[Stream] PlayhemTV

Wow it's so funny that people are not getting this. "oh this blew way out of proportion." "oh we'll, idra and others accuse ttone for cheating, why aren't they punished?"

Helloooooo derps! The difference is Katu is a CASTER, an analyst, not a fellow peer. His job as a aster is to analyze the game and not slander a player for his past mistakes. If the community wants esports to be recognized as a serious, respectable event then this type of biased, immature shenanigans cannot be tolerated. Yea casters like Day9 poke fun of players occasional, but what Katu has done is a whole different league. Watch the VODs and decide if this type of behavior is allowed in a the professional sports scene. If you don't mind this type of behavior from Katu, that's fine but don't say it's esports.

Without a paddle up shit creek.

firehand101 Australia. February 29 2012 04:07. Posts 3000

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This situation is getting crazy man!

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cydial United States. February 29 2012 04:10. Posts 746

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On February 29 2012 03:54 Cygnus-X1 wrote:
I think it's hilarious that people are still saying Katu should be fired or threatening they will never watch again if he is a caster quite literally hours after Playhem announced they cut ties with him. Speaks to how seriously you should take some people who clearly haven't taken the time to actually find out what happened and just like grabbing their pitchforks and pointing them at someone. This is somebody’s career, if you are going to try and run it into the ground at least try and understand why you are doing it.

Vod is here if you haven't seen it http://www.twitch.tv/playhemtv/b/310016388 Stuff starts going down at about 5:00 after the first game finished and stops when the second game starts. He then issues two on-air apologies, one after the second game and then another at 29:30, which to me sound sincere. I thought even when it happened it was pretty obvious he wasn’t being serious, but that’s just my opinion.

Also, for some people who don't know about Dragons past before he started making funny faces on stream, he had to apologize to oGs for maphacking, streamcheating and match fixing, got kicked out of Werra before it disband for cheating and both he and Mr. Chae had to release a statement because the Korean fans were angry he was allowed to play in the GSL. As per (Wiki)

Dragon#Controversy

Bottom line, he was joking around playing off Dragons less than squeeky clean past and went a bit too far, but it hardly deserves all this, and actually firing him is a bit of a joke.

If you read beyond the 2 lines of what he said it became apparent, blatantly in fact that he was trying to piss people off. Not only with a lack of knowledge on the subject, but he wasn't even funny with his, "Trolling" it was just shit talking.

I seriously want to punch every idiot in the face that says, "I'm not trying to imply it, but" or "I'm just saying." Are you so fucking brain dead that you don't know what actual subtlety is? HERP DERP.

Laughing like a complete douchebag too and enthusiastically talking about Dragon's cheating past, lmao such a joke.

Bonk was even nudging Katu to cut that shit out, "Can I just like seperate my name from yours? (Because I don't want to look like a complete idiot)."

He doesn't fucking apologize either...... are you serious? You consider that sidestepping rhetoric a fucking apology? Pathetic.

He essentially says that he's sorry people, "Misunderstood" what he said. Later when the chat is disabled and his fellow playhem co-workers and distancing themselves from what Katu said, Katu is all like, "wtf I can't believe you guys aren't backing me on this."

So ya, he's not sorry, stop defending your douchebag caster.

User was warned for this post

Last edit: 2012-02-29 04:27:03

biamila Canada. February 29 2012 04:16. Posts 335

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I'm a little late to the party it seems, but I'd just like to state I've enjoyed the Playhem dailies a lot, and was rather distressed to see the comments made by Katu.

However, the response by Ryan DeSanto has been rapid and very effective. It's effective and rapid responses like this that build brand loyalty among viewers. In the future, I can honestly state that if I'm in a situation where I'm in a toss up of what stream to watch, I'll probably choose Playhem, knowing that the business is headed by individuals who wish the best for the community as a whole.

Cheers

matiK23 United States. February 29 2012 04:21. Posts 879

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Another thing is this reminds me of when Artosis talked on State of the Game about how sometimes players would bash him in the lobbies--something about how tastosis delays the game. Anyways, Artosis would get rubbed the wrong way but still trucks on and casts the game professionally and has to be unbiased to the player that just bashed him in lobby.

The point is artosis's feelings didn't get to him, and Katu has no excuse, even If he accidentally mistook counter arguments as trolling in the chat room. Can't handle the heat? Get out the kitchen then.

Also: fuck typing on the iPhone and it's retarded spell check suggestions

Last edit: 2012-02-29 04:23:02

Without a paddle up shit creek.

steisjo Sweden. February 29 2012 04:23. Posts 68

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On February 29 2012 03:54 Cygnus-X1 wrote:

So ya, he's not sorry, stop defending your douchebag caster.

i've spoken with him (not as admin to caster) as friends. and he truely is sorry.

that is the only thing i'll say about this topic

twitter.com/steisjo - Stream Admin for Dreamhack

sereniity Sweden. February 29 2012 04:33. Posts 1132

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On February 28 2012 23:20 KatuStarcraft wrote:
This was posted in the reddit thread, though it will likely get buried so I re-post here.

Hello SC2 community,

First and foremost I'd like to apologize once again, and clarify in lieu of some of the comments here, that I did apologize last night not only on stream but I also approached a translator who communicated for me to Dragon my apologies and reasoning.

First I would like to say that trolling is not a professional way to act, though, it can be fun and in person I do it constantly, on air more rarely, but in both cases, I always do it for a laugh and never to tear anyone down.
Last night I had a lapse in judgement, thinking at the time that it would be funny to make comments which were inappropriate. I sincerely apologize for making these comments, and any negative impact it had on Dragon.

At the time, I unfortunately did not realize the kind of outrage I was creating. As I'm casting I glance quickly at the chat to look for any audio or video/overlay problems and then get back to the cast. Through these glances I did not appreciate the impact of my comments and thought it to be the usual minority of people who are either trying to stir things up or trolling right back. Bonk who was co-casting tried to warn me as he had his eye on the chat a lot more than I did, however, I did not understand.

So instead of clarifying immediately I just kept it going, unbeknownst to me, simply fueling the fire I had no intention of starting.

Finally, during a game I saw some comments made by co-casters which made no sense, considering the way I thought this was going and then I took a more than 2 second glance at the chat and started to realize what was happening. I was incredulous at first, truly stunned, I couldn't believe the way this had actually gone and I tried to apologize but it was too late. If you watched the video, you'll notice that I am rather calm about what I'm saying and nonchalant about the comments from chat. I really did not understand how South everything had gone.

I hope this clarifies things a bit, though I likely hope in vain. I do want to state that the things I said were from me, and my own mistakes, and that playhem has the best casters I've ever had the privilege to work with, who shouldn't all be painted with this brush.

To all those of you who tried to explain and continued to support I sincerely thank you for your efforts though I was in the wrong for ever even trying to make such jokes.

This just goes to show that you wouldn't really care if there wasn't such a huge outburst in the community, the thing is that you showed complete disrespect to a player who decided to participate in YOUR tournament. That in itself is shameful.

Funny how you use trolling and not paying attention to the chat as excuses too, first of all, what the hell makes you think you should be TROLLING at your WORK? Also, seeing as how you reacted to the actual chat when you were flaming Dragon just shows that you're outright lying in your post...

If you're gonna make an apology, make sure it's actually an apology and not some bullshit message with the intention of justifying your actions.

Hope you learn something now that you got yourself fired.

Last edit: 2012-02-29 04:35:17

"I am Day9, Holy shit!"

FidoDido United States. February 29 2012 04:40. Posts 1281

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On February 28 2012 21:06 MrCash wrote:

Show nested quote +

On February 28 2012 21:01 tofubeans wrote:

On February 28 2012 16:30 PlayhemTV wrote:
Hi everyone (and reddit),

I want to clear up a few things about what happened tonight, and explain the full details to those who may have missed some of it and only joined part way through.

Before I start, please be aware that I do not agree with the way Katu acted and we agree that he handled the situation badly, however I want to stress more than anything that Katu did not at any point actually believe Dragon was cheating. I want everyone to know this above all else because Dragon should not be dragged into this, he was not stream cheating and did nothing wrong.

What happened:
Dragon ended up on our stream as he has many times in the past, his viewers often multi-view our stream with his and so we got a large influx of viewers entering chat. Dragon's fans began criticizing Katu and his co-caster heavily during the cast and this later escalated into insults and trolling to which Katu responded by "trolling" them back. The members in chat didn't take well to this and began taking what he was saying to heart and further insulting Katu, unfortunately Katu did not step away from the situation but got caught up trying to incite the viewers with intentionally ridiculous claims (eventually hinting at him stream cheating as a cause for what we already knew was just bad lag on Dragon's part) from which point chat digressed to name calling, death threats, and pitch forks; chat became entirely unmanageable and things went down hill fast.

I want to stress again, while what Katu said was disrespectful and unprofessional, and he handled the situation very poorly, he did not actually think Dragon was cheating, or sincerely mean the other remarks he was making, they were all directed at angering the people flaming him in chat.

It's extremely unfortunate that the games we saw tonight were tarnished with childish arguments and poor behavior on our part, but what's done is done and we can't undo what transpired. Normally, respect for the players is our highest rule and one of the few we enforce with time-outs in chat, and having an incident like this occur was very out of character for how our casts normally transpire. If you were a first time viewer tonight I cannot blame you if you don't return to our stream, however I want to ask that everyone can try to put this behind us and give us a chance to improve our mistakes in the future.

From everyone that works on the production behind the PlayhemTV stream to the viewers, followers, fans, and players in our tournaments: we hope you'll accept our sincerest apologies and know that we recognize the mistakes that we made and don't intend to let them happen again.

Are you serious? No way that this apology is accepted. Trolling or not, he was way out of line. This is who Katu is not just from this cast but from previous casts. You guys run a good event, but it is tarnished by him. Will not watch a Playhem stream until you realize that he is no good for you. :|

Wait wait wait.
Are you telling me if you go to a store and an employee swears at you, you would rather have that employee fired instead of receiving $1000? Theoretical example of course, but don't you think you are taking this a bit too personally? An employee made a mistake and the company is owing up to it BIG time. Considering this level of response they will without a doubt have an internal discussion about this and I highly doubt anything of this nature will occur again or it will have serious repercussions. A start-up business can't afford either bad PR or to be throwing money out the window every time someone screws up.

Yes, because the same employee has been swearing at other customers as well while the company has been ignoring it until it has finally been brought to attention in public.

LGIMSeed FantasyToss~~ Hipster Seed fan before he made Code A

sereniity Sweden. February 29 2012 04:40. Posts 1132

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On February 28 2012 21:06 MrCash wrote:

Show nested quote +

On February 28 2012 21:01 tofubeans wrote:

If an employee fucks up the customer involved should get a compensation and the employee a punishment, one doesn't go over the other.

An example would be if an employee sells a certain product for the price of X amount of money when it actually costs Y amount of money, the company must still live up to what the employee said even if it's a false number, atleast that's what any serious company would do. The employee gets punished accordingly afterwards (in this case, the employee gets fired and Dragon (the customer) gets a compensation in the form of an invite to IPL 4).

While the above example doesn't equal an employee swearing at a customer, what I'm trying to say is; if an employee screws up he gets a punishment AND the customer gets a compensation (or in my example, gets his deal with the employee honored).

EDIT: Edited for clarification.

Last edit: 2012-02-29 04:55:47

"I am Day9, Holy shit!"

Dr_Jones Norway. February 29 2012 04:43. Posts 252

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Holy shit, people have too much time on their hands. This is such a non-issue, just put down your pitchforks and get on with your lives. Applaud Playhem for they way they have responded, back off Katu about what he did, and enjoy the next tournament they put on!

wubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwub I love me some dubstep wubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwub

dvorakftw February 29 2012 04:49. Posts 510

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Listening to the VoD and not knowing who Katu was before this, I thought he was an above average caster that lacked humility and situational awareness. I await the interview where he convinces us that he Gets It.

FidoDido United States. February 29 2012 05:10. Posts 1281

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I'll give everyone an example of how a professional caster handles things.

Moletrap, caster for GSL. Ever since he has been casting for GOM, he's been flamed, hated on, trolled by a part of the vocal community (gone on for almost a year). Yet, when do we ever see Moletrap react on live stream the same way Katu did? Never.
For those who knew him back since BW, probably still has the same respect for him. Others may not.

This to me, feels like how things should have been handled by a professional. Instead of lashing out at the community and blaming the viewers for "trolling" him so he wanted to "troll" them back.

In the end, I think it's a good lesson for all aspiring professional casters out there since there are so many casters now to a point where we must decide what is requirement for a professional caster?

LGIMSeed FantasyToss~~ Hipster Seed fan before he made Code A

Logan_ps United Kingdom. February 29 2012 05:28. Posts 105

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Went to bed feeling quite angry. Woke to read that RyanDeSanto and Playhem have handled this perfectly. Kudos to them - their prompt and appropriate action has restored my faith in Playhem and I shall be re-following their stream and continuing to respect the great work the remaining staff do with such enthusiasm.

Well played Playhem.

Playstuff

Silmu Finland. February 29 2012 05:32. Posts 34

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On February 28 2012 21:44 RyanDeSanto wrote:
So there's no confusion, my comment about retribution was not meant to indicate favor in either direction. It was more a theoretical proposition that probably did not belong in my post to begin with. That said, its probably best not to leave this open ended. I can assure everyone that Katu will no longer be a representative of Playhem, and seemingly shouldn't have been for some time.

I think firing Katu (as I understand this post) is kind of harsh the man made a big mistake I agree, but giving him another chance at this would hurt nobody as im sure he wants to continue casting for PlayhemTV

Better to make a mistake and win than to not make a mistake and lose -PsY

jianming February 29 2012 05:37. Posts 146

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On February 29 2012 05:32 Silmu wrote:

Show nested quote +

Apparently this was his second chance. Don't really know the details though, but I've seen people mentioning some stuff he said on stream a few weeks ago about an unrelated matter.

NGeX Canada. February 29 2012 05:43. Posts 72

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On February 28 2012 21:44 RyanDeSanto wrote:
I can assure everyone that Katu will no longer be a representative of Playhem, and seemingly shouldn't have been for some time.

I will now watch Playhem again. Can you reassure Bonk that none of this was his wrong and to continue being the great caster he is? Thanks.

NGeX from Team FemFX

Series7 United States. February 29 2012 05:45. Posts 12

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I haven't made a decision yet as to whether or not I think Katu should be allowed to continue casting.

On the one hand, he made a mistake, and I hate to see people get crucified for a lapse in judgment that may not be repeated.

On the other hand, his actions were incredibly immature and unprofessional. Casting is an inherently public role, the purpose of which is twofold: (1) to follow the action/gameplay and discuss the strategy/tactics, and (2) to serve as representative of the organization putting on the event by acting professionally and connecting with the audience.

Katu completely failed in his obligations as a representative of Playhem -he was extremely unprofessional (insulting players and making unfounded accusations has no place in a professional cast), and he was intentionally antagonizing the audience (which is completely counter to Playhem's interests.) In the west, it's often true that casters, even more than players, act as the face and mouth of Starcraft as an e-sport. The conduct of our casters reflects on the community as a whole, and their professional conduct reflects on the legitimacy of Starcraft in mainstream media.

Now, this was just a small Playhem tournament, not an MLG, so it's not quite that big of a deal. Still, if I had been checking out Starcraft for the first time last night, I don't think Katu's conduct would have inspired me to stick around.

Cygnus-X1 Canada. February 29 2012 05:58. Posts 14

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On February 29 2012 04:10 cydial wrote:

Show nested quote +

He was joking around, people thought he was serious, it wasn't funny, he apologized for the misunderstanding. I don't see what is incredibly offensive. There are some people above who were posting that Dragon was on his stream and that he thought it was a joke too while he confirmed he was going to IPL 4. The real joke is that some people are taking this way too seriously. If people are this upset with casters being somewhat rude to the players once in a while maybe they should stop watching GOM until they get Tastosis should apologize for all the casts of Legalmind, Butterflyeffect, early San and some of the others from the "jobber" era.

NA masters terran

lolsil United States. February 29 2012 06:38. Posts 36

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+1 playhem
katu needs an attitude reform, or a new job though. the guy does this to everyone, dragon just has a following to speak up.

Dark.Set United States. February 29 2012 06:39. Posts 3

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I have added playhem to my follow list and will tune in as often as I can. I have also disabled adblock on playhem, something I have only reserved for Grubby and dragon at this point. Thank you.