Enemy Down

Bub said: (Jan 14 2009 at 10:40:00 GMT)

The 'Community Council' is tasked with disciplinary matters (fining players) and enforcing the rules and regulations of the event. The executive board was announced a few days ago and includes a lot of big names in the industry but if I were to ask them what an illegal defuse or crouchbug was I would receive a blank stare. Isn't it a flawed board when 2/6 on the board wont understand anything about what they are in place to rule on?

The volatility of the UK scene can almost guarantee that 1 team in the premiership wont last the event and will fold half way through. Will their prize money and other financial benefits be recycled back and spread across the remaining teams or be taken back into the UKeSA?

TI Mellow said: (Jan 14 2009 at 14:10:23 GMT)

It's great that you guys are running with such a hands on approach. My questions are as follows:

1. What are the exact plans for prize fund distribution?
2. Is the prize pot especially large since this is the launch season or will UKeSA maintain this prize fund level?

TI Sacred said: (Jan 14 2009 at 14:54:29 GMT)

My Questions.

1. The signup process for season one starts Jan 17th, what date will the signup process end?

2. Once a game gets premiership status after the signups how will you determine the top 8 teams in that respective game?

3. You've already stated the 1st seasons lan finals wil be in April, do you have a rough indiction on when in April? (i'm hoping late april due to other lan events)

Gumpster said: (Jan 14 2009 at 15:55:35 GMT)

How will UK organisations, leagues & Ladders be monitored by the UKeSA, will there be strict enforcement, and will the UKeSA have some say in when LANs, online tournaments take place, so that there a growth in eSports instead of LANs and online tournaments clashing with each other (which divides the community currently).

Is there plans on the table to support LAN organisers with funding, sponsorship, venue hires and other variable factors that make a LAN work (such as the SummerSLAM last year there were problems with the way it was run/set up etc).

Will there be a clear and concise ruleset placed up for all leagues/ladders/events/lans to refer to, and how will it be enforced?

oingyy said: (Jan 14 2009 at 16:49:36 GMT)

1. Championship players pay a fee per season, how much is this? If you haven't determined what is yet can we get a ballpark figure at least.

2. Theres alot of talk of team managers and for organised teams it's obvious who this will be but for some games a lot of teams are just 4 guys that aren't part of a bigger team, can a competing player on the team be the team manager?

3. £35,000 for season 1 is a good prize pot. Assuming you keep up that figure you'll be giving away £105,000 in year 1. This whole thing will have to be pretty successful to justify that investment. I know gaming is big and a growing market but eSports in comparison isn't and I understand you're trying to improve the profile of it but it just seems too much too soon maybe? Is that prize fund sustainable?

Palaceroxx said: (Jan 14 2009 at 17:33:40 GMT)

This is brilliant that you are taking time out to answer questions!

1. Other than participating in the leagues are there any other ways to get involved with the UKeSA? For example will you need community managers, or people to help with the leagues or something?

2. Do you plan on getting involved/ helping out with other gaming websites? eg. Xleague.tv

3. Will the 1v1 games such as Fifa get as much support as the team games?

Gen.Willy said: (Jan 14 2009 at 18:29:56 GMT)

1. I understand that your aim is to get everyone involved in the esports scene, however will there be any kind of certification to show that certain clans are recognised by the UKeSA?

2. Following on from my last question, will there be certain criteria to join the championship/premiership or to gain certification? I'm thinking that there could be alot of new clans form just to get involved with this and alot could fold part way through a season, which could effect some leagues.

3. What action would the UKeSA take if a clan/player is found hacking?

Thanks for taking time out to do this!

Bub said: (Jan 14 2009 at 21:36:29 GMT)

+1 question:
- With the IQ of a normal UK gamer being around 60 do you think all the committees, press releases and information do much other than cause people to scratch their heads, grunt and go "fucking foreigners first take our jobs and now our css money!" (as has been said by one mongoloid) In short - is the userbase too undeveloped and 'stupid' to understand and therefore benefit from ukesa at the moment?

EDIT - Not sure I want an answer to that, just have a good old rant :D

TI Mellow said: (Jan 15 2009 at 00:13:11 GMT)

"2. Following on from my last question, will there be certain criteria to join the championship/premiership or to gain certification? I'm thinking that there could be alot of new clans form just to get involved with this and alot could fold part way through a season, which could effect some leagues."

That's a particularly interesting question. I'd like to double the interest in the answer to that.

TI Mellow said: (Jan 15 2009 at 00:17:01 GMT)

To add to that (it'd be nice to have a comment edit feature on here), perhaps UKeSA could provide some kind of UKeSA approved qualifications for the team managers of the premier league clubs that have gone through the sponsorship training etc? Kind of like the FA coaching award.

TI Expoze said: (Jan 15 2009 at 00:35:42 GMT)

1. Will the sheer number of signups be the only deciding factor as to which games make Championship? Or will there be other variables such a set limit of the top 3 PC games and the top Console game?

2. How will yo go about adding games mid-season to the open division? Will this require a push from the community on for example the forums, or will you be adding most titles and then removing games accordingly?

iD_Rumsey said: (Jan 15 2009 at 10:55:55 GMT)

1. will a game be across different leagues and have a system with teams who can get promoted and demoted to give new teams a chance and get teams to be around there correct skill level?

2. how will the rules be decided for games on the console side of things as due to lack of mods its very tricky to get the correct settings and the most competetive. i am happy to help with this and work with someone like mellow to make sure the console side of things has the best settings across all the titles.

dignitas rumsey.

Palaceroxx said: (Jan 15 2009 at 19:16:29 GMT)

When will these be answered? Thats not my question btw lol

Palaceroxx said: (Jan 15 2009 at 19:16:49 GMT)

When and where will these be answered?*

Schu11ers said: (Jan 15 2009 at 20:42:43 GMT)

We'll ensure that your questions will be answered tomorrow :) All questions will be answered on this post.

Palaceroxx said: (Jan 17 2009 at 12:47:53 GMT)

ARe they going to be answered soon?

TI Sacred said: (Jan 17 2009 at 14:50:00 GMT)

I presume they'll answer them Monday now bud.

Jonesey said: (Jan 17 2009 at 18:09:46 GMT)

1) For the championship bracket are managers compulsary? or are they optional?
2) Can the manager be a member of the team, or does it have to be an external 5th?
3) Is there going to be a selection process for games chosen or just most popular. Because atm counterstrike has two places (i know there different but same essentially)?

Palaceroxx said: (Jan 17 2009 at 20:51:19 GMT)

I know I have already asked my 3 questions but this is simple.. Does it matter if a team have 2 managers?

Schu11ers said: (Jan 17 2009 at 23:55:12 GMT)

Answers to these questions will go up tomorrow by evening.

hyperzzzzz said: (Jan 18 2009 at 09:39:12 GMT)

World of Warcraft: WotLK was listed as one of the games, however it hasnt been selected for this first season? is there any reason for this?

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:37:46 GMT)

@Bub:
1. Remit and Community Council: The two members of the Executive Committee who will be sitting on the Community Council will be myself and Ray Mia. Whilst neither of us have the technical expertise of an ED Admin our role is to ensure that all decisions reflect overall UKeSA policy. Any decision reached at the Community Council could have much wider reaching consequences that the Team and Operational Managers involved may not be aware of.

2. Teams folding: If a team folds half way through a season the will obviously not get any prize money and if they are a premiership team their retainer will go back into the prize pot for the following season.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:38:38 GMT)

@TI Mellow:
1. Prize fund distribution: We will be announcing prize fund distribution next week.

2. Size of Prize pot: This prize pot is conservative. One of the key things that we didn’t want with the UKeSA was to have a shrinking prize pot over time. Key to us for Season One was to get the structure, positioning and partnerships right. That in turn will give us reach and profile, give the Teams and UKeSA hard demonstrable facts when discussing return on investment with sponsors.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:40:00 GMT)

@TI Sacred:
1. Open Division Sign up period: The Open Division sign up period will close at 2359hrs on Sunday 25th January.

2. Premiership team selection for Season One: Once the Championship teams sign ups close and the game types are decided, Championship Division games that are going up to Premiership Division status will have their teams seeded by the UKeSA. Note, this is the case for Season One and we openly recognise that this is an imperfect process (and hence we will get seeding externally validated). By Season Two things will start to even out.

3. Finals: Season One finals will indeed be in April and should not conflict with any other events.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:40:43 GMT)

@ Gumpster:
1. Monitoring Leagues and Ladders: The UKeSA will not force any other league or ladder to adopt it’s code of conduct. We have however been approached by a number of organisations who have asked to run UKeSA approved events. In principle and subject to the organisation meeting the appropriate criteria.

2. Support for LAN organisers: There are currently no plans to financially support any LAN party organisations. However going forward UKeSA will certainly consider working with LAN organisers to improve the quality and profile of their events.

3. Rules for UKeSA Events: The UKeSA rule set is here http://www.enemydown.eu/faq/ukesa. This will obviously be amended and updated with time.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:44:26 GMT)

@Oingyy:
1. Championship fee: There will be a Championship Division entrance fee. Full details are to be announced, but given the current climate we will ensure that it is affordable.

2. No Managers: Thanks, this is a really good question. Every Team needs a Manager. The Manager is the person who represents the team and is accountable for the conduct of the team to the UKeSA. That person should have leadership qualities, be mature and sufficiently media/commercially savvy to be able to represent the other players. The UKeSA recognise that some managers might not have all these skills, which is why we are putting on training courses to support Team Managers.

If there is a situation where there are four guys who like playing together but none of them feel comfortable being the Manager then I suggest they speak to one of the Team Managers of a large teams who don’t have a squad in that game type. I’d recommend looking at the recruitment pages or PM’ing Team Managers directly.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:44:57 GMT)

@Oingyy:

3. Prize Pot size: Please see above (under @TT Mellow).

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:45:50 GMT)

@ Palaceroxx
1. Ways to get involved in the UKeSA: Yes there are. Send me a PM if you are interested in getting involved.

2. Other websites: Currently we don’t have the bandwidth to take on any more work than the mountain we’re going through. For the future – yes we will be.

3. Hacking: That will be decided by the Community Council along with all other disciplinary matters (see http://www.enemydown.eu/faq/general-ukesa-rules-help#cheating-accusations-punishment)

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:47:16 GMT)

@Gen.Willy
1. UKeSA Certificate: Yes, that is in the pipeline. Details will be confirmed at a later date.

2. Criteria for being a UKeSA Team: Excellent question. There is a fine balance between front loading entry requirements in order to get stability and allowing more people to get involved who otherwise might not be active in eSports. We are attempting to cover both but recognise that it will probably take a couple of seasons to become stable. That said “Team Brands” are very important to the UKeSA. The maintaining and perpetuating those brands is going to be vital when we go out to a wider audience – which is one of the core remits of the UKeSA. It makes eSports easier to follow/digest and broadens the appeal, which is essential to grow eSports.

3. Hacking: See @Palaceroxx above (http://www.enemydown.eu/faq/general-ukesa-rules-help#cheating-accusations-punishment)

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:48:07 GMT)

@ Bub:
3. Foreign Players: I’ve seen the same attitudes on plenty of things outside eSports. To be honest, some attitudes take time to influence – but influence them we will.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:48:29 GMT)

@TI Mellow:
Qualifications for Team Managers: Yes, this idea has already been discussed and will certainly be something we would like to trial, but probably not for Season One.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:49:34 GMT)

@TI Expoze:
1. Selection for Championship: Yes, it’s just the number of Squads that sign up which determine the Championship games.

2. Adding Open Division games: Yes, we will be adding games mid season in the Open Division based upon releases coming up. If we miss one I’m sure the community will let us know. There is no limit to the number of games represented in the Open Division (other than operational and support constraints). The Community Council will also review and remove games that no longer have a following from the Opens at the end of the Season.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:50:16 GMT)

@iD_Rumsey:
Could you PM me with your first question. I’m not sure I understand it.

Thanks for your offer – could you get in touch with .Icarus. about events. Just PM him.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:50:28 GMT)

@Jonesey
1. Managers in the Championship: see @@Oingyy above

2. Team Manager/Players: Yes the Team manager can be a player.

3. Selection process: This will only be based upon popularity. At the moment this is the cleanest approach for the UKeSA to take.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:50:56 GMT)

@Palaceroxx
4. Dual managers: There is going to be a cost associated with the training of Team Managers in the Championship and Premiership Divisions. Hence at the moment the UKeSA regulation is one Team Manager per team.

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 12:52:10 GMT)

@ Hyperzzzzz
1. WoW WotLK: We are currently in discussions with Blizzard about WoW. Once we have an update we’ll post it in the community. If you are well plugged in with the WoW WotLK community PM me please.

Bub said: (Jan 18 2009 at 13:21:11 GMT)

"The two members of the Executive Committee who will be sitting on the Community Council will be myself and Ray Mia."

ah didn't see your names on the list in the news post. You both have ample experience to sort it. Was just odd seeing a chap from the BBC rule on a game infraction :)

Schu11ers said: (Jan 18 2009 at 19:17:36 GMT)

@ Bub:
I'm sure .Icarus. wouldn't agree with you... ;)