Editorial: Top Player Privilege Has To Stop

[LiteralGrill]

This weekend a rather remarkable bracket was seen at Press Start 2015. There were upsets, thrilling matches, and tense competition. However, one of the biggest happenings this past weekend wasn't a match at all: three separate players, all three well respected and skilled, with a -1 as a score next to their name.

The Bracket In Question​

That -1 shows how C9 | Mang0, Hax$, and S2J were all disqualified from winners bracket and sent to losers after they were 45 minutes late to their matches. While the circumstances of their tardiness are unknown, it's incredibly disrespectful towards any TO to not show up to a match without any warning. However, there is something many tournament organizers have been doing that is equally disrespectful to its players: giving top players special privilege.

Seagull Joe put it perfectly:

There was a problem fetching the tweet

These top players are great to watch, and certainly bring in viewers. But if any other player took 45 minutes to get to a match there's no question that a DQ would have been handed out much more quickly. These sorts of things happen at other tournaments as well. Well-known players are allowed to be late to matches, while other players right alongside them are disqualified without a second thought.

By giving these top players privilege like this we are directly insulting and mistreating the life blood of our scene: the average player. By saying "these players are better than you, so they shall receive special treatment," we are essentially telling the average player we do not value them. These people are vital to our growth and sustainability as a scene, and it's not fair to treat them this way.

But how important IS the average player? Without The average player comes to events to slowly get better, and will likely never win any money, let alone place near the top of the bracket. But without them, prize pools become tiny. With smaller prize pools, we'll see less competition, and top players will be unable to travel as regularly. Without the average player, tournaments will have a lot less setups, less volunteers , and less people producing content and promoting the scene. Tournament organizers may be scared of getting less views on streams if they disqualify a top player, but they are disrespecting the average player and viewer by wasting their time. Without the average player, our scene will stagnate and die.

Imagine if this room were only filled with top players. It would be pretty empty.​

It's not just the average player being insulted either - every other top player in the bracket who showed up for their matches on time and respected the event is shown that their time and dedication does not matter as those who were lazy and showed no respect will still get to play. Not only this, but at Press Start by only placing them in losers they essentially penalized the players who showed up to play on time.

If a player doesn't even have enough respect for an event to follow its rules and show up to matches on time, they deserve no respect from the event they are attending. Now, to be fair, sometimes mistakes do happen. There are all sorts of ways in which players can get tripped up or lose track of time. And it doesn't always rest on the shoulders of the players, either. There have been notable cases of tournament organizers themselves communicating poorly and tripping players up. But everything physically possible should be done to make sure these mistakes don't happen, and this is another factor that separates the great from the good.

Hate that Press Start worked out this way but its clear many top Smashers have a long way to go til understanding what it means to be a pro

— The Crimson Blur (@OXY_Crimson) May 10, 2015

All players who go to any event are there to play Smash, they are all equal. So please - tournament organizers, treat all of your players equally. Enforce each and every rule the exact same way for each player. Ignore those who might whine and complain - the players at your events having good experiences are far more important. Players respect TOs that prioritize the quality of their events. Take a look at Juggleguy; he's one of the strictest TOs around, but also one of the most loved.

To all top players, please stop putting tournament organizers in these difficult situations. This isn't something that a TO should even have to deal with in the first place, your selfishness and lack of respect are abhorrent and unacceptable. A true pro respects the events they attend and set an example to all other players so they know how to act at events.

For the average player, continue to show up to events, get to matches on time, and if you see a tournament organizer treating you unfairly, do NOT be quiet. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertisement. Demand change and accept only the very best from your TOs and make sure they know if you are not treated fairly you will not continue attending their events and you WILL tell others. Others have written on this subject before, but no changes have been made. Without real social pressure these things will continue to not change. Do not sit idly by, be driving force in the community. Stand up and make sure you are heard.

This piece is purely the opinion of its author, and does not reflect the position of Smashboards or its affiliates.

To discuss this editorial and all else Smash, follow SmashCapps on Twitter.

 

[Lemonjel0]

Damn, nice of you to cover this, SmashCapps.

 

[Trieste SP]

I fully agree with this. Top players shouldn't be exempted from the rules. All participants should be treated equally.

 

[Ura]

Good to see Leffen call this out. Top Player Privilege is flat out ********.

 

[Omni]

Copied from my Reddit post:

There have been several tournaments including Press Start where players who come late to tournaments must forfeit and are sent to the Losers Bracket. Here are the issues I have with this:

• Being sent to the Losers Bracket implies that you were entered into the bracket before it closed but after you already arrived. Players entered in bracket should be those who are present upon bracket closure/tournament start.
  
  
• Top players need not fear the repercussions of being late because they will still most likely place high. This is more difficult to do at regionals/nationals but very easy for any given local.
  
  
• Results are severely skewed when top players are placed into Losers' brackets early. The results at Press Start do not accurately represent the skill level of the players shown as many great players were torn down by Mango through his Losers Bracket domination.
  

Attendance has always been an issue in any fighting game tournament scene and I believe we've made great strides as TO's into buckling down and enforcing attendance rules without giving top players favor. But I think we should do more.

It's true that some people have valid reasons for being late. But the reason for being late, valid or invalid, does not change the result that a person did not meet the scheduled closing time of the bracket. I also believe giving harsher penalties for being late will encourage players to arrive on time, allow tournaments to go faster, and improves the overall quality for players who don't have to unexpectedly to face a higher leveled skill player earlier in the bracket than they originally would have.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

I agree. We are all equal, and every top player began its journey as a average player.

 

[Extremmefan]

Equality between everyone is one of the top priorities in the world! Better players should not have privileges over average or bad players. Every person in the world is important, no matter if they are bad at a game or NOT!

 

[RobinOnDrugs]

All players should be equal regardless of where they stand in the community.

Don't get me wrong, they are awesome players, but if they are late, they should be fully disqualified just like everyone else who's late to the tournament.

 

[NerdThomas3]

Treat players equally. Enough said. Why is this so hard to accomplish?

 

[Silvia]

That just ain't right.

 

[DMG]

I don't have that much of a problem DQing to losers IF that is the policy for every players who happens to be late in Winners. Does anyone have a story about an average player being entirely DQ'd from that tourney, vs the "privilege" that M2K and others got? Prior tournaments we've experienced that or heard anecdotes about those situations, but I'm not sure that top player privilege happened here unless they blatantly DQ'd other players out of the entire tourney from winners.

The question should probably be whether DQing to losers should ever be a policy, not this outrage over privilege (when it doesn't seem certain that anyone else was snubbed or treated unfairly for their own DQ situation at this tourney).

 

[ilysm]

Hear, hear.

 

[EpixAura]

It's a very delicate situation, unfortunately. Sending them to losers meant partially inaccurate results and some players simply just not getting their money's worth from the events, which is absolutely terrible. However, DQing Mango/Hax/S2J entirely would be even more controversial. The viewers would probably have gone completely insane. Social media sites would be spammed about how Press Start was Sandstorm 2: Electric Boogaloo. Basically, top player player privilege is a necessary evil. Sure, it's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative of completely DQing the players.

 

[Veetaak]

I don't really have an issue with this, I think it would have been worse overall if 3 of the top players were DQ'd.

That is not to say that I don't dislike them being late, regardless of who they are, but I'm not too convinced that the top players actually feel this privelege before hand. As long as there is no rule of privelege I think they will remain careful and try to be there on time.
I'm also not convinced that average players care too much about this overall, they should know that they are just average and not nearly as important to the stream and sponsors of the tournament as the top players. I don't think I am wrong to say that the smash community as a whole actually values Mango over "randomsmasher46".

Would the same top players constantly be late as a result of these lax punishments, then I would encourage a rule to be implemented regarding this. But if it is done cautiously as a case by case method, then I am all for it.

 

[LiteralGrill]

Basically, top player player privilege is a necessary evil. Sure, it's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative of completely DQing the players.

If you honestly think a TO cannot stand up to make this change, then the pressure is on the players.

To all top players, please stop putting tournament organizers in these difficult situations. This isn't something that a TO should even have to deal with in the first place, your selfishness and lack of respect are abhorrent and unacceptable. A true pro respects the events they attend and set an example to all other players so they know how to act at events.

 

[Zane the pure]

There was a Brawl tournament at 2010's Quake-con in Texas run by Xyro himself. It was a 128 man bracket running double elimination set to run the course of the whole day...
The tournament however was plagued by people who were mainly attending for other games and never showed up for their matches, mainly SF players at the time. Xyro having to hunt down every last player's name and finally issuing 40 first round DQs had decided that the tournament would be single elimination for rounds 1&2 to get rid of the players who weren't serious about playing.

My first round opponent never showed up, and my second round opponent was Ultimate_Razer, our 2nd PR ranked player who went a combination of , and . I put up a decent fight with , got eliminated second round, the tourney switches back to double Elim, and I find myself gassed out by all the unhygienic people in the room and had to leave early with a rotten stomach ache and a migraine.

If you can see this @Xyro77 I don't blame you at all for how it turned out and I'm sorry everyone put you through what must've been the worst tournament organizing you've ever had to deal with. As an average player I was salty about single elims sticking me up against a monster like razer that quickly, but I guess seeding is pretty rough...

 

[-LzR-]

TOs in general should be more strict. Whenever I have hosted events I tell people what to do and if they don't follow it they just get the hell out simple as that. Most people don't care or just allow people to delay the bracket by hours. In my tournaments playing on a setup that is not designated for their pool is legit DQ, respect the TOs, they work hard for your enjoyment.

EDIT: To be more on topic, all players should be treated equally, I don't care who you are, if you are late and don't give me a good reason you are out.

 

[Effay]

"Imagine if this room were only filled with top players. It would be pretty empty."
Yeah, whatever. Everyone who isn't SmashCapps would rather see high level gameplay rather than two low level players who got to the final rounds of the tournament only because the higher level players who they were SUPPOSED to play in bracket were booted for being late to their match. Remind me to never look at SmashCapps' articles ever again.

 

[SpandexBullets]

What about that stupid sexism at Press Start which Liloandstitchface (rightfully) berated them for?

Can we make that front page too? It's kind of incredibly important, because it's not just exclusive to Press Start, or even local tourneys...

http://www.destructoid.com/sexism-and-super-smash-at-press-start-lan-291866.phtml

 

[saberzerq]

Personally I would love to know the reason why these three were late. It's one thing if it's a family emergency or car problems, then putting them in losers bracket is gracious and a good compromise imo. If, however, mango and co. lost track of time or didn't take things seriously, then they should be eliminated completely. A certain amount of respect is due to TOs and your opponents waiting to play you, but if something happens outside of one's control then I would think it's better for viewers and competitors alike that players should be given a second chance with a penalty. Like everyone above me is saying, I think this would have to apply evenly across the board.

 

[LiteralGrill]

"Imagine if this room were only filled with top players. It would be pretty empty."
Yeah, whatever. Everyone who isn't SmashCapps would rather see high level gameplay rather than two low level players who got to the final rounds of the tournament only because the higher level players who they were SUPPOSED to play in bracket were booted for being late to their match. Remind me to never look at SmashCapps' articles ever again.

Sorry you didn't like what I had to say, not a reason to ignore everything I ever cover and write but whatever.

If these other players don't fill up the prize pools of these tournaments so top players can even consider traveling to them, you're going to see a LOT less high level play. In fact, you're going to see a lot less play in general of any level.

 

[Teshie U]

Why fully DQ them?

Why not just DQ them for being 5-10 minutes late for the match, then if they are late for the loser's match when called, DQ them again?

 

[Godzillionaire]

You know when you really act out of line when Leffen calls you out

 

[LiteralGrill]

What about that sexist **** that Liloandstitchface (rightfully) berated them for?

Can we make that front page too?
http://www.destructoid.com/sexism-and-super-smash-at-press-start-lan-291866.phtml

I was tempted on this one to be honest, but I don't find its my place as a man to be talking about this kind of a womens issue and speaking for their gender. If she would like to write a guest editorial on sexism in the FGC and such I'd be happy to send it over to the editorial staff to have a look at it.

 

[SpandexBullets]

Why fully DQ them?

Why not just DQ them for being 5-10 minutes late for the match, then if they are late for the loser's match when called, DQ them again?

Losers implied they lost, which they didn't, they actually failed to attend.

 

[Nabbitnator]

Unless it was like an emergency then I think its okay for them to be DQed to losers. If its just the inability to keep track of time, not taking the event seriously then fully DQ. If you're not going to take the event seriously then why play? I kind of wish this could be done at locals. There are few people i've seen become a bit upset about them being on time and being ready for his or her match but has to wait for a top player who is late holding up the tournament.

 

[Extremmefan]

"Imagine if this room were only filled with top players. It would be pretty empty."
Yeah, whatever. Everyone who isn't SmashCapps would rather see high level gameplay rather than two low level players who got to the final rounds of the tournament only because the higher level players who they were SUPPOSED to play in bracket were booted for being late to their match. Remind me to never look at SmashCapps' articles ever again.

... That's one of the dumbest comments I've ever seen (then again, this isn't YouTube so I can't really complain). You should be ashamed of what you're saying. It doesn't matter if they are good at the game or not, all players must be equal. In fact, everybody needs to be equal (equality is one of the biggest priorities in the world). What does a person's competence have to do with that? The only thing that matters if someone is late is the reason as to why they are late, not their competence in the game. Imagine if an incompetent player had an hospital visit, but got disqualified anyway. Now imagine if a competent player actually didn't care about the bracket at all, but didn't get disqualified for being late. Now, compare the two situations. Does it seems logic? It clearly doesn't, and isn't right either (even if "right" and "wrong" are a matter of perspective, you can't accept such a thing as "right". It's NATURALLY wrong!).

 

[SpandexBullets]

I was tempted on this one to be honest, but I don't find its my place as a man to be talking about this kind of a womens issue and speaking for their gender. If she would like to write a guest editorial on sexism in the FGC and such I'd be happy to send it over to the editorial staff to have a look at it.

No, dude. This isn't a womens issue, it's a smash community issue, and we want a better community where going to a con does not entail this.

Lilo has already explained what happened and her continuous frustration with sexist jerks, so you don't need to write anything if you feel you wouldn't be able to accurately represent those affected by this unacceptable behaviour.

**I guess you'd have to ask her also, as it's her article, but definetly do it. Needs to be highlighted.
I'm sure she'd be kind enough to talk about it to you if you want to write a foreword.

 

[Overswarm]

yessssssssss

 

[futilejoyrider]

How long after Mango, S2J, and Hax$ were DQ'd from winnner's were their loser's bracket matches supposed to start?

 

[J.P]

While I generally enjoy SmashCapps articles and share his ideas, I strongly disagree with what this article is stating. Like Effay said, I would rather watch high level gameplay than 2 players with less skill in GF, it overall makes a more hype tourney and everyone gets the place they DESERVE. Smash tourneys are about skill, not about arriving late or early (this doesn't mean that they are allowed to be late because it's against the rules). I think that the TO made an excellent choice by DQing them from winners and sending them to losers instantly. Finally to all of those "equality to all players" comments, remember that this game is about dedication, passion and work, like the game characters, not all players are equal. People like Leffen, Armada, Mang0, etc should have privilege over less skilled players because they are better (note I'm not saying that you should disrespect

 

[Effay]

... That's one of the dumbest comments I've ever seen (then again, this isn't YouTube so I can't really complain). You should be ashamed of what you're saying. It doesn't matter if they are good at the game or not, all players must be equal. In fact, everybody needs to be equal (equality is one of the biggest priorities in the world). What does a person's competence have to do with that? The only thing that matters if someone is late is the reason as to why they are late, not their competence in the game. Imagine if an incompetent player had an hospital visit, but got disqualified anyway. Now imagine if a competent player actually didn't care about the bracket at all, but didn't get disqualified for being late. Now, compare the two situations. Does it seems logic? It clearly doesn't, and isn't right either (even if "right" and "wrong" are a matter of perspective, you can't accept such a thing as "right". It's NATURALLY wrong!).

....what?

 

[Ura]

While I generally enjoy SmashCapps articles and share his ideas, I strongly disagree with what this article is stating. Like Effay said, I would rather watch high level gameplay than 2 players with less skill in GF, it overall makes a more hype tourney and everyone gets the place they DESERVE. Smash tourneys are about skill, not about arriving late or early (this doesn't mean that they are allowed to be late because it's against the rules). I think that the TO made an excellent choice by DQing them from winners and sending them to losers instantly. Finally to all of those "equality to all players" comments, remember that this game is about dedication, passion and work, like the game characters, not all players are equal. People like Leffen, Armada, Mang0, etc should have privilege over less skilled players because they are better (note I'm not saying that you should disrespect

The community really needs less people like you.

 

[Effay]

The community really needs less people like you.

Are you sure? He made an excellent point, whereas you didn't hold up any argument whatsoever.

 

[LiteralGrill]

I guess you'd have to ask her also, as it's her article, but definetly do it. Needs to be highlighted.

I'll give her a shout and see if something can happen.

I would rather watch high level gameplay than 2 players with less skill in GF, it overall makes a more hype tourney and everyone gets the place they DESERVE.

I understand this, it's a rough situation for a TO to be put in too. But that's on the players, they need to show their dedication, passion, and work for the game they love.

Remember that this game is about dedication, passion and work, like the game characters, not all players are equal.

Not even trying to be clever, but by showing up on time to me at least, shows those players had more of these qualities than their opponents. At a bare minimum, a tweet about being in traffic or trying to contact the TO should have happened.

The community really needs less people like you.

Also this isn't something we need either. He's opening up a dialog and expressing his opinion just like I did in the article, I encourage people to critique what I have to say. No one is above critique, especially not me as I have a megaphone here to speak with.

 

[Ura]

Are you sure? He made an excellent point, whereas you didn't hold up any argument whatsoever.

Yeah, i'm pretty sure.

We don't need people who think top players should be given privileges that other players don't simply because people recognize them more so than others. Saying that these players are skilled so therefore are entitled to not be DQ'd is the kind of brand of stupidity you would see from a YT commenter.

Also this isn't something we need either. He's opening up a dialog and expressing his opinion just like I did in the article, I encourage people to critique what I have to say. No one is above critique, especially not me as I have a megaphone here to speak with.

When your argument is something among the lines of "top players are dedicated so their entitled to not be DQ'd", I don't think it's a good argument and quite frankly shouldn't even be taken seriously. If that came off as brash then I apologize.

 

[Maximum Leech]

Treat players equally. Enough said. Why is this so hard to accomplish?

It's hard to accomplish because of fear and/or greed. Not having top players in your bracket means fewer viewers, which means fewer subs/less publicity, which ultimately means less money (greed) and/or less popularity/fame (fear).

 

[Rizner]

I don't have that much of a problem DQing to losers IF that is the policy for every players who happens to be late in Winners. Does anyone have a story about an average player being entirely DQ'd from that tourney, vs the "privilege" that M2K and others got? Prior tournaments we've experienced that or heard anecdotes about those situations, but I'm not sure that top player privilege happened here unless they blatantly DQ'd other players out of the entire tourney from winners.

The question should probably be whether DQing to losers should ever be a policy, not this outrage over privilege (when it doesn't seem certain that anyone else was snubbed or treated unfairly for their own DQ situation at this tourney).

I have seen that, but regardless it would come down to other rules:

You can't throw a match to end up in losers. That's collusion and against all conduct. If dq to losers was allowed, then you can effectively manipulate the bracket by just not showing up, then going through losers

 

[RIP|Merrick]

Finally to all of those "equality to all players" comments, remember that this game is about dedication, passion and work, like the game characters, not all players are equal. People like Leffen, Armada, Mang0, etc should have privilege over less skilled players because they are better (note I'm not saying that you should disrespect

You're severely missing the point. Not all players are equal when it comes to skill in a game, but that's not what this article is bringing light to. Why should Mang0 be given special privileges just because he's Mang0? It really sets a bad example for other players and shows them that they can be incredibly late and not inform the TO of this and still be allowed to play in tourney. Now whether or not they should be disqualified entirely for this or not is a whole 'nother issue I feel, but players should be treated fairly all around as there is no justifiable reason that one lesser known player would have gotten severely punished for this kind of behavior while another known player gets away with it without penalty. That just isn't right. Show your true dedication and passion by showing up on time like everyone else.

It overall makes a more hype tourney and everyone gets the place they DESERVE.

More hype maybe, but undeserving if they couldn't bother to show up on time (45 minutes late, really?).

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Part of my brain tells me that Privilege is the wrong word but that's probably because Tumblr robbed it of all meaning.

Sucks though.