One of the Overwatch Leagues “leakboys” Michael “MykL” Padilla, who has a self claimed 100% record in revealing roster leaks this off-season, has been using an official Overwatch league document in order to make these correct leaks. The document is a spreadsheet that is being used by all the Overwatch Leagues team to update each other on player signings that have been made. Sources with in the Overwatch League who have grown increasingly tired of MykL's lack of journalistic approach and etiquette, have shared this list with myself to show how MykL has been able to leak this information.
The official sheet is designed to be shared between the teams only and provides each other with information as to how they've attempted to improve during the off season by stating which players they have signed, clearly stating if the player's contract has been approved by Blizzard. League sources have advised that this would have been passed to him by a team official and shouldn't have been shared to MykL or anyone else. Once this document was passed on to myself, it was the reason that I personally stopped sharing any further roster leaks.
Overwatch League teams started to notice that their roster moves were being leaked by MykL, when he started to share the roster moves shortly after they had updated the official document. MykL has checked this sheet on a regular basis and this inside information has allowed MykL to constantly share the moves and claim they were provided to him by multiple sources, when the majority infact came from this document. A prime example of this was when Daniel "Dafran" Francesca was rumoured to have been signed by either a contenders or the Atlanta Overwatch League team. MykL stated that woke up and checked with sources when in fact, he was able to check the document to see that it had been updated and then "confirm" the information as a sourced leak.
With this information, MykL has also been able to tease that more information is coming soon, allowing him to over hype roster leaks that had been shared by other leakers and claim they were his, but also the reason as to why he's not been able to share any information of teams who've been able to keep their information secret, such as the Vancouver franchise.
MykL's approach to these leaks have not only drawn the ire of the previously mentioned team officials by not reaching out for comment before sharing this information, but also esport journalists and writers from both within Overwatch and outside of the esport. While not claiming to be a journalist, MykL's YouTube style announcements which he's been monetising on his page. Has caused blow back effects to other journalists who have been attempting to contact Overwatch League teams for comment or work.
During his time sharing the league's roster moves, he's also caused a conflict of interested by taking a position as Head Coach to Contenders trials team Phase 2. This has meant that MykL has potentially caused issues within teams who he will be coaching against, by sharing which players have been signed by OWL. This has potentially given Phase 2 an extra advantage as they qualified for season three of Contenders North America, allowing them more time to focus and prepare on their season to come.
While the information he's shared around buyouts and other extra information have come from sources close to MykL and not from this document. He's been able to use this to his advantage and blindside league representatives with the knowledge that shouldn't have become public on such a regular basis.
As the Overwatch League teams are now starting to announce their new rosters for the 2019 season. It will be interesting to see if MykL will continue to release the information the way he has, using his claim that he's holds on to the information he's received till it's 100% confirmed and waiting on this form to be updated, or if he starts to respect the work of esport journalists, who've put in the hard work and effort to obtain information in a more ethical manner. I can confirm that MykL wasn't asked to comment on this report.
(If you want to read more Overwatch League related content, make sure you follow me on Twitter @haloofthoughts)
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ReplyDelete1. This tells me MykL had a great source - A document! Well done MykL.
ReplyDelete2. What Blowbacks to other Journalists has MykL Leaks caused? You were very vague.
3. You complain about this being unethical? This sort of reporting has happened for decades, “WikiLeaks”, “Watergate Scandel”, etc. Doesn’t matter what your source is!
4. I’ve also no issue with people monetizing leaks! All newspapers do it!
Looks like we gotta mYkL fan boy here. Mykl has to release information that isn't suppose to go out to compensate for the fact that on his own he has no real personality or ability to create content.
DeleteI actually dislike MykL for your info. I just feel this article is irrelevant between 2 children.
DeleteThis ain't it chief
ReplyDeleteHe's not gaining any competitive advantage in his coaching because he's leaking all the info he gets- any contenders or contenders trials coaches have access to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's also not fair to villainize him for monetization- he tried starting a patreon to support his channel during the off season, something which didn't pan out. This is crucial to note because without active OWL games his channel would die during the off season, meaning that once the active season comes back his channel wouldn't be around.
Another thing- if the league really wanted to get mykl OUT of this document, it would not be difficult to generate a new one and share it with everyone who they deem should be able to read it, i.e. not mykl. If they're using a good program, they will be able to see who invited him to the previous doc and take some sort of punitive action against them or something like that.
I understand that you don't respect mykl's journalistic practices, but as a journalist you have opportunities outside of OWL. Mykl has been trying for years to make a career out of Overwatch- see his professional career, his current status as a community figure, and his foray into coaching. Is it really unfair of him to try and sustain himself with overwatch while trying to put himself into a more legitimate coaching position? Theoretically, if this coaching thing pans out, he won't have to put other journalists at a disadvantage like this anyways, so in the long run it makes the most sense to just let him be. If you launch attacks at him like this, you lose him as a potential source when he makes the big leagues.
Finally, I have a hard time seeing how he's in the wrong here. I personally am a fan of mykl's format, although some criticize it for being low effort. Youtube is all about personality, and I like his personality. His format presents news and personality, which articles have a hard time doing. Frankly, if you think he has an unfair advantage, just write articles about his leaks.
I respect your work, I hope I didn't come off as condescending.
I would also like to be informed if I have based my arguments off of misunderstanding or misinformation about journalism.
Sincerely,
Geoff N