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Overwatch League | Commissioner Nate Nanzer on diversity, player unions and where the league's rules are

Teams compete in the Overwatch League
Teams compete in the Overwatch League

Since it was announced, the Overwatch League has been met with more than a little cynicism and apprehension online. Questions of whether Overwatch was the right fit as an esport, of whether Blizzard have the right sort of outlook on it, and more were raised in the many months of drip-fed rumours and news.

Now that the Overwatch League has started, it’s clear that, for the average person who plays Overwatch, it is everything they could have wanted. Anyone with even a passing interest in esports will enjoy it, even if it may never meet the exaggerated expectations a year of hype created.

But beneath that veneer, there are some questions that need answering. Since the Overwatch League started, a number of sites have criticised the lack of diversity in the league (despite not being a gender-segregated league, all players are male, at time of writing) and one player has already been on the end of a suspension for making homophobic comments.

But the questions stretch even further than that. The rules and code of conduct for the Overwatch League have not been made public as yet, policies on doping in what is a professional sports league aren’t set in stone, and players are, reportedly, practicing for over 12 hours a day.

Nate Nanzer, commissioner of the Overwatch League, had a plain and simple answer when asked why we haven’t seen the rules: “we just haven't gotten around to it.” They do exist, but publishing them online has taken time.

Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer
Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer

“There are so many things that have to get done in order to launch the league,” says Nanzer. “We definitely want to publish the rules on the website - if you go to NBA.com you can download the rules, right? We want to have the same thing - it's something we're working towards, I don't know the exact timeline, but it's something that we're working on, and I think we'll have it published within the next few months.”

Similarly, players have signed a code of conduct, that, in the same way, hasn’t been published yet. That covers everything from player behaviour, both when competing and online, on social media, to policies on drug testing and doping in the Overwatch League.

Performance enhancing drugs threatening the legitimacy of  esports as a whole has become more of a concern for the industry. The ESL, a company that organises esports competitions worldwide, started to police performance-enhancing drugs in 2015 after a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player, Kory “Semphis” Friesen alleged that players were taking Adderall, a drug sometimes prescribed in the United States to help those with symptoms of ADHD. The World eSports Association (WESA), an association founded with ESL and other esports organisations, prohibits doping, specifically referring to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances.

There have been no suggestions of doping in the Overwatch League and when asked if there was a specific policy regarding Adderall and Ritalin (another popular stimulant), Nanzer said “nothing specific that I can share other than, when we publish the rules, we will probably look to also publish the code of conduct, which covers those areas.”

“I think it's important for people to know the standard that we're holding our players to,” says Nanzer. “And I don't think we're asking a lot, right? We're basically asking: don't be a jerk, which is just sort of a basic thing you would expect from any human interaction, and it's important for these players to remember.”

Overwatch League
Fans watch the Overwatch League at the Blizzard Arena

“I don't have any expectation that these players are role models necessarily, but they do need to understand that Overwatch is a game that is very broadly appealing. There are lots of young players, young fans, and it's important for them to know that when they're streaming, when they're playing, when they're on social media, there are 13-14 year olds out there that really look up to them and even idolise them. I think it's important for them to carry themselves in a professional manner that's consistent with everything we're doing around this League, we're really trying to create what we think is the most professional esport league, and I think we expect our players to act the same way.”

With regards to this, Nanzer’s team directly ensures these behaviour checks, and mentions that they’ve already made some rulings with regards to this. “There have been some rulings that have already been public that people have seen, we've done things that aren't public that people don't know about, but any time there's a big ruling, we expect that we will let the public know - whether it's a fine, or there's a suspension, we'll always be transparent with the community around that.”

With regards to public actions, a recent incident has put the limelight on Blizzard’s as-yet-unpublished code of conduct for the Overwatch League. Dallas Fuel player Félix “xQc” Lengyel has been fined $2000 and suspended for four matches for violating the code of conduct in an online stream. As reported by Kotaku, Lengyel aimed a homophobic slur at Houston Outlaws player Austin “Muma” Wilmot, who is openly gay. Wilmot described Lengyel as a “homophobic piece of garbage,” although the players have since apologised to each other.

Given the suspension, the code of conduct must ban this sort of behaviour, but it’s unclear what it specifically outlaws. Each puzzle here is missing a piece - the rules, the code of conduct, specifics on drug testing. Players have agreed to the code of conduct, and know what is expected of them, but the fact that it’s all behind closed doors means it’s hard to hold people accountable if things do go wrong.  Even for players, this may become difficult, as there is currently no player union or association to involve.

Overwatch League Dallas Fuel
Dallas Fuel enter the arena

Player representation comes from themselves and their teams and while the Overwatch League is open to players organising a union - Nanzer states that players are welcome to create one, but it’s “up to the players” to unionise or organise themselves in that way - nothing exists as of yet.

We approached the twelve teams in the Overwatch League to ask whether they would support unions. Florida Mayhem, New York Excelsior, Los Angeles Gladiators, and Boston Uprising replied to state they had no comment, Shanghai Dragons, Seoul Dynasty, Dallas Fuel, San Francisco Shock, Houston Outlaws, and Philadelphia Fusion did not respond, and Los Angeles Valiant were unable to get a formal comment. London Spitfire were the only team to have a response.

“Anything that leads the players both feeling as though they have the best possible chance at having a long and fruitful career in esports, and actually directly contributes to that, we would be absolutely in favour of,” says Dan Fiden, president of London Spitfire.

“If that's the way that the players want to go, we're fine with that. There are business pros and cons, at least in the US, for what that means for us; there can't be salary caps unless there's a player's union, so there are benefits and some perceived negatives.

Over watch League London Spitfire
London Spitfire enters the arena

“Across all of the games that we participate in, any time players are getting representation; that is professional,” says Fiden. “Whether it comes from a union or a player agency - one of the hardest things that we have to deal with is insufficient player representation; people that say 'I'm a player agent' but they don't have any experience with the industry. Sometimes they're not doing the best for the players, so the more quickly we can mature and the players are represented by individuals and organisations that have a full understanding of the industry, the better it will be for us.”

Nanzer often reiterates that he wants the Overwatch League to be professional, to be well-made, well-presented, and supported by some of the best in the esports industry. To the average viewer - it is; not many tournaments can compete with the Overwatch League in that regard. It is growing and, despite all appearances, is still in a teething stage - there is no such thing as an esports tournament that hasn’t suffered from problems at its opening.

There is, however, a clear feeling of Nanzer and the Overwatch League wanting to do more. Esports, as a whole, is an industry that is trying to shed the more unsavoury side of gaming culture. When asked what Blizzard and the Overwatch League are doing to ensure the game encourages diversity - despite the all-male team rosters - he knows there is more to do.

“There's no reason that women can't play in the OWL, there are no rules around it or anything like that,” says Nanzer. “My personal view is I think if you meet a 14 year old boy who plays a ton of video games, no-one bats an eye, but if you meet a 14 year old girl who plays a ton of video games, there's still, in some cultures, ‘well, why are you playing these games?’

Overwatch League LA Gladiators
Overwatch League players from the LA Gladiators

“It's not treated the same way, and Overwatch is a game that I think stands for diversity and inclusion and has a great message around hopefulness, and takes a very bright, hopeful view of the future. I hope that, in some small way, Overwatch can start to break some of that down and we have a huge fanbase of female fans. I'm really hopeful that players like Geguri in South Korea and other female players that are coming up feel like this is a welcoming and inclusive environment.

“Honestly, if we have pro players in our league or people that are a part of Overwatch esports that are not being welcoming to women, then they're just not going to be a part of this any more, I think that's something that's really important to us,” says Nanzer. “I know the team that we've built, our core dedicated team that works on the business side, is over 40% female,we can do better, but I think that's already way above what you'd see as the average in the industry or even in games, so I think: more work to do on that front, but hopefully with this type of content and putting a big spotlight on this, I hope that more young girls will view this as a thing that's okay for them to do too.”

Even here it’s a reminder that, despite all appearances, the Overwatch League must do more. They must publish the rules, they must work towards player representation, they must work towards ensuring beyond all doubt that the Overwatch League is not complicit in the lack of diversity in esports.

Given the game was apparently watched by over 10 million people in its opening weekend, these concerns might not have reached the Overwatch League’s main audience. For the Overwatch League to be truly professional, though, and to reach the heights of mainstream popularity: there is still work to be done.