The Overwatch League has moved from one controversy after another. While Stage 1 saw the issue of lack of women players in the league take center stage, we saw multiple fines being levied on players in Stage 2. Blizzard has been strict in ensuring the quality of the league and rightfully so.

However, the balance between the players and Blizzard right now is skewed in favor of the Game developer. With Blizzard holding all the cards in terms of the decision-making process, players have little to no say. A Players Union is obviously the next step for the Overwatch league.

The ‘Players‘ Union

Unsurprisingly, the players union needs to be formed by the players. It should not have any involvement with Blizzard or individual team owners. This is an obvious statement, but we have seen team owners try to involve themselves in the player associations in other esports titles such as CS GO. Riot is actively involved in the Player Unions. While they announced that the player unions will be independent without any involvement from the Game Publisher; things can turn awry when financial matters arise.

The emphasis on ‘Players’ in the title is especially important as there are so many vested parties in the Overwatch league right now. The intentions of team owners and other parties involved might be innocent right now. However, in the long run, the only version of a Player Union which can truly represent the interests of the players should involve only players and no one else.

Overwatch League – Filled with ‘Blizzard Decisions’

Blizzard has had the high hand while dealing out decisions in the Overwatch League so far. These decisions have often been questionable and sometimes unfair, even in the eyes of team owners.

There have been two separate incidents, which have highlighted the vague decision-making process. They are the XQC & TriHard emote incident and the Taimou Fine amount. Both the rulings were required and definitely correct. But the actual wordings and the amounts in these punishments leave a lot to be desired.

XQC & the TriHard 7 emote

The Overwatch league ruling which suspended XQC mentioned the usage of certain Twitch emotes.

While the suspension in itself is not at fault, Blizzard needs to provide more details about the suspension.

A sweeping emote usage cannot be termed as adequate reasons for the suspension. The context of the ’emote’ usage is important. Blizzard has still not published its official code of conduct which should dispel many of the questions of the fans and players. XQC does have several other infractions, so his punishment is justified. But without proper reasons and context, this punishment keeps the door open on an interpretation of future decisions by the league.

Taimou Fine

Taimou was fined $1000 for making lewd comments on stream. A few weeks earlier, Profit was fined the same amount for playfully showing the camera the finger. This was obscene, vulgar and not worthy of the Overwatch league. However, it is obvious that Taimou’s mistake was more severe and harmful in nature and intent. So why was Profit’s fine the same amount as Taimou? Regardless, Taimou did put forth a subsequent apology on Twitter.

Yesterday, I made a terrible comment that I should not have made in Twitch chat about the OGN Interviewer. I acknowledge that my comment disgusted and offended many people, including the interviewer. I understand that my comment cannot be considered as just a joke and at the time i was careless in my thinking. To everyone who was affected and hurt by my inconsiderate and brash actions, I hang my head in apology. I am also very sorry for disappointing our loyal fans

Without a fair implementation of the rules, the Overwatch League runs the risk of featuring arbitrary decisions and rulings.

Current Efforts

The esports Landscape is already changing with concentrated efforts to establish player unions. While SirScoots leads the charge in forming a player union in CS GO, There are efforts underway to bring together all the players involved in the Overwatch League. Led by Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch, a former player of Eunited and Ellen Zavian, this is one of the first steps in ensuring that players also have a say in the running of the Overwatch League. Ellen Zavian is a longtime sports attorney and will help in the formation of the union.