Valve has permanently banned ten players in the MOBA DOTA 2 (Steam), thus excluding them from all tournaments and ending their professional careers prematurely. One of the banned players, 20-year-old Russian Kamil “Koma” Biktimirov, is pleading for mercy.
This is the situation:
- In DOTA 2, there were irregularities at a tournament: some players played with foreign accounts for other teams, hoping not to be discovered. They hoped to profit financially from this.
- Valve subsequently permanently banned 10 players, mostly Russians, from all tournaments: thus, their professional careers are practically over. We reported about this on MeinMMO.
- For the players, this permanent ban was a shock. Their lives collapse with the ban. Some are trying to escape their fate.
“DOTA is my life”
This is what the most prominent of the banned players says: The 20-year-old Russian Mail “Koma” Biktimirov is the most well-known among the banned pros: The Carry has just signed with Virtus.pro, a successful team in DOTA 2. He admitted to having played for the team Luna Gaming under a false account.
In a statement, the 20-year-old says:
Today I learned the biggest lesson of my life. I made a mistake, listened to the whispers of others, believed them, and played in an official match under another account, hoping to win prize money from the tournament.
I fully admit my guilt and apologize to the whole community, especially to the fans of Virtus.Pro. I understand how much I have disappointed my club, but I cannot change it.
I really wanted to play for Virtus.pro, so I hid my mistakes during the tests of VP, in the hope that no one would find out. I am 20 years old. DOTA is my whole life and now it is over, and I can blame no one but myself. I agree: There should be a punishment, but I ask Valve to reduce the ban. I want to hope for the best, but I accept any decision Valve makes.
Club distances itself from pro: “Fatal mistake”
What does the future hold for him? It does not look good; at the moment, there is no statement from Valve.
A bad sign is that his own club is distancing itself from him. The CEO of Virtus.pro, Nikolai Petrossian, stated in a statement that he is “shocked and saddened” that one of his players is on the list. He strongly condemns this behavior. Such behavior would damage trust in e-sports. He hopes that these harsh penalties will be a lesson for everyone.
The CEO mentions that Kamo committed these “fatal mistakes” before joining Virtus.pro.
Lack of money among lower-tier DOTA pros apparently a major problem
How do other banned players view this? They seemingly regret it like Koma. Another of the banned players, Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin, says the whole situation was a stupid mistake resulting from greed for money.
It adds to how hard it is to lead a life where one relies on winning prize money. This is a completely different life than what successful pros at Tier 1 lead:
I will not try to accurately describe the life of a normal player in Tier 2 or 3. But in short: there is a constant lack of money, you survive from payday to payday. Yeah, this is not like the image often shown when players throw away thousands of dollars and buy new cars and apartments. Sometimes we simply had nothing to eat. It’s really hard to be a pro, unless you are in Tier 1. All this does not excuse our behavior, but maybe you understand our actions better.
What Limitless says aligns with many reports from e-sport athletes: Although there is a thin upper class among pros that seems to live well off e-sports, below that, in the smaller leagues, there is scarcity and often even despair:
LoL: Legendary Russian player (29) wants to support family, signs with small team – now desperate
