14 DAY TRIAL // There are a lot of official tournaments and competitions organized by game developers or serious gaming networks. These will probably have no problem in giving you the exact cash prize they have promised or offer a full refund if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, there are a ton of other competitions organized in the world and some have no intention in handing out any cash. Here is a story that should make you think twice before joining a competition you don't have many details about.
According to Gamerush Entertainment, a video game tournament in Ohio has left quite a few children and parents disappointed, outraged and with less money. Everything began when The Gaming Nation (TGN) hosted a "$5K Regional Open" Saturday at the Cold Fusion LAN Center video game store in Ohio, with a multi-game scheduled tournament.
TGN claims to have over 15,000 registered players and organizes different competition across the US, but it seems that (at least) sometimes, they don't have any intention to hand out some money, as it happened in Ohio. During the event, consisting of Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Guitar Hero III matches, the TGN members announced the LAN Center that a "family emergency" had occurred and that they had to leave.
The manager accepted but told TGN to leave the prize money before they could leave, but they refused. They also refused to offer re-funds for the teams that already entered the competition, so the police was called. Eventually, TGN was convinced to refund some of the team's money, but others only got 3/4 of what they paid. The police explained that it was a civil matter between the participants and the TGN, so they had their hands tied.
Now, having in mind that some parents spent up to $2000 to take their kids to the tournament and the prizes they announced should have totaled $5000, not the few hundred bucks they eventually gave, people seem right when they call this whole "competition" a scam. So watch out for such things!
The LAN Center where the tournament started issued a public apology, letting everybody know that it was not their fault. Todd Metzendorf, co-owner of the LAN Center, said: "CFLC never received payment for the rent for the day either. Unfortunately this was a bad experience for all and we do apologize."