ESL bans three CS:GO coaches for abusing spectator bug
ESL has banned three Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coaches for at least six months after they were caught abusing an in-game camera bug. The bug allowed the coaches to see areas of the map which were supposed to be hidden from players, including the enemy team's spawn area.
The three coaches banned are Aleksandr 'MechanoGun' Bogatiryev of Hard Legion Esports, Ricardo 'dead' Sinigaglia of MiBR, and Nicolai 'HUNDEN' Petersen of Heroic. The bans came a day after Heroic won ESL One: Cologne and scooped the $150,000 prize, though Heroic was not found to be using the exploit at all during this tournament.
ESL provided a statement which detailed when and where the coaches were caught cheating, and some have claimed that this cheating is further evidence that results from online tournaments can never be conclusively proven to have been cheat free. Though online play is a necessity enforced by the pandemic, it is much harder to regulate and ensure a level playing field.
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