Players Union

I have long fought for the need of an active player’s union since the early days of CPL being the dominant organization in our community. Without combined group effort with the leadership of a few authoritative front-men, the community will and would continue to be bullied by organizations that wish to maintain total control. We have had organizations failing to pay out prizes, some have had no compensations when they fail on their part, team management has cheated players on their prize money, and players themselves have negated legal contracts or verbal agreements. Yet, what has the community done to remediate these wrong-doings? Pretty much nothing apart from writing useless forum rants that only satisfy our egos. The purpose of having a player's union that works independently and parallel to the CGS would be to represent the voice of our community. As much market research DirecTV has done to understand how our market works and why it functions the way it does, they are nonetheless new to this strange environment. The union would and should consult the CGS on the right path to take by working together to even out the playing field for everyone.

There is a "union" known as the G7, consisting of teams such as Complexity, SK, fnatic, MYM and more recently the addition of wNv. Little is known of this union because of the little they have done. Although there is a shed of light as there's news of all the G7 teams having a conference in Cologne, Germany. Hopefully something positive and constructive would come out of this meeting of some of the most authoritative gaming organizations we have to date.

Nonetheless, a union must be formed for the sake of gamers that would be participating in the CGS, directly accommodating their needs and fighting for their well-being or the hierarchy would be very pointy.


A failing league?

The announcement by DirecTV indicates a global league that would include North & South America as well as Europe and Asia. It almost seems a desperate move on CGS’s part to envelope the whole of the community at once in case the chance may slip away. However this may backfire on CGS as the bigger their circle gets, the thinner the stratosphere becomes.

Growth is good, but growing too fast can often lead to miscalculations. DirecTV is not impervious to the general rule of supply and demand when in this case they are trying to sell entertainment to their potential clients. This bears a resemblance to the NHL when they expanded too fast, causing franchises to go bankrupt and the league almost sent to its demise.

Starting nationally would be the better bet, especially starting in North America which has a more solid and defined base in terms of competitive gaming. Starting from North America, CGS should establish the infrastructure of their league, stabilize the condition of the community and run a successful first season. By doing so, rivalries would begin between franchises, which inevitably brews excitement, leading to outsiders to tuning in to witness the hype. Local fan bases would eventually be built and the word would spread due to pride and efficient marketing.

Only then would the risk be low enough to allow expansion to other regions internationally that are less established in terms of competitive gaming, thus introducing to the new market the success and excitement North America is enjoying from this new concept of “professional” eSports.


Source or 1.6?

It makes complete sense if organizations such as the WCG, CPL and WSVG etc. were to use CS:Source and any other high-end graphical games in their tournaments. After all, these organizations are funded by software and hardware giants that seek name branding in the long run, but also selling of their product in the short run. In such a case, it’s only rational to use high-end games that require the best software and hardware in the market.

In the case of the DirecTV/CGS however, they are not trying to sell hardware or software but rather TV entertainment. Therefore it puzzles me as to why they are using Source and other lesser popular games as opposed to more popular games like 1.6, Warcraft or Starcraft. Basing on speculations, we can only assume that they took on the wrong approach when doing their market research – but who knows.


For better or for worse?

Would this ambitious move by DirecTV change the course of our community? Will we expect in the near future to see “eSports” as a universally recognized competitive sport as well as a form of entertainment on our daily television schedules? Can we expect there to be home stadiums with thousands of fans gathering to watch their home team take on their rivals from the Far East? Or would there just be a quantum leap? A mere improvement from the mediocrity of our current state – a couple more attracted viewers and a couple more dollars in the purse?

The question circles back then, is this for the better or for the worse?