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Conflict of Interest Discussion

UGL Preon

The Casual God
A Few people in the discord are having a conversation about "Conflict of Interest" as far as T.Os & Event Hosters go.

Is it a Conflict of Interest to Run an Event, Set Up the Bracket, Pick the ruleset & PROVIDE THE POT BONUS etc. But have people affiliated with your organization or Sponsored compete within those brackets? And furthermore if those people did enter, is it also a conflict of interest for them to "Accept the Prizes/Money/Pot Bonus"!?
 

Indecisive

We'll burn you all—that is your fate!
Yes there is a conflict of interest. Lets say i'm Team BTS. We hold a tournament with a 5K pot. Would it be fair to let our lets say 2 players enter. No. Cause there is a small chance that we could try to make an easier pool for the 2 players on deck. It could even be a sub conscious thing where its done without 100% realization. Like maybe you see someone in the pool that plays a character that beats the character Player X uses. And just decided to move it cause of another reason. The sponsored players should take a back seat. Help run the event. Maybe set up some exhibitions against other players. Stream matches for content. Etc.
 

Doombawkz

Trust me, I'm a doctor
If they are directly involved, yes.

If they utilize an independent third party for things like bracket setting and such, then probably not. They have an interest, but if they are not or cannot act upon that interest then no conflict can arise.
 

UGL Preon

The Casual God
Yes there is a conflict of interest. Lets say i'm Team BTS. We hold a tournament with a 5K pot. Would it be fair to let our lets say 2 players enter. No. Cause there is a small chance that we could try to make an easier pool for the 2 players on deck. It could even be a sub conscious thing where its done without 100% realization. Like maybe you see someone in the pool that plays a character that beats the character Player X uses. And just decided to move it cause of another reason. The sponsored players should take a back seat. Help run the event. Maybe set up some exhibitions against other players. Stream matches for content. Etc.
Thank you for the response. We're assisting Momocon with an event. They want to grow their connectivity through the FGC and are hosting some tournaments. We've been scheduled in to help run some tournaments, do commentary for others, and some we're bringing from ground up. A couple of UGL guys are discussing if they are allowed to compete in the one's where Momocon is footing the bill/prize pool. However the fact that we have the keys to the Smash.gg brings us to that interesting scenario. We would do random bracket but to any outsider looking in "How random was random". Given Conflict of Interests in the business world are often times more perception than reality.

Also then their follow up was can they compete but not accept the prize and give it to charity instead. But even then there's that grey area. Cause then you're talking "re purposed money" that wasn't used for what was initially intended. Even though for a good cause. But I said in that case, if you don't want the prize. Just play casuals with players and help anyone just learning the game. Especially since Injustice 2/Revelator 2 will have been out for less than 2 weeks combined. at that juncture.

If they are directly involved, yes.

If they utilize an independent third party for things like bracket setting and such, then probably not. They have an interest, but if they are not or cannot act upon that interest then no conflict can arise.
MomoCon is setting up the MKX bracket for their event. We're setting up Injustice 2. It's obvious we can't compete in Injustice 2 since we're running that bracket/tournament 100% in house. Just under the Momocon banner as an affiliate. The MKX tournament is different since that's in control by Momocon's side of the tournaments. However the big difference is now that we have access to the brackets via smash.gg. Momocon combined both for simplicity's sake. Now that bracketology example @Indecisive brought up comes back to play. Thanks for the response gentlemen. I'll share the thoughts and sediments with them. Even though to you it might've been just a little forum post. It's been a great help in furthering the discussion.