Den tidligere manager for det kinesiske mandskab LMQ, Sharon fortæller sin historie i dag ved at offentliggøre sin version af hendes historie og relation til klubben på facebook.
Inde i historien beskriver hun blandt andet om hvordan hun er kommet i kontakt med hele idéen bag LMQ og ligeledes hvordan hendes fyring gik til. Hun fortæller blandt andet også at hun føler sig som en storesøster for holdet, og derved ikke har modtaget nogle kontakter fra klubbens ejere.
Hele historien kan læses her:
Little about me & how I got involved with LMQ
Team LMQ came to Los Angeles in December of 2013, and the whole operations was funded by a man with the alias of “Tian Ci”, who I’ve never met. I was approached by Eno Li (http://blog.ibuypower.com/lmq/), who told me that he was disgusted of the scandanlous Chinese eSports scene and wants to build a team that will be treated fairly in the U.S. I was touched by Eno’s initiative to pave a road for a team of young players to chase their dreams. At the time I was a graduate student of USC, and since the team will be based in LA, I agreed to help.
My Role Within LMQ
I took care of everything on the team: buying food, scheduling scrims, grocery shopping, haircuts, translating, paying bills and many other things you need to do to manage a team of young players who cannot speak English. After being with the team for a while, I felt like a big sister to the players, and as a big sister, I didn’t mind helping and taking care of my little brothers. It was very rewarding for me when the team wins, and when we made it to the LCS, it was all worth it.
The LMQ Hardships
The journey team LMQ had to encounter wasn’t easy. When the team arrived in LA, we couldn’t find a place to live. Most landlords freaked out when they heard a team of gamers were going to play computers in their house all day. After searching for two weeks, we finally found a house that allowed the team to stay under the conditions that we prepay 6-months of rent. The team funding was limited and after paying the 6-months’ rent and the furniture, we didn’t have much money left. In late February Eno had to go back to China and by beginning of March, we were completely out of money. Soon I was told by Eno that the man who funded the team, Tian Ci, had disappeared. Although Eno informed the team of the situation, he didn’t send any money or have any solutions. I then began paying for the team’s expenditures from my own pockets because I wasn’t going to let the team fail after overcoming so many difficulties. Fortunately the Chinese community in LA was very helpful.
What Team LMQ Means to Me
It is important to note that up to this day I have never received any money from Team LMQ. Tian Ci has never employed me nor have I ever been compensated for my work. Like I stated earlier, the players were like brothers to me and we were working together to achieve a dream. Coming from fortunate backgrounds, I was never in it for the money. I only wanted the players to be protected and treated fairly. In late January I began to worry for the players because Eno mentioned several times on the idea of bringing new players to LA from China ( Article ). We had several arguments on the topic but after the team’s financial crisis, it wasn’t brought up again. I did my thesis on Chinese eSports scene when I was obtaining my Master’s at LSE, and I know how chaotic and disturbing the scene is. Although the NA scene is much more professional, I still wanted to make sure that the players were always protected. To me, Team LMQ is family.
The Facebook Post
The team and players have been represented in the LCS by our former sponsor LolClass. The players are contracted under LolClass and their P1-A Visas are approved by USCIS with LolClass as an employer. The independent company has never interfered with the team’s gameplay operations nor made any profits from the team. LolClass told us to just focus on playing the game. Up till this day they have handled the paperwork for us and distributed all the Riot salary. In early July I was informed that there has been a dispute involving Team LMQ. Due to legal matters, I can’t comment much on the dispute, but the Chinese company Tian Ci has come to LA to claim their relationship to Team LMQ.
On Friday I was informed that I was fired from Team LMQ (https://www.facebook.com/LMQiBUYPOWER). I had no idea why the owner is “Luyu Esports LLC” and that I have been fired. All of the Team LMQ staff and players found out about it via Reddit. I was very confused of the matter because there weren’t any formal or informal notices that I have been fired, and then the next day I was told that I was not allowed to go to the LCS Studio with the team anymore and the new Team LMQ general manager is Alex Gu, the former Team LMQ assistant manager.
Again, the whole LMQ project was founded on the idea that we wanted the players to enjoy the game in a much more healthier environment than the one in China, where everything (here in NA) would be supervised directly by Riot so issues like Royal Club’s Mid laner Wh1t3zZ not receiving his S3 Worlds prize money wouldn’t happen to LMQ players. And when I see TC creating such a drama, after clearly failing their original duties for months, this close to playoffs and qualification to worlds, I can’t help but think that they didn’t even consider how it would affect the players, but focused only on their own interests.
I wanted to clarify the situation for all the fans out there who support us since we came and made us feel loved just as much as the next LCS team. Such a conflict could end up costing LMQ it’s LCS status, so we will do all that is possible to make sure the players don’t face disqualification and can still enjoy playing the game we all love so much in the best possible environment.