Answering questions about the CSGO scene

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Note these are my personal opinions and do not reflect those of the PEA and its members.

@yingGary asks
Was the PEA supposed to have a franchised league like you guys wanted in LoL?

PEA is an owner-operated league like the NBA or NFL, but not exclusive since our teams play in a number of non-PEA leagues and tournaments. Other teams may be invited to play in a PEA league.

@giabbers asks
what's the reason behind the PEA decision to ban players from EPL?

We have not banned our players from playing in EPL, it’s more of an either or choice. Think of it as a scale - on one side you have value, on the other side you have abundance. The more leagues you have, the more the value goes down. For more detailed explanation of the subject check out Noah’s response. It’s not financially and realistically viable to have both.

https://medium.com/@nwhinston/an-open-letter-to-sirscoots-the-counter-strike-players-contracted-to-pea-organizations-and-the-5e80446b61c4#.9mh93s69e

‏@tsidd3191 asks
is the ecosystem as bad as it is portrayed to be?

Since day one, I felt like the ecosystem was far too chaotic compared to any other esport. CSGO is an incredibly high precision and skill game yet the majority of matches are played online. When skin betting was a huge part of the ecosystem, whole city infrastructures would be DDOS’d just for the sake of skins. TO's didn't say, hey how can we fix this in the future? They said, fix it or you're DQd. Most tournament organizers don't even have proper systems setup to prevent cheating, or the accountability and prevention. (I have to say for being the new guys on the block ELeague has done a fantastic job of changing the paradigm and are not a part of my concern.)

I’ve seen the guys get burnt out traveling all over the world from official matches to boot camp and back to matches. I came into the scene as a player in League of Legends, although that system is not perfect there are pieces to that system that are fantastically done that CSGO Leagues should mimic. As a player, it’s definitely more cohesive and less draining to be apart of the structure LCS has created. Unfortunately, I don't think everybody has the same perspective as me. You get to see a lot as a team owner because you're exposed to so many different ecosystems. Several of these issues haven’t been fixed in YEARS and they don’t seem to be a priority.

I want to reiterate that these views are my own and not necessarily those of other PEA members.

@viniciusxisde asks
Is pea a monopoly created by org owners to maintain long term profit and close the ecosystem to new orgs?

PEA is not a monopoly in any sense of the word and is not intended to close the ecosystem to new organizations. It does believe in long term profit. What business does not? It also believes in good working conditions, good pay and good benefits for players. My view of forming the PEA was to create leverage for teams and players. There are bodies inside esports that have tremendous power. As one team, you can't hope to negotiate against them and get a fair deal. If another organization comes along and takes an offer that's poor, it weakens your position. Sometimes this behavior leads to people "racing to the bottom". When you have a united front you can say "this is what we're worth and our position, we're not moving". It's a much more professional and powerful way of negotiating.

@Mewyabby asks
Why did PEA not come to players with an offer instead of threatening their contracts and demanding exclusivity

That didn't happen, a more accurate way of expressing of what happened is we were not as communicative as we could have been in our thought process and decision making and the players are upset (which they should be based on our motto). We as owners, have the right legally as well as pretty much every owner in any sport to decide where our team plays. It gives us leverage in negotiating what our next steps should be. Right now what is happening is that the players demand that they have the right to decide where they play regardless of what the contract says, regardless of what owners believe best for their businesses, regardless of what even the leading player agency and law firm recommends as "just".(http://www.evolvedtalentagency.com/response-to-peacsgo-situation/).

I've tried to reach out to the players and the player representative many times but the responses are ignored and limited. I feel like we’re fighting for the sake of fighting and I feel like the inability to communicate will make everyone will lose out in the end. “Hey man, we definitely want to fix this let’s talk” is completely ignored but when any statements are presented to the public they are immediately responded to with overwhelming and immediate feedback.

Willing to answer more questions throughout the day if it doesn't get too chaotic.

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