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Today & # 39; hui, Magic: the rally Wizards of the Coast publisher has announced the signing of two new players in its new Pro League, including the first woman. Although the decision has been galvanizing for many players, especially female players, some fans are concerned that the process of joining the professional ranks of Magic became too subjective, or did not make sense in the first place.
When he established the Magic Pro League late 2018, Wizards of the Coast first selected the players with a procedure that seemed simple: it chose the 32 best players in the official ranking, each paying a $ 75,000 contract to participate in tournaments and broadcast the game to his fans. These players had accumulated the highest number of "Pro Points", the Wizards of the Coast system to award points to players who are successful in certain tournaments during the 2017-2018 season. Two of the top 32 players did not join the league and were replaced by other top 40 players.
At the time, Wizards was not clear about its selection criteria, simply noting that the league "brings together 32 of the world's top players with Magic at the highest level." This structure, as well as the structure of the best competitors Magic before the league, players had the impression that the points clbadification would be the only factor determining the players to add to the league.
But, apparently, that would not always be the case. Earlier this year, Elaine Chase, vice president of esports of Wizards of the Coast, told Kotaku that, although the company "has taken many different approaches to creating this list," she finally decided to "Take the top ranked players of last year" even though it made them "very sad" that this methodology means that no woman was on the list. "I very much hope that there will be women in MPL next year," said Chase at that time.
After players Owen Turtenwald, Yuuya Watanabe and Gerry Thompson withdrew from the league this year, Wizards' substitutes made it clear that he was not going to continue to elevate the top players to professional status.
New players in the league are Autumn Burchett, Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen and Jessica Estephan, the first woman to join the league after her initial lineup of 32 men. All three distinguished themselves in one way or another. Burchett, who is non-binary on the genre, won the February Mythic Championship. Mikkonen is a popular Twitch streamer, often from home or Dota Auto-Chess– who performed well at the Mythic Invitational. Estephan won the Magic Grand Prix 2018. In the 2017-2018 season, Burchett was ranked 134th, Estephan at 520 (the highest of all women) and Mikkonen had no rankings. Burchett has the highest ranking in the league currently.
In an interview with The Esports observerChase explained his reasoning for signing Estephan. "We do it very willingly. This is because we know that there is a barrier problem for women and other marginalized groups in sports in general and in Magic competitive game, "she said. "We want to take a first step and take a stand, and say that we will remove these barriers, create a space and provide an opportunity for women. Jess is our first step in this direction.
Chase reiterated this position in a blog post today, in which she clearly explained that representation was one of Wizards' top priorities. "We want to state unequivocally that we know that the talent pool is vast and that we believe that it should be concretely represented to viewers and fans of the competition. Magic, "she wrote. (The magicians did not respond immediately to KotakuRequest comment for this story.)
After Wizards announced the addition of Mikkonen and Estephan today, Reddit, Twitter and other players sparked an overwhelming response to what they saw as uneven standards in the league. the inclusion of players. Players were unhappy that Wizards advocated Twitch's diversity or fame on a purely digital ranking.
"No disrespect towards @Savjz or @jesstephan, but the use of the results of the Invitational as the basis of MPL promotion seems suspicious here, because it has been said explicitly that it is independent of other organized gaming systems ", stated Magic commentator Brian Kibler on Twitter. "I think my perception would be different if the system was set up this way, in the vein of the old World Championship (Top x by region or any other category of your choice). I think @jesstephan is an excellent inclusion of this measure. "
The former Magic Pro League players that Estephan, Burchett and Mikkonen replace have left the league for various reasons. Two were dismissed for alleged misconduct. Owen Turtenwald, a well-established professional player, was removed from the league last month after charges of badual misconduct. Last week, Wizards withdrew pro Yuuya Watanabe after allegations of cheating.
Today, pro Gerry Thompson has announced his exit from the league, citing concerns about contract negotiation and Wizards' communication. Last year, Thompson boycotted the world championships to protest against the treatment of wizards for professional players due to concerns over payment and transparency. In an article explaining why he left the league today, Thompson gave six reasons, one of them seeming to make reference to the controversial pros that have been withdrawn and to new league inclusions. .
"At this point, it should be very clear that the players chosen to represent Magic at the highest level have not been meticulously monitored, "he wrote. "Now, you can say that I'm in this camp, but I would like to think that if things were progressing instead of regressing, I would have kept my position.As a result of my protest against Worlds, I tried to go through the "proper channels", but all that has earned me a chain of unanswered messages.I do not think my decision to leave was unjustified. "
The lack of transparency of wizards in his decisions to add (or remove) players has been extremely frustrating for other players. Much of the negative reaction against the new members of the Pro League is indicative of the confusion that currently prevails between professional players. This ladder, for many current players preparing tournaments, seemed previously understandable and perhaps scalable. But, he continues, if these new inclusions are judged by different standards, how could that be right?
Maybe sports should be a meritocracy, but in reality this is not the case. It is more difficult for some players to climb the ladder of the Magic scale than others. After her success at the Grand Prix, Estephan wrote an article outlining the obstacles she faced to become a professional – comments in hobby stores at the announcement of never succeeding because of her bad. She wrote:
"After winning, I was not happy. I spent days having panic attacks and feeling terrified every time a notification appeared on my phone. I turned off my phone to try to focus on work. I asked my friends to stop showing me those hateful comments. I've closed my deputy ministers on Twitter and left untracked people to revoke email privileges. We received mainstream media, but the comments attached were not worth it. I was called fat and ugly, with many iterations of both. It was said that I did not deserve attention and victory because I was not a photogenic physical ideal. In other words, screw the hard work I had done, I was not pretty enough to be good in a game that I liked a lot. "
The Esport pros are both the best players and the models. The wizarding movement that proactively engaged a woman in the league could inspire other women to help. Magic their everything.
Yet if MagicThe professional league The "meritocracy" players did not initially consider what it would be, some professionals say that it could undermine its credibility. Whether these new additions would be more damaging to her credibility than the best lawyers accused of harbading women or cheating is apparently an open question.
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