37 And Counting: Can We Still Trust CS:GO Coaches?
The most recent update on the ESIC investigation regarding the coaching bug abuse has now implicated a total of 37 coaches, all of whom have received bans, ranging from months to entire years of forced absence from professional CS:GO.
Just to quickly catch you up on what's been happening, just a day after the ESL One Cologne EU Grand Finals, Michal "michau" Slowinski took to the public to announce that he and Steve Dudenhoeffer had discovered a critical bug within Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Not only that, but they also announced that they had found three coaches who had deliberately used this exploit to their advantage. In a specific process, coaches could get into a free camera that would hover in the air, allowing them to turn around and, depending on where they set themselves up, watch the opponents' movements.
Obviously, this was a serious violation of any tournament ruleset. It gave these coaches in question an unfair advantage and compromised the competitive integrity of their matches. Michal and Steve had already analysed over 1000 different demos to get to this point, after which ESL and DreamHack announced bans for Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen, Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia and Aleksandr "MechanoGun" Bogatyrev.
After these preliminary results were published, the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) escalated this issue and announced a full-fledged investigation into this issue, examining available material dating back to 2015. They offered a concession window for those who wished to turn themselves in, which many did in the hopes of receiving a shorter sentence.
On Monday, September 28, ESIC delivered an update on their investigation, which is scheduled to conclude towards the end of October. Their findings detail years of bug abuse at the highest level, now implicating a total of 37 coaches. Some, like Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström, have received bans of less than six months. The coach states that, when he first encountered this bug, he decided to mute his microphone and sit out the round. When he got stuck in this free camera for a second time, he notified the admin staff. He concedes that he should have disconnected right away, but was fazed by this very unusual situation.
PUTTING FAITH IN THE RESULTS OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS
In the case of MechanoGun, ESIC found a staggering 424 rounds of bug exploitation. After his initial 24-month sentence, another year has been slapped on top. So many match outcomes were likely altered by his actions, so many teams negatively affected. Lots of fans have now raised the question of whether this scandal basically invalidates the results of half a decade of CS:GO competition. So does it?
In a way, it does. Obviously, a lot of matches have been compromised. If we're thinking about online qualifiers, then some teams might have made it to bigger events if it weren't for those cheating coaches. Offline events were not impacted by this, of course. But it's such a weird situation, so much so that it feels natural to doubt everything that has happened in the past years of Counter-Strike. And that's where the ESIC investigation comes into play.
They're now sifting through almost 100.000 demos worth of material. They're covering online matches from virtually every high-tier competition, making for a complete picture of the top professional scene going back to 2015. While this '37'37 and counting'' figure may be hard to swallow, it is in our best collective interest to find every single instance of this bug abuse. Then - and only then - can we know for certain which matches were impacted, which results were valid, and whether we can trust the results of the past years. Most importantly, it restores our trust in CS:GO coaches.
WE CAN STILL TRUST COACHES
To put a positive spin on this story, the investigation doesn't just weed out the bad parts of the scene. It also highlights those who have upheld the competitive integrity of every match throughout their careers. Granted, they just did their jobs, and their achievement is that they didn't want to cheat, but in light of this scandal, these individuals should be celebrated - coaches like Torbjørn "mithR" Nyborg, who have always reported every occurrence of the bug and removed themselves from their advantageous positions in an instant. They resisted this seemingly fail-safe way of getting the upper hand, even when they didn't know whether their opponents were doing the same thing. Hats off to them!
There are additional reasons as to why we should consider this crisis to be over, following the conclusion of the ESIC investigation. First and foremost, Valve have fixed this bug. Michal himself has stated that the previous method of getting into the free-floating camera is not reproducible anymore. Moreover, ESL have announced new measures to combat any kind of competitive integrity violation during their matches. For instance, admins will now record all voice communications and demand that teams set up webcam feeds of all their players and coaching staff.
Most importantly, this purge of cheating coaches is the best possible warning shot that any potential offender could ever receive. Sure, there are probably more ways to gain an unfair advantage in a CS:GO professional match, but the scene has been put on notice. Any future offences will be handled with zero tolerance - by the organisers and the community alike.
Images via Starladder | DreamHack
