In Fortnite , the 17-year-old pro player Daniel “Dubs” Walsh has been banned for 30 days. He is accused of violating Fortnite’s rules and cheating. According to him, however, it was clever play. One doesn’t fight right at the beginning; every pro knows that.
This is why the player was banned: Last week, accusations rose from the community that Dubs and his duo partner “Waffles” were colluding in Fortnite’s Solo Cash Cup.
In solo tournaments, it is strictly prohibited to collaborate with another player. This is considered “teaming” and thus cheating. However, according to the allegations, both are said to have cooperated.
According to reports and a video:
- both players landed at the same spot, at “The Rig”
- they never fought each other
- but attacked other players who also landed there
- they even allegedly shared loot
- they supposedly did a 3-2-1 countdown to eliminate someone together
The two managed to reach places 7 and 8 in the Solo Cash Cup with this play style.
A YouTube video with the accusations that the players colluded circulated on YouTube starting May 2 and garnered some attention. The video reached over 515,000 views.
This is the aftermath: According to the news agency Reuters, Dubs has stated that he was banned by Epic Games for 30 days. He says he finds the decision “frustrating,” but accepts it and will not appeal.
Dubs has been criticized before. He used a racist slur in a Twitch stream in February 2020. As a result, Dubs had to take a month off and undergo sensitivity training. His esports organization, FaZe Clan, required this. In April 2020, Dubs said that he was now reformed.
Avoiding fights is the clever strategy
This is what Dubs says in his defense: According to Dubs, the location “The Rig” has been his only landing spot for two months. His entire strategy revolves around this landing spot.
Every match starts the same for him since then: He always lands on the same building, follows the same loot routes, and rotates the same way.
In every game, he looks for TNTina, gets her keycard and then opens the vault.
He says: Waffles never attacked him. He would play the same way in Waffles’ place. That is a clever strategy. He would sit there and only farm, then loot the vault when the other is outside. Because that’s where the extra loot waits.
Dubs says he doesn’t just fight right after spawning at the beginning of a match unless someone is in his way, especially when it comes to a keycard.
Every pro knows that it’s not clever to fight right at the spawn point.
Big Problem in Fortnite Esports
This is what it’s about: The problem reveals the weakness in Fortnite esports. Ultimately, no one forces players to go after each other and risk being eliminated early and scoring few points. Therefore, it is often a good tactic to play “defensively” and avoid fights. It’s like making a “non-aggression pact” with other players: If you do nothing to me, I’ll do nothing to you.
The problem reared its head back in December 2018. At that time, pros would get planes and play particularly passively to reach the end game. They would glide minutes over the map. To avoid trouble with the rules due to passivity, they would shoot hilariously next to other planes.
In Dubs’ case, the caution apparently crossed into “teaming,” which led to the 30-day ban.
These incidents keep recurring in Fortnite esports and show that there currently is no solution to avoid such “agreements” among players. This is unfair to all others who do not have such agreements.
Just in April, 3 players were kicked out of their team because they colluded in a duo cup.
