Counter-Strike coaching bug scandal
The Counter-Strike coaching bug scandal is an ongoing bug abuse scandal in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The bug allowed team coaches to see parts of the map they normally would not have access to and gather information about the enemy team. The bug was first made public on August 26, 2020, by Wisła Kraków coach Mariusz 'Loord' Cybulski.[1] Five days later, three coaches were banned after it was found out that they had used the bug.[2][3] The bug was fixed by Valve, the developer of the game, on the same day that Loord exposed the bug on Twitter.[4]
On September 4, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced that they would be investigating the scandal.[5]
As of October 5, thirty-seven coaches have been banned.[6][7][8]
Esports Integrity Commission Investigation
On September 4, ESIC announced that Michal Slowinski and Steve Dudenhoeffer were going to examine the "demos" (in-game video recordings) of coaches dating back to 2016 to see who had abused the bug. On September 28, ESIC banned 37 coaches after reviewing 20% of the 99,650 demos.[9] Since then, only one coach has been unbanned. According to ESIC, there is insufficient evidence to determine any player involvement in the scandal.[10][11]
List of banned coaches
ESIC announced that bans would be reduced if coaches assisted in the investigation. The concessions included:
- Confession prior to the investigation announcement: 40% ban period reduction
- Confession accepted in full: 25% ban period reduction
- Assistance in the investigation: 20% ban period reduction
- Confession accepted partially: 12.5% ban period reduction
Consequenses and aftermath
- Hard Legion removed their coach, Aleksandr "zoneR" Bogatiryev, following his ban.[12]
- K23 removed their coach, Aset "Solaar" Sembiyev, following the ban.[13]
- mousesports suspended their coach, Allan "Rejin" Petersen, after he admitted to using the bug.[14][15]
- Ivan "F_1N" Kochugov admitted using the bug once. Gambit suspended him pending a verdict from ESIC.[16]
- ENCE suspended coach Slaava "Twista" Räsänen after it was revealed he had used the bug in 2017.[17][18] Twista has moved to the analyst role since then.[19]
- MiBR coach Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia said that he had "never done anything to compromise the integrity of the game".[20]
- ForZe provided an explanation for three of the four cases involving their coach, Sergey "lmbt" Bezhanov, who also contested the ban.[21][22] His 7.5 month ban was lifted on October 15 by ESIC.[23]
- 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 the muted his microphone during the match.[22] He was backed by his team FaZe Clan.[6]
- Alessandro "Apoka" Marcucci has said that he was not on his PC in two cases and that he learned about the bug later.[22]
See also
References
- ^ "Weird coach BUG which allows you to cheat". loord. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Three separate bans levied against MIBR CS:GO team manager and coach". ESPN. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "HUNDEN, DEAD, ZONER BANNED FOR COACHING BUG EXPLOIT". HLTV. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Release Notes for 8/26/2020". Valve Corporation. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "ESIC TO INVESTIGATE HISTORICAL COACHING BUG ABUSE; OPENS CONFESSION PERIOD FOR OFFENDERS". HLTV. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "CS:GO coaches banned from major esports series". BBC News. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Hao, Dexter Tan Guan (September 28, 2020). "ESIC suspends 37 coaches following CS:GO spectator bug investigation".
- ^ "37 CSGO coaches banned after ESIC investigation of coaching bug". Dexerto. September 28, 2020.
- ^ "ESIC issues bans to 37 coaches for spectator bug use". HLTV.org.
- ^ "ESIC: Insufficient evidence to determine player involvement in coaching bug scandal". HLTV.org.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 2, 2020). "ESIC says there's no evidence that players were involved in the CS:GO coaching bug scandal".
- ^ "Hard Legion remove zoneR following ban for coaching bug exploit". HLTV.org.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 2, 2020). "K23 suspends coach Solaar amid CS:GO spectating bug abuse allegations".
- ^ Michael, Cale (September 5, 2020). "Mousesports suspends coach Rejin after admitting to using coaching bug".
- ^ "Rejin suspended from mousesports as he confesses to coaching bug use*". HLTV.org.
- ^ "F_1N admits to one-time coaching bug use, gets suspended by Gambit*". HLTV.org.
- ^ Heath, Jerome (September 11, 2020). "ENCE suspends CS:GO head coach Twista".
- ^ "ENCE suspend Twista after 2017 coaching bug use admission". HLTV.org.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (September 30, 2020). "ENCE to hire new CS:GO coach, Twista will move to analyst role".
- ^ "dead denies wrongdoing in spectator bug cases: "I've never done anything to compromise the integrity of the game"". HLTV.org.
- ^ "forZe challenge lmbt's ban for spectator bug use". HLTV.org.
- ^ a b c "RobbaN, Apoka, lmbt don't agree with their coaching bans". Dot Esports. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "lmbt's ban lifted by ESIC". HLTV.org.