heard of antibeat drama? what do you think?

Oh, I saw that. I can actually say a few things about that.

First of all, I generally appreciate all tournament efforts done by third parties! That's very important, as even if the OWC is the main official event right now, we surely support other tournaments to grow and become bigger.

Anyways, it makes me sad that some people put the OWC and its spinoffs on a similar step to that kind of drama. It may be that some people dislike the fact that we do not have huge prize pools (and I am firmly against begging our users for money) or that we even filter for violating the game rules (but seriously, if everyone would simply stop doing that, we wouldn't have that issue), but you can merely tell me that I want to gamble money of others into my pocket or leech off the fame with my tournament. Antibeat is in heavy criticism and I am not very sure about if fundraising in this way is a good method to gain trust. I personally do not trust this kind of fundraising at all, as you never know for sure what happens with your money (hey, they could claim to do whatever they want, it doesn't mean that it happens - and as you donate via PayPal directly, you have no way to dispute that for real)

Moreover the money movement that happens here is most likely not signed up to tax departments properly and therefore probably illegal - but I just know how German law applies here. Let's say that I appreciate any efforts to make things better - and even if I have another philosophy to tournaments in general, especially treating everyone equal, regardless of their rank, as I do not even know majority of the players and therefore have no real reason to harm anyone - but the way that it was done here was awfully bad prepared and organized. Everything appeared so rushed, so super ambitious. But for myself, I find it super dodgy that the hosts are playing in their own prized pool and that they even create the map pools. I find this shady. You may call my stuff unprofessional because I didn't let your favorite players play for valid, pre-announced and predictable reasons, but at least I never tried to pull off dodgy tournaments. It's not my fault that people can not break stop breaking the community rules and I am all up to let everyone play when they stop. At least I have no reason to fraud anyone, as I have no personal gain from it. I'd rather have a smooth OWC which everyone enjoys. Rejecting players is more a loss than a gain in terms for myself. But it is a requirement. And I stand up for that, and it is as transparent as we can make it. I hope we can have more nice things in future. But people should really stop to run from one conclusion to another. It's not fun to jump on the hate train, as everyone is putting efforts. Anyways, please think twice in who you want to trust - and be always prepared to be disappointed. Because as far as my experience goes, most people try to defend their reputation and would even lie the fuck out of their "best internet buddies".