Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Major tournaments and locals implement rule change to prevent collusion

Image taken from Evo2K video
Change is coming to major and local tournament events in an effort to stop collusion. Get the details inside including what this means for players, major fighting game media outlets and the community.

The buck stops here.

Mad Catz, Eventhubs, SRK and organizers of major and local tournament events have agreed to work together to put an end to collusion during tournaments. Below you will find the official statement, which reveals the lack of coverage from the three juggernauts should tournament organizers not implement a new rule.

"Competitive spirit is the lifeblood of the fighting game community. Unfortunately, this year we have seen a few incidents where players intentionally underperformed, usually in the final matches of a tournament. This behavior is unacceptable, and it must end. 
To guarantee the integrity of future tournaments, major tournament directors have come together to standardize Evo’s rule regarding player collusion:

Collusion of any kind with your competitors is considered cheating. If the Tournament Director determines that any competitor is colluding to manipulate the results or intentionally underperforming, the collaborating players may be immediately disqualified. This determination is to be made at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director. Anyone disqualified in this manner forfeits all rights to any titles or prizes they might have otherwise earned for that tournament.

Furthermore, Shoryuken and EventHubs have agreed to only cover events that include this rule and enforce it at their tournament. To receive coverage of any kind, the tournament organizers must post official rules for their event, including the rule above."

You snooze, you lose.

A list of tournaments that will follow this collusion prevention rule has also been revealed. Here is the full list, which is expected to grow as more majors and locals take heed.

• Evolution Championship Series (Includes all Road to Evo events)
• Big E Gaming Events (Northeast Championships, Summer Jam, and Winter Brawl)
• Canada Cup Gaming (Canada Cup, April Duels)
• Community Effort Orlando
• Civil War
• East Coast Throwdown
• The Fall Classic
• Final Round
• Level|Up Events (SoCal Regionals, Wednesday Night Fights, and The Runback)
• MTLSF Events
• Northwest Majors
• Shadowloo Showdown
• NorCal Regionals
• Toronto Top Tiers (TORYUKEN, Canadian East Coast Championships)
• Treta Championship
• Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament
• WorstGiefEver/Armshouse tournaments

Fernando's POV: We are remaining neutral on this stance for now. We were not contacted by anyone on this situation and I didn't expect to be since the site isn't that high on the food chain. FightVG will still cover events and locals we see fit to cover whether they follow the rule change or not. We will however, play it by ear.