South Korea Rocked By Starcraft Cheating Scandal

The largest scandal in e-sports history is currently unfolding in Korea, with revelations that a number of current pro gamers are involved with match set-ups and illegal betting.

It's a well-established fact that South Koreans take their gaming very seriously. The country sports a thriving professional gaming industry, known as e-sports in the gaming world. The tournaments and events are held in lavish, high-tech stadiums and attract huge crowds. The various leagues are followed by millions of people around the globe, and the top performers are veritable celebrities, attracting sponsorship deals and endorsement contracts with companies like Samsung and SK Telecom.

The most popular of the e-sports games is Starcraft. There are 12 professional Starcraft teams, and 11 of them have corporate sponsorship. It is the most popular game at World Cyber Games, the Olympics-like international video game tournament held in South Korea every year, backed by Samsung and Microsoft.

However, nothing tarnishes the reputation of a professional competitive community like a sweeping cheating scandal. Gamepron reports that a large portion of the top players are being investigated for intentionally losing matches, giving team replay tapes to gambling sites, and for various other game rigging deals with the bookies that cover the games. As all the teams and players involved get swept up in the scandal, many of the most influential and talented competitors are being asked to retire.

As details of the scandal continue to surface, it is becoming clear that the e-sports industry knew about much of the illegal conduct, and was trying to solve the problem in-house before bringing authorities in once the rigging practices simply moved deeper underground.

Under South Korean law, the names of the players investigated cannot be revealed while they are under investigation. This hasn't stopped the speculation machine that is the Internet, and all the top players' reputations and careers are at stake now.

In the relatively young yet burgeoning e-sports movement, a scandal like this has the potential to shake up the industry, what some would call the subculture, of professional gaming in South Korea. While change may be for the better, the players will have a hard time getting back the hard earned respect of the fans, and the industry as a whole will suffer.

While the gamers are un-named at this point, the story is said to touch many A-list StarCraft celebrities – including sAviOr, Ja Mae Yoon – one of the best-known and most successful players of all time.

sAviOr - Ma Jae-Yoon

At this stage, we hear that various pro gamers have been found intentionally losing matches, as well as leaking their team’s replay files to illegal gambling groups.

The teams involved are currently naming and shaming offending members, in some cases forcing the more serious cheaters to retire from the game. Various gamers are also being investigated, with many denying charges before eventually admitting their involvement.

The story has been likened to the 1919 Black Sox scandal, which saw eight members of the Chicago White Sox World Series team intentionally losing several games – giving the series to the Cincinnati Reds. While we’re not sure if this new story has quite the same links to the underworld, it’s an interesting comparison.

According to Korean sources, the drama all started several years ago – in 2006 – and exploded properly in 2008, when the betting sites started to contact various players inquiring about rigging their matches. Apparently, retired pro gamers, a former pro gamer coach, a former match announcer and a pro gaming scene reporter brought out their address books and contact lists to play a large part in the deals being made. Coaching staff and camp directors are also implicated, allegedly taking money for charging player entry fees.

…even more sinister: E-sports organisers allegedly knew about the situation and had attempted to solve the issue themselves, with the illegal businesses going further underground. A closed conference even saw the organisers discussing the possibility of co-existing with the illegal betting sites.

As part of Korea’s human rights laws, it is illegal to release criminals’ names – they can only be implied – which means that as the police have now gotten involved, we may never be officially told who was involved in this drama. Unofficially, however, it’s only a matter of time before fingers are pointed and pro gamers find themselves without a job.

“Blacklists” of players have been posted and taken down from the internet – we found a reportedly translated version which names most of the current major StarCraft pro gamers in Korea as being currently under investigation.

    Myung Soo (Yarnc), Chan Soo (Luxury), Sang Ho (SangHo), Jung Woo (EffOrt), Yong Hwa (Movie), Jae Yoon (sAviOr), Taek Yong (Bisu), Byong Goo (Stork), Jae Wook (BeSt), il Jang (hero), Myung Hoon (fantasy), Heui Seung (UpMaGiC), Jae Dong (Jaedong), Sang Moon (Leta), Jong Seo (Justin), Chang Hee (go.go)

With both sAviOr and EffOrt previously BlizzCon champions, Who knows, this year’s convention could have a whole new collection of StarCraft competitors!

We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and will let you know as things grow and change.