The lack of supervision at events

After ALTERNATE's Robert "⁠sMN⁠" Fredriksson was caught cheating on ESEA and banned for it, he suggested that he's not alone, and that many internationally known players cheat, too.

Many currently active players have told me that you can do practically anything you want on the computers in tournaments today, with no one looking after you to check what you are up to.

Back in the day, playing at LAN tournaments was much harder for the newcomer if they didn't know exactly how to setup their computers at the events, as admins weren't nearly as lenient.

Based on nearly a decade of experience, the best at this - and the most strict - were the CPL at their events in Dallas, though Laurent Genin-Satoh's events have always done a good job at it.

At CPL events, access to the internet was blocked from tournament computers, and no one was allowed to plug in a USB stick to copy their configs, installer files or anything else over to the computers.

If you wanted to use certain mouse drivers or a utility to set your USB polling rate, for example, you had to request those drivers and utilities weeks before the event so CPL had time to check no malicious software was included.

The issue of admins letting players browse the internet and copy their configs and drivers from USB memory sticks isn't new, but with the new allegations of players cheating at major events, it's more timely than ever.

Though the rumours about Valve and/or organizers knowing about cheating for months are almost certainly made up, as Valve yesterday contacted ESEA to help them catch the workshop cheats, it's still time to take action, now.

We know cheaters exist. What are we going to do about it?

How can this be happening?

One problem is that admins are too afraid to play the bad guy when it comes to players they respect, look up to, or possibly even are friends with. They may also think complaining about something small isn't really worth the hassle.

An admin should always follow the tournament's rules, as opposed to consulting with players from both teams, as it can lead to scenarios where the other team is seen as the bad guy.

There are also cases where the admins are simply far too lenient on the players, regardless of what may have caused the issues. This especially applies to warmup time before matches.

It shouldn't be necessary for professional players to warmup for thirty minutes before a game, or take fifteen minutes to setup. In my experience, it's realistic to do both in as little as fifteen minutes.

If you can not setup your computer in five minutes - and I know from years of experience it is possible - it probably means you have to practice doing that at home, not at the events.

If you can not setup in time, you should pay the price. It is guaranteed that will make the players figure out a way to setup faster the next time, thus leading to a better product overall.

Setup and warmup times are a huge issue in delaying events, a problem that has plagued the scene for years and constantly makes tournaments look ridiculous when they announce schedules in advance.

Delays between matches also strain viewers at home who can't ever know just how long it will take before a match starts, simply because a player feels the need to play five extra minutes of deathmatch.

Furthermore, now that it's possible to imagine that even top players may have cheated in big tournaments, it's increasingly important to limit what players are allowed and able to do on the tournament computers.

We can't leave $100,000 checks up to chance - the honor system hasn't ever worked, neither can it be expected to work here. Steps must be taken to ensure fair competition.

Sometimes admins need to play the bad guy

 

What can we do to solve the problem?

All of this can be solved by taking appropriate measures to make sure players can not do whatever it is they want to do at tournaments. It means stricter admins, but it can easily be done.

Do not allow anyone to bring anything on a USB stick to a tournament computer. Plugging in a USB stick should mean an automatic forfeit loss for the team - that is the only way people will not do it.

Force players to submit the drivers they wish to use in advance, and place them in a neat folder on the desktop of each tournament computer, where they are accessible for everyone.

Up until Valve figures out a way to stop running workshop items in tournament matches - and that's something that must be done for online play as well, possibly via a CVAR - own accounts can not be used.

Valve, or tournament organizers, must supply Steam accounts for all players to use, so nothing sketchy can be subscribed to them. It's the only way to avoid the workshop hacks.

Internet access should also be limited on tournament computers. There is no reason for players to be able to browse around on the internet, or download files from there, on the computers. At best, it adds to delays. At worst, it leads to cheating.

Setup times must be reduced. No one who has attended a tournament in the past needs an hour to setup and warmup - you can setup in five to ten minutes, and anyone can play after five minutes of warmup. There are no excuses.

If you cut setup times to twenty minutes it will make tournaments more enjoyable for the viewer, avoid chances for the players to cheat, and make it easier to supervise setup periods.

Speaking of supervision, an admin must be placed behind every team for the entire time that team sets up on the computers they are playing on - it's the only way to stop them from using USB sticks.

And finally, as for admins, it may be necessary to hire people who can make the unpopular decisions. If no one gets punished, we may as well have no admins. If no one gets punished, no one is afraid of getting punished.

I can promise you half the delays in today's Counter-Strike are caused by two magical words - mouse issues - which no admin can truly chime in on, as for the most part it's subjective to the player.

I also know of multiple cases where those two words are used simply to buy more warmup time - and admins always grant it. It's time, with $250,000 on the line, to force players to hold up their end of the bargain.

Maybe, just maybe, when they have issues that no one else is having, it's the players' fault. And maybe, we should be incentivizing them to solve them by themselves.

In sports referees are often disliked - in CS, they are players' friends

 

What's next?

That may seem extreme to some, but all of what was listed above was standard procedure at the most important event in the world, CPL Dallas, from 2001 to 2006, when it reigned supreme.

With more money than ever being involved and Counter-Strike becoming increasingly professional, we should be able to demand more from the players, especially when it comes with other perks.

Integrity of a tournament should always be considered number one priority, and disabling internet use, disallowing use of USB sticks - and enforcing it - and using only pre-checked drivers and utilities will help with that.

If we assume that even some of the things posted here are true, it's obvious we no one can take any risks with this. Everything must be accounted for at the major tournaments.

Admins also must be allowed to make drastic decisions when necessary - Na`Vi being forfeited at Copenhagen Games was one, though when the computer issues were caused by the event, it wasn't actually Na`Vi's fault.

The game is more professional in terms of money, it's time to make it more professional in terms of the players. It's time to start enforcing all the things that will make our game better.

We can not run the risk of having cheaters at tournaments. We also can not buy the players' infinite amounts of setup time, thus hurting all the viewers and fans who power the entire scene.

It's time for organizers to take a stand. Players may not like it at first, but they will respect it - and with the cheating allegations, it's the perfect time to make a change.

One of the guys who can make a difference at DH

Maybe one day Valve, especially if ESEA helps them out, can find out how to catch these workshop cheats and potentially even catch people retroactively from some past events.

If not, we shouldn't get stuck there. Let's make sure these cheats can't ever be used again, assume they didn't affect much in the past, and look forward to better days ahead.

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