League of Legends Championship winners disqualified for cheating

Major League Gaming finds LoL players guilty of collusion

Jeremy ProomeAugust 27, 2012

This weekend, North America’s Major League Gaming slammed out its Summer Championship finals, although there was some controversy in the gaming world.

The main attraction was undoubtedly the StarCraft 2 finals – which went smoothly. But the League of Legends tournament didn’t go down as expected.

The two teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas, were battling it out for first and second place, although both were disqualified when it became apparent that the teams had colluded.

MLG wrote on its official website:

“MLG regrets to announce that we will not be awarding 1st or 2nd Place finishes for the Summer Championship League of Legends Event. We have determined that there was collusion between the two final teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas. This is in clear violation of both the letter and spirit of MLG’s Official Pro Circuit Conduct Rules: “competitors may not intentionally Forfeit a Game or conspire to manipulate Rankings or Brackets.” As such, both teams have been disqualified, and no placements or prize money will be awarded.

Riot has agreed with this decision and, in accordance with their Season 2 rules on Unsportsmanlike Conduct, will not be awarding Circuit points to either team.

The 3rd and 4th Place teams will receive the prize money and Circuit Points they have earned, and all other results stand. No 1st or 2nd Place will be awarded for this event.”

The first place LoL prize was US$20,000, and second was worth US$12,000.

The Starcraft 2 tournament was taken by Leeenock, who won US$25,000 (about R210,000).

Should cheating in professional gaming be taken as seriously as any other sport? Let us know what you think.