Tweet
After our last ESL experience the head admin who dealt with our case assured us their future tournaments would be more active and better managed, so when their flagship 'Season III Open' launched we signed up with an open mind.
Unfortunately, red flags went up immediately. The organizers provided little in the way of relevant details a team would need to prepare, such as anything regarding scheduling and format. Our first match was scheduled with a mere four hours notice and understandably our first opponent didn't show up. This was just a precursor for the remainder of the tournament however, as by its end OPP had bull dozed it's way into a perfect record largely due to half the league being completely inactive. Wasn't this tournament supposed to be better?
This wouldn't have been an issue because we assumed there would be a play-offs with the increased activity and competition you'd expect, yet as before there was a decided lack of information. Six weeks after our final regular season match there were still no website updates, no play-off bracket, and no communication whatsoever on behalf of the organizers. As far as we knew the tournament was done.
Regardless as the team captain I checked for updates several times a week just in case. Then one day I leave for vacation, and a week later come back to find that yes, there was a play-offs and we had been disqualified for a no-show. Woops. Here's the kicker: after a month and a half of complete silence the e-mail announcing the start of the play-offs was sent less than 24 hours ahead of our first match, on a weekend. Worst of all, their policy against rescheduling meant our disqualification stood even though the next rounds match was yet to be played.
I suppose it's our fault for not sitting on our hands for two months eagerly awaiting that one days notice on a weekend, but oddly enough we aren't a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do than check our e-mail every hour and keep our crime fighting video game team on emergency standby.
Stay classy, ESL. And welcome back to our blacklist.
Unfortunately, red flags went up immediately. The organizers provided little in the way of relevant details a team would need to prepare, such as anything regarding scheduling and format. Our first match was scheduled with a mere four hours notice and understandably our first opponent didn't show up. This was just a precursor for the remainder of the tournament however, as by its end OPP had bull dozed it's way into a perfect record largely due to half the league being completely inactive. Wasn't this tournament supposed to be better?
This wouldn't have been an issue because we assumed there would be a play-offs with the increased activity and competition you'd expect, yet as before there was a decided lack of information. Six weeks after our final regular season match there were still no website updates, no play-off bracket, and no communication whatsoever on behalf of the organizers. As far as we knew the tournament was done.
Regardless as the team captain I checked for updates several times a week just in case. Then one day I leave for vacation, and a week later come back to find that yes, there was a play-offs and we had been disqualified for a no-show. Woops. Here's the kicker: after a month and a half of complete silence the e-mail announcing the start of the play-offs was sent less than 24 hours ahead of our first match, on a weekend. Worst of all, their policy against rescheduling meant our disqualification stood even though the next rounds match was yet to be played.
I suppose it's our fault for not sitting on our hands for two months eagerly awaiting that one days notice on a weekend, but oddly enough we aren't a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do than check our e-mail every hour and keep our crime fighting video game team on emergency standby.
Stay classy, ESL. And welcome back to our blacklist.
Comment