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United States32621 Posts
It is as imperative as ever that Blizzard publish official rules for WCS 2016.
The cut-off for the spring ladder qualifier is rapidly approaching on April 7th. The prior winter qualifier was marred by suspected ladder manipulation, with Bly allegedly losing games on purpose to change his seeding before the cutoff. Even with ESL’s Apollo stating that Bly’s actions had not gone unnoticed, the incident ended without any action or public comment from Blizzard. As a result, competitors were confused as to whether the lack of rules actually meant that anything was acceptable.
Such notions were dispelled last week at the GPL/WCS Shanghai tournament, but the need for an official rule book remains.
In an extreme case of a joke gone wrong, first-time WCS participant Sioras was caught looking at a replay on Harstem’s computer (Harstem was Sioras’ next opponent). Both players later stated that the incident was non-malicious, but Sioras was disqualified regardless. Whether or not the penalty was appropriate, the event highlighted the overly arbitrary nature of the current WCS system.
Sioras’ harsh fate might have put fear of the Irvine gods back into the hearts of progamers in time for the spring ladder qualifiers. Yet, there’s no guarantee it will be a sufficient deterrent against attempted foul play. If such an event should occur, the lack of definitive rules will only serve to confuse the competitors and community once more. Looking back at 2015, the attempted collusion scandal was resolved with relatively little chaos—even considering the StarCraft community’s penchant for drama—thanks to clearly set rules.
Even outside maintaining competitive integrity, previous rule sets also held parties accountable for a number of key factors such as timely prize payment, mandatory stream delay, acceptable sponsorships, and venue equipment. And, in what is perhaps an absurdly obvious statement, not having official rules undermines the prestige of the official, authoritative competitive circuit of StarCraft.
In Sioras’ case, the lack of rules undermined the goals of the WCS 2016 system itself. The much-debated region lock was supposed to give opportunities to players like Sioras who had struggled under the Korean hegemony; He was an unknown, teamless player from a country without a history of success in StarCraft. By failing to clearly present the rules and expected standards of professionalism, WCS disappointed the exact kind of newcomer it was supposed to encourage.
Yes, Sioras should know better. And yes, progamers should strive to always put their best foot forward. But those obligations belong to Blizzard as well.
Having clear rules won't solve everything. Even as rules settle some arguments, new arguments will arise about the rules themselves. Furthermore, it's impossible for rules to be so comprehensive that every possibility of subjective judgment is removed. However, we've veered too far on the side of chaos, and some semblance of order must be restored.
WCS 2016 has overcome significant initial opposition to prove that fans are indeed interested in region-locked events. The road ahead is hazardous, but there is hope that new life can be breathed into StarCraft. It would be a shame for Blizzard to impede its own progress.
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The rule that you are not allowed to watch replay between matches has been in place for years. Its so fucking easy: Dont do shit you are not allowed to. Especially when its a once in a lifetime opportunity
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On March 30 2016 07:25 Heyjoray wrote: The rule that you are not allowed to watch replay between matches has been in place for years. Its so fucking easy: Dont do shit you are not allowed to. Especially when its a once in a lifetime opportunity
That's a rule concerning a completely different situation, namely watching the replay inbetween maps in a boX.
But anyway, I think the rulebook we have is still what players have to stick to.
http://opcdn.battle.net/static/wcs/public/downloads/wcs-player-handbook-v1.1.1.pdf
Blizzard acted according to the rules stated in this handbook and resolved the Sioras situation correctly. But they really should update it and put the 2016 on it.
Edit: Sioras broke one or both of those rules:
11.0 Player Code of Conduct
B. Behavior – Players are required to behave in a sportsmanlike manner towards other competitors, members of the administration team, media, and fans.
F. Cheating - Players must compete to the best of their ability at all times. Any form of cheating will not be tolerated. ...
And GPL and Blizz reacted with this:
Player Code of Conduct Offenses
A. Code of Conduct violations will be reviewed by Blizzard Entertainment and the organizer.
B. Violations of the Code of Conduct may vary including a warning, an immediate disqualification, prize penalties, removal from the tournament, and/or restriction from participation in future events.
C. Final decisions regarding player violations are up to the discretion of Blizzard Entertainment.
It's just sad that Sebou had to blow it up on twitter and force Blizz to react, otherwise it would've been resolved with a warning.
What Bly did could also go against
B. Behavior – Players are required to behave in a sportsmanlike manner towards other competitors, members of the administration team, media, and fans.
but I guess Blizzard was merciful.
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As thankful as I am for Blizzard even investing money into it, I can't help but feel they just simply don't have a group that's really dedicated to WCS and Starcraft eSports. This is the 4th? year that WCS has gone on, there needs to be standards for how competition is run.
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It's clear to me there's only three rules given WCS 2016 and the behaviour so far
1. If you're mildly known or popular, do what you want 2. If you're unknown, don't do anything 3. If you're 99% of Koreans, go fuck yourself
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Has Blizzard disqualified anyone for a rule which was unknown to all? I think they probably hides their cards for a reason. Players should not speculate in abusing, say, a specific wording of a rule, in which case Blizzard then has to defend their stance and create a stir if others disagree. They probably enjoy having the opportunity to slam down on "unwanted" behavior without people arguing that it wasn't strictly against the rules. As well as the opportunity to let unimportant violations go without further time investment - and not be criticized for discriminatory sanctions. In order to encapsulate every possible unwanted scenario, the rules would probably be felt as oppressive in certain ways, if taken at face value.
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I find it obsurd that they have yet to release up-to-date rules. Surely after the changes to the format were announced they'd look to update everyone involved as quickly as possible, to alleviate concerns and draw a line in the sand for ne'er do-wells.
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hey I wasn't aware of the ladder drama, thanks for the heads up!
I still can't believe there is no rulebook released.. I usually don't say things like this but in this case "what a joke" seems appropriate.
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On March 30 2016 08:20 cheekymonkey wrote: Has Blizzard disqualified anyone for a rule which was unknown to all? I think they probably hides their cards for a reason. Players should not speculate in abusing, say, a specific wording of a rule, in which case Blizzard then has to defend their stance and create a stir if others disagree. They probably enjoy having the opportunity to slam down on "unwanted" behavior without people arguing that it wasn't strictly against the rules. As well as the opportunity to let unimportant violations go without further time investment - and not be criticized for discriminatory sanctions. In order to encapsulate every possible unwanted scenario, the rules would probably be felt as oppressive in certain ways, if taken at face value.
That's nonsense. Even with published rules they can still do whatever they want, with the same amounts of repercussions. They can just ignore people that argue that it isn't "strictly" against the rules.
They aren't being malicious. They're just being incompetent.
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On March 30 2016 08:20 showstealer1829 wrote: It's clear to me there's only three rules given WCS 2016 and the behaviour so far
1. If you're mildly known or popular, do what you want 2. If you're unknown, don't do anything 3. If you're 99% of Koreans, go fuck yourself
This. WCS is clearly a foreigner popularity contest.
Also, ppp.
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Blizzard is busy with other things. Mostly Heroes of The Storm/Overwatch.
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It's their money their game their tournament and ultimately their good name plastered all over it.
They should do a better job of protecting that and publish rule books like it's serious buisness/competition.
Because it is!
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Wax you're posting in the wrong forum. Blizzard doesn't read Team Liquid.
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They're 1/3rd of the way through WCS 2016 and they still haven't released the rules yet...fucking lol, the rulebook should've been released before any qualifiers even started and any WCS points were given out. How do they keep fucking this up?
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your Country52796 Posts
Wtf? I thought the rules were released a long time ago, maybe I'm confusing it with 2015...
On March 30 2016 08:20 showstealer1829 wrote: It's clear to me there's only three rules given WCS 2016 and the behaviour so far
1. If you're mildly known or popular, do what you want 2. If you're unknown, don't do anything 3. If you're 99% of Koreans, go fuck yourself
Please be more constructive when making a post like this one.
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28060 Posts
On March 30 2016 10:45 The_Templar wrote: Wtf? I thought the rules were released a long time ago, maybe I'm confusing it with 2015... It's been that long!
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Katowice25012 Posts
Put up the bat-aeromi signal
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I have never heard about the Bly thing before, but I don't see how this was anything wrong? He was throwing games for his own benefit and that's just as good a competitive move as any. Throwing games for the benefit of other people, that's really despicable, but players shouldn't be forced to win games when it actually hurts them because of the tournament format.
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"everything that is not forbitten =- allowed ) so relax bro)"
Now there's an amazing life lesson.
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