After two years in the World Gaming Tour Clan League, including 6 seasons in division 1, MicroGamerZ has decided to leave in protest to a WGT Admin decision. Has WGT taken a step in the wrong direction or is MgZ) making a bad decision? GG.net is unable to say, but we will try to give you enough information to make a decision yourself.
It all started on Sunday after a convoluted match with mYm- that resulted in this post on the WGT-CL forum. The original problem was really, amusingly, quite simple:
mYm.Legendary and 
MgZ)Strelok could not play their match due to lag. They tried every server and an hour later they were right back where they'd started. An attempt was made to replace Legendary with 
mYm.Draco, but Draco could not play till a later time. MgZ) refused this replacement. That's when things got complicated.Call in the admins... send in the... admins... give us the admins!
After reviewing the case the administrators decided that the match would need to be rescheduled and played. This decision was not taken favorably by MgZ) and they felt that mYm- was receiving preferential treatment. MgZ) felt that Legendary was the clear cause of the lag and since mYm- could not produce a replacement to play at the time of the match, mYm- should have to forfeit the game. The administrators disagreed and their decision stood. We present to you the CL rules on lag so you can form your own opinion:
4.14 Lag Problems
In the event that two players have unsolvable lag problems, an attempt should be made to determine which player is a cause of it. A substitution should be made in the draw. If there are no available substitutes for them, you must either reschedule or else let them make a substitution from somebody not in the draw. You can't get a forfeit win merely because the game lags.
In the event that two players have unsolvable lag problems, an attempt should be made to determine which player is a cause of it. A substitution should be made in the draw. If there are no available substitutes for them, you must either reschedule or else let them make a substitution from somebody not in the draw. You can't get a forfeit win merely because the game lags.
At the same time all of this was happening another can of worms was opened. The administration had determined that
MgZ)Lowely still had an account on the AFM CL team while he also had an account on the MgZ) CL team. They then reversed the results from all of his CL matches, including the mYm- match, as a penalty for this breach of rules. This move left MgZ) more than a little upset.Now, it is a fact that Lowely had 2 accounts, both of which were on AFM and MgZ) at the same time. But also take into account that it is a fact that Lowely had only played in 1 CL match for AFM, on September 11th, 2005, when AFM played
iX. You can see that draw here. He officially joined MgZ) on September 22nd, 2005, which you can see here. From September 22nd onwards he has no recorded games of any sort on his AFM account, which you can see here. Taking into account all of these facts, here are the WGT-CL rules on double teaming for you to read, and then form your own opinion.3.01 Team Limitations
Every team can have a maximum of 2 teams. However, these two teams may never be in the same division. Those teams are treated separately only for CL purposes. one player cannot play in two CL teams regardless of whether they are two sections of the same team or two different teams. If a player is found to be playing on multiple Clan League teams, he/she will be banned from the CL and the team appointed a heavy penalty, up to removal from the Clan League altogether. The minimum penalty is all of the matches from that player will be reversed. The administrators will never handle cases related to their own team or their own team’s other team.
Every team can have a maximum of 2 teams. However, these two teams may never be in the same division. Those teams are treated separately only for CL purposes. one player cannot play in two CL teams regardless of whether they are two sections of the same team or two different teams. If a player is found to be playing on multiple Clan League teams, he/she will be banned from the CL and the team appointed a heavy penalty, up to removal from the Clan League altogether. The minimum penalty is all of the matches from that player will be reversed. The administrators will never handle cases related to their own team or their own team’s other team.
The ensuing argument seems to be one about language. The word "playing" is very vague and an easily misinterpreted word in this context. So, what is the meaning of the word "playing" in this rule? Does "playing" mean having an account on two different CL teams or does "playing" mean literally playing games while on both teams? In this case the WGT administrators decided that having 2 accounts on 2 different CL teams is what the rule intended, and therefore the matches were reversed. Whether the decisions made were right or wrong GG.net does not have an opinion on, but we do believe one thing -- this rule should be rewritten more clearly to avoid issues like this in the future.
In protest to these two decisions, MgZ) has left the WGT Clan League. The effect this decision will have on both WGT and MgZ) is uncertain. We can only hope that everyone learns from the conflict that has arisen, and that everyone makes the appropriate changes to prevent something like this from happening again; be it changes in rules or changes in attitudes.
Links
WGTour.com - CL Forum Post
GG.net - This is a sport. Where is the Sportmanship?
