Valve Swings the Banhammer Down on CS:GO Match-Fixers

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
9,354
0
0
Valve Swings the Banhammer Down on CS:GO Match-Fixers


The individuals implicated in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match-fixing scandal have been banned for life.

You may have heard about the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match-fixing scandal [http://www.dailydot.com/esports/match-fixing-counter-strike-ibuypower-netcode-guides/] that rocked the game's competitive scene last year. Valve has now processed all the evidence and information, and passed its judgement down on all of those who were implicated in tarnishing the game's name. The punishment? A life-time ban from any and all Valve-sponsored eSports events. Ouch.

"We can confirm, by investigating the historical activity of relevant accounts, that a substantial number of high valued items won from [the alleged match-fixing] match by Duc 'cud' Pham were transferred (via Derek 'dboorn' Boorn) to iBUYPOWER players and NetCodeGuides founder, Casey Foster," stated Valve in an official statement [http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2015/01/11261/].

"All together, the information we have collected and received makes us uncomfortable continuing any involvement with these individuals," it continued. "Therefore we will be directing our CS:GO event partners to not allow any of [these] individuals' participation in any capacity in Valve-sponsored events."

For the record, the individuals Valve is referring to are:

Duc "cud" Pham
Derek "dboorn" Boorn
Casey Foster
Sam "Dazed" Marine
Braxton "swag" Pierce
Keven "AZK" Larivière
Joshua "Steel" Nissan

Furthermore, Valve clarified to its player base that "Professional players, their managers, and teams' organization staff, should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches," something that should really have been a given by this stage.

CS:GO has really exploded as an eSport over these past few years, and just like League of Legends before it, you gotta take the good with the bad [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135015-Riot-Bans-League-of-Legends-Pros-For-Toxic-Behavior].

Source: Valve [http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2015/01/11261/]

Permalink
 

Vigormortis

New member
Nov 21, 2007
4,531
0
0
It's sad, really, that so many 'black marks' have been placed, in such a short period of time, on CS:GO specifically and e-sports in general. These past few months have been fairly rough for the scene.

Still, good on Valve for taking action against such behavior and for weeding out those who want to exploit their position so as to take advantage of the scene and the community.

And frankly, I feel the banned players got lucky. In other professional sports leagues, legal action has been taken against players for less egregious charges.
 

SomeLameStuff

What type of steak are you?
Apr 26, 2009
4,291
0
0
Wonder if they'll do the same for the Dota 2 matchfixers. Solo, DDZ and Lance are all still playing competitively I believe (well Solo is, not sure about DDZ or Lance).
 

Dectomax

New member
Jun 17, 2010
1,761
0
0
Just wanted to point out that they haven't been given a "life-time" ban, The players have been banned for 1 year on ESEA and CEVO (with the possibility for ban renewals) and also had their teams removed from the faceit leagues.

At any rate, this is a pretty big blow for the NA CS:GO scene.
 

War_Dyn27

New member
Jan 22, 2014
54
0
0
SomeLameStuff said:
Wonder if they'll do the same for the Dota 2 matchfixers. Solo, DDZ and Lance are all still playing competitively I believe (well Solo is, not sure about DDZ or Lance).
Valve only sponsors The International in Dota 2, and these guys have only been banned from Valve sponsored events.



Dectomax said:
Just wanted to point out that they haven't been given a "life-time" ban, The players have been banned for 1 year on ESEA and CEVO (with the possibility for ban renewals) and also had their teams removed from the faceit leagues.

At any rate, this is a pretty big blow for the NA CS:GO scene.
No as far as I can tell, they have been banned for life, it just those organisations who have chosen a 1 year ban instead.

It sucks that scum like this are dragging CSGO down just as it is gaining popularity, especially cause they're ruining it for everyone just to make a quick buck,
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
8,407
0
0
if you dont want match fixing maybe you shouldnt turn your CS:GO tournaments into casino?
 

QuadFish

God Damn Sorcerer
Dec 25, 2010
302
0
0
Dectomax said:
Just wanted to point out that they haven't been given a "life-time" ban, The players have been banned for 1 year on ESEA and CEVO (with the possibility for ban renewals) and also had their teams removed from the faceit leagues.

At any rate, this is a pretty big blow for the NA CS:GO scene.
Sounds like the 'ban' is just a request from Valve that's only going to apply to the events they sponsor. Since ESEA is an independent organisation they'd be free to ignore it if they want. Not sure exactly what the relationship between Valve and CEVO is though.
 

SomeLameStuff

What type of steak are you?
Apr 26, 2009
4,291
0
0
War_Dyn27 said:
SomeLameStuff said:
Wonder if they'll do the same for the Dota 2 matchfixers. Solo, DDZ and Lance are all still playing competitively I believe (well Solo is, not sure about DDZ or Lance).
Valve only sponsors The International in Dota 2, and these guys have only been banned from Valve sponsored events.
Yeah, but the International is THE biggest Dota 2 tournament with the largest prize pool. How many organizations would be willing to have their team unable to qualify for it because one of their players was banned from attending? You essentially bump those match fixers down to Standin only status, or to B and C-list teams who don't stand a chance of going to the International in the first place.
 

Petromir

New member
Apr 10, 2010
593
0
0
Vigormortis said:
It's sad, really, that so many 'black marks' have been placed, in such a short period of time, on CS:GO specifically and e-sports in general. These past few months have been fairly rough for the scene.

Still, good on Valve for taking action against such behavior and for weeding out those who want to exploit their position so as to take advantage of the scene and the community.

And frankly, I feel the banned players got lucky. In other professional sports leagues, legal action has been taken against players for less egregious charges.
TRying to think of such things, genrally in the UK criminal cases come about if theres sufficent evidence for a fraud case, but in gerneal in pro sports civil cases are relitively rare as they are dealt with by bans and fines, that the sports own regulations apply not a civil court.
 

Meestor Pickle

New member
Jul 29, 2010
405
0
0
NuclearKangaroo said:
well it seems their little scheme ended up BOMBING

eh? EHH!?

ok i know where the exit is
I'm sure they'll think of something to defuse the situation.

The amount of gambling and betting that is going on in DotA and CS:GO seems a bit excessive.
 

Kahani

New member
May 25, 2011
927
0
0
Vigormortis said:
It's sad, really, that so many 'black marks' have been placed, in such a short period of time, on CS:GO specifically and e-sports in general. These past few months have been fairly rough for the scene.
Eh, par for the course really. Just today, there's been news that one of the top Korean swimmers has tested positive for doping, and Lance Armstrong has announced that he'd happily cheat again if given the chance. Match fixing is big business in football [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11364340/Fixers-may-have-rigged-up-to-1000-top-flight-games.html], and both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are constantly under fire for being little more than organised corruption distributors. These are just a few recent things off the top of my head, from someone who doesn't even follow sport.

Sure, it sucks that e-sports are the same, but it shouldn't be at all surprising and I don't think that it means things are particularly rough. If anything, it indicates the opposite - no-one would bother cheating if they weren't big and popular enough to be worth it. Not long ago, the idea of match fixing in a computer game would have been a complete joke, now it makes mainstream news [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pro-counter-strike-players-banned-by-valve-following-10000-match-fixing-investigation-1485323].
 

LaughingAtlas

New member
Nov 18, 2009
873
0
0
Meestor Pickle said:
NuclearKangaroo said:
well it seems their little scheme ended up BOMBING

eh? EHH!?

ok i know where the exit is
I'm sure they'll think of something to defuse the situation.

The amount of gambling and betting that is going on in DotA and CS:GO seems a bit excessive.
Hopefully things like this won't explode into another huge controversy.

I actually didn't know (but am by no means surprised) that people were doing much more than trading vulgarities in the big, popular, competitive titles. I wonder if it's awkward for the people that show up to that kind of game just having hoped to capture bases or shoot at stuff or what-have-you.
 

NuclearKangaroo

New member
Feb 7, 2014
1,919
0
0
LaughingAtlas said:
Meestor Pickle said:
NuclearKangaroo said:
well it seems their little scheme ended up BOMBING

eh? EHH!?

ok i know where the exit is
I'm sure they'll think of something to defuse the situation.

The amount of gambling and betting that is going on in DotA and CS:GO seems a bit excessive.
Hopefully things like this won't explode into another huge controversy.

I actually didn't know (but am by no means surprised) that people were doing much more than trading vulgarities in the big, popular, competitive titles. I wonder if it's awkward for the people that show up to that kind of game just having hoped to capture bases or shoot at stuff or what-have-you.
these guys definitively SHOT themselves in the foot

i dont get it, i mean you already have a relatively easy life playing video games to pay the rent, why throw it all down the drain, fucking stupid if you ask me
 

laggyteabag

Scrolling through forums, instead of playing games
Legacy
Oct 25, 2009
3,301
982
118
UK
Gender
He/Him
This is just sad.

Didn't another pro CS:GO player get banned last week for cheating? I mean, what is the point? Sure, it can guarantee you a win once, but what is the point if it is just going to bomb your career and your reputation?
 

Terminate421

New member
Jul 21, 2010
5,773
0
0
Vigormortis said:
It's sad, really, that so many 'black marks' have been placed, in such a short period of time, on CS:GO specifically and e-sports in general. These past few months have been fairly rough for the scene.
Surprisingly Smite has come around and shown there is still time to fix things.

I worked at the recent World Championships and so far I didn't notice any underlying corruption or rigged tables. People earned their way there.
 

Cronenberg1

New member
Aug 20, 2014
55
0
0
NuclearKangaroo said:
LaughingAtlas said:
Meestor Pickle said:
NuclearKangaroo said:
well it seems their little scheme ended up BOMBING

eh? EHH!?

ok i know where the exit is
I'm sure they'll think of something to defuse the situation.

The amount of gambling and betting that is going on in DotA and CS:GO seems a bit excessive.
Hopefully things like this won't explode into another huge controversy.

I actually didn't know (but am by no means surprised) that people were doing much more than trading vulgarities in the big, popular, competitive titles. I wonder if it's awkward for the people that show up to that kind of game just having hoped to capture bases or shoot at stuff or what-have-you.
these guys definitively SHOT themselves in the foot

i dont get it, i mean you already have a relatively easy life playing video games to pay the rent, why throw it all down the drain, fucking stupid if you ask me
Not to make light of what these guys did, but they were paid very little in comparison to other top teams. If what I've heard is true they made quite a bit of cash from this scam. Either way they should still be ban. Sucks that there probably wont be an American team to make it anywhere close to winning a major in the next couple of years. This ban destroyed most of the good NA talent.
 

Vigormortis

New member
Nov 21, 2007
4,531
0
0
Kahani said:
Eh, par for the course really. Just today, there's been news that one of the top Korean swimmers has tested positive for doping, and Lance Armstrong has announced that he'd happily cheat again if given the chance. Match fixing is big business in football [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11364340/Fixers-may-have-rigged-up-to-1000-top-flight-games.html], and both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are constantly under fire for being little more than organised corruption distributors. These are just a few recent things off the top of my head, from someone who doesn't even follow sport.

Sure, it sucks that e-sports are the same, but it shouldn't be at all surprising and I don't think that it means things are particularly rough. If anything, it indicates the opposite - no-one would bother cheating if they weren't big and popular enough to be worth it. Not long ago, the idea of match fixing in a computer game would have been a complete joke, now it makes mainstream news [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pro-counter-strike-players-banned-by-valve-following-10000-match-fixing-investigation-1485323].
Well sure, but what I was lamenting about was the frequency of these things, on such a small portion of a still small, burgeoning competitive scene, within such a short period of time.

Of course we should expect to see such behavior as the industry and the competitive scene grow. All I meant was it was sad to see it happen so quickly to one specific 'corner' of the scene.

Petromir said:
TRying to think of such things, genrally in the UK criminal cases come about if theres sufficent evidence for a fraud case, but in gerneal in pro sports civil cases are relitively rare as they are dealt with by bans and fines, that the sports own regulations apply not a civil court.
I never said they were common, but these cases do occur. I still feel those involved were lucky to only face life-time bans from Valve-sanctioned tournaments rather than something more far-reaching.

Terminate421 said:
Surprisingly Smite has come around and shown there is still time to fix things.

I worked at the recent World Championships and so far I didn't notice any underlying corruption or rigged tables. People earned their way there.
True. And the same can be said for a number of other titles within e-sports. However, I can't help but feel like these recent events are only a sign for what's to come. I only see it getting worse from here. At least, until the pro scene matures a bit more as an industry and grows a more ordered structure.
 

Saika Renegade

New member
Nov 18, 2009
298
0
0
This is one of those things that could really only be described as painfully necessary. Decisions have consequences, and making dosh by fixing games is the sort of thing that is just anathema to honest competition in any medium. Not cracking down on these things would cost esports even more in terms of credibility, which is a currency that it can ill afford to spend at this time.
 

Amir Kondori

New member
Apr 11, 2013
932
0
0
Good, without tough penalties others will attempt to get in on this action. For people to have any faith in the integrity of CSGO as an esport cheating and match fixing must be pursued aggressively.