MCV reported this week that World of Tanks studio Wargaming plans to help organize a union for pro e-sports players. Wargaming European e-sports boss Nicolas Passemard implied that without some formal organization looking out for pro players’ interests, exploitation is possible:
“It comes from a need to do something. We faced a few issues and incidents, and of course we didn’t like that because these incidents were not in favour of the players. So at a point we have to make a decision, either we get more directly involved or we keep having issues. We still want the players and the teams to lead a life of their own, because if we help them too much or if we do things for them they kind of lose the warm feeling of doing it themselves or they lose motivation, but in the end we had to do something. So we looked at some options and the best one is to help the pro players create a union for themselves. We have to do it, there will be issues, maybe we aren’t ready [for a players union] but we will find a way.”
Where you come down on the issue probably depends a lot on your own experiences with unions in the real world and on how much stock you put into pro gaming on the whole, but let’s have it: Do you think that pro e-sports players ought to unionize?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
