I wasn't planning on saying anything because this is basically a no-win situation. I'm not sure why I decided to write this but I guess it really can't get much worse.
The theme of the day is exceptions. I'm going to present this as objectively as possible so forgive me if it's dry.
Part 1
We'll start here:
http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=support&d=faq&id=94
We cannot cancel an e-Check Premium payment. Once the payment has been made it must clear, or fail, in order for you to either have premium, or be able to make a new payment.
A large part of this whole debacle leans on the eCheck ordeal. I have very limited information about eChecks and how they work so I can only give you what I believe I know. From what I've learnt from this match, I'm quite certain that Craig is the only person in the company that can cancel eChecks. I can't, Carson can't, my boss can't. We always get plenty of tickets regarding eChecks, hundreds. To both Craig everytime someone wants to get their eCheck cancelled seems a bit much. Reading what an eChecks means + our FAQ will normally stear you away from using them.
No exception was made that they were invite players therefore they should get priority when it comes to getting eChecks cancelled.
Part 2
September 30th I sent off an ESEA message to Brad telling him to get the 3 remaining members paid up for the regular season. After losing his 7.5%, Justin and Brad refused to ever talk to me again so this is basically our only line of communication. I also told him in pugs to pay up about a week later but I believe this was the most "official" form of communication.
When registration closes, I yell at everyone to get their league fees paid. If it were up to me, Brad's team would have been removed as they didn't pay until about a month later. This is basically where my case lies. Had watch this listened to me + the rules and paid up on time, this thread would not exist, brad's team would be alive and we'd be mad about the client. I'm mad about the client, it's extremely frustrating BUT it had nothing to do with this match.
Part 3
There's a large amount of misinformation due to how ESEA used to be run (S2-S8ish). I was lax back then and would let invite teams, for the most part, walk all over me. I set it for when they wanted it. Obviously that changed. Unless I hardcore fucked up, I doubt you can find a match past S10ish that was rescheduled past it's following week when it was
A)Not ESEA client update
B)Not a re-game (i.e. rounds had to be replayed)
C)I had granted an extension to all matches at that time
There are no exceptions made due to user error. If it is, I fucked up and should be told but rarely does that occur. This includes:
A)Paying with eCheck
B)Getting payment cancelled and you have to wait an hour
C)Having user-specific client problems (i.e. the general userbase is not affected)
With that said, this fell into the user error rather than the ESEA error. Everyone knows paying with eChecks take a long time, FAQ states they will not be cancelled, everyone is told to pay up for registration deadline. Despite all signs to pay right now, watch this did not.
Part 4
With that in mind, many say I should have made an exception for watch this. I think these are the two main points:
A)Client was fucked up all week, other matches were being rescheduled
As I said before, when it is on our side, we give time for you to reschedule. Albeit the client created a frustrating start, if this was watch this' first match and there was no client issues, we'd be sitting here talking about the exact same thing.
B)They had tickets open previous without being answered
I'm not sure why no one answered them but the ESEA admin response would be a link to the FAQ. Every ticket that can be answered with an FAQ should be done so. With that said, nothing would have changed in their situation.
C)You always just push invite matches and make exception, why not now?
Like I said, I haven't been letting inviters do whatever the fuck they want since around S8-S9. This was not a circumstance where I was going to.
D)There is a rule that says admins can change anything at any time, why not now?
It's quite simple, I never make exceptions. I just don't. Exceptions are possibly the worst thing possible because they are unclear and are not transparent. This basically brings up two things imo had I invoked this rule.
1)Does this mean I make an exception whenever I want?
Didn't we just go past an offseason where we agreed there should be no exceptions for weapons and I should just ban everything that gets updated? Specifically for scheduling, at what point should I not reschedule? If brad tries to pay minutes before his match and it doesn't work should I push it? If an open team tries to pay minutes before their match and it doesn't work, should I push it? If an open team says one of their members has a family emergency, should I push it?
Not using this rule, to me, enforces two things. No invite favouritism and clearly avoiding a slippery slop of reschedules.
2)Should I bend the rules for every team that holds their team hostage?
I would have loved to have watch this in our season. I think everyone can agree that they were the most exciting team in invite (at least in my opinion). But switching my decision just because a team says they are going to die if I don't is another road I don't want to go down. I agree that it's extreme but I don't want the next thing for inviters to use on me is the "The season will be boring without us".
I really don't feel like making a TLDR because I think you need to read the entire thing to try and understand my POV. I respect every player on watch this both as competitor and just as people. I honestly have not found a single person to be unpleasant at LAN even after the stuff I sometimes have to do. It it is also 100% within their rights to hate me all the way to their bones. There's been plenty of decisions that I wish I had went another way but this is not one of them.