I'm back from ROTK. It had been such a tiring trip that I felt sick on the flight on my way back to Amsterdam. My job at this trip wasn't too hard, but almost everyday I had to endure the whole day with little sleep each night. Since Mandarin is my second language, I assumed the role of a nanny for the whole MYM Team xD. Everyday I brought them out for food, ordered the Chinese food in Mandarin, making sure that the players stayed strong and healthy! Also took over the translating job at the tournament because the Chinese referees can't speak English. Also helped the players with PC system adjustments, because the computer systems were in Mandarin.

No more fever right now, but still having a badly running nose, so I have to reach for tissues to sneeze every few minutes. *sneeze*

Anyway, on the way back Grubby and I nearly missed our flight too! We left the hotel together with Jonas and Wind, but we took different cabs. Halfway, Jonas called me on the phone and told me that their cab had broken down and they had to wait for another cab. I was thinking "wow so unlucky! What are the chances of a taxi breaking down with you in it? At least it didn't happen to us yet". Then shortly after, our cab reached a flooded point in the middle of the highway.

As you see in the video below, the water level in the flooded highway is quite high - it would reach above an adult's knee.

So I sms'ed Jonas and told him to ask his cab not to take that highway to the airport because of the flood. Our cab driver was pretty flexible (actually he was a fucking hero - superman), he turned around on this one-way highway, went against the traffic for a few kilometers (which was really pretty scary with cars charging right at us!), went into some small roads and eventually found another way to the airport. When we were on our way again, Jonas called and said he was now at the flood point, and couldn't make it for the flight anymore because his cab driver said there's no other way around the flood (Jonas got a noob driver). I got my cab driver on the phone with his cab driver to inform her of the other way to the airport. When Grubby and I reached the airport, we had to jump queue all the way and finally we made it. It was really lucky and fortunate. We couldn't afford to miss this flight (Wuhan to Beijing), because we had a connecting flight from Beijing to Paris and Paris to Amsterdam. It was quite unfortunate that Jonas and Wind didn't make it for their flight, but it was not too bad for them as they didn't have any connecting flights, with Beijing as their destination.

Grubby and I spent 9 days in China on this trip. We arrived in Beijing 2 days earlier. The documentary maker Jos De Putter did some filming on Grubby. Jos De Putter is currently making a documentary featuring Grubby, Sky and Madfrog. The documentary will probably be released at the end of this year. You can find Jos De Putter's achievements HERE. Grubby also did some practice on VS-Client platform (similar to GG-Client), which proved to be really effective.

I've decided to divide the pictures from ROTK into two. Here goes the first part:

Grubby loves nice Chinese food.

Firm eggplant with cuttlefish vegetables.

It's the internet cafe that Grubby spent a whole night training in. Thanks to Jonas, he found this place for us, it's pretty cool. These little compact stations you see here in the picture on cost 2 yuan per hour (20 euro cents per hour).

This is the station that Grubby used, the most expensive ones in the internet cafe as it's more private, but it only cost 8 yuan per hour (80 euro cents per hour).

The more common ones are on shared tables with leather arm chairs, it costs around 6 yuan per hour (60 euro cents per hour).

Grubby trained for the whole night in Beijing - the night before flying to Wuhan.

We meet Space for the first time in person. Very admirable guy, a real inspiration to e-Sports.

Grubby and Susiria pose.

Suddenly it became their personal photo-shoot.

Grubby and Susiria again.

Grubby and Susiria again.

A fruit stall we passed by as we went out to search for food around 9 plus at night.

A big bunch of trash beside the fruit stall. Many other parts of China are not as developed as Beijing or Shanghai.

A really cute dog which looks like a bear!

A BBQ stall at the roadside, which we didn't try.

Everyone arrived at the event early in the morning the first day.

Grubby and me waiting to get into the building.

Lots of people waiting to get in too.

WE.Sky in sunglasses.

BeT.Jini

Players waited for about 5 hours for the first game to start on the first day.

The Koreans are playing on their PSP as usual. XD

Space and his brother often play "Scissors Paper Stone".

MYM DreamTeam watching replays.

MYM DreamTeam warming up.

Moon concentrating..

...as Grubby watches...

...and day dreams.

wNv.Th000

The game between wNv.Th000 and MYM.Grubby didn't finish. MYM gave win to wNv because MYM team all agree that Grubby do not need to continue the game because of honor.

In mid game, Th000 paused the game without asking. Grubby was upset because when he asked why he paused, Th000 didn't reply. Later Th000 said it's because of a pop up (computer problem). Then Th000 unpaused the game without asking. Grubby was shocked because he was not in front of the computer, he was just standing and checking out what is happening. Then Th000 paused the game again. Th000 then saved the game. Th000 later explained that it was a mistake to unpause the game without asking.

At this point Grubby requested for a re-game, because what little chance he had of winning the game would be even lower. The game was affected.

MYM tried to explain it to the Chinese referees - it's stated in the rules of ROTK that pausing the game without asking is against the rules (When Moon was playing against wNv earlier, he had monitor problem. MYM also asked for referee's permission to pause before pausing the game, because MYM knows the rules.)

The referees didn't know this was in the rules. So they spent some time investigating. When it was sure this was indeed in the rules, they told MYM "Yes, it's like that - this was indeed against the rules, but the rule book didn't state the punishment." The referees didn't allow a re-game. They say Grubby has to play from the saved game and insisted that the pausing, unpausing and pausing again didn't affect the game at all. Grubby reasoned that the game is affected because each pause has a 1 sec lapsed, and the unpausing with Grubby away from computer was very unfair too. The referees said the first pause was a computer problem, not Th000's mistake, and that the unpausing and pausing again was Th000's mistake, but it was not on purpose.

wNv refused a re-game. Grubby refused to play from the saved game. There was a 3 hour discussion. Finally the referees decided that the only option is Grubby playing from the saved game.

MYM didn't think the decision was fair, but had to accept it. It was also MYM's decision to give win for the game. To them, it was a matter of honor.

Of course we do understand why wNv refused to give a re-game. It's normal that every team will fight for their own players, no matter what the situation is. wNv said that Th000 had a very high chance of winning that game, even without the pausing, or that few seconds of unpausing when Grubby was away from the computer. So wNv insisted that Grubby continues the same game. Grubby did admit that the game looks bad for him during the pausing, but he is not going to continue from the save game when Th000 just gave him even more disadvantage by unpausing game when he is not around. A few seconds in a Warcraft III game do make a lot of difference. Also such actions greatly upset the opponent's concentration and mood. The ROTK admins decided that a re-game is not allowed, as they reasoned that Grubby was already in a disadvantage anyway, and they stressed out that a few seconds of Grubby being away from the game does not affect the game. Since the decisions were made by the referees, there's nothing else MYM could do.

Another thing to put into consideration is that the whole wNv team watched the replay during the 3 hour discussion in Mandarin. And MYM team didn't. When a replay is being watched and discussed for 3 hours, how can it still be fair for Grubby to continue the same game?

My conclusion is this: wNv was not wrong, MYM was not wrong. It's not wrong to fight for your own team. Everyone does it I guess. If MYM is in wNv's position, perhaps we might also fight the same way, who knows. The fault lies with the ROTK organisation. In my opinion, the rules of tournaments in China should be more clear, and should be strictly followed. Hopefully no more changing of rules, as I have heard of so often. A professional tournament should be organized, rules should be followed, and decisions should be made faster (not 3 hours discussion), and referees should be able to communicate in English (at international tournaments).

It's very touching when Grubby shaked hands with Th000 after he default loss, and he told Th000 that he was not angry at him, he was angry at the referees for taking so long to come to a conclusion. Seriously... it was like a delay of 3 hours!!

Also, when MYM was playing against World Elite to decide who goes to the finals. Sky and Infi disconnected against Susiria and Lucifer. Since it was obvious that Susiria and Lucifer was winning that game, the referee told MYM that Susiria and Lucifer has a win on the disconnect. But a few minutes later he actually changed his mind and say this is a regame! A referee who goes back on his words in a "professional" tournament? Guess what? MYM can't do anything but to also accept this.

Losemann tried his best to fight for MYM's rights when necessary, but it's impossible to win arguments against the referees.

In gaming tournaments in Korea, if a player pauses the game without asking, there's a good chance he will get a default lost straight away. But this is in Korea where professional gaming has existed for many many years. A sudden pause in the game directly affects the opponent. Not only because of the 1 second lapse, but also because it breaks the concentration of the player.

We do not expect the same rules to apply in China now, as professional gaming there is not as developed as the professional gaming in Korea. But we are pretty confident that China is on its way to bring better rules and better organized tournaments since their gaming industry is growing. And right now, China is the country with the most Warcraft III tournaments. Surely, things will only get better. :)

XiaoT, the Orc King of China.

Susiria at dinner.

*shoots*

Well, this is indeed a very large blog, sorry to squeeze so much together. :p

More pictures will come next blog~~

Also check out Jona's blogs HERE, he has great plans of bringing China closer to Europe. :)