Hey guys, My name is Alex Jebailey which some of you already know. I'm the man in Charge of the
CEO 2011 Fighting Game Championships in Orlando, Fl this summer.
This Situation is unfortunate because this could happen to any major event, First off Plank ran Smash for my CEO 2010 Event and he was one of the best TO's I've ever worked with in terms of efficiency, now with that said he didn't have to put any money up(He paid for the Insurance Certificate but I reimbursed him) So he didn't have any risk involved like that of his own Pound V.
With that Said I know the risk involved with securing a big venue because like most Good TO's we have a dream of putting together the best events possible to increase mainstream exposure. Now what Plank did with Pound V was put his TOTAL TRUST into the fact that Smashers would help fulfill the hotel(sadly because we are all gamers most of us are completely broke and living off of parent's money( don't deny it if you were one of 10 people that crammed into one hotel room) which is the same I'm doing with my CEO Event(Which is a $20,000 Risk for me). Not just Planks but any TO's biggest mistake is not having the capital to promise payouts and he is at total fault for not paying out what he promised to the players, but because he has shown everyone he is completely in debt all the arguing in the world and bashing won't help get everyone's money back. Not that I'm defending him(I've promised a $5000 pot for my EVO seeding games, luckily because I've won so many tournaments myself I can risk the money), but this will ruin the chances of a 5 year event of ever becoming bigger than what it was.
I've been around the Scene for nearly 15 years now and I've seen so many Organizers come and go but just one mistake no matter how successful their past records are and it's curtains for them. Granted they should NEVER promise something you can't fulfill and this issue won't come up but just realize how incredibly hard it is to do what we do for so little in return. We put together big events cause we Love bringing people together, Plank is one of those people, If he was in it for the money he would of been gone after Pound 1's success. Now he was put up against a wall financially(And life is all about money and without legit sponsors Plank had nothing to work with before the event) and he had to go with The Golden rule of life which is Survival and he's doing what's in his best interest for himself and his life otherwise this mistake will end up costing him debt for the rest of his life).
For all the people that are owed money they have every right to go after Plank until he can return something to them. All that hard work, practicing, winning for nothing, I don't care if it's just a videogame tournament even though we play cause it's fun, but if you're promised money and you don't receive it you have every right to never attend an event from someone who owes you money again so I hate for a 5 year event to disappear because of this major mistake by getting a hotel venue.
Moral of all this is, if you want to keep the competitive community alive(I used to play smash and even I must admit 10 years strong is mighty impressive and deserves merit) then you have to realize it's just like any other hobby out there, you put money in to help out TO's and their events. Think of it this way, Look at MMOs like World of Warcraft, people are paying 10-15 bucks a month to keep playing the same game. You guys just had to buy Smash Bros with no monthly fee, the least you can do is save up some money to get a hotel room and not cram 20 dudes into a room to save money) again that's not a defense to plank, but think of it on the bigger picture.
Anyways who knows if anyone I just said means anything to you guys but to sum it all up, From the outside looking in, it's a shame one of the best TO's I've ever met got himself into a very deep hole that will be impossible to climb out of. Going after a broke man won't get you your money back, it's up to the community to either forgive or just move on and hope someone else with balls can come out of nowhere and step up to the plate for something to replace POUND 5. I did that last year when a scammer completely cancelled his event, so I'm sure this can lead to an even stronger community in the future so don't let it ruin the fun that this is all about.
I wanted Plank to help out With CEO 2011 again but I know he won't want to be around anything for a long time so I've dropped his name from the thread and leave it up to Hungrybox and other local smashers to help the East Coast for some big things. This wouldn't be the first community I've helped save. So Come on down to DISNEY WORLD and enter the CEO 2011 Tournament lol
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=296882
Jebailey OUT.
![Эикельманн [РУС]](/data/avatars/l/153/153661.jpg?1415225120){kind=avatar}
