Thought: Competitive Ethics

The finals between Curse and Dignitas this weekend have created quite a stir. There are a wide range of opinions flying around, and mine would only add to the chaos. Instead, I'd like to try to throw some facts and objective analysis into the mix.

The first and most important fact is that while this is League of Legends' first major match-fixing incident, it is not the first (nor will it likely be the last) case of match-fixing in eSports. StarCraft, StarCraft 2, and even Counter-Strike have all had match-fixing scandals in the past. Match-fixing is as problem for all eSports, not League of Legends specifically.

Second, match-fixing is damaging to any sport, but particularly eSports. Currently eSports are attempting to gain mainstream traction. Whenever an incident of this nature occurs it undermines the credibility of eSports and the organizations associated with them. We are still in the crucial developmental phase of eSports, and scandals like this roll back the efforts of thousands of people.

Finally, League of Legends is currently in an especially sensitive position as an eSport. It currently dwarfs all other eSports in terms of viewership, and in many ways is doing for eSports in North America what everyone hoped StarCraft 2 would do. It's also taken off like wildfire in Korea, the home of eSports. League of Legends is, in many ways, the eSports leader worldwide, which means anything adverse that happens in its competitions can have far ranging impacts.

So while it's unfair to ignore the history of match-fixing in eSports when considering the events of this weekend, League of Legends is naturally under greater scrutiny than other games due to its privileged position and the tenuous situation of eSports. Despite the small scope of this incident it is nonetheless a big deal because of the context.

In the long run I don't believe this particular case will do more than provide fodder for meaningless "DotA vs LoL" or "LoL vs SC2" discussions, but had this been a higher profile event or involved throwing matches rather than simple prize-splitting and ARAMs it could have been much, much worse.