Valve has taken harsh action against 10 players of the MOBA DOTA 2 (Steam) on December 18, who are primarily from Russia: Their accounts have been permanently banned from all events organized by Valve. PGL has also joined the ban. This effectively ends the professional careers of these 10 players. This also affects 20-year-old players who had a long and potentially lucrative career ahead of them.
What kind of players are they? The 10 players are mostly Russian professionals from teams competing in DOTA 2.
The most well-known player who has now been permanently banned is Kamil “Koma” Biktimorv from Virtus Pro. He is only a 20-year-old professional, who recently transferred to Virtus Pro. In his career, he has earned 5,6000 $ with DOTA 2 so far. A professional career in DOTA 2 can last until the late 20s, and the winners of “The International” recently received about 1.8 million $ in prize money.
Koma’s ban thus blocks a potentially great future in e-sports and perhaps even the path to a fortune.
Other players who have been banned include:
- Aslan “Paradise” Vadilov, a 20-year-old Russian who plays for Felt
- Sergey “[T]SA” Timchenko, a 25-year-old Russian who played for Luina Gaming
- Daniel “illusion” Grzhevka, a 20-year-old Ukrainian who plays for Ancient Tribe
- Viktor “SuperNova” Galichkin, a 24-year-old Russian who last played for HYDRA
- Vladislav “chmabl” Khorokltsev, a 27-year-old Russian who played for LUNA Gaming
- Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin, a 24-year-old Russian who last competed for Alliance
What does the ban mean for them? The players have been banned for life from all events organized by Valve. The PLG league has joined the ban.
This means that the 10 players are virtually never again able to play DOTA 2 professionally, as the two organizations host almost all tournaments in DOTA 2.
What did the players do? The players were punished for sharing their accounts and pretending to be someone else.
They apparently helped teams through the open qualifiers by secretly playing for these teams while others lent them their accounts.
This made it possible for players to compete for multiple teams in the same competition.
How is this viewed? The site Dotesports believes that Valve’s early tough stance at the beginning of a season is a sign that they are tightening the reins and working more towards a fair playing field.
Normally, Valve is considered rather distant and only intervenes when a scandal is present.
Steam: Caster uses contacts to have teammates permanently banned from DOTA 2 after a match
