[Pandan]

We were presented an unprofessional contract that could not sign.

I have read the standard AVANT player contract before - and it's nothing special and nothing undue or unfair to the players; there are some key points in it that every gaming team related contract has stipulations on, such as;

• All gaming gear/provided equipment belongs to the org until X time (usually 6 months or something like that) - so that players dont join then quit immediately after receiving gear
• There are standard no abuse/code of conduct in it (normal stuff)
• Players are expected to be involved in content creation, twitter/facebook stuff (all normal stuff)
• Product reviews are also a standard thing, last copy I saw had I think 1 month requirements in it
• Conditions of notice with regards to the org paying online/lan fees (normal)

I can understand that someone who doesn't deal with contracts might think that you're getting dealt with unfairly, but there is NOTHING wrong with the AVANT contracts I have seen.

In my personal opinion though, I don't like how wordy and 'traditional' the contract is. I can see it as a mental hurdle for younger gamers to get over - as it just appears over-the-top to most.

For the record, with Archaic we never made players sign a lengthy or wordy contract, we just made them sign a code of conduct and straight up told them the minimum promise of commitment, and their rules (don't be a retard) and we signed off on that document. Some of the commitments were min. 1 international trip per year, some were a minimum of 4 national trips, some where simply gear + online + lan fees.

Every contract is different to some extent because every player is different.

If you're blaming the contract, I'd be confident in saying it's an overreaction. If you have other reasons and are just using this as the final kicker; then that's fair enough - but let me assure you, the AVANT contract that I've seen is perfectly fine and reasonable. I personally think it should appear less wordy as gamers are younger, mostly inexperienced in business - but never-the-less there is nothing dodgy about the contract, it is very standard practice.

[SLCN.Petrify]

Originally Posted by Pandan

If you're blaming the contract, I'd be confident in saying it's an overreaction. If you have other reasons and are just using this as the final kicker; then that's fair enough - but let me assure you, the AVANT contract that I've seen is perfectly fine and reasonable. I personally think it should appear less wordy as gamers are younger, mostly inexperienced in business - but never-the-less there is nothing dodgy about the contract, it is very standard practice.

I'm studying commercial law and contract law was one of my strongest subjects - so let me assure you the avant contract (if you want to call it that) was pretty much a joke. There is absolutely no way it should ever be considered 'fine and reasonable' practice. Disclaimer: I'm not sure if its changed since i've seen it.

What the contract provided players:

1. A piece of gear from gamecom; however only if they are considered 'core'. And then its said that the captain gets to decide who is core, but followed up by this little gem.

AVANT management have the final say on who is core and who is sub.

2. Erm... nothing else? It offers the 'prospect' of LAN entry and flight payments.

What the contract takes away from players:

1. Every right possible. Basically if you forget to brush your teeth in the morning I'm pretty sure Avant can terminate the contract.

My personal favourite quotes from the contract:

2.

5.2.2 "; these consequences are looked at on a case by case basis with AVANT management. There is no limit to what AVANT can do."

3:

1.1.1. If a team wishes to leave AVANT, four (4) weeks’ notice must be provided in writing to either of the following emails in point 5.5.1 before the end of the four (4) month period.
1.1.2. If no written warning is provided in time and the team or player still decide to leave, AVANT reserve the right to recall all support given, from product, gear & financial support.

4:

5.7 Breaches of this Agreement are determined by AVANT management.

Seriously you'd think that if they were going to provide as many ridiculous terms in the contract as they did, they'd at least provide some sort of arbitration clause, but nope if avant says you did something wrong - you better believe you did.