Cheating in esports
Tournaments often pay out prize money to the highest placing teams in these events, giving players an incentive to cheat.
Additionally, video game developers and individual tournament organizers may have differing approaches to enforcement, leading to inconsistencies in handling cheating incidents.
Unlike these sports leagues, which are self-regulated and guided by established statutes, case law, and national or state regulations, esports operates with a considerable degree of autonomy.
The absence of widespread recognition of esports as an official sport in many countries poses challenges for implementing comprehensive regulation.
Consequently, the responsibility of rule-setting in esports tournaments usually falls to the individual organizers, with their guidelines subject to approval from the respective video game developers.
[5] On the other hand, game-specific entities focus solely on a single esports title and are typically controlled by the respective game's publisher.
One notable type of software cheat is the aimbot, a program designed to automatically target opponents with superior speed and accuracy compared to human capabilities.
Upon reviewing replay data analytics, ESL members discovered evidence of XektoR using an aimbot and wallhacks during the online matches, resulting in a two-year ban for the player.
In another instance, during the Extremesland Zowie Asia CS:GO 2018 tournament in Shanghai, player Nikhil "Forsaken" Kumawat was caught using an aimbot.
[10] For instance, during Dota 2's event The International 2018, the Peruvian team Thunder Predator faced disqualification after it was discovered that one of their players, Atún, had programmed macro commands into his mouse during a qualifying match on June 19, 2018.
The tournament organizer, FACEIT, deemed the use of a programmable mouse equivalent to running a software script, leading to the disqualification of Thunder Predator from the competition.
For example, in a match at DreamHack Winter 2014, team Fnatic exploited bugs that enabled them to stand on invisible ledges, see through solid objects, and even become invulnerable to damage.
Similarly, during the PGL Major: Kraków 2017, team BIG utilized a bug that allowed them to peek their heads over a wall without revealing their position on the other side.
[16] Similar to doping in traditional sports, the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) has become a concerning issue in esports, particularly involving nootropics such as Ritalin and Adderall.
[17] However, questions have been raised regarding the effectiveness of these regulations since certain PEDs, like Adderall, may not remain detectable in a player's system for an extended period.
[1] Ghosting refers to the act of a player or team obtaining external information during a match from sources outside of the official game environment, such as stream viewers or the live audience.
[1] One notable incident of ghosting took place during a match between Azubu Frost and Team SoloMid at the 2012 League of Legends World Championship.
In the midst of the match, a player from Frost appeared to glance at the spectator screens, enabling him to gain insight into the positions of his opponents.
[20] While some esports events are held in live stadiums with an audience, numerous qualifying matches and knockout stages take place online.
[4] One notable incident took place in 2015 during a League of Legends European Challenger Series match between Denial Esports and Dignitas.
Despite the player's efforts to relocate to different locations to resume the match, they were repeatedly targeted with DDoS attacks, making it impossible to continue.
In May 2022, allegations of spot fixing emerged against the CS:GO team PARTY regarding a match that took place during the StarLadder Regional Minor Championship CIS closed qualifier in 2015.
This type of cheating is relatively uncommon in esports, but one notable occurrence of structural tournament manipulation took place during the Counter-Strike match fixing scandal in 2014 involving the teams iBUYPOWER and NetCodeGuides.
