'Building trust is the hardest thing for smaller eSports organisations to get right'

The hardest part of running an eSports organisation is establishing trust between management and players, says AeroX eSports’ owner Oliver “Tazzz” Holloway.
Oliver was speaking to Cameron Peberdy during an interview for eSports News UK, and he shared his opinion on the challenges of running a UK org.
“I think the hardest thing about running an eSports organisation is [establishing] trust. People don’t have a lot of trust in eSports organisations.
“[Players] look at the key household names. For the UK League of Legends scene, they look at Choke, they look at Infused, and they look at FM. They look at the top tier teams that have a name for themselves and they trust them.”
“With us, we have to build that trust. And that is the hardest thing about running an eSports team.
“If you can build that barrier of trust, I think people will then have more faith in playing under your brand.
“By promising them the world and the stars, a lot of eSport organisations let their teams down time and time again – and that’s one thing we have never done, or will never do.
“So that is the hardest thing – having that trust barrier between the players, managers and owners of the organisation.”
Oliver also addressed the topic of eSports player contracts and poaching problems, which was touched upon in greater detail by TCA Luna in an interview with eSports News UK recently.
“I think that player contracts at a certain tier of competitive level are required,” he added. “I think at an amateur level with no financial backing, contracts are very hard to introduce – and is a trust bond more than anything.
“But other managers obviously mentioned that it is vital. It is vital at the top tier to implement player contracts, because player poaching does happen. But with an organisation such as ourselves, we pride ourselves on doing so much for our players.
“Some of our players have been approached by other teams and they have said: ‘I am not going; I am not being poached, because I like being in this organisation.’
“I think if you build that trust that I referred to earlier and that professionalism, a lot of players are willing to stay if they believe they can benefit from being a part of the organisation the future.
“But at the top tier level of eSports, player contracts are 100 per cent necessary.”
Clearly AeroX pride themselves on their trust-centred philosophy. And it’s paying off – the team finished second at the i56 League of Legends LAN, losing to Choke in the final (despite beating them 2-0 in the earlier stages).
You can check out our full interviews with AeroX eSports here.