy their plane tickets Whig coincidentally worked for his own team mates AZK's favor giving them free by's in the tournament There is an un-official announcement relayed from a friend of some AZK Clan Member(s) Link To Post on Page 16:http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283641¤tpage=16#312 Click the Spoiler + Show Spoiler + GUYS New Updates i just found a Message from the Thread that YJY Stared Involving the Fiasco apparently someone Close to AZK Team posted a message on the Fiasco It's on Page 6 Link Here http://www.sc2sea.com/showthread.php?t=2699&page=6 This is a message from a close friend of some of the players of AZK who feel ashamed that Gus has done such atrocities and feel ashamed and sad because they are shown in bad light to many (the world Especially their Team name AZK) because of what Gus had done and what has transpired. Please do not hate the Players it appears many of the Players had no idea what had transpired and feel ashamed and upset about the fiasco that has happened. =================================================================== "Dear SEA Community I'd like to bring forward a couple of things concerning this situation and the criticism received. First off, I am not speaking on behalf of any of the AZK team members or management. I know some of their clan members personally and I am friends with them, and have been talking to them about recent events. They are all in distress. Many of the clan members had no idea about the scams, shame and controversial acts that took place behind their backs. Many of their members expected that of which was told to them, a tournament consisting of the best SEA players paired with some top pro Koreans. They had no idea about what AZK's management did to achieve such a goal as well... Although what really shook me up while talking to one of them was his concern with the reputation of the players of AZK themselves. Almost none of the members of the team actually were aware of the events their manager Gus had been involved in, and what so called treachery he had committed towards the entire Starcraft 2 community. All they did was look up to him to provide for the team in hopes of becoming a well known and respected clan in SEA. Then when this happens, and suddenly the world turns against Team AZK, they feel extremely distressed not only because such a reputation has been given to the team, but the players feel that they are being blamed as well. Because the scams and such are depicted as 'Team AZK's' fault, or further flame such as 'Team AZK is a terrible team', the players feel as if they are being blamed for the entirety of the scams, and worst of all, some players are starting to believe that it is their fault as well, and as such, are questioning team commitments and total separation. Now I am aware that some AZK members aren't on the top of the list of the friendliest Starcraft 2 players, but i know a handful of them, and they are extremely nice and friendly people, who are now shook up and lost entirely given the present situation. The players just did as their management told them to, and up until the current events, thought that the management was doing nothing wrong. The players are also extremely sorry about your situation YoonYJ, and I know one of them that was even extremely eager to meet you. They had no idea about that such a breach, and they all feel betrayed and lost, and they all hope that they will still have a place in the Starcraft 2 SEA scene. So I do ask you of the SEA community, a community of understanding, to just be aware of this, and maybe construct your posts with these facts in consideration. I do feel what AZK management did was unacceptable and requires a formal apology if any condolences are to be made, but lets keep our fingers pointed toward them/him and maybe not towards the players themselves. I post this not as an official statement from the team, nor as one of their members. I post this as a close friend of a couple of the AZK members, and do as for your consideration." =================================================================== THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT PEOPLE JUST A PER-SE RELAYED MESSAGE VIA FRIEND OF AZK CLAN MEMBERS Just making sure you Understand that. Gus's AKA (WitchDoc's) Reply to YJY after YJY Threatened to inform the Community of his Atrocities and scams. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283641¤tpage=17#330 + Show Spoiler + This Photo i got from the Sc2Sea Communitys Chat Logs Says it all. I even Highlight the Part where Gus "says GL with that" ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MtdRB.jpg) Link Here: http://www.sc2sea.com/vbshout.php?do=archive&instanceid=1&perpage=250&orderby=DESC&perpage=25&page=42 Before Gus AKA (AZKWitchdoc) says "GL with that" YJY Posted saying "I've been hearing shit from other people inside his team and out" "That he never wanted to fly(me) in the first place" "but when i spoke to him he gave me his word" "yeah but im going to be very smart about this" "i want the sponsors to see bad publicity" Immediately after YJY says that Gus AKA (AZK WitchDoc) says "GL with that" The Employees of the Event; Story on what Gus AKA (AZK WitchDoc) Did to them and how he treated them as employees while managing the Event PPSL. Link: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283641¤tpage=18#350 + Show Spoiler + On November 09 2011 01:29 ZenDeX wrote: "add to this, even the staff of AZK felt that we got scammed, Gus who we think has all the funds for this event, and the one who promised us that he will pay us, didn't pay us at all. It's so sad that we the staff, did our best to make things work out, and the spotlight for hate is turned to us. On the first day of the event, Gus was nowhere to be found. He arrived late on the event. And it was a great thing Torch was there. I am a staff member, but I would like to speak on behalf of the staff members, who didn't even got the chance to EAT (since he didn't give a fuck if we ate or not) or got even paid as promised. this is really disappointing and sad.. pointing all the blame to team azk, without knowing what really was happening even between the members and Gus. It is unfair to tell everyone here that the leaders just disappeared,its not fair to judge everything by what you see without even knowing what really happen, THEY DIDN'T DISAPPEAR. They went out to look for a computer cafe with (2 group brackets--8players) so that they could finish all the games in TIME (since there is really nothing good if they wait until the computer/internet's fixed). And about the HoN tournament, we were asking for Gus's Decision whether we push through the tournament, but he insisted NO. being his staff members, we follow his orders since we are just merely staff members. With this incident, we sincerely apologize, we can't do anything about it even if we wanted to make it happen, GUS wouldn't allow us, he just insisted NO and that we should push through the SC2 Tournament. We, his own staff members also feel that we got scammed for not being paid (or even given the budget for food and drinks the least) and on behalf of my team, we are really frustrated, tired and disappointed at his leadership. When he arrived late at the venue, he doesn't seem to be on the right mind to lead us. So on behalf of our staff team, we are very sorry to provide you a lack-luster tournament. Thank you to those people who stepped up and lead the way, and we are very thankful to have Torch on our team that time. Even us staff members are puzzled and looking for answers to what the fuck happen to the funds, I see a lot of things, heard a lot of things, UNNECESSARY THINGS that he has been spending on. /rantoff" Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/m48sn/the_ipl_werent_the_only_ones_swindled_by_the_ppsl/c2y3xcn?context=3 Just Collecting Information This may be relevant for the OP; Not sure though (its not really Official Statements.) But i feel this Information is important and should be collected and compiled for the Thread. You should also read the fucking OP | ||
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Deshkar
Singapore1244 Posts
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XRaDiiX
Canada1730 Posts
Question is where the Fuck is the Money GUS It doesn't end there some guy just posted few pages ago they didn't have money to drive players to airport Like WTF | ||
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Antisocialmunky
United States5912 Posts
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magnaflow
Canada1521 Posts
On November 09 2011 11:48 XRaDiiX wrote: There was also a guy few pages ago near the top of the page says Gus made him pay for the players Hotel rooms under his own name (probably so he'd be pinned with the bill invade Gus couldn't pay up) and he says Gus isn't going to pay the 40k PHP he spent on Hotel rooms for the Players Question is where the Fuck is the Money GUS It doesn't end there some guy just posted few pages ago they didn't have money to drive players to airport Like WTF The actual question is where the fuck is Gus? | ||
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