So ive been reading an article posted by Anthony Hodgson otherwise known in the community as Scantzor s Mineski's analyst. Here is the highlights of the things treated him for misstreatment and more.
Company culture
Personal treatment
Treatment of others
Company culture
While Mineski works hard to convince people it functions like a family, I experienced it to be more like a cult. The company was very controlling of and suspicious about my interactions with basically anyone else while I was working for them. From the first week I arrived, I was given a list of people I was not to associate with or talk to. For example, I was expected to have no interaction with anyone who worked for Tier One Entertainment, TNC or Execration — more or less everyone else in the local industry who wasn’t part of or affiliated with Mineski. I remember being reprimanded by management, two months after attending Galaxy Battles Season 1 in China, for having dinner with some Fallout Gaming employees after the LAN concluded.
Everyone who works for Mineski in the Philippines is expected to show extreme deference to the big bosses, Ronald Robins and Dar Andrew Cayabyab. Nobody questions them ever, and indeed I found myself being warned by other employees not to do so. Though Ronald himself initially encouraged me to be critical in our interactions, I would later realise this was driven more by self-interest than humility.
Personal treatment
One day, we were woken up to the news that the team was being restructured — some players were being kicked and needed to leave immediately. I was also being moved to a different accommodation.
However, my new accommodation turned out to be an absolute nightmare. It was a house that was being used primarily as an office for Mineski’s accounting department, though it had bedrooms upstairs, one of which I would occupy. It did not have flushing toilets. It did not have drinkable water.
Treatment of others
Even worse than the conditions I was subjected to by Mineski was finding out that some of the players in Happyfeet earned a salary as low as 8000php ($150) per month. This is less than the minimum wage in the Philippines, which itself is obscenely low.
When I raised the issue with Ronald, he told me I didn’t understand “Filipino mentality” and that paying players more would only result in them wasting that money.
I insisted on a minimum salary being set at $300. To the best of my knowledge, this is what happened, though I’m told the situation reversed once I was later dismissed.
Another incident where Mineski showed a lack of professionalism in taking care of their players was with ROG Masters 2017. A few weeks before the LAN, someone realised that the events team didn’t have enough computers for the LAN. Their solution? They took the extra computers from the Mineski Bootcamp. Mineski’s CS:GO team, who had 3 upcoming LANs that month, were made to practise at internet cafes for two weeks.
The fact that players are too afraid to speak out about this should serve as further emphasis of the kind of company culture Mineski has.
That said, Mineski Corporation has hundreds of employees, and continues to exploit most of them.
