{"id":52577,"date":"2013-04-08T12:59:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T10:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=52577"},"modified":"2013-04-08T15:02:29","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T13:02:29","slug":"polarfluke-pushed-aside-by-nag-mssa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/52577-polarfluke-pushed-aside-by-nag-mssa","title":{"rendered":"PolarfluKe “pushed aside” by NAG, MSSA – organisations respond"},"content":{"rendered":"

SA gaming event and tournament organiser PolarfluKe is celebrating its third birthday being in operation. Matthew Merks, who is behind PolarfluKe, wrote a blog post to commemorate the occasion, but one which also revealed some inner workings of PolarfluKe\u2019s affiliates.<\/p>\n

Merks\u2019 raised concerns regarding the loyalty and fulfilment of two affiliates, namely NAG and the MSSA, who were in partnerships with Merks.\u00a0You can read Merks\u2019 entire post on the\u00a0PolarfluKe website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NAG Gaming League<\/h3>\n

Marks explained one of the obstacles he had to overcome with regards to NAG and the NGL Starcraft II League. The league was hosted by PolarfluKe and was supposed to feature a prize pool of R150,000 and a prime spot for the finals at rAge, according to Merks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAG had not kept to its part of the agreement and with the league coming to a close, there was no money besides that pledged by the sponsor I had brought in,\u201d explained Merks.\u00a0\u201cNot only were we looking at a prize pool of only R50,000, but I had worked for 5 months and NAG was not willing to pay for my time and effort.”<\/p>\n

Merks said that NAG refused to comment on the situation nor explain what happened to the community.<\/p>\n

MSSA<\/h3>\n

Merks\u2019 faced another issue with the MSSA, with whom he had a relationship from prior events.<\/p>\n

The MSSA had signed on a sponsor for the 2013 MSSA Dota 2 Online Championships that was essentially a competitor of PolarfluKe\u2019s, as Polarfluke was on-board to host the event. Merks raised the issue with the MSSA, although his attempts were said to be futile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately contacted MSSA to voice my concerns and was greeted with these exact words: \u2018It is also not negotiable!\u2019\u201d, explained Merks.\u00a0\u201cSomething I had run for free, dedicated many hours to, to allow MSSA to operate and gain trust with the gamers, was now something that was non-negotiable, my concerns about plastering my competitor\u2019s logo all over my site and my stream for free were just pushed aside\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite Merks\u2019 concerns, the Mweb Online Dota 2 Championship was announced<\/a>, and is set to be hosted by 10ten Gaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose all the time, the effort, the passion I have put in means nothing to the regulatory body, but this time my spirit is not crushed,\u201d said Merks. \u201cMSSA is truly not needed for PolarfluKe to achieve its goals; it actually never was and never will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

NAG, MSSA response<\/h3>\n

NAG<\/strong><\/p>\n

NAG has responded to Merk’s claims.<\/p>\n

“We haven\u2019t commented on this incident before because we didn\u2019t want to paint anyone doing work in the industry in a negative light because it\u2019s not good for gaming in South Africa,” explained NAG’s editor Michael James.<\/p>\n

“I do not want this to turn into a negative thing and I\u2019m not getting into a backwards and forwards he said, she said scenario. I don\u2019t see how that helps gaming,” added James.<\/p>\n

“It is annoying and disheartening that after everything we do we\u2019ve always got people somewhere who aren\u2019t happy. But that\u2019s just how it goes I guess.”<\/p>\n

James wanted to clarify certain points regarding NAG’s involvement and the subsequent outcome which happened.<\/p>\n

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