Do you want to stream the Arlington Major as a community streamer or as a talent? Checking out their guidelines in advance is advisable because they can surprise you.

Between independent/community streamers and the official Tournament broadcasts of events, there have long been arguments and tensions.

Just a short time after ESL made their exclusive streaming agreement with Facebook for all Pro Circuit events public in 2018, Due to a DMCA that ESL had issued to Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, Peter “ppd,” and Brian “BananaSlamJamma” Canavan for streaming their tournament, they were in the spotlight. Valve intervened to clarify their position over the controversy, effectively restating that it will be permitted:

“It’ll be our judgment alone on who violates this guideline and not any other third party’s.”

After that, ESL apologized to its Reddit fans, but the problems persisted. Despite Valve’s clear prohibition, numerous situations have since arisen involving the exact same problem.

A few months later, Valve released an additional statement regarding broadcasting rights.

“We’ve also heard your feedback and concerns around Dota TV streaming rights. This has been a topic we’ve discussed openly in the past and, as we gathered more data, our thoughts have evolved slightly. We ultimately still believe that community streamers providing their own commentary of a tournament is a net positive value to fans and the competitive scene. We also believe that in the long term, the tournament themselves benefit from additional exposure to fans of those community streamers. However, it is true that this can cause a short term loss of revenue as well as a reduced ability to monetize more effectively for tournament organizers. Starting September 15, the Dota license will be updated to reflect the following: Organizers that run Dota 2 Tournaments will have to provide community streamers with a reasonable and simple to execute set of non-monetary requirements, such as displaying the organizers sponsors on their streams or having a slight delay on the games. Community streamers will be able to use the DotaTV feed in their broadcast as long as they agree to those requirements.”

Because of this, the tournament organizers released comprehensive community broadcasting guidelines in advance.

The PGL published its streaming policies in advance of the Arlington Major.

In a tweet from PGL’s official twitter page:

PGL

@pglesports

“📺PGL Arlington Major 2022 – Community broadcast rules and guidelines

🔗 http://bit.ly/3zb1k9T

#PGLMajor”

But a closer examination of the regulations reveals the following:

“It is your responsibility to maintain a clean and positive image around “PGL Arlington Major 2022” during broadcasts. This includes but is not limited to the social media, responses, words, and actions of you and others you choose to broadcast with.”

Read it once more.

“(…)clean and positive image around “PGL Arlington Major 2022” during broadcasts”

Does that imply that you cannot openly criticize, complain about, or point out problems with the event’s production or execution? It certainly has that tone, and it might easily be taken to indicate such if used correctly.

For comparison, let’s look at the rules for the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022.

“Create a positive and inclusive environment and ensure proper moderation of your chat.”

This declaration and its criteria appear more than just fair and compliant. It doesn’t slant toward suggesting a move to limit the broadcaster’s ability to speak freely about the event.

Additionally, it most definitely excludes social networking sites that are not aired.

So, is this an effort to stop the event rather than the backlash to PGL?

Is it too distant to consider what might come next?

Do they scrub or remove comments and responses to social media threads where they get criticism of the production, as in this case?

In a tweet from PGL’s official twitter page:

PGL

@pglesports

“🏆PGL ranked second most valuable tournament organizer in esports 

🗞️Read more about the analysis: http://bit.ly/3aiwtiP”

Perhaps our reactions are a little over the top, but in any case, buyer (or broadcaster) beware.