Another 'StarCraft' Cheating Scandal Rocks Korea (playerattack.com) 95
dotarray writes: "Five years ago, the professional StarCraft community was rocked by a massive cheating scandal – now it looks like history is repeating, as twelve StarCraft II gamers have been arrested in South Korea over charges of match-fixing and illegal betting." From the article: Those arrested include Gerrard (Park Wae-Sik), head coach of pro gaming team PRIME, and one of his team members, YoDa (Choi Byeong-Heon). ... The games in question, according to the prosecutor's investigation, include five professional-level StarCraft II matches, which were played between January and June 2015 including as part of the GSL Season 1 and SKT Proleague Season 1. Pro-gamer YoDa has been accused of receiving money to deliberately lose matches, while Gerrard stands charged with receiving money from brokers, connecting players to brokers, and suggesting to players that they might like to lose a game or two and get paid.
What happened to human beings? (Score:2)
Video games are just ... games
Isn't game supposed to be fun?
Re:What happened to human beings? (Score:4, Insightful)
Video games are just ... games
Isn't game supposed to be fun?
Yeah, as if this kind of cheating (deliberate loss + brokers) never happened in sports. You know, the sports that are supposed to be games as well.
Takeaway: the fun goes away when there's a lot of money in play.
I wish there weren't that much money in sports, but it won't change because people want this; you know, panem et circem..
Re:What happened = gambling + sports (Score:3)
Any time gambling gets mixed with sports you have a mechanism where cheating can get you money. Whether it's the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" or one of these point shavers [mandatory.com] gambling always has the potential to lead to sports cheating.
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Haven't you heard? Fantasy sports isn't gambling, it's a game of skill! *snerk*
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In reality, yes. But if it's classified as a game of chance, it'd be illegal under the online gambling laws. So the owners claim it's a game of skill. Since nobody's tried shutting it down, apparently the government agrees with them.
and in WI you can't play skill tournament for cash (Score:2)
and in WI you can't play skill based tournaments for cash any more. (other then the indian casinos) Hell you can't even give replays on pinball games there.
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The NFL / NBA have good lawyers. Also the players are not betting on them self's and give paid win or lose.
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The skill aspect is more about finding players who are undervaluing by the gambling site's rating system than predicting the future of the actual contests.
A small number of people rake in most of the winnings on these sites, especially since they are allowed into every betting competition on the site.
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I believe the latin phrase you're trying for is "panem et circenses", "bread and circuses", coined by the Roman poet Juvenal around 100 A.D.: "For the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions -- everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses."
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Also the Roman circus was horse racing oval track, nothing like our circus with clowns and trapeze artists etc. When you say "bread and circuses" I bet a lot of people are thinking about clowns.
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Well yes, but the problem with professional versions of anything is fun, is the fact it will need to bring in money, to pay the bills.
This means the artist will need to paint some marketing material, or draw particular things that make money.
The musician will need to play the same old song.
The programmer will need to do some CRUD based B2B app.
So the professional gamer will need to make money.
When under pressure people will often set their morals aside. So they will cheat, the substandard drawing, a crappy
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So the professional gamer will need to make money. When under pressure people will often set their morals aside. So they will cheat, the substandard drawing, a crappy performance, Crappy code. Or find a way to cheat at the game as so they will make the money.
Needing to make money does not need to be unethical. Intentionally lose a game in order to make money is unethical. I am not sure whether it is illegal (in the sense of professional sport). Your reasoning is just an excuse for them.
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I don't think anybody is saying that it isn't wrong. Just that it's going to happen. Not all people are honest. You can still make money by doing things ethically. No doubt about it. But being unethical can also yield money. The path that people choose is up to them, even if you make it illegal.
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Yeah, well, the same could be said for sports, and look at all the crap that's accumulated around those.
There's money involved in eSports now, both in terms of the prize money, the sponsorship cash and in terms of the associated gambling scene. Where there's money on offer (particularly though not exclusively through gambling), there will be people trying to get their hands on that money via illegitimate means.
There's always been an ugly side to "professional gaming". I was running a Counter-Strike league b
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Profiting is much more fun than gaming.
Then stop calling it a game, because it's a business at that point.
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wouldn't you want to get paid for your hobby?
I do! But the problem for these people (as with professional sports players) is that they get paid for something that is superficially like their hobby, but isn't really the same. It's the hobby with the enjoyment removed and replaced with a hyper-competitive need to win.
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I don't think you realize that these pros play SC for twelve, fourteen hours a day, pretty much seven days a week. And they're already elite to start.
It's far more serious than American football.
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I don't know, football is suppose to be just a game but see how serious that game is to fans and the players
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Might as well milk
MOO !! You starcraft cow! STARCRAFT COW MOO !!
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MOO !! You starcraft cow! STARCRAFT COW MOO !!
"There is now cow level"
Srsly? (Score:1)
Can only shake my head in amazement.
Hey, folks, *it's just a computer game*! Have you to get justice & police involved in that too?
What next? A little military intervention? A little invasion?
Human masochism knows no limits.
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It's an industry based on a computer game.
Much like professional boxing became an industry based on a sparring game.
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Sounds like you don't know much about e-Sports, friend.
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Give it up, just give it up before you make a complete ass of yourself.
Fucking the starcraft ai (Score:2)
That is the biggest cheating pile of crap ever.
Old meme (Score:2)
Only old Korean people cheat at StarCraft.
Isn't that how it went?
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When money is involved, paying someone to intentionally "throw" the game, so the other side can profit is most definitely abusing the spirit of the game. Gambling is illegal in most places.
-- :-/
Money is like cancer; it tends to eventually corrupts everything it comes in contact with.
also throwing games to so you can play a weaker (Score:2)
also throwing games to so you can play a weaker player in later rounds is also cheating as well.
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It isn't me you have to worry about, but all the other people you ripped off that just _might_ have something to say about it.
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Illegal betting is not cheating (although it does encourage cheating), but match-fixing sure as hell is. Just because you haven't subverted the game program doesn't mean you're not cheating.
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Really? (Score:1)
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Or remarkably few problems in a society that is so idyllic that it cares deeply about trivialities.
Banned for life? (Score:1)
From one of the linked articles:
As more names are revealed, more eSports identities will be banned for life, (..)
Banned from Starcraft for life, you know how serious that is? I mean you might as well shoot them. Their life would be over. They might as well jump off a bridge after receiving that punishment.
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Don't be too sarcastic here..
Look, like it or not, *some* of these players do it professionally. They get PAID to play the games and if they get banned it means the loss of their jobs. They will have to go out and find new work now. What kind of work do you think they can get with experience like this?
This is like a professional sports player getting caught rigging games and getting tossed out of their sport, only in these cases, playing video games doesn't pay all that well and it's doubtful they have
Re:Really? (Score:4, Funny)
Cough*Deflategate*cough
At least they have jobs. (Score:2)
If Starcraft cheating can rock all of Korea then Korea has some serious problems that go far beyond Starcraft cheating,
In America with the current economy, you're lucky if you can get paid to clean toilets. In Korea, you can get paid to play computer games, and do so poorly.
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I think if 16 players across teams at the NFL were arrested in the USA, it would be 'rocking' the nation just as much.
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so at a minimum, playing a game for your job is a thing of the past.
google ‘zerg rush' (Score:2)
I just googled ‘zerg rush’, and forgot all about the google easter egg..
Re. the OP, gambling on the outcome of sports is a deep and dark problem that has plagued humanity since the dawn of betting on sports.. Horseracing, athletics, boxing, football, american football, cricket, baseball - Throwing games of Starcraft was an inevitable, predictable continuation of a long standing activity.
Exageration much? (Score:2)
Gambling (Score:2)
Gambling is stupid. Anyone who gambles is already being ripped off.
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Which is about as insightful as saying "people shouldn't commit crimes". It's utterly meaningless, because it ignores the fact that it happens despite your trite statement.
I can give you a huge list of one line Hallmark throwaway statements like "be nice to one another".
They, too, are utterly useless in the real world.
The reality is, people gamble. And in anything where there are winners and losers, someone will always be willing to cheat.
What's most shocking here is that people are acting like this comes
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The reality is that people who gamble are stupid. The house - or whoever makes the rules - always wins. They are the smart guys who wouldn't even be in the game if they weren't winning.
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Re:Gambling (Score:5, Funny)
Wanna bet?
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Wanna bet?
Sure, but I get to hold the money..
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Gambling is stupid. Anyone who gambles is already being ripped off.
Especially in Illinois where because the state hasn't passed a budget, any lottery winners of over $600 cannot be paid.... People are STILL playing the game though... Gota love those people who are born every min...
If there's money, there's cheating ... (Score:3, Interesting)
It really is simple: if there is money changing hands, or prestige, or pretty much anything else ... then it will be worth it for someone to cheat, take a dive, or otherwise engage in fixing the outcome.
It happens in pretty much any endeavor in which people are betting, getting paid, or pretty much anything else which is a reward.
Why the heck would anybody think video games would be any different?
This is pretty much basic human nature. Getting all breathless that it happens in a video game seems kind of stupid. It has happened in every other endeavor, why the hell not this?
You don't go all weepy after you discover it, you start off and say "I bet some crooked bastard cheats". You pass rules about it. You check it. You monitor it.
But you don't suddenly go "zomg, teh cheaterz" and act like nobody saw it coming. Someone somewhere will always find a way to cheat if there is something to be had out of it.
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Me, too!
False summary (Score:3)
The summary is extremely misleading at best. The 12 indicted individuals include one team coach and two progamers only, not 12 gamers as claimed.
All of the rest of the 12 are brokers or gangsters who instigated the match fixing. One is currently a fugitive in Korea.