Counter-Strike coaching bug scandal

Last updated

The Counter-Strike coaching bug scandal was a bug abuse scandal in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive . The bug had multiple variants, all of which allowed team coaches to see parts of the map they normally would not have access to and gather information about the enemy team.

Contents

It was first made public on 26 August 2020 by Wisła Kraków coach Mariusz "Loord" Cybulski. Five days later, three coaches were banned by Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) for exploiting the bug. ESIC launched an investigation on 4 September and on 28 September, ESIC banned a further 34 coaches after reviewing 20% of the demos. On 5 May 2022, ESIC announced that almost 100 coaches were going to be sanctioned as they neared the completion of the final investigation.

Valve Corporation, the developer of the game, announced on 26 August 2020 that they had fixed the bug.

Background

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multiplayer first-person shooter released in 2012, [1] where two opposing teams compete against each other. [2] Players of the game have incomplete information about the other team and their location, meaning that any method to discover additional information about the other team is extremely powerful.

The bug was first made public by Wisła Kraków coach Mariusz "Loord" Cybulski on 26 August 2020, who said that it allowed him to "see above the map and tell info to the players". The Esports Integrity Commission said that there were three variants of the bug: the "static" bug that placed coaches on a random point, the "free-roam" bug that allowed the coaches to fly around the map, and the "third-person" bug that allowed coaches to watch the match from a third-person view. [3]

Investigations

Initial investigations

August 2020 bans

On 31 August 2020, five days after the bug was uncovered, the Esports Integrity Commission banned three coaches due to their involvement in the scandal. These coaches were Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia of Made in Brazil, Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen of Heroic, and Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev of Hard Legion. [4]

September 2020 bans

On 4 September, ESIC announced that Michal Slowinski, a tournament admin, and Steve Dudenhoeffer, a software development manager at ESEA, were going to examine the "demos" (in-game video recordings) of coaches dating back to 2016 to see who had abused the bug. Coaches who confessed to using the exploit and assisted in the investigation itself were given a reduction of up to 60% of their suspension period. [5] After reviewing 20% of the 99,650 demos, ESIC announced on 28 September that it had banned 37 coaches for periods ranging from 3 to 36 months. [6] [7]

Full investigation

On 29 March 2022, Dexerto reported that ESIC was close to finalizing its investigation into the scandal. The Counter-Strike Professional Players Association wanted the results to be published before the next Major, PGL Major Antwerp 2022. [8] ESIC told Dust2.us on 1 May that they intended to release the bans before the Major. [9]

On 5 May, ESIC announced that almost 100 coaches were going to be banned. The organization also temporarily suspended three unnamed coaches who were meant to be at the Antwerp Major. [3] The next day, three days before the Major, ESIC announced that the three coaches were Sergey "hally" Shavayev of Team Spirit, Rafael "zakk" Fernandes of 9z, and Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu. hally and zkk encountered the "static" bug in 2018 to 2020, while peacemaker used the "free-roam" bug in March 2018. It was also determined that none of the coaches used the bug for more than two rounds. [10]

Player involvement

ESIC had also announced in early September that there was insufficient evidence to determine any player involvement in the scandal. [11] [12] On 26 August 2021, during an interview with TV2.dk, Nicolai "HUNDEN⁠" Petersen claimed that some of the players knew of him using the bug during his time at Heroic. [13] On 3 September, HUNDEN released evidence of two players being aware of the bug. HUNDEN showed a conversation between him and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen where they talked about the bug. Server logs allegedly show that René "TeSeS⁠" Madsen helped HUNDEN to get into a position on the map. He also claimed that "everyone on [Heroic] knew it." [14] On 18 October, ESIC announced that they had investigated the case. According to ESIC, HUNDEN had "manipulated" niko, who has Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger syndrome. The rest of Heroic's players were cleared of any charges as they were "unable to find anywhere near enough evidence" supporting HUNDEN's claims. [15]

Aftermath

Players and organizations

Hard Legion coach Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev and K23 coach Aset "⁠Solaar⁠" Sembiyev were removed from their positions by their teams following their bans. [16] [17] mousesports coach Allan "⁠Rejin⁠" Petersen and Gambit coach Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov both admitted exploiting the bug and were also removed from their positions. [18]

ENCE suspended their coach Slaava "⁠Twista⁠" Räsänen after it was revealed he had used the bug in 2017 and moved him to the analyst role for the duration of the ban. [19] [20] Heroic did the same with their coach Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen. [21] This practice drew criticism from FaZe Clan head coach Janko "YNk" Paunović, who felt that the two didn't "face the consequences for what [they've] done." [22]

ForZe contested the ban of their coach Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov and provided an explanation for three of the four cases involving him on 28 September 2020. [23] [24] His 7.5 month ban was lifted two weeks later on 15 October by ESIC. [25] Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström said that the bug occurred to him once and claimed he was not able to fix it despite his best efforts. He also added that he muted his microphone during the match. [24] RobbaN⁠ was backed by his team FaZe Clan. [6] Alessandro "⁠Apoka⁠" Marcucci also contested his ban and said that he was not on his PC in two cases and that he learned about the bug later. [24]

Valve Corporation

The bug was fixed by Valve Corporation, the developer of the game, on 26 August 2020, the same day that Loord exposed the bug on Twitter. [26] On 15 May 2021 however, Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov released a video on Twitter showing that he is still able to recreate the bug. [27] Following the scandal, Valve Corporation made changes in the Major Championships system on 28 January 2021. One of the changes included a rule which banned coaches from joining the server and being in the same room with players during online matches. The change garnered criticism from coaches and players. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valve Anti-Cheat</span> Anti-cheat software

Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat tool developed by Valve as a component of the Steam platform, first released with Counter-Strike in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Made in Brazil (esports)</span>

Made in Brazil, commonly referred as abbreviated name MIBR is a professional esports organization with players competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege and VALORANT. It was a member of the G7 Teams. MIBR was founded on March 1, 2003, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, when the Brazilian businessman Paulo Velloso decided to invest in his son's dream. The organization was dissolved in 2012, but announced it was making a return in March 2016, returning to active play years later in June 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtus.pro</span> International esports organization

Virtus.pro (VP) is an international esports organization founded in 2003 in Russia and acquired by Armenian investors in 2022. The organization has players competing in such games as Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Warface and EFT: Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lewis (journalist)</span> British journalist, commentator, and desk host

Richard Lewis is a British esports journalist and livestream commentator from Wales. Having written technology articles for The Daily Dot, Breitbart News, and Cadred, he is best known as an esports journalist and as a former desk host of ELEAGUE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astralis</span> Danish esports team

Astralis is a Danish esports organization. Best known for their Counter-Strike 2 team, they also have teams representing other games, such as FIFA, League of Legends and Rainbow Six Siege. The parent group of Astralis is the Astralis Group, who previously managed Origen and Future F.C. before the merger of all teams under the Astralis brand. Astralis Group became the first esports organization to conduct an initial public offering, and is traded as ticker Nasdaq Copenhagen: ASTRLS. Astralis's CS:GO team holds the most CS:GO Major Championships won at 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OG (esports)</span> Esports organisation

OG is a professional esports organisation based in Europe. Formed in 2015, they are best known for their Dota 2 team who won The International 2018 and 2019 tournaments. They also have a Counter-Strike 2 and a Rocket League team.

The Counter-Strike match fixing scandal was a 2014 match fixing scandal in the North American professional scene of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). It involved a match between two teams, iBUYPOWER and NetCodeGuides.com, where questionable and unsportsmanlike performance from the team iBUYPOWER, then considered the best North American team, drew suspicion, resulting in a loss for the team; allegations quickly surfaced afterwards that the match was fixed. More decisive evidence and punishments would come half a year later, after an expository article was published by esports journalist Richard Lewis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xizt</span> Swedish professional Counter-Strike 2 coach

Richard Landström, better known as Xizt, is a Swedish former professional Counter-Strike player and coach who is the current head coach of Ninjas in Pyjamas.

<i>Counter-Strike</i> Major Championships Valve-sponsored tournaments in Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike Major Championships, commonly known as the Majors, are Counter-Strike (CS) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game's developer. The first Valve-recognized Major took place in 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack with a total prize pool of US$250,000 split among 16 teams. This, along with the following 18 Majors, was played in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. As of the 2023 release of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), Counter-Strike esports, including the Majors, are played in CS2.

s1mple Ukrainian gamer

Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev, better known as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Falcons, on loan from Natus Vincere. He is considered to be one of the best players in Counter-Strike history.

<i>Counter-Strike</i> in esports Professional Counter-Strike competition

Professional Counter-Strike competition involves professional gamers competing in the first-person shooter game series Counter-Strike. The original game, released in 1999, is a mod developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe of the 1998 video game Half-Life, published by Valve. Currently, the games that have been played competitively include Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). Major esports championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esports Integrity Commission</span> Committee to investigate cheating in esports

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), formerly the Esports Integrity Coalition, is a non-profit members' association established in 2016 to promote and facilitate competitive integrity in esports. Notable for investigating the coaching bug scandal in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the organization has received criticisms for a lack of resources and game knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PGL Major Antwerp 2022</span> CS:GO tournament

The PGL Major Antwerp 2022, also known as PGL Major 2022 or Antwerp 2022, was the seventeenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Major Championship. It was held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis from May 9 to 22, 2022. Twenty-four teams participated, with most qualifying through regional tournaments. It featured a US$1,000,000 prize pool, half of the previous Major. It was the third Major hosted by the Romanian organization PGL, after PGL Major: Kraków 2017 and PGL Major Stockholm 2021. The Major would be won by FaZe Clan, the first international team in CS:GO history to win a Major.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heroic (esports)</span> European professional esports organisation

Heroic is a Norwegian esports organization with teams competing in Counter-Strike 2, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Sim racing and Rainbow Six Siege.

Cheating in esports is a deliberate violation of the rules of an esports governing body or other behavior that is intended to give an unfair advantage to a player or team. At its core, esports are video game competitions in an organized, competitive environment. Tournaments often pay out prize money to the highest placing teams in these events, giving players an incentive to cheat. Commonly cited instances of cheating include the use of software cheats, such as aimbots and wallhacks, exploitation of bugs, use of performance-enhancing drugs, such as Ritalin and Adderall, and match fixing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ence (esports)</span> Finnish esports organization

Ence is a Finnish esports organization with teams and players competing in Counter-Strike 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, StarCraft II, and NHL 22. ENCE was founded in 2013 and the organization takes inspiration for its name from the Enceladus of Greek mythology. It is currently based in Helsinki and is the most popular esports organization in Finland. The organization also competed in Hearthstone and Overwatch until 2018, and in League of Legends for the 2020 season. ENCE is best known for its success in Starcraft II and CS:GO. Serral was the first non-Korean to win a StarCraft II World Championship and the CS:GO team finished second at IEM Katowice Major 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furia Esports</span> Brazilian esports organization

Furia Esports, stylized as FURIA Esports or simply FURIA, is a Brazilian professional esports organization. Furia competes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, League of Legends, Valorant, Rainbow Six: Siege, Apex Legends and Super Smash Bros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eternal Fire (esports)</span>

Eternal Fire is a Turkish esports organization founded on 13 August 2021. The organization has teams competing in Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Esports</span> Brazilian esports organization

Imperial Esports, or simply Imperial, is a Brazilian professional esports organization. It is best known for its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, which is made up of veteran players from the Brazilian scene, such as FalleN, fer, fnx, boltz and VINI. While the team has changed over time, the 2022 team, nicknamed "The Last Dance" gained popularity in the run-up to the Rio 2022 Major. The organization also has a Crossfire team.

Mirage (<i>Counter-Strike</i>) Counter-Strike map

"Mirage", also known by its filename de_mirage, is a popular map in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that was released in 2013. It was created by Valve Corporation, the game's developer, as a redesign of a Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source map called de_cpl_strike. The original design of the map was created by Michael "Bubkez" Hüll. Mirage has been used in a number of esports tournaments and Major Championships in CS:GO. It is known for its good balance and offers numerous opportunities for players to display their tactical and coordination skills. Over time, the map has undergone changes and updates by Valve to improve its quality and increase the tactical balance.

References

  1. ↑ Senior, Tom (October 31, 2011). "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta delayed". PC Gamer . Future plc. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ Pinsof, Allistair (August 24, 2012). "Review: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive". Destructoid . Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Robertson, Scott (May 5, 2022). "ESIC to issue almost 100 new sanctions to CS:GO spectator bug participants, including 3 coaches to be 'provisionally suspended' from PGL Antwerp Major". Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Three separate bans levied against MIBR CS:GO team manager and coach". ESPN. 2 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "ESIC issues bans to 37 coaches for spectator bug use". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  6. 1 2 "CS:GO coaches banned from major esports series". BBC News. 29 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "Spectator bug use nets 37 CS:GO coach suspensions". Reuters. September 29, 2020. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2020– via www.reuters.com.
  8. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (March 29, 2022). "ESIC reportedly finalizing an investigation that will ban more CS:GO coaches". Archived from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  9. ↑ "ESIC confirms intentions to release new wave of Coach Bug Bans this week". Dust2.us. May 1, 2022. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  10. ↑ Robertson, Scott (May 6, 2022). "ESIC imposes sanctions on coaches from Team Spirit, 9z, and Imperial for use of CS:GO spectator bug". Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  11. ↑ "ESIC: Insufficient evidence to determine player involvement in coaching bug scandal". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  12. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 2, 2020). "ESIC says there's no evidence that players were involved in the CS:GO coaching bug scandal". Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  13. ↑ Robertson, Scott (August 26, 2021). "HUNDEN alleges that Heroic players were aware of coach spectator bug use". Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  14. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 3, 2021). "HUNDEN releases evidence that implicates former Heroic teammates in coaching bug scandal". Archived from the original on February 18, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  15. ↑ Robertson, Scott (October 18, 2021). "ESIC hands small sanction to OG's niko, clears Heroic players after secondary CS:GO spectator bug investigation". Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Hard Legion remove zoneR following ban for coaching bug exploit". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  17. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 2, 2020). "K23 suspends coach Solaar amid CS:GO spectating bug abuse allegations". Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  18. ↑ Michael, Cale (September 5, 2020). "Mousesports suspends coach Rejin after admitting to using coaching bug". Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  19. ↑ Heath, Jerome (September 11, 2020). "ENCE suspends CS:GO head coach Twista". Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  20. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 30, 2020). "ENCE to hire new CS:GO coach, Twista will move to analyst role". Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Heroic to retain HUNDEN's services". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  22. ↑ Biazzi, Leonardo (October 1, 2020). "YNk disagrees with CS:GO orgs moving banned coaches to analyst role". Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  23. ↑ "forZe challenge lmbt's ban for spectator bug use". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  24. 1 2 3 "RobbaN, Apoka, lmbt don't agree with their coaching bans". Dot Esports. 28 September 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  25. ↑ "lmbt's ban lifted by ESIC". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  26. ↑ "Release Notes for 8/26/2020". Valve Corporation. 26 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  27. ↑ Robertson, Scott (May 15, 2021). "Valve still hasn't fixed the CS:GO spectator bug that caused coaching scandal". Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  28. ↑ Robertson, Scott (January 28, 2021). "CS:GO pros and coaches react negatively to Valve's online coaching ban". Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.