Since its inception, esports has been out to prove that it’s as legitimate a sport as say, football or tennis, and so far, we need look no further than the intricate level of skill required from each competitor, the grueling hours of training necessary for mastery of the game, and the sheer number of fans dedicated to each team to substantiate that claim. But over the past few years, the arena of esports has validated itself in one more area that seems to go hand in hand with all professional sports: juicy, jaw-dropping scandal.
# 4 Hearthstone: no girls allowed
Image source Animation Fascination
I’m not even being hyperbolic. In 2014, the International eSports Federation (IeSF) regulations officially banned women from participating in competitive gaming. This was brought to light at the Finnish Assembly Hearthstone Tournament which was declared “males only.”
The reasons given for this backward decision went from ridiculous to laughable. IeSF claimed that one of the reasons for separating genders was to seem more legit to the athletic community at large, and have major sporting events like the Olympics take them more seriously. Markus “Olodyn” Koskivirta, head administrator for the Finnish Assembly, said, “This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g., a female player eliminating a male player…) among other things.”
The public was shocked and appalled, and IeSF got an earful. With such a negative outburst from the gaming community at large, IeSF called the board together for an emergency session and reversed the gender segregation, replacing previously male-only events with “open for all” events, and making space for female gamers everywhere.
This would be a worse scandal if the reaction weren’t so (thankfully) unanimous in its disapproval.
#3 CS:GO skin betting
In summer of 2016, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive became embroiled in one of esports’ worst scandals ever. It all began with cosmetic weapon skins players could find in game. Rarer skins could be used for betting on sites like CS:GO Lotto. These skins are often compared to casino chips, since players have a system akin to “cashing out,” where they can turn their newly won skins back into cash.
Since technically money was not used to place bets, players as young as 13 years old could gamble with skins (and still lose a lot of actual money). Two popular YouTubers posted a video of themselves placing bets on CS:GO Lotto, without mentioning details like the fact that they owned the company.
Online betting is already a legal gray area, and much of it lacks regulation and standards. Combine that with the fact that tons of the skin-betting players were minors, and you get a controversy complete with lawsuits.
#2 Team Fortress 2: criminal cash for hats
Few video games (or countries) can claim an entire economy based off hats. Perhaps Team Fortress 2 is the only one that can. What began as a silly way for the free-to-play game to receive funding from its fanbase (cosmetic accessories that began with hats, and only hats—in game wardrobe that does not affect the game at all) quickly became serious business. Some hats were made extra scarce, creating a real economy where some items were worth serious real-world dough in a way much more similar to CS: GO’s system of skins than League of Legends (wherein prices of cosmetic skins are fixed rather than fluctuating).
This conversion between the virtual world economy and the real world one raised a lot of eyebrows when a group of Russian players purchased a large number of Keys (in-game currency used to purchase hats), and used those to purchase hundreds of the super-rare item “earbuds,” a cosmetic accessory serious TF2 gamers all yearned to have. In a bizarre twist, the Russian players then simply swapped them back out for their cash value.
As reported by Kotaku: “One motive for this could be the hilariously bizarre (if unlikely) possibility that Russian gangsters are using Team Fortress 2 to launder dirty money. Another, more likely outcome is that a band of crims have got hold of some stolen credit cards, and are spending the cash on rare TF2 items they can resell.” Either explanation is a pretty hilarious problem any esport with an economy now has to deal with.
#1 Starcraft Players Arrested for Matchfixing & Gambling
Starcraft is serious business in Korea in a way many NA players joke about, but don’t actually understand. Starcraft is legitimately more popular in Korea than nearly any real sport. So you can imagine the public outcry when it’s discovered that some of their most revered heroes, those who compete professionally on the Starcraft team, have been throwing the game for a quick buck.
Brokers actually approached the team pretending to be fans and after forming a relationship, arranged a scheme involving Lee “Life” Seung Hyun and Bung “Bbyong” Woo Yong, two of the top players in Korea. Once the players agreed to intentionally lose a match (Life would go on to throw two matches before they were busted), the brokers set to work secretly meeting with financial backers and placing bets on the fateful game. Life was given $62,000 to lose the first match.
Their shady dealings did not go unnoticed however, and a full investigation was launched. When the crimes were uncovered, the public was devastated. According to ESPN, “The news was met with shock, anger, disappointment, rage and sadness.”
Whether or not you see competitive esports players as athletes, when match-fixing, gambling on matches through brokers, and other real world laws start getting broken, the distinction doesn’t seem to matter much.
You can’t get much more scandalous than seeing the inside of a jail cell because of a videogame.
