So, there’s been this whole debacle with some teams accused of cheating at the League of legends World Playoffs and Riot Games has come to a conclusion after a very extensive investigation. Korean team Azubu Frost (AzF) was found guilty and fined $30, 000 (20 percent of their winnings). Without using my nonexistent math skills of win, I’d say they won a crap-load of cash and won’t [really] be missing the 30k.
AzF was found guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct and their fine will be donated to Riot Games’ charity in Korea. Three other teams received warnings for similar behaviour and another team cleared of any misconduct. In short, shit got real over there. Needless to say AzF probably won’t be awarded many honor points from their opponents.
During Riot’s extensive investigation they found that AzF ‘Woong’ broke the rules by looking at the stage screens showing their opponent’s minimap during Game 1 of Quarterfinal 3 which lead the team to alter their game plan and benefitted the team. Really? Really League of Legends World Playoffs?? You didn’t think that there might be a chance of this happening and placed your ginormous screens in a better place. Information like that is like lighting; you can’t help but see it.
Riot re-examined videos, photos and the stage layout to understand the sight lines between the players before coming to a final decision. Better late than never I guess…
Riot vice president of eSports Dustin Beck made a post on the official league of Legends forums, showing their findings in detail.
“We’ve completed a comprehensive investigation of all alleged incidents of players looking at the venue screen at the World Playoffs. Our full rulings are posted by bitingpig below, but here’s the tl;dr:
We evaluated these cases based on intent, severity and tangible impact to the course of the game. Based on our investigation, the Azubu Frost incident is the only one where we determined there to be tangible impact – we believe other members of AzF modified their gameplay (level 1 ping and Jayce brush check) based upon the information gained. We don’t believe, however, that these actions decided the winner of the game.
Per our rules we are issuing a fine of $30,000* for unsportsmanlike conduct. Proceeds will go to our charity program inKorea.” Beck wrote.
“We take this stuff seriously. Our rules on sportsmanlike conduct are clearly communicated to competitors, and our decisions here are based on those rules. More importantly, this sort of behavior shouldn’t have been possible in the first place, and we recognize that and have taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.”
Those interested in the summary of their findings (it’s a short post) can check it out here.
Last Updated: October 11, 2012
