Event - MLG Anaheim 2014 My first MLG was amazing, but...(rant)

[jiovanni007]

Like the title says my first MLG event was absolutely amazing but there is just one gripe that I had. Please be aware that this is a shared rant between myself and JNig. I was the Kirby main that was playing in Losers bracket on TV 2 on the main stage.

My carpool is from Louisiana, a small state in the south. I'm from the city of New Orleans which is about 8.5 hours from Dallas. I had to work until 11pm on the Thursday before MLG so I decided to depart and at least sleep in Lafayette which is 2 hours closer to the venue. It didn't matter that I'd arrive late since I have a habit of staying up until 3 am but still making it to my 10 am classes. A few hangups have me leaving for Lafayette a little late (12:30 am) but still arriving around 3am. We played smash for a bit and hit the sack with plans to leave around 9am ~ 10am which would put us in Dallas around 4pm. We woke up a little later than we should have but thanks to our expert planning we would still be able to make it to MLG on time, or so we thought. We had a total of 7 people planned to take the ride in 2 cars. My normal car (1998 Chevy Malibu) was in the shop so I was stuck driving a rental (2010 Ford Focus).

After we had gotten ready the the unthinkable happened. The other car and the person driving it that was supposed to go with us wasn't there. We called, we called around, we sent texts but there was nothing from him. The first thing going through our minds was this dude is dead. With the possibility of a smasher from our community being assumed to be dead or hospitalized we ate up even more time and left much later than anticipated.

The worst part of this trip was the car that I had. Previously linked before, this car seats 4 comfortably, and 5 uncomfortably. We squeezed six people in for the six hour trip. Now here's where things get really bad. Some new Ford models have "MyKey" settings which allows the purchaser to limit certain features of the car. The important feature that was limited here was maximum speed. Whenever I would hit 75mph a notification would sound to let me know I was approaching maximum speed. At 80mph the governor would kick in and restrict my speed to 80mph. The worst part is that I knew if my car would've been fixed for this I could fly and do at least 95mph all the way to Dallas. Also don't judge me for driving fast, I'm not as reckless as you would think and would only go this fast on straight paths with few cars around since the lives of six people are in my hands.

We finally arrive to 5 o' clock traffic in Dallas and get the call we were dreading. Lee Martin called a carpool member and told us that JNig and my matches were called. This was at 5:15. Lee did his best to make an attempt to stall out the judges but it was to no avail. We all arrived at the venue at 5:30 to the news that JNig and I had been DQ'd from winners due to tardiness. This really made me mad. Seriously this was extremely stupid. Not only had I planned on getting to Dallas early with enough buffer time to compensate Louisiana lateness, but then something unforeseeable happened and we still made it to the venue on time but were still punished because MLG decided to start matches 45 minutes early.

Yes I do know that it was stated to arrive an hour early just in case but really? What is College professors said arrive to class early because they could start upwards of an hour early and then punished you if you still arrived early? The part that upset me the most is that the people that run the smash portion of MLG are smashers themselves who have traveled and experienced the woes of traveling out of state. For these very same people that were just like me to have no consideration for the competitors that they themselves used to be (and some who still are) absolutely disgusted me. I seriously held a grudge against the refs but soon got over since I'm really not the type of person who likes conflict, I prefer to chill out.

After watching a few rounds my rage and angst were subsided and I got some free play in and was able to enjoy the event. I realized that it wasn't the refs who ultimately decided but MLG itself who made the decisions.

So when the founder of MLG says "How can we make MLG better?" My reply is start on time, don't start early. If you post a time on your official website please stick to it. There is no reason a competitor who has paid $35 for entry into your event should be punished when he/she shows up half an hour in advance to the scheduled time.

No johns.

Shoutouts to Zekee, Zeton, and Roni for hyping me up, shoutout to Lee Martin for trying to help us and sorry I couldn't take care of you after MLG, shoutout to Dazwa and Solidjake for being refs, and shoutout to MikeHaze for no reason.

tl;dr version:

There is none, read the post if you want the info.

edit for relevant quotes:

"Lee, who is at the venue already, told us that MLG decided to start 45 minutes early. We're not at the venue yet."

"JNig and Jiovanni were called for their first match. We still aren't there."

"We just got to the venue. JNig and Jiovanni were DQ'd from their first match."

http://twitter.com/laffysmash

Sucks for Jio and JNig =(

That IS pretty messed up. 45min is a HUGE amount of time. I could understand if it was 15min or something but starting 45 minutes early is weak.

That's ****ed up. You shouldn't be DQ'd for a tourney changing its plans last minute.

Yeah if they really are starting 45 minutes early without any prior notice, then that's just absurd. Or maybe it's just Smash in general that does it to us, making us absurd that is. Idk.

Meh, w/e. Sounds like a bunch of bullcrap to me... I'm gonna go play WoW some more lol.

 

[Mike2]

 

[AlphaZealot]

Friday - November 5th, 2010
10:30 AM - 1:30 PM Early Check-In
10:30 AM - 4:00 PM Problem Check-In / Check-In Registration
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Check-In / Warm-Up
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM Welcome
5:30 PM - 9:30 PM 1v1 Winners Round 1
9:30 PM - 11:30 PM 1v1 Winners Round 2
11:30 PM - 12:30 AM 1v1 Winners Round 3
7:40 PM - 8:00 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 1
8:00 PM - 8:20 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 2
8:20 PM - 8:40 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 3
8:40 PM - 9:00 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 4
9:00 PM - 9:20 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 5
9:20 PM - 9:40 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 6
9:40 PM - 10:00 PM All-Star Classic Crew Battle 7

We started at close to 5:30PM on the dot. It is physically impossible for me to start "45 minutes early" as you say - MLG does a whole-venue opening announcement right at 5:00PM, then I do my own opening announcements right after that. That process alone takes us almost to 5:30PM.

I'm sorry there were car troubles, but as the tournament director it is my responsibility to start the tournament on time and to follow the rules laid out by MLG.

Yeah if they really are starting 45 minutes early without any prior notice, then that's just absurd. Or maybe it's just Smash in general that does it to us, making us absurd that is. Idk.

We really didn't start 45 minutes early. We started right on time, right when scheduled, right at 5:30PM.

EDIT: In fact, I tweeted this at 4:48PM

Mayhem will start in roughly an hour. Can't wait to see how things play out this weekend with so many great players here and $35,000 on line

From: twitter.com/alphazealot

That would be 45 minutes before the scheduled start. There is no way we started early, more likely we started 5-10 minutes late (though if memory serves I got the matches called out at very close to 5:30). After the matches were called it was still another 15 minutes before you could get fully DQ'd.

 

[Gnes]

Dang...Looks like a misunderstanding

 

[Ripple]

my only problem was playing the SAME PEOPLE I PLAY EVERY WEEKEND AT MLG THANKS TO RANDOM SEEDING. Me and many many others let AZ know of the problem such like the one I had. thanks to random seeding I wasted my time in bracket for singles and doubles.

 

[Mikachiru]

Bad memory is bad?

Reading the Tweets were fun. HOBOseries was saying some pretty mean stuff about M2K... Not nice.

 

[Krystedez]

The general point of the post was that you should start on time and I'll agree with that, even after giving MLG another chance and going to Champs because I didn't want to miss it, I still say start on times listed, not on times tentative. I would wholeheartedly recommend this as a suggestion to make MLG better.

My experience at C-Bus was a half hour earlier than time scheduled for round 3 winners, and I arrived even at the 13-15 minute mark after the initial call and still got called out and told that I was 20 minutes late according to one person's watch/clock with no proof other than that.

So, either you get there early as humanely possible, and sit in front of the TO's desk and obnoxiously ask them every 5 minutes what heat/round they're in (this is exaggerating, mind you), or you stomp your feet and cry and whine about it after you've been DQ'd (it won't change anything, except when you put it in the suggestion "box"...MAYBE)...

I feel for you Jnig, jio. I don't know the full story, or if what you say is accurate, but either way I agree with your sentiments. Don't punish players for being there before the initial time and don't set up a tentative schedule, no matter how "record-blazing" fast you want your tournament to run, MLG.

(I don't blame refs, the info booth, or even the TO at the operator's desk. I blame MLG.)

 

[AlphaZealot]

I feel for you Jnig, jio. I don't know the full story, or if what you say is accurate, but either way I agree with your sentiments.

Actually you do. Like at least 170 other people you were there in the venue at 5:30 when we started and should be able to confirm that we did not start at 4:45PM, a time that was 15 minutes before the main-stage-music/lightshow-faruq-sundance-introduction to the entire venue.

Previous issues with time aside, this happen to be one where it was impossible to NOT be one schedule (since it was the 1st round).

 

[Gnes]

My carpool got in to the venue like at 4:50, and got into the mlg area at around 5:00pm. I'm pretty sure it started on time.

 

[Krystedez]

Actually you do. Like at least 170 other people you were there in the venue at 5:30 when we started and should be able to confirm that we did not start at 4:45PM, a time that was 15 minutes before the main-stage-music/lightshow-faruq-sundance-introduction to the entire venue.

Previous issues with time aside, this happen to be one where it was impossible to NOT be one schedule (since it was the 1st round).

I said I did not know for sure because I wasn't paying attention to the time, since I did not have a watch and merely was there from 3 and on. (checked the hotel clock before I came down). I do remember the introduction, and that it was right around the time that freeplay was supposed to end I think, yes.

But why would he rant and lie about something like this I would not know, but perhaps it was a misunderstanding, because it sounds odd to have the matches start 45 minutes early.

All I CAN confirm is that Jnig's match was one of the first matches called and he was already getting the DQ route by the time I had started my match. Why he was DQ'd when he was "on time" I would not know, since 5:30 is the time the tournament was supposed to begin and the time that jio explained that they had arrived, yet were told they were DQ'd.

"We all arrived at the venue at 5:30 to the news that JNig and I had been DQ'd from winners due to tardiness."

What discrepancies arise from this shall not be of my concern and I can not confirm anything concrete, so I just sympathized. If it's a misunderstanding, then it's probably is due because of the confusion and stress their group had to go through to get there "on time" according to OP.

 

[mikeHAZE]

my only problem was playing the SAME PEOPLE I PLAY EVERY WEEKEND AT MLG THANKS TO RANDOM SEEDING. Me and many many others let AZ know of the problem such like the one I had. thanks to random seeding I wasted my time in bracket for singles and doubles.

so you're upset that something random happened? lol.


random means random man. No Bias whatsoever. it wouldn't be fair otherwise.

 

[Palpi]

vVv Mikehaze speaks the truth

 

[Ripple]

so you're upset that something random happened? lol.


random means random man. No Bias whatsoever. it wouldn't be fair otherwise.

random also means its ****s on people when it goes "wrong". especially for people who travel long distances to get experience from others in tournament and not friendlies.

seeding by location would be much more fair to everyone.

 

[mikeHAZE]

random also means its ****s on people when it goes "wrong". especially for people who travel long distances to get experience from others in tournament and not friendlies.

seeding by location would be much more fair to everyone.

It would not be fair, that would be bias. If you're going to do random, you have to random 100%.

Also, the beauty of being on a circuit out side of community circuits is that EVERY player starts from scratch. Everybody starts at zero, despite location or PR rankings and works their way up.


I agree that it does suck when you have to play your friends, but it happens.

 

[Martyr]

Yes I do know that it was stated to arrive an hour early just in case but really? What is College professors said arrive to class early because they could start upwards of an hour early and then punished you if you still arrived early? The part that upset me the most is that the people that run the smash portion of MLG are smashers themselves who have traveled and experienced the woes of traveling out of state. For these very same people that were just like me to have no consideration for the competitors that they themselves used to be (and some who still are) absolutely disgusted me. I seriously held a grudge against the refs but soon got over since I'm really not the type of person who likes conflict, I prefer to chill out.

Not to seem like I'm not sympathetic to what happened, but honestly they get paid to do their job, and to make things run the way MLG wants. MLG says jump, they do so loyally because that is what their job entails. Are you going to pay them for their hard work, constant stress, and angst leading up to and through the three-day tournament weekend? Because if not, I suggest you try turning your "disgust" into perhaps understanding. The only thing disgusting in my opinion is that you would THINK that die-hard smashers that now work for MLG would purposely wrong you and that they don't care when they clearly do.

Smash isn't a game that is necessarily as huge as the other flagship games for this league. The people you're badmouthing because of an unfortunate situation are probably some of the only reasons you can even travel to play this game that you love so much anyway. There are hundreds of kids who have shared similar fates as you and your friend when traveling to tournaments, or even to designated places. This is why when you plan on going to an MLG event you plan to go with those who are trustworthy, unwavering, AND you make sure you get there or stay there for the length of the weekend as to avoid having to get there on the drop of a dime opposed to just walking out of your venue hotel room.

I understand you had to work, and I also understand the hardships you faced along the way, but at the same time part of growing up is how you manage your time, who you keep up with, etc. If I was you (and I have done this in the past) I would have worked overtime, or worked my *** off weeks in advanced and personally asked my boss to take off and said I was going out of state, and then I would have made plans to go with people who I absolutely know are only going to pull a no-show if they're in a body bag or in a car accident. Just seems like you got a few bad blows, but there's no real viable reasons I've read in here to hold a grudge against MLG. I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted it to though.

 

[jiovanni007]

Actually you do. Like at least 170 other people you were there in the venue at 5:30 when we started and should be able to confirm that we did not start at 4:45PM, a time that was 15 minutes before the main-stage-music/lightshow-faruq-sundance-introduction to the entire venue.

Previous issues with time aside, this happen to be one where it was impossible to NOT be one schedule (since it was the 1st round).

When I say it started 45 min early I'm referring to a 6:00pm start time. It more than likely was just a misunderstanding of the start time, but myself and JNig are both very organized people and for us both to believe that the event started at 6:00pm independently of each other and to be incorrect is a rarity. Rarities can occur though so its not entirely impossible. Since it is a misunderstanding you do have my apologies. We were mostly burned up because we didn't even check into the hotel until after the festivities and went straight to the venue. We were getting out at 5:33 which while we were one of our carpoolers got a call form Lee saying we had been DQ'd.

But again since it was a misunderstanding you have my apologies. I was mad at the refs at first but realizing they had a job to do I can't really hold that against them. No hard feelings.

so you're upset that something random happened? lol.


random means random man. No Bias whatsoever. it wouldn't be fair otherwise.

Yeah this is right, but still unfortunate.

 

[Krystedez]

I again am sympathetic with you jio, and jnig. I wish I had gotten to meet you guys, I didn't know where to look or anything for some reason . . .

the only thing I dont understand I guess is where you got the 6 pm time from. I honestly thought that it started earlier (5, at latest. . . ) so I made it there like at 11:30 and registered, came back at 3 according to my clock.

But if you arrived at 5:33, I don't know how you got DQ'd so quick, according to Lee. . . Ew. What the hell happened there? You should have had 2 minutes before your next call, in which case, 5 minutes after that you would have been 0-1 against your opponent, and then 5 min after thaaat you woulda been DQ'd from Round 1.

I understand the situation a bit more now, I can only say I'm sorry that it happened that way. The way you explain it it just sounds a little confusing is all. I hope you will come to the next event if they hold SSBB again on the circuit (WHEN they hold it I SHOULD say, considering this event was the second largest I think?)

 

[Sliq]

ITT: Some guy gets 4 stocked by his reading comprehension and clock.