Complaint: DQ'ed players being subsituted or replaced by other players

Evo Championship Series
1

First of all, I just want to say the tournament itself was fantastic as always. I had a great time and I’m looking forward to next year already. Kudos!

I do have a small issue though, with what I’ve seen in other brackets on both Friday and Saturday of the tournament. In at least 5 different brackets, I’ve observed a player requesting to a referee that they be allowed to take the spot of an individual who could not make it to the tournament or was about to be disqualified. I’ve even witnessed a match where this was allowed LATE in a bracket (Losers Semis, if I’m not mistaken), where a friend subbed for someone who was about to be disqualified for not being there for his match. In almost every occasion, the referee had no problem switching them out for someone else.

I believe this is completely unfair, and while realistically difficult for the tournament organizers to catch and prevent every occurence from happening (I can only assume this happened many, many more times throughout the weekend) but it seems as if the referees were not told that this should not be allowed. Am I the only one who thinks this is unfair? Especially for the competitors, it seems like if someone walks in, doesn’t pay an entry fee, isn’t registered, sits down and beats you in a tournament match… that should never be allowed. I also ask myself if maybe someone got knocked out of the tournament early in the day, and came to another pool later and took someone’s spot that couldn’t make it?

Did anyone else notice this, or have this happen to them?

I want to reiterate this isn’t a personal attack at the EVO staff by any means, just a suggestion to have a rule such as this enforced in the future for everyone else who shows up on time for their bracket, and doesn’t come to hawk a spot. As someone who runs brackets on a regular basis, I would never allow such a thing to happen.

As a final note; no, this did not happen to me in the tournament. My brackets were run smoothly and professionally and I wasn’t a victim of anything like this… but I can really feel for anyone who had this happen to them and ended up losing a match because of it. I didn’t see a reason to step up and complain on anyone’s behalf during the tournament since it was merely an observation that didn’t directly involve me, but I think it was worth mentioning.

tl;dr: Referees were allowing people to take the spots of competitors in the tournament that were going to be disqualified, and I don’t think this should be allowed / should be prevented in the future.

Thank you.

2

substitutions should never be allowed…whoever is registered should be the one playing the matches…Imagine Daigo switched out with Tokido because he knew the Seth match up better…

3

I recall Evo staff being strict with stuff like that.
If that is what indeed happened…it should have been reported.

4

I managed three AE stations on Friday. Ended up DQ’ing 7 people total and didn’t allow substitutions. I saw a few of my fellow refs stepping in and playing for absent players. I’m with you guys and think that’s totally unfair and just stupid to do that in a tournament enviroment.

5

I don’t doubt that. I have a lot of respect for the way EVO is run. I do agree it should have been reported (Again, not my place to do so on behalf of anyone), but if it happened this often on only a few brackets I observed, something might have gone wrong.

I also want to reiterate that I never once saw anyone present an ID for their bracket either. I was unfortunate to not receive a badge after they were gon,e and was just told to show up with an ID and they’ll get me situated. I gave them my handle and name and they were fine with that. If they were calling names and handles, who’s to say they can’t just say they were that person as their about to be DQ’ed and take the spot? Just another thought.

6

That’s also something I have had a problem with in regards to Evo…the badges.
How are people who didn’t pay the venue fee getting badges at the front door?

There has to be a better system for that.

7

That’s why I didn’t get one. ;_;

Haha, while I agree, not the end of the world.

8

i have a hard time believing this was rampant at all i saw dozens of players get disqualified for not showing up in a very timely manner( i say this in comparison to previous years) and strong efficiency, but i mainly observed AE. I think each pool checking in before the start of the competition with the judge and noting the players absent at the time can internally keep any discrepancy from occurring.

9

While this is rather shady and would not want to see it go down in any smaller tournament ever, this is Evo we’re talking about…

Only the top 8 get paid. Out of 1500 or so.

No amount of substitutions or rigging is going to get a player into top 8 if he doesn’t deserve it. Might get him out of pools, but where does that get you? Humiliated or perfected on stream, stomped out by Noah, I dunno. Even getting into top 32 would be difficult for someone who doesn’t deserve it.

imo, early in the brackets, the game is Fate of Two Pot Monsters (people do sign up with the intent of going 0-2 and adding money to the pot) - let people sub in and out or play for their friends if they think it’ll make a difference.

Also, I want to add that the referee subbing himself in for people is curious. I dunno, sounds to me like the ref was just giving the guy someone to play - would you like to go to Evo and then essentially go 0-2 because none of your first three opponents showed up?

10

i am a victim of this, even though what sleazoid said is arguable. i still don’t wanna get knocked into losers / knocked out because someone stepped in. granted i should’ve won that match, it being marvel, u wanna play as few games as possible because there is a huge random factor. i don’t feel completely cheated, but i know a few people who have been knocked out by someone who should not have been in their pool.

but there is also a situation with a friend who gave up their spot right from the start so another person could play.

so my suggestion, if evo staff is willing to enforce, have an option to change your tag one time until the last day to reg. This way you can still “sell” your spot to someone if you can’t make it / don’t wanna play anymore.

11

Man up!

Accept all challenges!

Its not like they’re being switched or replaced into favorable positions, they’re being switched in so they can enjoy an experience that comes only once a year.

I understand we all registered beforehand, and it should be equal for everyone but at the end of the day we’re just a bunch of guys who want to play video games and face the fiercest competition.

A true fighter never backs away from a fight.

12

In a perfect world, that fighter’s honor stuff holds true.

At evo, a majority of the players want to test their skill and see how far they can get into the tournament, leaving the non-tournament matches to BYOC.

13

Do you know exactly what judges allowed this?

14

This isnt allowed by Evo at all. It says very clearly on the registration page, that all regisrations are non refundable and non transferrable.

This should have been reported.

15

Question: Who should it be reported to?

16

Inkblot, Ponder, or myself.

17

Should we do that right when we see it, or later when we have time? Also, where would we find you guys, say, at Evo2k11?

18

Just ask an official of some sort.

19

Right when you see it. If its done too late, then the staff can’t go back in time.

But TBH, thats really shady. Any judge with ANY integrity would know not to do this and just DQ people. Reversing DQs if the match hasn’t been played is okay, but just outright playing for someone, or having someone else do it, is just wrong.

20

what game was it? I played Tekken 6 and didn’t see or hear of this happening in my pool or an tekken pool for that matter.