Banjyfishy Catches Cheating Duo at Dreamhack Fortnite Event

Fortnite
December 2, 2019
Jordan Ashley

Does Fortnite have a cheating problem? Most wouldn’t say so, but its competitive scene does seem to go through more accusations and trials over unsportsmanlike behavior than most other Esports. The most recent has occurred at the Dreamhack tournament in Sweden over the weekend, where Benjyfishy exposed a Duo cheating at the game. Their behavior left them disqualified from the $250,000 event.

Shaadoxxx and Stele98 were among the roster at the Dreamhack Winter Fortnite tournament. The Duo is the latest in quite a long line of players to risk cheating at the game, even when such big prize money is at stake. Typically, cheating in Fortnite happens at home in the expansive array of in-game events that Epic hosts. These competitive events are better suited to players trying to bend the rules to give themselves a little advantage. However, as we’ve just seen this doesn’t stop players from cheating even at big tournaments.

Fortnite Dreamhack Winter 2019 Players caught cheating

© ESPN

What Happened at Dreamhack?

Benjyfishy was in attendance at the tournament, but not yet competing. The young Fortnite pro will be taking part later in the weekend. However, for the time being, he seems to just be playing the role of ombudsmen for others in attendance!

Benjyfishy spotted the two players teaming in a game. This is where two players conspire to help each other in a Solos game. This is definitely against the rules, but comes up more often than most fans would like. Teaming allegations have happened in pretty much every major event this year, but typically only in the qualifying rounds.

Benjyfishy took to Twitter to share a clip of the behaviour and bring players’ actions to light.

The clip clearly shows both players lying in ambush, then launching quite a barrage on the other player. Most cheating allegations are usually of leaving weapons for the other to grab or throwing a healing item to a friend. It is often simply refraining from killing each other while competing alone. This type of team seems to be a lot more brazen and extreme. The two players were literally moving around together as a Duo. While any type of cheating shouldn’t happen, doing it on this scale is just not cricket.

The pair have been disqualified from the event and won’t have a shot at the prize money. This kind of behavior isn’t tolerated in major events. It remains to be seen if Epic will take any action against the players themselves. The company has been criticized in the past for being both too lenient with cheaters, and too too harsh with others.

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Does Fortnite Have a Cheating Problem?

Epic have been criticised in the past for their approach to cheaters, particularly in the Fortnite World Cup. This huge event saw plenty of Duos be accused of ganging up on other players. Typically, they were given a ban of a few weeks, causing problems when the ban expired before the qualifying stages had completed, offering the offending players another chance. On other occasions, they’ve been pretty server with those caught breaking rules.

Major streamer and pro player Jarvis Kattri was recently caught using an aimbot when streaming. The player using the device for entertainment purposes and to demonstrate to his viewers, rather than to give any sort of advantage in a competitive event. However, Epic handed out a complete ban. This response was seen as extreme from some people since the player was only bending rules for entertainment.

The type of cheating shown off in the Dreamhack event is disappointing to see at any major esports tournament. While Epic seems to be taking a harder stance to cheating, this could be better applied. Banning professional players from competing after cheating would go a long way to discouraging this type of behavior, banning streamers from using the game to make entertaining content that doesn’t hurt anyone, isn’t as helpful. Epic’s approach to cheaters might pay off a little better if they applied their rules in a more focused way. Until then, we’ll have to rely on Benjyfishy to catch those bending the rules.

Read also: Tfue rebukes cheating allegations in the Fortnite World Cup