The Final Lockdown: Do Roster Locks Benefit Competitive Dota?
After a manic series of roster changes, including the high profile departures of Arteezy and Universe from Evil Geniuses, team lineups were finally locked in on March 27. This marks the last trade window for all teams until after The International. As with previous trade windows, teams had approximately three weeks to assess their situations, deliberate on any needed changes, and submit their final rosters. The controversy here is that there are two parties involved—the team and the player—and both share the twenty-one day window. Hypothetically, a team could hold onto its players’ contracts until the final day to intentionally restrain them from signing with the competition. This concept is relatively extreme, but there is still the sentiment that kicked players do not have enough time to find a new team. The issue had ignited community backlash against organizations for releasing their players, such as Evil Geniuses letting go Aui after TI5, and Secret dismissing Misery and w33ha in the recent trade window (w33ha had noted that “there isn’t a lot of time left” to find a new team). Whether or not these changes would have occurred without roster lock rules, the result is a competitive scene that is more fractured than stable.
Esports, especially in Dota, is still in its infancy. Though its prize pools are reaching comparable levels of traditional sports, it doesn’t have the same level of organizational structure. There is no player’s union, no player agents, or even trade agreements—just the kicking and signing of players. Free agents in other sports are eligible to sign at any point in the season, but in Dota, the roster lock window constrains their opportunities. Players end up hastily cobbling together teams just for the chance to compete, at the cost of being uncompetitive.
The irony is that the intention of the rule was to protect players, by forcing teams to commit to their roster before a major tournament. Valve has a history supporting their players before the organization. They pay tournament winnings to players directly, and two years ago they threatened to disqualify Team Fnatic for replacing their player, Era. Ultimately, it is the organization’s prerogative to make changes as they see fit, but without a player’s union, players are more vulnerable to the whims of these decisions. In this incident, Valve felt that Era was being wronged, and in a statement, said:
““We believe we have a responsibility to make sure that all professional players are being treated fairly, both by their management, and by the decisions that we make that affect all of them. We take this very seriously.””
With the roster lock rule in place, Valve has prevented this kind of situation from happening again. The Dota scene was already volatile before the introduction of the rules, but in yearly cycles, right before preparing to qualify for The International. It may seem like the roster lock rules have accelerated roster changes, but it’s also due to the introduction of the three Major tournaments throughout the year. Where before, the goal was “TI or bust,” now there are other high profile tournaments that incentivize teams to put together the best available roster, whenever available.
Until after the next International, the roster lock will fulfill its purpose to stabilize the scene. The teams and players associated with them will be the same in a few months as they are now. But what the roster shuffles have highlighted is the unstable, tenuous relationship between teams and players. In these decisions, it’s ultimately the teams who have clout, who can leave players stranded without penalty. The sustainability of Dota is dependent on parity, namely the level of competition across all teams. Currently, only few select players and organizations benefit from the structure of professional Dota. If Valve wants to step in, again, to “make sure all professional players are being treated fairly,” they will need to offer a long term solution. For now, the roster lock is an ad hoc salve to a problem that will surface again, in a couple of months.
dominatrixed
It just occured to me that puppey kicked w33 and misery at such a crucial moment and signed in rtz so that 1.They eliminate a strong possible contender in the future by not letting w33 have any decent time to find a new team and 2. They absorb a more-or-less equal player in rtz. Looks like quite a dick move to me.
second :/
So all they need to do is have a rule where if a team/organisation kicks players X amount of time before roster lock, they don't get an invite.
Слава Україні!
WHERE IS THE FUCKING BETTING, I NEED TO FUCKING BET FFS!!!!
@SOSLICK22
Then you may as well just shorten the roster lock? Makes no difference. What you actually need is to split the roster change season into two parts, one part where you can kick players and sign pre-contracts with new players, and another half where the free agents are able to move about and fill in the remaining areas. This lets the top teams basically lock their teams in time, but also stops a situation where somebody is kicked 2 days before the lock comes in and they're left teamless.
vernite all pick pls
-apem only
I struggle with the notion that teams think it is a good idea to have a liquid roster. The amount of shuffling that occurs is insane. How do you develop as friends, as a team, or learn each others play styles strengths and weaknesses if you have new teammates every 6 months? It's like knowing that your winger is going to be in front of the net, in a position to catch the hard puck off the goalies pads, without actually seeing him in your peripherals. Suddenly you aren't shooting to score, but intentionally putting the puck low so they get a juicy rebound. Teams can't seem to figure out that chemistry is not always inherent.
Drama Queens read thishttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_window
I think the roster locks are legit. The biggest issue brought to light here is that there is no players union, no player protection. The lack of security and sense of uncertainty is a non-factor to some players, but to other players it weighs heavy and can affect their play.
While the amount of shuffling post majors seems a bit insane, it's most definitely appropriate in current circumstance. Esports is annual, rather than traditional sports which are seasonal (i.e. MLB spring-fall, NFL fall-winter, NBA fall-spring). Without shuffling or fluid rosters, there is little time to take a break. "OH but they are PRO DOTA PLAYERS, NO BREAKS ALLOWED"; sorry, the "Gods" bleed the same blood we do and are human just as us, don't be fooled.
I think it would be very interesting to see a Major played where rosters remain open throughout the qualifiers, but imagine helping your squad earn a qualifying spot just to be benched for some player who's team was eliminated. That would be garbage.
@CaptainsMode = +25 +25... that sounds like an insanely strategical play by the pupstar but I think you're looking into it too much. I'm pretty sure Pup would rather be playing with the best against the best rather than excluding the best. You almost make it sound like he's afraid to play against the pubstar w33, far from the truth I reckon.
@HookandRoll www.alphadraft.com
rosters should just be locked till the next TI. If the majors are the lead up to the big event then the teams should be kept as is. Before TI got huge there wasn't this much changing of players.
This is fairly easy.
Players, via a union (They wont make this on their own due to unproffisionalsim), make an agreement that they all sign contracts until the day before the transfer window open. Just like in European Football. You have 1-2-3 windows per calendar year, place them like now, 6 months before TI and right after TI for 21 days or so.
Window - Major - TI - Window - Major - Major - Window - Major - TI - Window - Major - Major - Window - Major - TI - Window
ETC ETC ETC. Contracts ends the day of the Second Major / TI.
So ez.
So guud.
EG has the winning combination now No RTZ and AUI in EZ BUGGATIS
I don't know dude. In my opinion rtz is a strong player, who met my expectations at Shanghai. Plus he is Canadian. I can see eg and the old man struggling to recover from these changes.
rts duude
Valve should look carefully at professional sports, primarily soccer to figure out how to fix this. There needs to be a player's union and then a CBA. It's a bit hard to pull off with so many teams and whatnot but if they really want to protect the players they need someway of enforcing guaranteed contracts and perhaps a trade system
Its harder to care about a team when the people who make up the team are shed and reintroduced multiple times a year. The benefit of most sports is that its hard to trade, drop, and pick up replacement level players, so when you follow a team you are able to really connect with the players, their stories, and the tradition (or style of play) of the team itself.
Imagine if FC Barcelona or Real Madrid shed 2/3rds of their roster every month or so, it would be harder to connect with "your" team because so many of the faces haven't bought into it as much as a person who has been on the team for 3-5 years.
Now E-sports is a whole new beast because first and foremost, the pool of players is immense, exposure is relatively easier to do if you are good enough, and the participants run between ~16-27.
I would love Valve to find a sweet spot, where the composition of a team would have to handle the ups and downs together rather than breaking down and reforming as soon as a tournament is over. There should be protection for the professionals but at the same time allow the game to still be inclusive enough that a potential pubstar might be invited to a team and allowed to play.
Hyatt I agree 100%
In my culture kicking a gud player like w33 is considered as a dick mov....
Navi go one 2016
The secret kick was not a dick move and they have notified them already they're about to be kicked. I'll obviously believe EE over some random dudes with countless conspiracy theories. Besides, valve does not give secret any warning, so no one was wronged and it's just you guys that want a drama to happen.
Maybe the transfers could go like international soccer transfer windows, if a player's being transfered from team to team, then the window has to be respected but if a player has no team when the window finishes, then he can sign with anyone.
This would give dismissed guys a better chance to find a team.
What would happen if, for instance, Arteezy and Universe decide to inform EG that they are out only a couple of hours before the end of the window ? If EG can't find a player in 2 hours, are they out of a Major and a TI being current champs ?