dudu · @duduzeraow
21st Feb 2018 from TwitLonger
An open Letter to Blizzard
I, on behalf of the competitive South American Overwatch community, am writting this open letter with the intent to convince the Tournament Organizers to reschedule South America Contenders' matches.
Last year, our small and independent region was blessed with the news about our first ever Blizzard-supported tournament; our very own Contenders. It really lit a spark in our competitive minds, that were almost drying out of determination, ambitions and reasons to play this game seriously. However, little did we know that most of our players would not be able to attend the tournament's matches, due to its poor scheduling for our region.
In local time, all of the South America Contenders' matches are set to be played from midday until 6pm, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Unfortunately, our region has not received the attention and investment necessary to make a living out of e-sports, let alone Overwatch: a relatively new and rising title. Since none of our players are capable of playing overwatch full-time as a job, having the tournament matches be played in commercial hours means that players who study and/or have jobs are unable to play the games.
We understand that Overwatch Contenders' Team and organizers are trying their best to fit all regions in a global schedule, because that way all matches get to be streamed on the international Twitch channel. But there is simply no logic in scheduling matches at an unplayable time for any region. Is there even a point in fitting us in if we're not even gonna be able to play the matches that are supposed to be streamed? I must emphasize: most of the players won't be able to play on the scheduled times, and absolutely no team that has signed this letter will be able to play the matches on the scheduled times. We'd really like to have our own Contenders, but there is simply no point in having a tournament that we can't even play on. Furthermore, most of the South American public itself won't be able to watch their region's games, since the matches will be played on commercial hours, making the tournament all the more unreacheable for the region it's supposed to represent.
If, at any point in this letter, you wondered why is this public and not directly sent to Blizzard's representatives, the answer is short and simple: we've tried it, and the only response we got was "We appreciate your suggestions regarding the schedule for the upcoming Overwatch Contenders South America, and we will definately take it in consideration for future seasons. Thank you for sharing your feedback with us!", which, to be honest, is the answer we're used to receiving in South America for urgent problems of any sort. Let me just remind you all, as if I haven't said it enough: if the schedule remains the same, there will be no matches played because teams cannot play in said schedule, therefore there will be no season one for South America. We NEED this change, because we want to actually play the tournament.
As for suggestions for a new schedule, th South American community has agreed that the optimal time for our region's games would be from 6pm until midnight, or from 8pm till 2am, in local time. We've noticed that these exact hours are not filled in Monday's schedule, which would allow our teams to play on stream. As for the other day, playing on weekends would be a good way out for this situation, since most players do not have classes or jobs to attend to on Saturdays and Sundays, and could try their best to log in at most times avaliable. We do not demand to be on the international stream, as we are used to not being treated with the minimal attention from Blizzard, which is the whole point behind this letter. However, if the company thinks that it is better to have a regional tournament consisting of WOs and missed matches rather than a decent display of teams, players and skill; so be it, and we will be very sad for it, as it just confirms the thought that the Tournament Organizers at Blizzard really do not care for South America.
The competitive South American Overwatch Community really hopes that changes can be made regarding the schedule of our own Contenders Tournament. We'd like to have a discussion with the Contenders' staff so that we can agree on a schedule that is not bad for either part. Please reach out to our e-mails provided by the captains of the Contenders and Trials' teams, or join us on our regional discord server.
Thank you for sparing the time to read this, and please share it in any way possible to get the message through.
This letter has been signed by:
Ricci, administrator of Overwatch South America and The OW discord servers;
Nekta, captain of Karma, qualified for Contenders South America;
Phantom, manager of Outlanders, qualified for Contenders South America;
dudu, captain of Brasil Gaming House, qualified for Contenders South America;
xRavaged, captain of Team Chroma, qualified for Contenders South America;
pearlyk, captain of Team Jesus, qualified for Contenders South America;
fastie, captain of LFTOWL, qualified for Contenders South America;
barijan, captain of WS Blue, qualified for Contenders South America;
UnReal, captain of Predators, qualified for Contenders South America;
deh, captain of Uprising, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
Drusker, captain of Tech Titans, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
DreamyEasy, captain of WS Orange, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
kaizak, captain of Centaurus Gaming, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
saulzera, captain of Dogma, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
Henry, captain of Caverna, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
Pinguino, captain of Selected, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
taz, captain of Light Gaming, qualified for Contenders Trials South America;
This letter was written by:
deh, captain of Uprising, qualified for Contenders Trials South America.