On the field, this ClanBase NationsCup has been a veritable success. It’s shown us the best Enemy Territory has to offer; upsets, excitement, nail biting finishes and superb gameplay - but it’s also thrown up the murkier side of competitive gaming.
It’s shown a continuing malignant dissipation between those competing and those that run the competition. Disaffected by the map selection, irritated by the inadequate in-game match referring and marred by controversial team removals. Could this the latest controversy to engulf ClanBase be the final nail in the coffin?
At present, no fewer than twelve nations have been issued a card of some type in this NationsCup season. Ranging from the USA / Canada smurfing incident, to the benign Germans failing to have at least one player in the required match channel one hour prior to start time. ClanBase have, retrospectively, enforced their rules with vigour. To date, three nations have been removed from the competition, with the latest, Croatia, potentially sparking a raft of further expulsions.
This sorry affair started with a long standing, often derided global ClanBase rule. The rules states that no more than three players from any one clan may play for a nation at the same time. CB considers players that’ve appeared in a teams roster during a set date as being in a clan. But that’s not all, ClanBase have and do make exceptions. Should a team contact the supervisor prior to the tournament start they can, in special circumstances, exempt a team from this rule. Croatia did not do this.
But this is where this sorry scenario gets more confused. The Croats claim to have made an unintentional mistake. Claim they played with best intention, and had already made provisions to ensure they didn’t overfill their quota and excluded players from the starting six. Were this the case, one would feel compelled to support Croatia.
Unfortunately for the Croats, in this scandal, they’re by no means virtuous, with Slovenian captain jakazc contradicting this. Following the Germany match, it’s claimed he contacted the ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor and informed him of the rule irregularity, and that should the same lineup play against Slovenia, he’d cause problems. He then later told the Croatian team prior to their match with Slovenia that they were in breach of the rules. Again this was ignored.
It was only after jakazc pointed out the failings of this years ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor to the ClanBase Chiefs and requested he step down that we saw any action. Croatia was quickly and quietly expelled from the competition, with little thought as to the possible ramifications.
We shouldn’t blame jakazc for this. He didn’t create the rules, he didn’t ignore them nor did he unevenly apply them.
This asks a different question. Did the ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor knowingly allow Croatia to ineligibly play their match with Slovenia, in the vain hope that nobody would notice? Or did he just not care?
It’s time for ClanBase to rethink their attitude towards Enemy Territory. They’ve a stranglehold over the competitive infrastructure and a good, if waning, reputation. It is critical for the good of the competitive scene that ClanBase isn’t dragged further into the mud. The budding next generation is there eager and ready, and although they won’t be perfect, and will probably make mistakes, the outlook is good. Initial signs are that they’re likely to be more conversant and in-tune with the wants of the community. They’re already there looking out for the scene, but the stranglehold of the old guard is too strong for them to currently enact change - having recently crippled any prospect of having a 3v3 OpenCup. Is it time for these ineffective, un-conversant and gaff prone supervisors to step down and make way for the next generation?
In the meantime ClanBase should regain their common sense, reinstate Croatia, and avoid this latest ticking time bomb before it’s too late.
It’s shown a continuing malignant dissipation between those competing and those that run the competition. Disaffected by the map selection, irritated by the inadequate in-game match referring and marred by controversial team removals. Could this the latest controversy to engulf ClanBase be the final nail in the coffin?
At present, no fewer than twelve nations have been issued a card of some type in this NationsCup season. Ranging from the USA / Canada smurfing incident, to the benign Germans failing to have at least one player in the required match channel one hour prior to start time. ClanBase have, retrospectively, enforced their rules with vigour. To date, three nations have been removed from the competition, with the latest, Croatia, potentially sparking a raft of further expulsions.
This sorry affair started with a long standing, often derided global ClanBase rule. The rules states that no more than three players from any one clan may play for a nation at the same time. CB considers players that’ve appeared in a teams roster during a set date as being in a clan. But that’s not all, ClanBase have and do make exceptions. Should a team contact the supervisor prior to the tournament start they can, in special circumstances, exempt a team from this rule. Croatia did not do this.
But this is where this sorry scenario gets more confused. The Croats claim to have made an unintentional mistake. Claim they played with best intention, and had already made provisions to ensure they didn’t overfill their quota and excluded players from the starting six. Were this the case, one would feel compelled to support Croatia.
Unfortunately for the Croats, in this scandal, they’re by no means virtuous, with Slovenian captain jakazc contradicting this. Following the Germany match, it’s claimed he contacted the ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor and informed him of the rule irregularity, and that should the same lineup play against Slovenia, he’d cause problems. He then later told the Croatian team prior to their match with Slovenia that they were in breach of the rules. Again this was ignored.
It was only after jakazc pointed out the failings of this years ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor to the ClanBase Chiefs and requested he step down that we saw any action. Croatia was quickly and quietly expelled from the competition, with little thought as to the possible ramifications.
We shouldn’t blame jakazc for this. He didn’t create the rules, he didn’t ignore them nor did he unevenly apply them.
This asks a different question. Did the ClanBase NationsCup Supervisor knowingly allow Croatia to ineligibly play their match with Slovenia, in the vain hope that nobody would notice? Or did he just not care?
It’s time for ClanBase to rethink their attitude towards Enemy Territory. They’ve a stranglehold over the competitive infrastructure and a good, if waning, reputation. It is critical for the good of the competitive scene that ClanBase isn’t dragged further into the mud. The budding next generation is there eager and ready, and although they won’t be perfect, and will probably make mistakes, the outlook is good. Initial signs are that they’re likely to be more conversant and in-tune with the wants of the community. They’re already there looking out for the scene, but the stranglehold of the old guard is too strong for them to currently enact change - having recently crippled any prospect of having a 3v3 OpenCup. Is it time for these ineffective, un-conversant and gaff prone supervisors to step down and make way for the next generation?
In the meantime ClanBase should regain their common sense, reinstate Croatia, and avoid this latest ticking time bomb before it’s too late.
==> Alternative: Just play ESL :p
I can see the merit as actual competitions but running an NC there seems counter productive and we end up in situations like this.
Years there has been a way of looking past the rules allowing certain stuff etc, but if we suddenly start following those rules than let's fix the rules first before being strict about it.
We did, and frozzen was allowed to play as a 4th member from cortana ( EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T PLAY ANY OFFI FOR CORTANA AFTER 29TH OF SEPTEMBER ). The same exception was made for Poland when barti allowed noon and naga to play whilst they were in the k1ck lineup but he knew that they also didn't play after the 29th. The thing that got Croatia k1cked was this.
December 22
20:10 Removed member(s) suVi
15:24 Added member(s) suVi
Suvi was in the clan only for this time and even though he didn't play for cortana in ec like frozzen he was marked as the 4th illegal player because we didn't ask for permission. We simply forgot to ask for it, we forgot that he was added and then deleted after it.
suVi's been member/playing for cortana through all that time afaik - why did you first add, then remove and then add again? Did it have something to do with the NC rule?
Not flaming, just asking :P
be it clanbase - croatia - or etmasters - 180 script.
just fuck it and play.
some people are obviously forgetting about the game and what the game is about due to all the rules which are used way to strict.
donex & co gtfo and get life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pretty messy situation for sure. From what I hear now, I actually think head admins made an even bigger mistake misinterpreting their own rule.
In essence you can be in 20 clans as long as you don't play an offi during a certain amount of time.
and I take this collumn as biased one, why dont you write about evo, punishing for 180 script which was in use since some time...
rules are rules, we're ought to keep them
croatians were informed they are playing against us with improper lineup. They could easily use wildcard and correct their lineup. But they didnt care, as didnt admin Bartichello...
well.....justice is served...
b) we thought suvi's 5hours period in a clan doesnt matter
c) we didnt have any other players to play
I support croatia in a way. The way they were thinking at the time was completely understandable. suVi didnt play any officials for cortana so they thought they werent in any kind of violation (which is what the rule should say).
The sad part is that all of this could be avoided if admins did more of an effort before the cup started, to check every teams roster; or even to hear out that all of this was being said before the match and do a check up then.
What needs to happen now:
- CB needs to make some staff changes to get admins that actually do their job, not just idle on the game server and irc channel.
- Change the lineup rule, so it only applies to players who played a clan official in a certain time period before or during the cup.
- Let Croatia play in the playoffs.
As for fin and nl i cant say, since i dont really know the details.
Yes you have to follow the rules but plz don't take them all so strictly (at least these 'minor' rules) to kick a country out of the cup immediately. At least give a warning first.
the rule is a hard one for countries with a small community but if it's possible to ask for exceptions i think the rule can also be removed
1- RULES ARE ALREADY MADE RESPECT AND FOLLOW THEM(even if players take et in a "palypaly4fun" way when entering a competition they already know its not an anarky)
2- RULES ARE NOT FIT?? EITHER BEND THEM OR RENEW THEM WITH THE EXPERIENCE ALREDY MADE OUT THEM (bending the rules is where supervisors can get blamed but if they bend rules there MUST be a reason behind it, renew rules? i know people are lazy but if u renew u are not going to renew all rules and then u just need to announce the rule renewed out loud on 1st page of sites or similar)
This rule, the intention of it was good. The idea behind it was
- to not get too strong nation teams cause they all play in the same clan already
- force team cpts. not only to choose ppl from their own team
- idea of nationcup was to have a "mixed team"
But then again, the rule just doesn't work. Weather or not someone is listed in ur cb roster doesn't make him an active player. In croatias / cortanas case: suVi played a lot of games for them, just not in clanbase. So this rule can be bypassed easily, also depending on when the eurocup is being played.
Therefore I say now: remove that rule and let those teams play again.
I just cant get ppl saying that everyone know this rule before. This rule had a different meaning before and it has been changed without any notice.
The source of these problems is the way the rule is formulated. It only counts cb roster or activity, even though a team (like in ur case u wanted to do it with suVi) can just not add certain lineup players to their cb roster so they could play in the NC.
The intention was rather just not allowing more than 3 players from 1 clan, but how to measure it? what period of time? how many offies or praccs? what about mercs or backups?
It's just impossible to make a 100% waterproof rule for this. Also a team could just not play EC and pracc as a national team for a year and it wouldn't break this rule.
That's why I think now that this rule just doesn't work and should be removed.
I had worked in CB a hundred years ago and I can remember that rules were always somewhat controversial. Reason for it, to me, is simple - CB covers lots of games, rules of game A sometimes derive from the rules of game B. It confuses players, as well as admins.
What surprises me though is the reaction of CB towards jakazc. They should be the ones putting every last effort into making their cups player-friendly. Clanbase is the most popular ET league, aye; we all remember clashes of great teams in CB's torunaments, aye. However, they can't hope for things to stay the same forever. There's been ESL looming nearby for some time now, ready to thrive on CB's mistakes.
I just hope it's gonna be a wake-up kick for Clanbase, that they're gonna try a bit harder from now on.
Surely it's not hard to discover if a player has been actively playing for a clan that is registered and playing in competitions ran by your own organization? :/
$ ls
rule1 rule2 rule3 rule4
$ man -rs rule4
Thu May 30 15:24:03 MDT 2002
$ rm rule4
$ ls
rule1 rule2 rule3
definitely not !
echo kick jackhisass
?>
I think the people who have been saying "rules are rules" are totally misinformed. People tend to forget that what makes these things work is the input of those taking part and not of the rule makers.
It's simple. The people who make these high level decisions should be far more in touch with the scene than they are and they should be able to treat each case on its own merits and be willing to alter the rules with respect to the present state of the game..
So ClownBase fucked up again
And we can blame jakazc because he was prolly searching for a reason to whine, who would otherwise check logs of a team at clanbase to find the 5 hours suVi was in cortana.
J:K !!!
<3 :DD