A professional in Singapore was recently convicted for throwing a match, shortly after the country's first ever e-sports gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games was shrouded in controversy. CNA explores how the industry is dealing with such growing pains.
SINGAPORE: What does it take to send a group of 20-something year-olds halfway across the world to compete in – and win – an international gaming competition watched by millions?
They also have to work on their personal branding and take interviews, press conferences and podcast appearances, added Mr Hathiramani, who is known more widely by his moniker nikH.Their efforts appear to have paid off, with the Paper Rex outfit making quite a name for itself in the Valorant sphere in recent years.
The Indonesians complained that Singapore had gained an unfair advantage by using a bug, which involved an in-game camera for players to track opponents' movements. Indonesia said this was not allowed; Singapore disputed this. A friend suggested to him that they bet on his team losing a match – and proposed that Chung intentionally throw the match. Chung told his team to do so.
“It was definitely very disappointing and very sad. Because in e-sports, I think no matter how hard the game is, we put in as much effort as we can and losses are tough, just like in any other sport. These offerings, along with the likes of Valorant and battle royale game Fortnite, are also garnering live global audiences in the millions, who closely watch and follow players with a level of attention not unlike those paid to celebrities and influencers.
Mr Syakir, known by his in-game moniker Kun, recently qualified to represent Singapore at the eNations World Cup in Saudi Arabia in July. The solution is to report the player to Electronic Arts and wait for the developer to conduct checks and block the player’s IP address. The head coach for Singapore’s national Overwatch team Seetoh Jian Qing was pragmatic on the prospect of nabbing cheaters.
Mr Syakir said some players have also been known to give wins to others, to help their friends qualify for regional tournaments. “The people behind the scenes, they can consult the rulebook, but at the same time, things can happen that are not in the rulebook, and they have to adapt on the fly. Right there and then, they have to make a decision,” he said.
“The organisers change every time, so there’s always a lot of improvement that can be done every SEA Games, because there needs to be a way to hand down the knowledge from issue to issue.” Mr Hathiramanthi told CNA how, in 2020, Paper Rex signed a team of Valorant players who were the best in Singapore at the time.
It was at this point where it came to light that the team had deliberately thrown a match in a competition two months prior, said Mr Hathiramanthi, adding that some of them pointed to one teammate as the instigator.Professional players and team managers described Singapore’s e-sports community at large as having zero tolerance for cheating and match fixing.
“So the easier solution for them is to stay quiet. But what they don’t realise is that by staying quiet, they become an accomplice.”Interviewees for this story were also keen to discuss the perception of e-sports culture as inherently toxic and home to a cesspool of people with bad online attitudes. Mr Seetoh said the best Overwatch players in Singapore were also"some of the most toxic players" who've been banned multiple times by developer Blizzard.
“They’re hiding behind an avatar, a game character. They don’t actually have to reveal who they are … whatever they do in the outside world doesn’t matter, what only matters here is the outcome of the game.” “But it’s a sensitive line to cross … You’re talking about a teenager here, this could be his entire career, not just in gaming but everywhere, if it becomes a big enough story."only for its issues, be it cheating, match fixing or toxic behaviour,"Mishaps do happen," he pointed out."I mean, it happens in traditional sports as well, all the time."Professional FIFA player Syakir Abdul Rauf has played the game competitively for about six years.
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