[BLOG] Pro Korean Overwatch Team Alleged To Have Mistreated Players

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PredictedCyborg
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[BLOG] Pro Korean Overwatch Team Alleged To Have Mistreated Players

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At the moment eSports are becoming a very big industry, with a lot of money being exchanged and made through tournaments watched by eyes from all around the world. That being said, in some ways major eSports is still a fairly young industry and now a story has emerged from a South Korean team, alleging that the coaching staff of the team badly mistreated the actual pro players.



Mighty Storm is one of the top Overwatch Korean teams has provided a statement to an eSports site in the country describing the conditions they say they were forced to endure. They've said that among other things that practice times extended from noon to 4-5am, with only one or two meals a day of '2-3 quail eggs and pre-made kimchi and kongjaban' (a sweet and salty bean paste) and while they could get more meals it was at the player's expense to do so. What's more, they claim to have been made to sleep in a single bedroom with 10 people in the room or a living room with 4 people to the room.



There are also claims of not having been paid for events they've already competed in, and detailed incidents that occurred during some of those events. Before the final match the team played against Lunactic-Hai, a very strong Overwatch team who took them out of that tournament on November 16th, they claim to have been told by coaches that 'you guys will probably lose 3-0 today' and weren't provided any strategic advice. Upon being knocked out, they were told that they 'did not deserve to eat' and the players were given no more meals for the day. A prior loss on October 19th saw the players being screamed at to leave the vehicle home and forced them to walk 40 minutes back to the team house, only to be greeted with a statement that 'you aren't even worth the effort to teach'.



One player, Gang 'SIP' Jun Hyeong, expressed a desire to leave the team but was told by management that if he did he'd be in breach of contract. He was then told that if the management reported him to KeSPA (Korean eSports Association) for this breach, he would never be able to play Overwatch professionally again.



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On the other side, the management and coaching staff dispute all this. They claim that the captain of the team, Jun Hyeong, has not fulfilled obligations in his one-year contract and so therefore they had not released the funds to him until these things were done. They also say that no underfeeding of players ever happened and that the coaches told the players that "if you continue to practice this way, you will lose 3-0" rather than outright calling them useless.



KeSPA has stepped in to mediate the dispute, with the Mighty Storm players being given legal support according to the chairman Byung-Hun Jun.



"We have received extensive reports of this unfortunate happening over the last month," Jun said. "eSports has multiple teams across numerous games, but we are aware that not all players are guaranteed the proper rights that a professional gamer deserves. The fact that pro gamers are often young further exacerbates problems when it comes to gaining the required resources and support of a properly constructed contract."
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