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ArtStyle: "The more we are paid the better we play – that’s obvious."
Posted by Seth "Sazab" Tompkins 3 months ago
This column is the opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of GosuGamersThe Ukrainian power house gives an extensive interview on joinDOTA.com led by fellow countryman V1lat. The dialogue sheds light on ArtStyle's current friction with some of competitive DotA 2's elite while also presenting a few interesting views on the state of the scene as a whole.
The controversy that has surrounded ArtStyle over his professional contractual decisions has seemed to reach a fever pitch in the past few days with several organizations - Na'Vi and M5 among them - "boycotting" the player over supposedly "unprofessional" business maneuvers.
joinDOTA.com's full text translation of the interview reveals some interesting and somewhat scandalous stories of just how the Russian gaming powerhouse decided to negotiate with ArtStyle and his teammates over financial compensation.
ArtStyle:
" Firstly, I want to say that all my answers will be completely honest and I will make no jokes today.
I was invited to M5 by NS and promised to receive 1000$ per month salary, good conditions and all possible support from organization. At the same time Darer contacted me and told he wanted to create his own team. From that moment the negotiations have started. We wanted to create one team with two huge sponsors – Darer and M5. Nobody had contracts at that moment and nobody was connected to the M5 tag so we started discussing terms and agreements.
Darer made a very good proposition and we liked it. We asked Dmitriy about his suggestions. Here I must make a digression and say that his words in a recent statement where we totally refused to pay 10% from prize money are lies. We refused to pay 10% because he proposed a 300$ month salary! I think it is not logical to receive 3600$ per year and give away such a percentage from my winnings – I would have losses. And what is business? Business is profit and in our case we would only lose. I can say more. We were even ready to pay 100% of prize money to M5 but in case we had a decent salary. There should be a normal ratio of salary to given percentage but in ddd1ms proposition it was just ridiculous.
I don’t understand why Dmitriy reacted in such a way. By the way, he also wanted us to promote M5 everywhere for this 300$.
So Darer made his good proposition and it was Dmitriy’s turn. Until the very end it was unclear what he would say. Sometimes I heard about 1000$ salaries for 20% from prize money but in a few hours it was rejected and so on and suddenly I’ve found myself being boycotted."
" Firstly, I want to say that all my answers will be completely honest and I will make no jokes today.
I was invited to M5 by NS and promised to receive 1000$ per month salary, good conditions and all possible support from organization. At the same time Darer contacted me and told he wanted to create his own team. From that moment the negotiations have started. We wanted to create one team with two huge sponsors – Darer and M5. Nobody had contracts at that moment and nobody was connected to the M5 tag so we started discussing terms and agreements.
Darer made a very good proposition and we liked it. We asked Dmitriy about his suggestions. Here I must make a digression and say that his words in a recent statement where we totally refused to pay 10% from prize money are lies. We refused to pay 10% because he proposed a 300$ month salary! I think it is not logical to receive 3600$ per year and give away such a percentage from my winnings – I would have losses. And what is business? Business is profit and in our case we would only lose. I can say more. We were even ready to pay 100% of prize money to M5 but in case we had a decent salary. There should be a normal ratio of salary to given percentage but in ddd1ms proposition it was just ridiculous.
I don’t understand why Dmitriy reacted in such a way. By the way, he also wanted us to promote M5 everywhere for this 300$.
So Darer made his good proposition and it was Dmitriy’s turn. Until the very end it was unclear what he would say. Sometimes I heard about 1000$ salaries for 20% from prize money but in a few hours it was rejected and so on and suddenly I’ve found myself being boycotted."
Suspicious stuff to say the least. During the interview there was also a discussion of just how much organizers such as M5 were contributing to developing a legitimate and prosperous e-sports scene.
V1lat:
"As far as I know XPEH invited the entire M5 roster to DTS before Dota 2 Stars Championship with $200 salary and giving away 50% from winnings. I think he noticed that you wont even pay 10% and hence boycotted you."
ArtStyle:
"It’s quite absurd. These people are developing cyber sports and should work diplomatically."
"As far as I know XPEH invited the entire M5 roster to DTS before Dota 2 Stars Championship with $200 salary and giving away 50% from winnings. I think he noticed that you wont even pay 10% and hence boycotted you."
ArtStyle:
"It’s quite absurd. These people are developing cyber sports and should work diplomatically."
Absurd indeed; e-sports players are just like any other athlete or professional competitor, you need proper compensation in order to maintain a desirable standard of living while also retaining the appropriate amount of time to develop critical skills and a competitive edge. Organizers and team managers need to foster an atmosphere of honesty and fairness when dealing with talent; backhanded deals such as the one ArtStyle had to refuse will do nothing but trivialize the competitive DotA 2 scene.
There is a reason that Valve deals The International payouts to players alone: the current culture of quasi-legal agreements within teams that make themselves more fluid than a main-line of ex-lax hamstrings the confirmation of a respected and insolvent e-sports community. If DotA 2 and other games like it are to be viewed as truly legitimate arenas of heavy competition then we as a community need to promote a culture of honest and truly co-operative team organization.
This column is the opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of GosuGamers
Check out the full interview below.
| Links |
| joinDOTA.com - Full ArtStyle interview |
| Comments \ Paging |
1, 2 
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2
| i don't really think you can "buy" skill, you can only put more pressure on the player.. |
| Pretty bad fail of M5 losing a team like this. I cant understand whats on Dmitry Smely's mind. |
| Dotaugaming |
| Artsyle is living fail. He would not achieve anything just because he thinks 'IM A LEGENDARY PLAYER, I CAN WIN INTERNATIONAL WITH MY LEFT HAND, ALL SPONSORS SHOULD BOW TO ME". #2 - m5 manager is smart guy, he will not do buisness with someone so unreliable. |
| A lot of good interviews lately... Well done, Gosu. |
yaay  |
| can this piece be more bias? #5 is probably dropped as a baby |
| #2 - The M5 manager is the one being unreasonable. "Business"? No matter how much I love Dota, I wouldn't play it full-time for $3600 per year. As Artstyle said, if he accepted the "business" the M5 manager offered, he would LOSE MONEY. All Artstyle wants is a decent salary and he would be happy to give away percentages (he even said he's willing to give away all tournament winnings to M5 if he has a decent salary); receiving a salary of $300 and still having to give away 10% of his winnings is indeed absurd. I wish Artstyle and his team all the best, he's definitely one of my all-time favourite players. |
A lot of good interviews lately... Well done, Gosu. Are you sure gosu has done this interview? :) |
| WCg retarded piece of shit tournament, all members should be from the same country! is there any reasoning for that? |
| So many biased posts, imagine if ArtStyle is just any other player. He receives an invite from Organization #1 and Organization #2. Organization #2 has a better proposition and they pay more, so he decides to go with them, so Organization #1 decides to boycott him?\ How ignorant are the M5 organizers??? |
| I hope they will find the normal sponsor and for the WCG can call from Na'Vi |
| If players want to be treated as professionals they should act as professionals (logging to game 30min after a match was supposed to start, using constant standings, flaming, insulting, exploiting bugs, not carrying for some games - all of it happens all the time in so called "pro EU scene"). btw what happened with this $1000 monthly salary ? i guess thats more than average Ukrainian salary |
#9 this was posted earlier in joindota  |
| #10 WCG is like the olympics of e-sports. You represent your country.. |
| "The more we are paid the better we play – that’s obvious." I think Artstyle conflated his statement with the following: "The better you play, the more you are paid"? |
| MONEY MONEY MONEY , Why SO seriouS ? |
| Asian sponsors>Eu sponsors result is Asia>EU in DOTA..LOL |
| btw the statement that better payment indicates better performance is not true as far as performance requires any cognitive skills; watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc |
| #12 You're way worse than him with your hate. Used to love him ? :) If M5 really proposed only 300$/month.. then I don't see how you could play Dota fulltime. If Darer proposed something better then deal with it M5, deal with it. |
| money for skill? Pathetic... |
| #21 Couldn't agree more |
Artstyle is an overated player .i can go agaist him 1v1  Just trolling F:D |
| given that Artstyle actually wants to put his whole effort into the game, he needs to have a proper salary. 300 per month not enough ? i wouldn't even consider to boot my PC for that joke of a salary, although i know living standards in UA might be much lower. none can live with that and youre not gonna sign a bunch of noobs M5. if you want high tier players, you gotta pay them or sign PGG + 4 ! |
| After reading the whole interview, my point of view here is: ArtStyle is playing because he sees Dota 2 as a profession, not just a game, just like in China, look what happened to DK, after being paid and treated the right way they improved and look at where they are now, on the top. So IMO ArtStyle deserves to have a decent salary and support from the sponsors, SO GO TO CHINA! I'm with ArtStyle on this one. |
| if what Artstyle said was true, the joke is on M5 in this case. i still think he's unpro though |
| LOL there is no another CIS player that has salary >250$ per month. They demand 1000$. They haven't won anything, for what shall m5 pay 1000$? For their potential? I remind that m5 shall to pay real money(4 times more that usually has CIS pro player) to get "potential prize money", which first need to be won. And it's clear that DTS and NaVi management will not like the m5's decision to pay 1000$ - they will have nothing to answer reasonable question of their players "Are we worse than they? No? Why then we have 4 times less in salary?" Darer pays same 250$ without getting 10% of the potential prizemoney but they will not have training base if they sign with darer. So i guess they have lost more. They asked for salary which were not deserved by them. |
| guys, you should ask firstly the salary of SK, fnatic, EG dotaplayers and then discuss if 300$ a lot or not |
| I can see both side of the coin, imo ArtStyle is right to ask for more than lousy 300$, that's not sufficient money to devote professionally to something. As he says, the players will have to look for another job which will affect their performance negatively and I agree with that. On the other side, 1k seems a bit too much, that's 60k a year for the whole team. There is no guarantee that they will win tournaments, so I also understand ddd1m's position. Having two sponsors doesn't seem like a bad idea on paper, the same concept has been around in dota1 in sc2 in warcraft etc. I really don't see a problem with this idea as long as they negotiate good terms and conditions which will prevent these two sponsors to interfere with their interests. |
| Just Finished the full article... Damn...Artstyle Like a Boss... He really expressed anyshit from his thought.... Good Luck... |
| this Artstyle still think he is the god of dota2 if he think he so good he should just make a contract like this by every dota2 tournament they Win they get +100 per month an sec place +50 of course they start With $250 first an limit are 1k per month aftel first International he become a money freak |
| i bet he now regrets leaving na'vi hahaha |
| All the Artstyle haters here should really think about the big picture. Put yourself in ArtStyle's shoes and the Organization's likewise, then comment. If you have not even a tad bit of understanding towards ArtStyle and his current situation (based on this interview) then you Sir, must have some really deep hate stirring in there toward this guy. Note: I'm not a fanboy, nor a hater of ArtStyle. |
| Being a professional, especially in the European scene, ain't easy job after all, as they might have to deal with controversies like this. Hope things would get sorted out soon. |
| #33 *facepalm* |
| Money makes the world go round. That's a fact. ArtStyle is greedy? Well, who isn't... Even if it's not the best roster, who cares as long as it pays...It's human nature after all to secure oneself first , above others. |
| this guy is such a fail,joke...call it whatever you want :) He won couple LANs and now he thinks he is a god of dota? This shows what money can do to a person... Btw I bet if he forms a team, they will be crushed every time by any team who has teamplay on high level such as guys from Fire, AL and other top tier teams... PatheticStyle |
Considering ArtStyle's current reputation, i think it pays as much to get him to sign-up in a team... If i were him, i'd do the same and price myself accordingly whomever gives the higher bid.. to take as much money as the circumstances permit .. yea..  Like NBA DraftPick and Trade-off, Player's prices bro |
| ArtStyle: DOTA means business.. |
| #22 Yea he is soo pathetic he want to be paid for his job i feel sorry for him... |
| Unlike Maelk, artstyle doesn't have "real job" outside competitive e-sport player. He treat dota e-sport as business not leisure time spending with your friends, i think his action and opinion is justified as e-sport isn't really matured outside south korea. |
| So what is the average salary of other players? |
| I don't really see the problem here. If M5 did not agree to what they want why boycott him? M5 looks stupid by doing the boycott. If they don't want to give a better offer then give the team away and sponsor new teams. |
Lol at the trolls hating on Artstyle because he does not want to volunteer for M5.  |
| #38 Rofl. |
| To be honest, Ivan is a great player but a very shitty person. Anyone who had listened/read more than 1 his interwiev knows that it is truth. |
| Artstyle; Napalm 10 stacks!!! |
| ArtStyle was my favorite gamer. but since he left navi, i got confused. dunno why he left the strongest team at that point. bc of ZeroGravity, mates, money or sth else? .... just saying. |
| Na'Vi fanboys = ArtStyle haters? |
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