Cheaters never prosper
Just over a year ago, Valve and eSports Entertainment Association shook the Counter-Strike scene by dishing out bans to a whole load of high-profile players who were caught match-fixing.
Duc ‘cud’ Pham, Derek ‘dboorn’ Boorn, Casey Foster, Sam ‘Dazed’ Marine, Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce, Keven ‘AZK’ Larivière, and Joshua ‘Steel’ Nissan surprisingly weren’t banned for having daft usernames.
Instead, they were all banned due to fixing a Cevo Season 5 match, with highly valuable in-game items being split amongst those involved.
At the time, Valve didn’t say how long the ban would last, while the ESEA said the players would be barred from attending their tournaments for a whole year.
The ESEA’s year-long ban expires this month, which in theory would’ve let the players return to the game. That would’ve been the case, had Valve not said in a new blog post that the bans they gave are actually permanent.
This means that should any tournament want sponsorship from Valve (basically every event worth attending), they will have to uphold that ban. They also imply that the Cevo Season 5 match isn’t a unique case and that all players caught match-fixing will get the same punishment:
Our decision was to ban these players indefinitely from involvement in Valve-sponsored events. To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned.
I just like the ruthlessness of this announcement. The ESEA were willing to forgive the players after a year, and then Valve rolls in on its tank of justice with a megaphone blaring “fuck you, it’s FOREVER” all while also waving a small flag of Gabe Newell giving them the middle finger. It’s pretty great.
I guess the players ‘cud’ have been let to play again, but Valve’s got a ‘steel’y conviction and ‘swag’gered away after the bans, leaving all involved ‘dazed.’
A Follow Up to Integrity and Fair Play [Counter-Strike: Global Offensive]
Just over a year ago, Valve and eSports Entertainment Association shook the Counter-Strike scene by dishing out bans to a whole load of high-profile players who were caught match-fixing.
Duc ‘cud’ Pham, Derek ‘dboorn’ Boorn, Casey Foster, Sam ‘Dazed’ Marine, Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce, Keven ‘AZK’ Larivière, and Joshua ‘Steel’ Nissan surprisingly weren’t banned for having daft usernames. Instead, they were all banned due to fixing a Cevo Season 5 match, with highly valuable in-game items being split amongst those involved.
At the time, Valve didn’t say how long the ban would last for, while the ESEA said the players would be barred from attending their tournaments for a whole year.
The ESEA’s year-long ban expires this month, which in theory would’ve let the players return to the game. That would’ve been the case, had Valve not said in a new blog post that the bans they gave are actually permanent.
This means that should any tournament want sponsorship from Valve (basically every event worth attending), they will have to uphold that ban. They also imply that the Cevo Season 5 match isn’t a unique case and that all players caught match-fixing will get the same punishment:
Our decision was to ban these players indefinitely from involvement in Valve-sponsored events. To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned.
I just like the ruthlessness of this announcement. The ESEA were willing to forgive the players after a year, and then Valve rolls in on its tank of justice with a megaphone blaring “fuck you, it’s FOREVER” all while waving a small flag of Gabe Newell giving them the middle finger. It’s pretty great.
I guess the players ‘cud’ have been let to play again, but Valve’s got a ‘steel’y conviction and ‘swag’gered away after the bans, leaving all involved ‘dazed’.
