Ridouan "ioStux" Bouzrou · @ioStux
14th Jan 2019 from TwitLonger
Response to recent events
Referring to my most recent tweet I wanted to quickly provide some context on the whole situation.
Before I go into that I want to preface this message with this: In retrospective I should have reached out to NYXL directly to let them know about the actions of one of their major representatives instead of sharing it on social media, and I am sorry for that. I will learn from this situation and improve how I handle situations like this in the future.
To clarify, the conversation happened in The O.W. #protalk chat (A chat exclusive to players within the pro community), it is against the rules to share messages from that chat directly, preventing me from screenshotting the whole context without breaking the servers rules. This particular message was posted on The O.W.'s public starboard which means it got outside of #protalk where everyone can see it. The previous conversation remained in #protalk and I wasn't allowed to take any messages out of there. You can tell that it was on the starboard based on the text above it (stating how many stars the message received). Slasher decided to remove me from the Discord for bringing Ben's message on Twitter and I respect his decision, and I don't think his decision to remove me is representative of his overall opinion on the decisions XL2 made over the past few days.
I can elaborate on what happened before. Ben joined #protalk and offered to answer questions about the recent decisions XL2 made as he saw we were all discussing the topic at hand. I confronted him on how they decided to cut players before finding suitable replacements first, how they haven't made a public statement and how denying players a spot on the team based on the region they come from is a slippery slope.
He dodged most of the questions, pitching how this was a great move to grow New York Esports and how the players that were kicked weren't screwed over. We were all upset with the way he approached our questions. Few were answered, more questions were created. I also pointed out how bad it was for Ben to justify this poor decision in #protalk, and that for his own interest and the interest of his company it would have been best to stay low and let the company itself decide if they want to make a public statement.
The lines leading up to the screenshot went a little like this:
Ben: Alright I am done for asking questions, thanks for showing your interest! (Something along those lines, wasn't rude or anything, just said that he has to leave).
ioStux: Good
Ben: "Message in the Twitter screenshot".
I said "Good" because he shouldn't have offered to answer questions in the first place if they all boil down to PR talk and cherry picking. I assume he disliked my lack of enthusiasm about their decision to cut 3 players for the sake of signing New York players without even having any New York players to replace them with, and called me grumpy for disagreeing with him. As a coach I always strive to bring T2 closer to meritocracy, and if I feel that someone is pushing against a meritocratic Path to Pro I will confront them about it. I can see how my message was provocative in hindsight, I was very upset about this situation and the denial of it's controversies and it culminated in me not seeing how confrontational my message was.
I don't believe I said anything throughout the conversation leading up to that that was unwarranted, he offered to ask questions so I wanted to better understand the whole situation behind recent events, I felt his final statement about me did not reflect what NYXL stands for and I felt offended. If any of my questions were
I can understand that some people might think his response was warranted, and it's going to be difficult for most to understand the full context without access to the full chat log. If anyone has any questions about the situation feel free to reach out, but my stance on the decision to cut players and to then try and sell it as something positive remains.
I will always speak up when I feel that T2 players or the scene itself is being handled improperly, and my actions will always reflect that. NYXL has always treated me with utmost respect while I was working for them and my disappointment in one of their representatives does not reflect my perspective on the organization as a whole. I am concerned about the precedent this sets for the T2 scene, for the remaining players on XL2 and the players that are now looking for new teams to call home. I apologize for not addressing this situation as professionally as I should have, and I continue hoping that the removed players will find teams that they are happy with!
I am sorry for my unprofessional reaction. I don't want to paint myself as a victim in this situation, nor do I want any empathy, I want people to make up their own mind and think about what they want out of a successful T2 scene, and how the actions of those in it affect everyone else.
Now go and watch the freaking NA Contenders finals while they are still up https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchcontenders