DreamHack announces fresh start for previous cheaters

DreamHack has announced they will be aligning “to ESIC reccommendations on sanctions for cheating in esports”. The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) had previously been launched mid last year as a collection of industry experts and legal counsels. DreamHack briefed fans in their official post that the ESIC is the “recognised guardian of the integrity of esports” of which they were proud to be a full-fledged coalition member.

In taking the ESIC’s new recommendation, DreamHack has made some substantial changes to their penalty system dealt to cheaters, match fixers, dopers and match bribery participants.

What happens to cheaters?

Cheaters in DreamHack competitive matches are privy to harsher punishments that in other tournaments.

Following the recommendations of the ESIC, DreamHack will maintain the right to disqualify players, void results, force teams to forfeit prize money and ban cheaters between 2 years to life.

This will ensure that cheaters, no matter the extent of their offence, will incur a minimum two year ban from DreamHack (likely all ESIC participating member events) tournaments. In their post, they explicitly mention that players who “smurf” are also considered cheaters and may be punished for doing so if caught.

What happens to match fixers involved in better fraud?

Results towards the matches in question will be completely voided. Obviously, this will require substantial proof.

That said, if either parties are caught, they will likely receive a five year ban from the events – which may be extended due to the complexity and size of the fraud.

Those convicted will receive large fines and will be forced to forfeit their tournament prize money. Those who don’t comply will likely face criminal prosecution.

What happens to those who are convicted of doping?

While this isn’t that much of an issue in esports, many teams and players are getting desperate to raise their reaction times.

Matches including players who have been convicted of doping will have their results voided and may be slammed with fines while the team will be forced to forfeit prize money. Most obviously, players will face bans. DreamHack has stated bans will likely be around 1 to 2 years.

What happens to bribers?

This charge is fairly similar to match fixing however the penalties are much weaker. Results will be voided, but those found guilty will receive a more limited 1 to 2 year ban. That said, prize money will be lost while they will be hit with monetary fines.

Permanently banned players to be unbanned!

DreamHack has received recommendation from the ESIC and will release all the permanent bans issues prior to the 15^th of February. However, while they state this will apply to all major DreamHack events like the DreamHack Astro Open and DreamHack Masters, Valve sponsored events will CONTINUE to ban these players. This is because Valve’s rules will take priority, likely to spell huge trouble next year as many more tournaments are set to be sponsored.

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