News
After a thorough investigation, we (LPL Staff) have determined that PUBG Team High Speed Task Force (HSTF) and its players deliberately compromised competitive integrity during LPL Pro PUBG Relegations in order to lose and place themselves in a lower division to increase their likelihood of gaining monetary prizing.
Upon further investigation, Team HSTF were found to have violated further terms outlined in the LPL Terms of Service, the LPL Code of Conduct, the LPL Integrity Regulations and LPL PUBG Rules. Their actions have negatively impacted the competitive integrity and wellbeing of the LetsPlay.Live (LPL) community and by extension, the Oceanic PUBG community.
These actions will result in an immediate ban for Team HSTF and its players from all LPL-operated tournaments for a period of time outlined later in this article.
Ruling
Team HSTF and its players - Krush, Nick101, iconNDKs and Kasun - during LPL Pro PUBG Relegations on Monday 31st August 2020, violated the LPL Terms of Service found in Section 7.6, the LPL Integrity Regulations found in Section 6, the LPL Code of Conduct Category 2 and the LPL PUBG Rules found in Section 3.3.
Upon inspection of all communications held on Discord, game footage and after consulting the PUBG Player panel, admins and players, we have determined that these players compromised competitive integrity by intentionally throwing their Relegation matches.
Relevant Terms:
LPL Terms of Service - https://letsplay.live/terms/
7.6 - PLAYER INTEGRITY
7.6.1 As a user participating in any LPL competition, you recognise the detrimental effects to the competition and the wider Esports community that results from the impairment of integrity and good character of users.
LPL Integrity Regulations - https://letsplay.live/integrityregulations/
6. MATCH-FIXING & COMPETITION MANIPULATION
6.1. A Participant must not make any intentional arrangement, act or omission aimed at an improper alteration of the result, or the course of a sports competition, in order to remove all or part of the unpredictable nature of the match/competition.
6.2. For the avoidance of doubt, Regulation 6.1 includes the failure of a Participant to perform to their best efforts, as determined by experts in the sport.
LPL Code of Conduct: https://letsplay.live/codeofconduct/
Violation: Harbouring
Members of teams and organisations found to be knowingly (beyond reasonable doubt) harbouring players who are in breach of the Player Code of Conduct and/or other website terms will be subject to Category 2 penalties.
PUBG Rules - https://letsplay.live/games/pubg/rules/
3.3 - Sportsmanship
LPL users are required to uphold, observe and respect a reasonable level of sportsmanship. This level of sportsmanship is expected to be conducted prior to, during and after LPL matches and during the general use of LPL. Unsportsmanlike conduct is not allowed. Sportsmanship does not only refer to the other teams, general abuse or non-compliance towards administrators, casters or spectators will count as unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Sportsmanship also translates to forums, Discord, and social media in certain cases.
The actions submitted by Team HSTF and its players will result in the penalties outlined below:
No ban appeals will be accepted during this time.
2. Team Captain “Nick101” - Removal from the LPL PUBG Community and banned from all LPL-operated PUBG events for 8 months for encouraging their teammates to participate in throwing their Relegation matches and unsportsmanlike behaviour.
A ban appeal may be submitted in January 2021.
3. In-Game Leader “Krush” - Removal from the LPL PUBG Community and banned from all LPL-operated PUBG events for 1 year for encouraging their teammates to participate in throwing their Relegation matches and further offenses:
- Failure to provide demos/replays
- Disruptive Behaviour, disrupting administrators ability to conduct an investigation by leaving LPL discord servers
- Inappropriate names, that are defamatory or inciting hatred
- Bullying users, targeting them both in-game and online via text
- Abuse of LPL admins and LPL players
- Match fixing
- Witch Hunting
- Threats, threatening to target teams or players
- Lack of sportsmanship, degrading and talking down to other players and/or teams based on ability or skill level.
- Failure to comply with staff requests
A ban appeal may be submitted in May 2021.
LPL reserves the right to impose any additional penalties at our sole discretion. It is ultimately the player’s responsibility to take accountability, take this as a learning experience and change for the better. If the above players continue to exhibit wrongful behavior, both in and outside of LPL, we will not hesitate to extend their penalties.
Closing
We here at LPL take competitive integrity extremely seriously, across all titles on the platform to maintain a safe and fair environment for all users to play and compete in competitive esports. We do not tolerate the wrongful behaviors exhibited above anywhere within our communities and we will always take necessary actions to uphold our pride and values as a professional tournament organiser in the region.
EDIT 8 September 2020 9:40AM NZT: In light of gross attacks on character and harassment towards LPL Staff members regarding their 8 month ban, player Nick101 will be permanently banned from all LPL-operated tournaments and communities. A ban appeal may be submitted in May 2021. We would like to remind the community that abuse and threats towards LPL Staff are taken extremely seriously and we will not tolerate such behavior.