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Stephano has stated multiple times that he's just trying to make as much money off Starcraft II as possible before going to university. Given this information, his behavior doesn't exactly surprise me. When someone pretty much says that they don't care about the competition itself as long as the cash rolls in, they probably don't feel too much of an obligation to please the fans or tournament organizers.
While I do think it's commendable to state one's goal so bluntly, the resulting attitude towards inconvenience caused by late or hour-long matches is something that will inevitably make him clash with tournament schedules.
I'm not accusing Stephano of being a money grubber, I'm just saying that he can afford to do what he did yesterday, because if one day all tournaments refrain from inviting him to future events, he can just go back to doing what he would do anyway in a few months.
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I don't like to attribute blame to players, these things happen sometimes, however I highly praise ONOG and the organisers/admins for taking the actions they did. Really good solution and thanks also to the players who stepped up
I think there are now two players organisers should never invite to play in inaugural tournaments
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On January 30 2012 21:34 Steveling wrote: My reaction upon reading this is the same as Kenigits. Tournament hosts should seriously consider banning him.
Why would you ban one of the best players in Europe.. he will get you so much viewers, it would only hurt the tournament to 'ban' him.
Edit: To the people saying Stephano will quit in September, he did say when he makes enough money or continues to make a lot of money, he will continue to play.
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On January 30 2012 21:58 mTw|NarutO wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2012 21:34 Steveling wrote: My reaction upon reading this is the same as Kenigits. Tournament hosts should seriously consider banning him. Why would you ban one of the best players in Europe.. he will get you so much viewers, it would only hurt the tournament to 'ban' him. Edit: To the people saying Stephano will quit in September, he did say when he makes enough money or continues to make a lot of money, he will continue to play.
Ahm... If you never ever punish players just because they are good how will this ever get "better"?
I mean on one hand players are crying for better enviroments/professionalism and on the other side they play multiple tournaments at once (which leads to delays) and then forfait because theire tired?
Stephano broke no rule here, thats why they should not ban him, but not having rules aganist something like this is just the sign of a naive tournament organisation. The problem is, a single tournament banning some wrong-doer won't do shit. If all tournament organisers would work together here things would change really, really quickly.
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On January 30 2012 20:00 Velr wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2012 19:31 Jehct wrote: Are the people defending him serious? No professional, in any sports field, forfeits a final because they're fucking tired. Tennis players will play badly through great pain until they concede that they have to give up. Players in team sports will keep going until their coach pulls them off. I don't think a single person has quoted a situation where a top professional in a particular field bows out because they're tired. . Thats not true. At a Grand Slam.. Yes, they will even risk their health for the potential of winning it. At a "small" tournament? Iirc Murray, Djokovic and iirc Nadal forfaited games in 2011 because of "minor" problems. I know you can't compare this even closely because ruining your health is unlikely from that 1 more series of SC2. But even the best Tennis players sometimes forfait matches. I mean, there is obviously a diffrence in effort from Sampras womitting on the court during a grand slam final and Djoko or whoever it was forfaiting a match at some tourney due to having some back pain .
I agree that there's a huge distinction between a Grand Slam and a minor tournament, or an MLG and the ONOG invitational, but there's also a huge difference between forfeitting a match because of pain or health issues, and forfeitting a final because you're tired. I just can't imagine any well-known tennis pro doing something like that, no matter how irrelevant the tourny is. I'd love to be proven wrong, since this incident totally adjusted my perspective on the foreign SC2 scene.
On January 30 2012 20:00 Velr wrote:Show nested quote +All his actions throughout his 'career' indicate that he shouldn't be called a 'progamer'. He began his career by reneging on a contract after his old team makes a better offer, with only a relatively minor fine thanks to French law. He threw games that actually affected group standings in a major tournament - an act worse than Naniwa's for tournament integrity, but it wasn't broadcasted. 1: Yes, he did some "questionable" things... But as long as the teams put up with it... Well... Their fault. "Thanks to french law"... Well, the law in France is the law in France and i'm sure it's in place for a reason and many people seem to agree with it... 2: It being broadcasted or not is a pretty big factor... But yes, also a bad move. But as long as tournament organizers and others put up with this... Well... Their fault. I'd agree with this if the minor tournaments had any power at all. There really needs to be some kind of executive body to give each party appropriate power at times like this.
If all minor tournaments just decide to ban (or not invite) Stephano, they're directly hurting their viewership numbers and potential growth. As one of the most prominent foreigners, he's just more important to the scene right now. And when you consider his behaviour, that kinda sucks. At least if you want Starcraft to be professional.
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Supply and Demand.
Stephano does not need tournament, tournament needs Stephano.
Therefore, Stephano gets to play on his own terms. He is his own man and gets to make his own choices.
Now children, lets put on our big boy pants and walk away from this situation. People drop out of tournaments all the time at various stages, there's really no reason to bring torches and pitchforks. This is not a big deal at all, in fact, but sadly it seems these days this community cares more about making huge DRAMAS above all else.. Especially when someone doesn't adhere to some unwritten code of conduct they invented in their heads.
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On January 30 2012 22:21 darkscream wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Supply and Demand.
Stephano does not need tournament, tournament needs Stephano.
Therefore, Stephano gets to play on his own terms. He is his own man and gets to make his own choices.
Now children, lets put on our big boy pants and walk away from this situation. People drop out of tournaments all the time at various stages, there's really no reason to bring torches and pitchforks. This is not a big deal at all, in fact, but sadly it seems these days this community cares more about making huge DRAMAS above all else.. Especially when someone doesn't adhere to some unwritten code of conduct they invented in their heads.
Of course it's a big deal to the tournament organisers, also this "code of conduct written in their heads" are you serious or just trolling, try to win games in tournaments, that's the whole point of being a player in a competition. Does that really need to be written down in a tournament rulebook?
Can't believe I even bothered replying to such drivel.
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so ridicolous some people still think pro players don't owe the community anything.. Professionell players owe the community EVERYTHING imo. This isn't only for starcraft but for every other sport or esport. If there would be no community watching professionell players, these pro players wouldn't earn anything, since the money is raised by sponsors who take the sport as an advertisement platform. Pretty simple: Low amount of viewers -> low amount of sponsors spending money into it -> low amount of money earned by pro players
It's all about entertainment, not about simply playing the game. Just take Destiny as an example. I don't want to say that he's bad, but lets face it, he's no on the very top level of pro players but still I guess he's making pretty good money. Maybe not the amount of money a Stephano makes, but pretty sure he makes more money than a shitload of people who are skillwise way superior. The point about Destiny is that he's an awesome entertainer. You don't have to agree on this point, but viewercounts speak for themselves.
Also if you transfer this situation into a normal job. You can't just forfeit a task because you feel it's too late.
I think what Stephano did is a disgrace and it shows his attitude towards the community. Some people should realize that the community is what makes them getting paid.
+ Show Spoiler + When I think back to the contract case compared to this situation I really think stephano needs to learn manners...
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Honestly I blame the tournament 100%...their rep seems to agree. They should not have let him afk. I don't see how they justify denying him prize money though. That's pretty BM. Tournaments should have rules governing forfeits; if you tell a player they can forfeit and then penalize them for doing it WTF? That is unprofessional/Bm
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Stephano is like the Kanye West or Terrell Owens of the esports community. Talented, but also somewhat of a PR liability.
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On January 30 2012 16:18 Wolf wrote: I'm with Kennigit on this one.
Yea I completely agree. I mean I believe Stephano has already stated hes only doing this to save money for medical education I believe? Which is totally fine but the lack of passion and caring he shows towards the people who organized the event, fellow players, and the community is very appalling.
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Stephano was 100% in his rights to walk away. It's his life and his sleep and his prerogative if he wants to play or not. In the grand scheme of things, ONOG is really just some random event that he signed up for that no one's ever heard of before. He didn't get mad or pretend like it was the right thing to do, he knew full well people would get pissed and still made the decision. If that doesn't speak to the state of physical distress he must have been in, I don't know what will.
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I think Stephano is still going to school, if not maybe he has to do something that following day. How on earth can you blame someone to sleep. Do think ONOG did the right thing, but do not start bm'ing Stephano just because he choose something different then you would choose. You can not make the decision that a final is a better choice. Stephano does not owe the viewers and tournemant anything. It is just a small tournemant who cares.... really guys stop making choices which you can not make for someone else!
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On January 30 2012 17:06 mTw|NarutO wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2012 16:54 Bayyne wrote:On January 30 2012 16:42 mTw|NarutO wrote: The right decision in my opinion would have been to postpone the finals to another day. That way the fans got robbed a Stephano vs Kas bo5 and got a match with Kas and an inferior player neither the outcome of the 2nd or 3rd place match.
No offence to CatZ or Illusion, they are both good players and its no shame to be worse than Kas. I can understand the decision, but I don't think it was correct. I couldn't care less about Kas vs someone not up to par wit him :x
Edit: if its correct that he stated he didn't want for the 3rd place match to be finished, they could have played the final and cast it from replays. I don't know if he would have agreed on that.
Edit2: I don't think the player owes the fans entertainment. If Stephano feels like he cannot play his best or cannot deliver against Kas because he's too tired I do think his decision to forfeit was nothing but the right choice. If he owes anything to the fans its to show his best performance or at least try to bring his A-game in a final of such a tournament. What then does he owe to the tournament who has already made accommodations for him earlier in the day, which very lenient accommodations I might add? I agree with you that a player doesn't OWE fans entertainment. But I expect a player to play out any match they signed up for, especially when this isn't your first rodeo as a player. Yeah the fans arguably did get robbed of a higher level finals, but I have Stephano to thank for that. He doesn't owe the tournament anything. It was their decision to invite him. He did play it to the point where he decided he cannot play anymore. Next time they probably won't invite him. He didn't drop a single map in the SCAN invite and did also play the semifinals at the ONOG. I agree the way he did forfeit wasn't very professional but it was a to me reasonable decision. I don't could or should blame ONOG for the decision they made, but that doesn't mean I agree with it. They offered to play the finals and cast it from replays and he didn't accept that - tough luck and not very clever if you ask me, but if you have no contract with the players that can force them to play (i.e $ penalty if they quit for whatever reason) thats just how it goes.
I think this post sums things up well. Had stephano sent a properly worded email or skype message to the tournament organizers explaining why he was unable to play the matches and apologizing for missing the finals I don't think we would even be having this discussion. Stephano is a college student in addition to the hectic pro-gaming schedule; I think it's reasonable and understandable that he may miss some matches from time to time.
Take away here is that professionalism and politeness go a long way.
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On January 30 2012 19:46 mTw|NarutO wrote: In my opinion Illusion was mad about waiting because he knew he has no chance vs Stephano... ;;. If they decided to start with CatZ vs Kas he would have to wait anyways. You should research more about what's going on before you start making assumptions.
I wasn't mad he went away for an hour, I was mad I wasn't notified by the admins and I was just sitting there. They weren't telling me anything besides the fact that they are trying to reach him at the time. Anyway, everything is fine now after talking to the admins about it.
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It's got nothing to do with ONOG that he decided to play in 2 tournaments that day. ONOG has it's own schedule, it is totally unacceptable BM to do what Stephano did, best player in EU no doubt but with conduct like that, he doesn't deserve any sympathy. ONOG did their best and they did the right thing imo.
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Stephano has the right idea, which is not to pretend that this is a serious career path. Maybe for a few players who were around in BW days it is, but does anyone think that SC2 is actually going to be a viable career for 10+ years? Hell no. It'll fall apart pretty quickly after Blizzard moves onto their next game, whatever that is.
Stephano is just doing it like most people do their jobs, temporarily for the money to open up new opportunities. You don't work at Mickey D's as a life long career and you don't play SC2 as a life long career.
Anyone who thinks that pro gaming is this huge budding scene is crazy.
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Stephano just lost me as a fan. I laugh at how people are sympathizing with Stephano's sleep schedule. There are times in life where career trumps rest. Clearly people don't understand that. Furthermore, it was Stephano's own doing that got him into this mes.
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On January 30 2012 20:01 mTw|NarutO wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2012 19:53 Bayyne wrote: No. I'm asking how did you come up with illusion being mad BECAUSE Stephano is better than him. Maybe he was told by admins his match would start at 5, and that he waited 45minutes? Assumption? Usually players are very insightful on delays... because they know it can happen;;
Are you even reading what you write?
Aside from the fact that your assumptions are wrong as confirmed by Illusion, how is that even logical? You think a player would get mad because they have to play someone better? That happens to EVERY professional player except the top player. The fact that you choose that assumption over the fact that a player is angry because he has to wait for an hour for reasons unknown to him (except that it's somehow related to his opponent) undermines your credibility.
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This is ridiculous.
Why the hell give Stephano the 4th place? He forfeit the final, so he should be 2nd. If ONOG staff wanted to punish him for forfeit, which is ridiculous in itself, they should have taken on and DQ him completely.
And wtf is all this rage on TL everytime a player forfeit ? Forcing players to play is silly, and so is this punishement thing. A player don't forfeit for no reason, and forbidding him to do so leads to shitty games (cf Naniwa's awesome probe rush). So why forcing players to play ? This is retarded, and raging about it is even more.
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