Valve permanently bans 10 players, ending lucrative professional careers forever

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Valve cracked down on 10 MOBA DOTA 2 (Steam) players, mostly from Russia, on December 18: their accounts were permanently banned from all events that Valve hosts. The PGL has also joined the ban. With that, the professional career of the 10 players is practically over. It also hits 20-year-old players who still had a long and perhaps lucrative career ahead of them.

What kind of players are these? The 10 players are mostly Russian professionals from teams competing in DOTA 2.

The most notable player who has now been permanently banned is Virtus Pro’s Kamil “Koma” Biktimorv. He’s a 20-year-old pro who just switched to Virtus Pro. In his career so far he has earned $5,600 from DOTA 2. Such a pro career in DOTA 2 can last until the late 20s and the winners of “The International” received around $ 1.8 million in prize money just a few weeks ago.

With the ban, Koma is blocked from a possibly great future in e-sports and maybe even the way to a fortune.

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Other players who have been banned are:

  • Aslan “Paradise” Vadilov, a 20-year-old Russian competing for Felt
  • Sergey”[T]SA” Timchenko, a 25-year-old Russian who played for Luina Gaming
  • Daniel “illusion” Grzhevka, a 20-year-old Ukrainian who plays for Ancient Tribe
  • Viktor “SuperNova” Galichkin, a 24-year-old Russian who last played for HYDRA
  • Vladislav “chmabl” Khorokltsev, a 27-year-old Russian who played for LUNA Gaming
  • Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin, a 24-year-old Russian who last competed for Alliance
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    What does the ban mean for you? Players have been banned for life from all events hosted by Valve. The Liga PLG has joined the ban.

    This means that the 10 players will practically never be able to play DOTA 2 professionally again, since the two organizations host practically all tournaments in DOTA 2.

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    What did the players do? Players were penalized for sharing their accounts and appearing as someone else.

    Apparently, they helped teams through the Open Qualifiers by secretly playing for those teams while others lend them their accounts.

    This made it possible for players to compete for multiple teams in the same competition.

    How is this seen? The Dotesports site believes that Valve’s crackdown at the start of a season is a sign that they’re tightening the reins and making more of a fair playing field.

    Normally, Valve is considered to be rather distant and only intervenes when there is a scandal.

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