Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, being sad about canceled trips to Japan, getting excited for Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., or Lindsay Lohan’s career as a master thief, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Lance Armstrong recently reminded us that cheating (or alleged cheating) is an unfortunate part of competitive sports. With so much money and prestige on the line, people are always looking for an edge and they sometimes cross the line from being a competitor to being a cheater. The same holds true for competitive gaming and eSports.
The recent scandal at the MLG Summer Championship has brought attention to cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct in eSports. MLG has accused Team Curse and Team Dignitas of collusion in the League of Legends finals, stripping both teams of ranking and prize money earned at the event. (There’s some debate on whether the two teams were actually cheating or just not being true to the spirit of MLG, but let’s shelf that for a moment.) Some people were surprised that cheating and gamesmanship happens in eSports. I was surprised that they were surprised. If there’s money, pride, and prestige at stake then you can count on people going too far to win. Some people are simply wired that way. It’s human nature.
Anyway, I wanted to get your take on cheating in eSports. Are you surprised that it happens? What do you think of the situation at the MLG Summer Championship? Would you call it cheating or two teams being wankers? Why can’t all competitors exemplify the purity of sports the way that Derek Jeter does?
No I am not surprised.
These 2 teams were a bit too blatant doing an ARAM during the finals. The problem is that MLG was only circuit points for the two teams for season 2. Finishing 1&2 for either would have the same yield for season 2 finals.
I’ll still watch though. I like both of these teams.
I’m not really surprised, but I would think that it is harder to get away with cheating in MLG than professional sports. Testing in baseball is a joke, but it seems to me that it would be pretty obvious if someone was cheating in video games. Collusion would be harder to detect, but that would at least be as apparent as someone throwing a game in the sports world as well.