Last weekend I was shocked when my friend pointed out this news article to me.
"Punch dashes gamer's career dreams"
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_233439.html(Since ST removes its articles online after 7 days, it is reprinted and discussed here in full if the original link fails.)
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1950677Basically Wilson Chia (a.k.a Tetra) got banned permanently from CGS after "punching" (actually it was a slap) his manager after a game. To the masses who read the article, they will think that he lost the game, lost his cool, and punched his manager. Unfortunately this was far from the whole truth.
Unfortunately the ST article doesn't even cover much of the background story that caused this to happen. Frankly said, I have lost much confidence in the reporting integrity of ST ever since their biased coverage of the Odex "Holocaust" last year.
I personally know Wilson as a friend from the days of playing Dead or Alive Ultimate from Xbox Live a few years ago. He is a friendly, mild-mannered person, always willing to help out and teach other players to improve their skills, and later as I found out, dedicated to become a professional gamer in Singapore, no matter how harsh the conditions were. Such display of angry outburst was unthinkable to people who know him. So what caused it?
He has posted on his blog the reasons behind it.
http://tetrasg.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/end-of-my-pro-gaming-days-in-cgs/The reason was much more political than it seems. The problem stems from the SG.Sword's team's manager, Phenic, his fiancee, and their lack of professionalism in managing the team, by putting their personal priorities over the team's goals.
Frankly said, DOA is one of the few games Singapore can stand a chance at winning, thanks to SG.Sword having a world class player like Wilson. He is one of the few that can match up to the world class level in fighting games. He is the one of the few (if not the only one) able to bring back the medals in world tournaments. Don't believe me? Try playing against him. :p
DOA is also one of the competitive games that has a smaller pool of players as compared to other games like Counterstrike. As such, Singapore stands a better chance in winning in DOA than in other games. Wilson started scouting for female DOA players early this year to participate in the CGS tournament As far as I know, he found a few that were quite good.
Unfortunately, from what I know, during the qualifying selection, the manager, Phenic, chose his fiancee for the DOA-Female participant instead of the others who were better. As far as her fiancee's skills were concerned, she was definitely not up to par as compared to the rest of the female competitors. Yet the manager still chose her, in a obvious sign of favoritism. This is likely one of the reasons of the team's lack in confidence of the manager. From Wilson's blog, it seems like her lack of interest in training during the preparation overseas (preferring to go touring with the manager, like on holiday like that) has added to Wilson's frustrations. From the comments from the CGS forums, it seems like the manager wasn't so good at managing the team either. Jeopardizing your team's chances of winning for you and your other half's convenience just seems way selfish and unprofessional for a manager to act this way. From what I read, the team tried to talk to CGS management regarding the manager's acts but the management refused to do anything about it. This got to Wilson too much, which resulted in the unfortunate slap (not punch) and his permanent ban at the CGS tournament.
In the end, whether it is a slap or punch it doesn't matter. Physical assault is a wrong way to address issues, even when it is political backstabbing. As can be seen, this only makes Wilson look like the bad guy while the manager seem like the victim. But the truth is never that simple. The ST article only scratches the surface only what is really happening behind the scenes of SG.Sword.
Another blog's response to the SG article.
http://www.euniqueflair.com/wp-trackback.php?p=1638Why am I posting this? Because I got friends who, after reading the ST article come and tell me "You know Wilson Chia? See, play too much fighting games, cannot differentiate between virtual world and reality. " or I read comments online like "(He) So violent, so stupid." "It's just a game mah, why so serious. "
This is not just about games. It is just politics, cronyism and mismanagement, which can happen in the workplace, or anywhere else. And to aspiring professional gamers like Wilson, this was not just a game, this was their careers.
Anyway, I wish Wilson all the best in his future endeavours. It is Singapore gaming scene's loss to lose talent such as you. Keep your fighting spirit and dedication and use it to succeed somewhere else, preferring in an area where you will be more appreciated. Take care and good luck.
Links (for easy reference)
http://tetrasg.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/end-of-my-pro-gaming-days-in-cgs/http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_233439.htmlhttp://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1950677http://www.euniqueflair.com/?p=1638http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=270725http://singaporesword.thecgs.com/index.php?s=forums&d=topic&id=61894#c1202101
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infuriated