?
MRN was the birth of a cinderella story in the making just waiting to happen. From the early formulation period of MRN all the way up until relegations, it was hard for the community to know if this would be a seriously-involved and prospering team backed up by the comedic nature of their owner as well as the almost parodic atmosphere of the team, with other professional teams also rooting on MRN, wearing their shirts, and proudly representing the squad.
Sometimes, however, dark things happen behind closed doors and I'd wager that only a tiny fraction of that is really ever exposed to the public, which would have been the exact same scenario we are in now had Megazero not "exposed" what could be considered scandalous, whether we are aware of any actual selfishly lucrative motives by Marn or not. While the vocal minority in our community may be a fickle lot prone to "jumping the gun" on witchhunting, it's not incredibly hard to validate if we consider the experiences of betrayal that were publically available in shady organizations such as "Orbit" in the past.
However, our rebuttal is rarely helpful or worth it, even in the case of the players. "Honestly, bringing justice would be nice, but at the end of the day it's really not worth the effort." Zack 'Nientonsoh' Malhas once told us in an interview a while back in regards to the situation, a player who has also had experience with MRN and is now the top laner for Counter Logic Gaming. And most likely, he's right -- it's simpler and more effective for your career as a player as well as your sanity to hang on and keep pushing forward in a case like this. For Megazero, this was not the case, so let's look into this a little deeper, shall we?
On July 8th, Megazero posted a warning to the new LCS and rising amateur scene that went viral on r/leagueoflegends. In doing so, of course, he brought up a controversial subject over their manager, Marn, which really brought him into a bad light and caused Marn to create a rebuttal later on. Though Megazero removed his counter-rebuttal on Facebook , the origins of the issue can still be found on Reddit.
I've always believed that the majority of the team should have power (3/5 members), however, the manager controls who receives how much money each person receives, all roster swaps, and he pretty much owns the team and can sell it to anyone he deems necessary. In my case, our manager decided to pay himself over 3x that of our highest paid player. Now there are some contractual rules that are there to help the players, but I'm not positive if I'm allowed to get into them. Riot has been helping out our team and trying to sort out the situation, but we still haven't received any of the 'stolen' money. I do take full responsibility for letting this situation happen, it was all just very unfortunate because at the time, my team trusted our manager a lot and it was really hurting our team by constantly arguing about managerial responsibilities so I dropped the matter after a week or two.
Though situations like this are "exposed", for lack of a more fitting term, in traditional sports much more commonly, it is starting to catch up a bit in League of Legends as the scene grows and becomes seen as a more traditional sporting event. However, it becomes a lot more personal when these topics arise in eSports as players are much more personally connected with their fans via an easily accessible medium which both parties are familiar with. There's a certain threshold that a community largely contrived of a younger, less experienced population will understand when it comes to business ethics and the concept of "right and wrong" in the case of very controversial practices.
But how can we not get involved when someone we may idolize and even consider a celebrity in our modern era makes claims as MegaZero did? After all, he's an incredibly beloved figurehead in the community, constantly seen as down-to-earth and continued his charismatic growth through winning the Best Riven NA tournament. Therein lies the instinctual albeit harmful bias instilled in players by what you could consider modern-day role models for many who play League of Legends and aspire to mimic these individuals.
?The thoughts and allegiences of the League of Legends community often swing side to side like a pendulum, which helps evoke the involvement of private matters to the public eye. In an industry where reputation can be incredibly important, it's almost necessary for both involved parties to handle and "blog out" any given direct conflict to the community just to reach a zone of neutrality to the best of their abilities. However, therein lies a good part of the problem.
When a public callout happens, it is both an ethically smart decision and a smart business decision to defend those claims. While we can praise Marn for responding to the outcry, nothing in a business is done to make a playerbase shit rainbows or smile gleefully; it's because the branding and reputation of those players or managers are very important to their future and are crucial to be addressed. Had Marn left this topic alone, you'd bet your ass that people would never inquire about his side of the story and probably see him as this shady asshole for the entirety of his gaming career.
Marn states in his blog that the players were more than capable to make guides to help pay off the expenses of their living, explaining how outliers increase the cost of living beyond the salary offered by Riot. We don't know exactly how lazy the players were, but we do know from constant exposure that a lot of the players may have low business and work ethic,and won't do things that may seem unfun or unpreferable at the time. This argument is supported by the claim of the players finding not being in the next LCS split outside of the realm of possibility -- a deterrence of the grim reality facing all but the most hard working, well structured teams, whom even then may suffer the cutthroat nature of being kicked out of the LCS for not performing up to the required level of play. After all, what kind of attitude is "we might not make it" for your current conscience?
But the truth of the matter is the rebuttal of either side doesn't need to be factual, it just needs to look good to the fans. Megazero and Marn could very well have both made honest points in their arguments to hold strong in their stance on the matter, but we're never going to know what the 100% truth is anyway regardless of our armchair investigation. The truth of the matter is that "who was right and who was wrong" is not something we have to gain from this scenario; what we are able to gain is a lesson learned and some wisdom from the situation. While many have different opinions on the goal set by Megazero in his Reddit thread, it can and should be used for its intended purposes -- a warning and a lesson.
Where does this bring us?
What Megazero did exemplifies the supposed "purpose" of his message, whether it was a thinly veiled call out to Marn or not. Megazero himself is probably a young and uninformed player who just wanted to chase his dream of playing video games and making a living off of it. This is the same scenario many players find themselves in, many becoming so exhuberant at the sheer possibility of living out this fantasy life that they will be quick to sign contracts and deal with less-than-favorable salaries relative to their dilligence.
We should take caution where we tread and do our research when supporting our teams or believing everything a player tells you. Despite the fact that those involved with League of Legends eSports may do incredible things, they are human beings like you or I and are capable of falliable actions just as much as any of us. The way a team should or shouldn't be run is something that most likely we nor the players can fully comprehend, and mistakes are bound to happen when, in comparison to traditional sports, eSports (particularly LoL) is in its infancy.
After Marn told his side of the story, a rather unnecessary backlash was thrown at Megazero for being whiny and, honestly, it was mostly unwarranted. Megazero did not have ill intentions even if his "intentions" weren't a warning but a shameless exposure of Marn's supposedly ill-intentioned business practices. He simply chose the most effective medium for exposure and knows the virality that Reddit nurtures each and every day. Whether you're calling out corruption, letting the world know your account got hacked, or begging Riot for that Pikachu Kennen skin, you will be heard loud and clear there over any and all places.
Perhaps it wasn't the most mature of things to do, sure, but it lets the community and anyone who wishes to be involved know that we aren't going to be trifled with and, in the case that the allegations of Marn's irresponsibility are true, that this can be investigated and will not be tolerated by the masses or the players themselves and that players and the people will stand up for themselves, as melodramatic as that may come off as.
We can grow off this situation not because we can call out a villain or a hero, but because we have something to learn from it. Let's stop pointing the fingers, put the pitchforks down, and instead seek anything and everything we can learn from this. Though the conclusion of who's right and who's wrong may be locked behind closed doors, we and any upcoming LCS players can learn to be cautious of our predicaments and perhaps "read the fine print" so to speak to help make LoL as an eSport more legitimate as a whole.
Sources
Megazero Reddit thread
Marn's rebuttal
Interview with Nientonsoh
