The aftermath of forsaken cheating at eXTREMESLAND; How it can affect the Indian scene

There have been a lot of important developments after forsaken was caught cheating and many things came to light. 

The recent controversy where Forsaken was caught cheating at eXTREMESLAND in China has caught the world’s attention. A lot of new things have come to light in the aftermath of the incident, ranging from old accusations against him to bans and questions regarding the validity of Indian gaming tournaments.  

The Aftermath 

As one can expect, the incident did fetch us a lot of funny memes, which did help lighten up the mood. 

But onto more serious matters, his old violations were unearthed. Forsaken had received a ban by ESIC for two years for having Steam accounts that were VAC banned. He had then said that he had sold those accounts and they were banned later on. After many discussions, his ban was then reduced to 6 months. 

It was also brought to light that BnTeT already knew about him using hacks, and BnTeT himself tweeted about it. Rod “Slasher” Breslau also shared a clip where Forsaken is believed to have used hacks. 

lol forsaken from optic india finally caught cheat on LAN, most of us already knkw that he is cheating from sostronk next, gg so embarrassing

— Hansel Ferdinand (@BnTeTCSGO) October 19, 2018

In the most recent news since the incident, ESL India has found during their investigations that Forsaken had used the same cheats during the ESL India Fall Finale. They have forwarded their findings to ESIC, who will conduct their own independent investigation. 

The Indian community was pretty much enraged at the whole incident. We had received reports that some members meant to physically harm him at the airport. We even received the details of his flight. Luckily, the incident did not come to pass. 

AFK gaming claims that even the Indian caster, Archisman ‘Fett’ Pradhan was threatened with physical harm because he supported Forsaken. 

Right after the incident, we received information, which as of yet is unverified, from an anonymous source that the eXTREMESLAND anti-cheat did not detect anything and Forsaken was caught due to an “inhuman” moment. Reports on other websites claim that he was caught by the anti-cheat. 

All of this brings about a lot of important questions. 

There were reports, from pros and enthusiasts, that forsaken was using hacks. Even BnTeT, who is an Indonesian star and Captain of Tyloo, had claimed that Forsaken was using Hacks on SoStronk servers. In his recent tweet posted above, he insinuates that most of them already knew about his cheating. 

Which prompts the question, why were the claims not investigated? ESL had suspended Forsaken for six months for using VAC banned accounts, and still his games were not monitored or analyzed. A member of a Pro team accusing him should have been enough for SoStronk to launch an investigation. If the observers at eXTREMESLAND caught him, why couldn’t the observers at the Indian tournaments do so? 

What it means for the Indian esports scene? 

This incident has put Indian esports in a really bad light. eXTREMESLAND is a high profile event, and it is rare for Indian teams to reach at this level. Cheating at an international LAN tournament is the ultimate sin in gaming. Needless to say, Forsaken’s career is now over.  

But it will affect the Indian esports scene. For starters, OpTic India has released their roster. It is not known whether they will make another Indian roster, or whether they will come back to India again. This will make other international teams hesitant about scouting talent from India, or setting up shop in the country.

pic.twitter.com/i1qRRgUHmO

— OpTic India (@OpTicIndia) October 19, 2018

The incident also puts the validity and competence of Indian platforms like SoStronk and tournaments like ESL into question.  

But hopefully, it will help the scene grow as a whole. The organisers now know that the community is unforgiving and they will be held accountable for their actions. This should prompt them to be more vigilant and take what the community says more seriously.  

It is sad that due to Forsaken’s mistake, other of his team members were let go. But hopefully they will stick together and impart the invaluable skills they learnt at OpTic’s bootcamp.  

Esportsportal does not condone any type of physical harm to any person. We strongly urge the community members to remain calm, and instead work for the betterment and learn from forsaken’s mistake.

We would also like to know what you think in the comments.