Establish a GHSA managed, coach advised, sanctioned esports program utilizing an alternative to PlayVS
In just a few short years, we have seen esports take off in Georgia high schools and provide numerous benefits for every type of student. While we know student athletes want and need esports as an option, coaches feel the current platform is letting everyone down (students, coaches, parents, GHSA, etc).
Some of the current failings:
- There is no accountability for coaches (some teams are student led with a coach “figure head”)
- Team no-shows with no communication/forfeits are rampant. Not only is this a waste of time for teams that show up, but some schools are trying to build a program that involves streaming matches for stakeholder and fans. No-shows and forfeits are hard to explain and hurt the retention of viewership.
- Here at the end of the 2021 season a policy was introduced that if teams had not played a match from the regular season they could agree to a 1-1 tie. This would give each team a game win and definitely has affected the standings in other states with teams climbing rankings without actually playing games.
- Teams from around the country had game issues not resolved and outstanding support tickets for most of the season. Communication and transparency is lacking.
- In collegiate Overwatch, a three-way tie for playoffs was decided by a coin flip instead of a method with more merit and less luck.
- PlayVS has clearly stated rules with no consequences stated for failure to violate rules. For example, a school recently used an unrostered ringer against a GA team. This is prohibited, but no consequence or penalty is clearly stated/enforced.
- PlayVS representatives (supposed to be our direct line of communication to the company) have had a high turnover rate (one school just started Fall 2020 and is already on their third different rep) and are seemingly assigned at random (Two schools that are ten minutes from each other in Columbia County have different representatives).
These are just a few examples of many we can pull from just the 2021 Spring Season alone. If you go back to previous seasons, most of the above complaints still apply.
In alignment with the mission of GHSA, we want to create a standardized high school esports program designed by Georgia centered around the mental, physical, and education advancement of participating GA athletes. This program shall aim to be a standard for state sanctioned esports around the country in it's promotion of well-being and sportsmanship as aligned with the mission statement of GHSA.
Updates
April 26, 2021
The silence from GHSA leadership is deafening while these schools continue to suffer through the absolute incompetence of PlayVS. We are done waiting for them to pretend that a platform riddled with broken rules and fraudulent standings is acceptable for our students.
April 26, 2021
The momentum behind this push proves the GHSA can no longer ignore the disastrous failures of the current platform. We are tired of the constant forfeits and the complete lack of accountability allowed by PlayVS and we demand a system that actually respects our student athletes.
25 Comments
The platform is poorly run. Recently, they excluded an undefeated team from the playoff bracket. They clearly lack the ability to manage Esports leagues on a national or state level.
Just to many issues with PlayVS over the past couple of years to list all of my grievances but the absolute worst was last semester when we were not even notified that the state playoffs were starting on Saturday and thus had a forfeit and out of the tournament. But MANY other issues.
So over PlayVS. I agree with everything on this petition. The biggest frustration this season was the no shows and my rep told me that my LOL and Smash teams had a Bye Week and they scheduled a full week anyway. They have yet to explain how this has happened. Communication is pretty much nonexistent with my Rep.
The rules don't protect my time as a coach or my players time. Unresolved tickets have been an issue. Dissatisfied with the lack of play testing prior to release of games. We spent $1,000 on consoles only to find out we can't play certain games on our network. Ridiculous.
All GHSA sports have an officials present during sporting matches; PlayVS relies on an honor system with coaches which is deeply inconsistent with the GHSA. Poor sportsmanship should be penalized by benching players, fines, etc. To cite the petition, "PlayVS has clearly stated rules with no consequences stated for failure to violate rules. For example, a school recently used an unrostered ringer against a GA team. This is prohibited, but no consequence or penalty is clearly stated/enforced."
Only if we can find a better alternative with varsity status
I think this a great idea, having a true regulating body to govern matches rather on relying on PlayVS would be very beneficial for all.
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Establish a GHSA managed, coach advised, sanctioned esports program utilizing an alternative to PlayVS
In just a few short years, we have seen esports take off in Georgia high schools and provide numerous benefits for every type of student. While we know student athletes want and need esports as an option, coaches feel the current platform is letting everyone down (students, coaches, parents, GHSA, etc).
Some of the current failings:
- There is no accountability for coaches (some teams are student led with a coach “figure head”)
- Team no-shows with no communication/forfeits are rampant. Not only is this a waste of time for teams that show up, but some schools are trying to build a program that involves streaming matches for stakeholder and fans. No-shows and forfeits are hard to explain and hurt the retention of viewership.
- Here at the end of the 2021 season a policy was introduced that if teams had not played a match from the regular season they could agree to a 1-1 tie. This would give each team a game win and definitely has affected the standings in other states with teams climbing rankings without actually playing games.
- Teams from around the country had game issues not resolved and outstanding support tickets for most of the season. Communication and transparency is lacking.
- In collegiate Overwatch, a three-way tie for playoffs was decided by a coin flip instead of a method with more merit and less luck.
- PlayVS has clearly stated rules with no consequences stated for failure to violate rules. For example, a school recently used an unrostered ringer against a GA team. This is prohibited, but no consequence or penalty is clearly stated/enforced.
- PlayVS representatives (supposed to be our direct line of communication to the company) have had a high turnover rate (one school just started Fall 2020 and is already on their third different rep) and are seemingly assigned at random (Two schools that are ten minutes from each other in Columbia County have different representatives).
These are just a few examples of many we can pull from just the 2021 Spring Season alone. If you go back to previous seasons, most of the above complaints still apply.
In alignment with the mission of GHSA, we want to create a standardized high school esports program designed by Georgia centered around the mental, physical, and education advancement of participating GA athletes. This program shall aim to be a standard for state sanctioned esports around the country in it's promotion of well-being and sportsmanship as aligned with the mission statement of GHSA.
Updates
April 26, 2021
The silence from GHSA leadership is deafening while these schools continue to suffer through the absolute incompetence of PlayVS. We are done waiting for them to pretend that a platform riddled with broken rules and fraudulent standings is acceptable for our students.
April 26, 2021
The momentum behind this push proves the GHSA can no longer ignore the disastrous failures of the current platform. We are tired of the constant forfeits and the complete lack of accountability allowed by PlayVS and we demand a system that actually respects our student athletes.
25 Comments
At the beginning of the spring seson, we were told that regional League of Legends would still be against Georgia schools. This was not true, as we went against schools from PA,MD, DC, NY, FL, and Canada
The platform is poorly run. Recently, they excluded an undefeated team from the playoff bracket. They clearly lack the ability to manage Esports leagues on a national or state level.
Just to many issues with PlayVS over the past couple of years to list all of my grievances but the absolute worst was last semester when we were not even notified that the state playoffs were starting on Saturday and thus had a forfeit and out of the tournament. But MANY other issues.
So over PlayVS. I agree with everything on this petition. The biggest frustration this season was the no shows and my rep told me that my LOL and Smash teams had a Bye Week and they scheduled a full week anyway. They have yet to explain how this has happened. Communication is pretty much nonexistent with my Rep.
The rules don't protect my time as a coach or my players time. Unresolved tickets have been an issue. Dissatisfied with the lack of play testing prior to release of games. We spent $1,000 on consoles only to find out we can't play certain games on our network. Ridiculous.
All GHSA sports have an officials present during sporting matches; PlayVS relies on an honor system with coaches which is deeply inconsistent with the GHSA. Poor sportsmanship should be penalized by benching players, fines, etc. To cite the petition, "PlayVS has clearly stated rules with no consequences stated for failure to violate rules. For example, a school recently used an unrostered ringer against a GA team. This is prohibited, but no consequence or penalty is clearly stated/enforced."
Only if we can find a better alternative with varsity status
I think this a great idea, having a true regulating body to govern matches rather on relying on PlayVS would be very beneficial for all.
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At the beginning of the spring seson, we were told that regional League of Legends would still be against Georgia schools. This was not true, as we went against schools from PA,MD, DC, NY, FL, and Canada