[ Healthy competition ], Update for Monday, 14th of January 2008 Options

[Matt]

It practically already is. And a nailbiting conclusion, too! I like the twist at the end. Very M Night Shayamanalalan.

[EdgeCrusher]

I was rivetted right to the very end, when my balls were actually blown off.

[rhuri]

People are idiots. The become more idiotic when you point out something they have done wrong.

Good on you Starks for sticking to your guns and following this up. As cliche as this may sound, that is what a journalist is supposed to do. You've made a lot of people proud for not backing down and following it up until there was a conclusion.

Yug and Matt, the fact that you guys supported Starks through this is more of a show of how dedicated you guys are not only to AG, but to your team and your fellow gamers..... an important thing.

[Starks]

Thanks rhuri

[Kyle]

I just love that expression on Yug's face in the last panel. So happy - it's just pure, naive joy.

[Simon 'Furio...]

It practically already is. And a nailbiting conclusion, too! I like the twist at the end. Very M Night Shayamanalalan.

I was rivetted right to the very end, when my balls were actually blown off.

I gotta admit, I didn't actually read any of it. I just looked at how long it was and thought "tl;dr"

[Hep]

The only thing I have to say is

1. I can't see the comic......(It doesnt show)
2. I think you're not understanding MyGEN's situation at all. We posted a news article as they asked us to. Supposedly they sent out the press release to a lot of sites but for some reason we were the only ones to post it up. Yes we posted a few lines which were later edited because people took it the wrong way.

As for a few lines in it and the subheading of "Fuelled by angry gamer" that was correct. Starks was angry, he didn't win any prize money. We report the truth as well and there was no lie in that.

Are we disappointed with what's happened. Yes.

We still haven't been paid in full by GAME1 either, and we've been frustrated for our gamers as well. (Perhaps we should ask on Starks to go "collect" our money for us... j/k )

The issue was that Starks did fall into a coincidence. He posted that article the day before GAME1 staff returned to offices. GAME1 werent ignoring anyone because they couldn't have as they simply weren't in. That's the gods honest truth.

Am I annoyed that they didn't pay before Xmas....hell yeh for sure, I can understand why people would have loved to have their prize money. But can I understand that if I haven't had a reply I would have waited to ensure we knew the full story. I like Starks, he's helped us out at many tournaments etc and helped other gamers their as well. But I did get a little annoyed when I told him that I would get a reply for him after I got back from holidays that monday. I managed to get a reply the day before they got back on holidays and spoke to them on the urgency after starks gave us till 5pm to have a response (Which was a little rude seeing it wasn't us - but hey I can understand). Starks then posted at MyGEN that the answer I gave wasn't good enough.....what do you mean starks???? I got the answer you wanted???

See below from the MyGEN forums.

I've talked to them and all payments will be processed and finalised this week. Basically they shut down in December and are only returning to their offices tomorrow. (As expected)

We need to understand that the GAME1 guys only have that period off so it's another learning curve for next year to improve on.

Not acceptable.

It was neither communicated to any of the captains that this would be the case, nor was it a problem last year so I won't accept that as an excuse.

The details were all given in due time and the winners / runners up did what was required to get the correct information to them on time and yet the place shuts down for the Christmas holidays with an accounts payable left open.

I want a written apology (Via e-mail but I'll accept through the mail) from the organisers stating that they're sorry for the delay and will assure that any future GAME1 tournaments will not see this behaviour occur again. We had a very large percentage of people flying from interstate to compete in both tournaments and the very least that could be done is to those that have been loyal enough to fly around the country and support the event is at least have the money owed to them transfered on time.

You then posted your article.......

This is what's frustrating. You want to support the competitive gaming scene but doing this really doesn't do that does it? What answer did you want? To me it didn't matter by the looks of it, you had intentions to post an article. But hey we can't stop that.

I just feel that this tournament doesn't need such a bad name as everyone is now giving it. Like others have said, there are hundreds of people who probably are still waiting on prizes. Even an EA competition I won once took 3 months to get. The comp has also never had a date for payment listed either so people have to understand that it may "possibly" take longer to get their prize money. Is that fair - probably not, but the competition doesn't need a bad reputation because of it.

Why does MyGEN give such a shit. Well because we think we run one of the best tournaments and if this comp gets hammered by a bad reputation then it simply won't come back because perhaps GAME1 doesn't want to deal with the shit or secondly perhaps this year no one enters now because of all of this. That's why I'm defending it.....for the community.

Some people need to be a bit understanding before making such crazy comments and understand that without these things there is no community or competitions for them.

Has Starks annoyed me - yes he has, can I get over it..... yes I can, cause I know somewhere in there Starks was trying to do the right thing, I just feel he may have done it the wrong way. Anyway frustration is getting the better of me so I'll leave you guys alone. Just thought I'd come and post my 2 cents for anyone that wants to listen.

[Cav]

So Hep, you are saying that it's okay for Olympic Athletes to be sent their gold medal in the mail a month pot two after the closing ceremony?

GAME1 struggles in itself that it's over-run by Autosalon. It's great to see a comp like that happening, but something like this happening isn't doing it any favours.

Pull this shit on ebay and you get a bad mark against your name.

Basically if you offer something? Pay up.

[Yug]

I see the issue as resolved personally.

Hep, I hear about it from all sides as you can no doubt imagine, but pretty much all reports I get say that the tournament is the best part of GAME1, and that everyone has a great time at them, so keep it up. Read any of our GAME1 writeup's and you'll see it echo's the same thing, mainly Starks saying exactly that actually.

AutoSalon may have been away over Christmas, but they still had a good 3 weeks after the Sydney event to sort things out. Regardless, the fact that this issue has been such a hot topic as of late I think should mean that come GAME1 this year, there will be no problems with payments, which is good for everyone involved - especially the competitors.

[Cav]

I see the issue as resolved personally.

Hep, I hear about it from all sides as you can no doubt imagine, but pretty much all reports I get say that the tournament is the best part of GAME1, and that everyone has a great time at them, so keep it up. Read any of our GAME1 writeup's and you'll see it echo's the same thing, mainly Starks saying exactly that actually.

AutoSalon may have been away over Christmas, but they still had a good 3 weeks after the Sydney event to sort things out. Regardless, the fact that this issue has been such a hot topic as of late I think should mean that come GAME1 this year, there will be no problems with payments, which is good for everyone involved - especially the competitors.

But shouldn't they have the prizes on hand to give to the winners?

[Yug]

It's cash prizes ... I can understand if it takes a week or so to sort out the paperwork behind it ...

[Stuhawk5]

It practically already is. And a nailbiting conclusion, too! I like the twist at the end. Very M Night Shayamanalalan.

It needs more Dialogue and thoughts.... funny though, turning it into a movie script... it might win at a short film festival... Do It!... Do it!

[funkypea]

The only thing I have to say is

1. I can't see the comic......(It doesnt show)
2. I think you're not understanding MyGEN's situation at all. We posted a news article as they asked us to. Supposedly they sent out the press release to a lot of sites but for some reason we were the only ones to post it up. Yes we posted a few lines which were later edited because people took it the wrong way.

As for a few lines in it and the subheading of "Fuelled by angry gamer" that was correct. Starks was angry, he didn't win any prize money. We report the truth as well and there was no lie in that.

Are we disappointed with what's happened. Yes.

We still haven't been paid in full by GAME1 either, and we've been frustrated for our gamers as well. (Perhaps we should ask on Starks to go "collect" our money for us... j/k )

The issue was that Starks did fall into a coincidence. He posted that article the day before GAME1 staff returned to offices. GAME1 werent ignoring anyone because they couldn't have as they simply weren't in. That's the gods honest truth.

Am I annoyed that they didn't pay before Xmas....hell yeh for sure, I can understand why people would have loved to have their prize money. But can I understand that if I haven't had a reply I would have waited to ensure we knew the full story. I like Starks, he's helped us out at many tournaments etc and helped other gamers their as well. But I did get a little annoyed when I told him that I would get a reply for him after I got back from holidays that monday. I managed to get a reply the day before they got back on holidays and spoke to them on the urgency after starks gave us till 5pm to have a response (Which was a little rude seeing it wasn't us - but hey I can understand). Starks then posted at MyGEN that the answer I gave wasn't good enough.....what do you mean starks???? I got the answer you wanted???

See below from the MyGEN forums.
Not acceptable.

It was neither communicated to any of the captains that this would be the case, nor was it a problem last year so I won't accept that as an excuse.

The details were all given in due time and the winners / runners up did what was required to get the correct information to them on time and yet the place shuts down for the Christmas holidays with an accounts payable left open.

I want a written apology (Via e-mail but I'll accept through the mail) from the organisers stating that they're sorry for the delay and will assure that any future GAME1 tournaments will not see this behaviour occur again. We had a very large percentage of people flying from interstate to compete in both tournaments and the very least that could be done is to those that have been loyal enough to fly around the country and support the event is at least have the money owed to them transfered on time.

You then posted your article.......

This is what's frustrating. You want to support the competitive gaming scene but doing this really doesn't do that does it? What answer did you want? To me it didn't matter by the looks of it, you had intentions to post an article. But hey we can't stop that.

I just feel that this tournament doesn't need such a bad name as everyone is now giving it. Like others have said, there are hundreds of people who probably are still waiting on prizes. Even an EA competition I won once took 3 months to get. The comp has also never had a date for payment listed either so people have to understand that it may "possibly" take longer to get their prize money. Is that fair - probably not, but the competition doesn't need a bad reputation because of it.

Why does MyGEN give such a shit. Well because we think we run one of the best tournaments and if this comp gets hammered by a bad reputation then it simply won't come back because perhaps GAME1 doesn't want to deal with the shit or secondly perhaps this year no one enters now because of all of this. That's why I'm defending it.....for the community.

Some people need to be a bit understanding before making such crazy comments and understand that without these things there is no community or competitions for them.

Has Starks annoyed me - yes he has, can I get over it..... yes I can, cause I know somewhere in there Starks was trying to do the right thing, I just feel he may have done it the wrong way. Anyway frustration is getting the better of me so I'll leave you guys alone. Just thought I'd come and post my 2 cents for anyone that wants to listen.

Personally speaking I think this attitude sums up the problem. You're supposedly a professional outfit (in that you're getting paid), act like it. If you got service like this from a store you'd be pissed off. Why's it ok when it's a gaming event? As long as people in gaming act like the industry is a joke and a hobby it won't be taken seriously. Especially when those people are the ones interfacing with the public.