Today, compLexity and Millenium are pleased to announce that the Stephano situation has come to an end.  Complexity and Millenium have agreed to a settlement, in which a significant fine will be paid by Stephano in consideration of his role in creating the situation, and all parties now consider the matter closed.

Comments from Jason Bass, COO of compLexity Gaming:

“It was never compLexity’s intention to damage the career of a young eSports talent nor to force someone to join our gaming organization who did not want to.  We did, however, feel that maintaining the integrity of the player contract was crucial not only for our own business but for eSports in general.  For that reason, we are satisfied that there has been a strong penalty, as player contracts need to be respected going forward.   

We would also like to respectfully address the concerns of the French community who are upset that we did not have a more direct negotiation with Millenium during this process.  Due to the fact Stephano was not contracted by Millenium and the fact he stated he was receiving counter offers in response to our discussions, we did not contact Millenium directly and for that we are regretful and apologize for any perceived disrespect.”

Comments from Cedric Page, CEO of Millenium:

“Millenium has never ignored on purpose any attempt from Complexity to establish communication. Time difference fully accounts for the few hours it took us to respond to them. Additionally, Millenium was never aware of, nor involved in, a bidding/counterbidding process with Complexity over Stephano’s contract situation. All things being now clarified, and after a calm discussion with Complexity, we would also like to apologize for stating that Complexity ‘disoriented’ Stephano during their talks with him. It was an inappropriate comment and we did not mean to be disrespectful. We are very happy to clarify this, as we had decided to discuss with Complexity before stating anything more than our last statement.”

Everyone now considers this matter closed, and all parties wish each other the best in their future endeavors.

Lastly, compLexity and Millenium would also like to thank Alexander Garfield of Evil Geniuses for acting as the mediator of our discussions during this challenging time.  His time and efforts avoided a clash that was most certainly headed for litigation, had a reasonable settlement not been reached.

This weekend’s episode of TL Attack will feature a very special guest, winner of DreamHack Valencia and member of the compLexity family,  coL.MVP DongRaeGu.

For those of you who are not too familiar with TL Attack, the show:

is a fun, casual event where a popular professional StarCraft 2 player plays custom 1v1s against community members. Typically, the player attempts creative or non-serious strategies while sharing friendly banter with the hosts. The show is a great way to get to know the personality of the popular player that might not normally be seen in serious ladder games or in tournaments.

TL Attack starts up this Sunday, Sep 25 12:00pm EDT and is hosted by Team Liquid personalities Chill and Hot_Bid. Due to language barriers, the fantastic Milkis will be on hand to help DongRaeGu communicate when needed.

If you want a chance to take on DongRaeGu, keep an eye on this TL post. Instructions will be added on which Battle.net channel to go to.

Everyone at compLexity Gaming is thrilled to announce that we have added world-class StarCraft 2 star Johan “Naniwa” Lucchesi to coL.SC2.

Dignitas owner Michael O`Dell has released Johan from the remainder of his contract and allowed him to sign with us today. Mr. O`Dell stated, “Team Dignitas chose not to re-sign Naniwa because we feel he no longer fits into our team.  We have released him and wish him the best in the future.”

“Naniwa has proven himself to be one of the best StarCraft 2 players in the  world,” stated Jason Lake, CEO of compLexity Gaming.  “We have spent the past couple weeks in long discussions with him and we’re confident his amazing dedication and work ethic will reap great rewards in the future.  We’re very excited to have him join our organization.”

For the foreseeable future Johan will reside in the Team MVP house in Korea.

Please welcome him here!

compLexity Gaming:  YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!

VOD

compLexity’s Chief Operating Officer, Jason Bass will be featured on Live on Three with hosts hosts djWHEAT, Slasher, and SirScoots in order to address the Stephano situation that arose this week.

Live on Three is dedicated to bringing you the professional gaming coverage and commentary you want every week. Join the hosts djWHEAT, Slasher, and SirScoots for a behind-the-scenes look and in-depth discussion on the state of pro-gaming. Featuring interviews with the pros, calls from the fans, and discussion with some of the best in the business. Sometimes insightful, sometimes inciting, and always passionate – Live On Three is exactly what you’d want it to be: pro-gaming without the fluff.

Live on Three is set to begin at 7PM EST and can be viewed live via the following stream.

The Devil Plays Protoss: Accessible Gaming

by Jacqueline Geller

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

Imagine the following scene:

You’re playing a ladder game vs a Terran on Shattered Temple. The game has been going for well over thirty minutes, but you’re certain that you are ahead of your opponent. Throughout the game, you have been actively scouting and are well aware of the Ghost Academy in your opponent’s main and have seen a ghost or two on the map. The Terran army is moving out, and you’re ready to catch your opponent off guard as he attempts to take your third. As the armies engage, you hear those fated words: “nuclear launch detected.” You scramble to find the ghost or the telltale animation on the map with no such luck. Try as you might, you have severe red/green color blindness and have a nearly impossible time finding the red dot on the map. GG.

Until last week, I had no idea that individuals who have severe red/green color blindness had issues seeing the nuke dot in SC2. Although the dot pulses, it can take some individuals a number of passes to find it. Of course, the issues seeing the animation is dependent on the severity of the color blindness, but approximately 7% of the male American population suffers from red/green color blindness to some degree. There must be a number of avid SC2 fans and players in America who have difficulties seeing the nuke dot. I have half a panic attack each time I hear “nuclear launch detected,” and I am able to see the animations with no issues.

A friend of mine once asked me about my thoughts on accessible gaming. Although not being able to see the nuke dot does not ruin the whole SC2 game experience or require specialized gaming equipment, it did get me thinking about accessible gaming over the weekend. Considering the significant number of Americans who suffer from severe physical disability or a mild physical handicap, it’s a surprise that accessible gaming is not more actively discussed within the industry. When was the last time you read an article about the advances in special hardware for gamers with physical handicaps?

Developers are starting to think about accessible gaming during the design phase, but there have been very few concessions to disabled gamers from mainstream video game developers. The DotA2 beta has an option for color blind players which isn’t implemented yet but is still impressive. Gamers with color blindness will be able to play DotA2 without the issues they experience while playing SC2. This can help make the game less frustrating for a number of both casual and competitive players. There are other great advances in gaming for individuals with disabilities, but the majority of them are from individuals and researchers, not mainstream developers or manufacturers. A good example of this was a group of Frenchmen who hacked the Xbox Kinect to translate sign language which could be useful well beyond the realm of gaming.

I think that accessibility should be discussed within the video game community more often than it is. With such a significant portion of individuals with either a severe physical disability or a mild physical handicap, the video game industry would be reaching a significantly large market of individuals with accessible gaming. Why are Steel Series and Razer not developing peripherals for gamers with disabilities? Accessible gaming is a way to reach a wider audience and include more individuals in the wonderful world of video games.

Please.

As much as I love competitive gaming, I can see the eSports community being critical of leagues for gamers with disabilities. It’s a sad truth that more often than not, the eSports community’s overall reaction to everything is negative. The community is filled with supportive, wonderful people, but the trolls and jerks on the internet love to voice their less than happy opinions. I hope that when accessible gaming becomes more mainstream, the eSports community will welcome leagues for gamers with disabilities with open arms and open minds. It is something that the community should be actively encouraging, not discouraging.

That being said, I have questions for you, the reader, to ponder and respond to:

1. Is game accessibility something that should be discussed more often within the video game industry?
2. Should video game developers consider accessibility during the game development phase?
3. Is hardware for gamers with physical handicaps something that major peripheral companies should be making?
4. Will there be a place for gamers with disabilities in the eSports community?
5. Would the eSports community be open to leagues for gamers with disabilities or harshly criticize such endeavors?

Let me know your thoughts!

GL HF,
Jacq

About the Author – Jacqueline Geller

After years of playing World of Warcraft, a friend introduced Jacqueline to Starcraft early last year. Jacqueline’s relationship with Starcraft started out slowly: a handful of casual dates, a little bit of flirting but nothing serious. She took her relationship with the game to the next level after BlizzCon 2010 where she experienced eSports magic first-hand and realized that Starcraft was the one. Despite being a mediocre player, she has been clambering the ladder at a glacial pace and has spent more time watching Starcraft online than she’d like to admit. In March, Jacqueline made the leap from eSports fan to eSports professional when she was hired by the Handsome Nerd as their Art Director, combining her design skills with her love of Starcraft. Since its start in April, Jacqueline has been a contributing writer for the North American Star League, writing coverage for Division 1. Offline, Jacqueline is a bookworm, a runner, a freeride snowboarder and has a Human Ecology degree with a Clothing and Textiles major.

View Jacqueline’s profile here.
Visit @jacquelinesg on Twitter

Dear friends,

We know many of you are quite confused as to the recent incident involving Stephano and Team Millenium.  Frankly, we are as well.  As of the time of this post both have ignored our requests for open discussions. Our goal in this statement is to provide you with our side of the story, even as we are actively investigating the proper course of action, not only for ourselves but for the greater good of eSports in general.

We are proud of the fact that compLexity Gaming has been a global presence in eSports since 2003.  During that time we have not been perfect but we have always tried to conduct our business affairs with the highest level of integrity.  We have been honored to work with some of the best gamers in the world in multiple gaming titles and have made lifelong friendships in this “business” that is much more of a passion project than a profit machine.  We say this because today, Millenium’s outrageous allegations have suggested that our pursuit of Stephano was done in a less than honorable manner.  To that we take great exception.

Here are the facts (all of which can be proven by written logs):

1) We first contacted Stephano on September 1st, 2011.  We stated our interest in retaining his services and he stated that he was in no way contracted to Millenium and was interested in joining compLexity.

2) For the next 18 days we conducted negotiations.  We would make an offer and Millenium would make a counter offer.  At no point did we apply pressure other than to make it clear that we were willing to do what it would take to secure his services.

3) Over the course of several days, Jason Bass spent time explaining our contract to Stephano in detail and making sure he understood all of the terms.

4) Yesterday Stephano contacted coL.CatZ and our COO Jason Bass to inform them he had made his final decision and told CatZ “Don’t worry I won’t change my mind again.”  He then executed a legally binding contract with our organization.  He seemed genuinely excited to be a part of our organization and joined our private Skype channel to chat with the team before going to bed.

5) Stephano’s contract with compLexity made him one of the highest paid SC2 players in the world and ensured him global travel, training in Korea and access to other undisclosed plans we have for the future.  In no way was he taken advantage of or pressured into a subpar agreement.

Today we were very surprised and disappointed to see that Millenium had announced Stephano would not be leaving their organization- completely disregarding and disrespecting the fact that he had 18 days to consider the offers and had executed a legally binding contract with our organization.  As mentioned previously, as of the time of this post both Millenium and Stephano have refused to answer our emails requesting a discussion of this serious matter. 

This leaves us in a very difficult situation.  As people who are passionate about eSports, this situation is quickly turning out to be a humiliating one despite our best efforts to handle matters in the right way.  By no means do we want to force a player to be part of our gaming family.  For over eight years gamers have longed to play under the compLexity banner.  To have someone treat our sincere offer of support and cooperation in such a light hearted manner is frustrating and disheartening.

On the other side of the coin, in order for all of us to have a stable and maturing eSports environment there absolutely must be respect for and adherence to legally binding contracts.  How can any organization be expected to conduct the business side of gaming (acquiring and retaining sponsors, etc) if contracts are disregarded and players/teams do whatever they feel like at the moment?  We believe the answer is clear- contracts must be honored and legally binding promises enforced if we are to continue our collective growth.  It has never been our wish to legally pursue a gamer or another gaming organization but at what point must a stand be taken?  These are the questions we are discussing today.  We will fully review our options and will seriously consider legal action in this matter.  Many observers would publicly crucify us for taking such a stand but it is our belief that doing what is right is more important than always doing what is popular.  It is our intention to consult with other eSports leaders and weigh their opinions highly.  Although this is ultimately our business decision and responsibility, the ramifications will be felt world-wide and we feel an obligation to get opinions from our respected colleagues.

We sincerely apologize to the coL Community and the broader eSports community for this embarrassing turn of events and we greatly thank you for your support.  Both of us have poured ourselves into eSports for nearly a decade and are very disheartened by this situation.

Sincerely yours,

Jason Lake
Jason Bass
compLexity Gaming

Gootecks and Mike Ross continue their adventures online! In this episode, the guys bring out their main chickens against a wide variety of opponents… Cammy, El Fuerte, Zangief and more!

Update:

Within the last hour Team Millennium announced that Stephano was remaining with their organization despite the fact he executed a legally binding contract with compLexity.  We are extremely disappointed by this turn of events and are seeking more information while we evaluate our legal options with French counsel.  By no means do we want a player who does not want to be part of our organization but we can simply not allow players and organizations to completely disrespect the legal contractual process that ensures stability in our evolving sport. 

Today compLexity Gaming is thrilled to announce the newest member of coL.SC2: Ilyes “Stephano” Satouri.  Ilyes, a French Zerg player, is considered one of the best players in Europe.

Jason Bass, Chief Operating Officer of compLexity Gaming, had the following to say:

We have been talking to Stephano for quite some time and today we are thrilled to announce he will be joining our family.  We all look forward to seeing him at IPL and MLG Orlando next month.  It is our hope that this addition is another strong sign of our dedication to the global StarCraft community.  With the coL.MVP, the compLexity Academy, THE V and coL.SC2 we are optimistic about the future and encourage our fans around the world to get on board and support StarCraft 2.

Stephano stated:

I’m very happy to join coL.  It’ll be a whole new experience for me and I’m confident I’ll enjoy my whole time with the team.

You can learn more about Stephano on his TL FanClub.

With our new teammate, we also need to announce the releases of coL.Firezerg and coL.Stalife.  Both are great guys and amazing friends and we are sad to see them go.  Best wishes to them in the future!

Please welcome Stephano to the compLexity Syndicate Family!

compLexity Gaming:  YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!

With Mike Ross in Japan for SBO, Gootecks cuts loose! Join him as he celebrates his favorite game in a special episode of Cross Counter dedicated to Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. We head to Super Arcade, the new home of Wednesday Night Fights, where Gootecks, with the help of Yi “5 Star” Wang, throws a Third Strike tournament. With Third Strike Online recently released, Gootecks and Yi are looking to grow the current SF3 community, scouting for talent to bring back the intensity from the FFA and Denjin days. Check out the Third Strike grand finals set between 5 Star and Pyrolee, complete with commentary and post game interviews!