This post is over 7 years old and may contain information that is incorrect, outdated, or no longer relevant. My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
Last night, one of my good friends Mellina Kong, manager of Astral Authority’s professional Heroes of the Storm roster, posted an update on Twitter about how her players had their dreams crushed. Curious as to what was happening, I looked into it.
Apparently, Astral Authority had qualified for the HGC Fall 2016 NA Regional, happening in early August. The winner of this regional will qualify for BlizzCon 2016 to take their shot at proving themselves to be the best team in the world, on the grandest stage of them all. Not long after, Astral Authority was notified that their qualification had been revoked and their team was disqualified due to bug abuse.
Tyrael has a bug with his trait where selecting a particular sequence of talents and inputting a series of key presses with the right timing will cause his Archangel’s Wrath to deal an unintentionally high amount of damage. According to investigations conducted by ESL and Blizzard, a player on Astral Authority was abusing this exploit to gain an unfair advantage in their games, and consequently, the team was disqualified.
Drama began to explode, with some members of the community and other professional players directing the hatred of 10,000 years at ESL, Blizzard, and Astral Authority’s opponents. People attempted to justify Astral Authority’s behavior by bringing up evidence of other teams using the exploit, claiming ignorance, and just spewing hatred to get the frustration out of their bodies.
What’s done is done. ESL disqualified Astral Authority from the tournament and are scheduling a match to determine their replacement. No matter how vocal Astral Authority fans get, I highly doubt that ESL will reverse their decision by reinstating Astral Authority or revoking the match offer they gave to the runner-up teams.
Having an educational and professional background in sociology and psychology, with a specialization in criminal psychology, I decided to write this piece to help explain this whole fiasco, and nudge the community in the right direction – away from drama, and towards a thirst for learning.
There are some valuable lessons we can learn from this situation about how life works.
Just because you work hard for something doesn’t mean you get it.
People will break rules.
Not everyone gets punished for wrongdoing.
Don’t get caught off guard by Schadenfreude.
Just because you work hard for it doesn’t mean you get it.
If you truly believe that you can try your best at something and get guaranteed results, you are terribly mistaken. The key to success is not to chase your passion and give it your all. The key to success is to chase opportunity and be smart about it.
Sometimes, you suck at your passion.
If your passion is painting, and you’ve been dedicated to becoming a better painter for the past ten years, but your products look worse than something I painted with my foot, you should probably give up painting. No matter how passionate you are about painting, it’s just not your thing.
There is no doubt that the members of Astral Authority worked hard to qualify for the North American regional. However, just because you work hard doesn’t mean you have the necessary skill. Just because you work hard doesn’t entitle you to results.
A Korean streamer by the name of chu8 threw together a random team to compete in the qualifier. Even though they didn’t put any effort into it, they had the skill to win and get far in the qualifier bracket – and ultimately, that’s what matters in life.
It really sucks that Astral Authority ended up getting disqualified out of the third and final opportunity to qualify for the regional. But if they were actually so good that they deserved a spot in the regional … Unfortunately, there’s no denying that they already failed to qualify twice.
People will break rules.
A psychologist by the name of Lawrence Kohlberg created a theory called the Stages of Moral Development. This theory states that, as people grow older, they shift from ethics based on simply avoiding punishment, to ethics based on societal well-being.
These are his stages:
Obedience and punishment (“How can I avoid punishment?”)
Self-interest (“What’s in it for me?”)
Interpersonal accord and conformity (“I want to act in a way that makes people like me.”)
Maintaining social order (“I have to follow the law.”)
Social contract (“I need to serve the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”)
Universal ethical principles (“I must use abstract reasoning to determine the best way for humans to exist.”)
The stage at which someone exists is the stage that best describes the primary reasoning behind a majority of their decisions. For example, if someone regularly shoplifts and focuses on not getting caught, they are at Stage 1. Just because this individual sometimes thinks about how society can help the homeless population does not put them at Stage 5.
Unsurprisingly, most people hit a ceiling at Stage 4. Adolescents and young adults – the demographic that best describes esports athletes and viewers – linger around Stages 1-3, before some of them mature into Stage 4.
What’s the point of going over the stages of moral development?
It shows that the young and fresh minds in esports still focus on avoiding punishment and acquiring personal gain. As long as they can make sure they’re subtle about their wrongdoing, and they can reap the benefits, it’s likely they will engage in the unethical act – especially when the punishment is abstract instead of concrete (“do not exploit bugs” vs. “Tyrael is banned”).
If you’re an Astral Authority fan, there’s no reason to be upset at the player who used the bug. This is the kind of behavior that a vast majority of people his age exhibit, and that’s just how life is.
Not everyone gets punished for wrongdoing.
I’d like to make a comparison here between Astral Authority’s disqualification and driving over the speed limit.
Driving over the speed limit
Astral Authority’s use of the Tyrael bug
Driving at or under the speed limit is the law.
Not abusing bugs is the rule.
Many people drive over the speed limit.
More teams other than Astral Authority abused the bug.
Not all speeders get a speeding ticket.
Only Astral Authority got punished.
Telling the police officer to chase after someone else will not get you out of your ticket.
Telling ESL and Blizzard to punish other teams will not change Astral Authority’s punishment.
Speeding just a few kilometers per hour over the speed limit doesn’t get you a speeding ticket. There are too many variables that could account for going a few KPH over the limit.
Teams that only abused the bug mildly did not get punished. Those teams could claim the bug abuse as a mistake, and it would be difficult to disprove otherwise.
You will probably only get a ticket if you are going 20+ KPH over the speed limit.
ESL and Blizzard determined that Astral Authority’s abuse of the bug was intentful and severe.
Just because you didn’t know the speed limit doesn’t mean you don’t get a speeding ticket.
Just because Astral Authority claims they were not familiar with the bug does not excuse them from punishment.
If people call the police to report a particular car and license plate number for reckless driving, they are more likely to get punished.
Members of the community called out Astral Authority publicly, which increased the likelihood of them receiving punishment.
If ESL and Blizzard’s investigations were 100% accurate and Astral Authority did indeed intentionally abuse the Tyrael bug, does Astral Authority deserve to be punished? Yes.
Do the other teams that intentionally abused the Tyrael bug deserve to be punished? Yes.
Do all wrongdoers always get punished? As we saw by the “driving over the speed limit” example, unfortunately, no.
And that’s just how life is.
Don’t get caught off guard by Schadenfreude.
Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortune of others.
This phenomenon is based on social comparison theory, where we feel better about ourselves when others around us have bad luck.
The bigger you are, the larger the target on your back.
Astral Authority has made a decent name for themselves so far. The one big instance I remember from Astral Authority is when one of their staff members chose one day to randomly publicly insult those with mental illnesses. The CEO stepped in within half an hour and fired the imbecile. This established the brand’s mission as one that cares about its fans, and the community in general.
Just because you’re building up a good reputation doesn’t mean everyone likes you. As your fan base increases, so does the number of people who dislike you – people who will gain pleasure from your misfortune.
This is why public figures need to be particularly careful about what they say – not only because they are a role model to many, but also because there are people waiting to pounce on all their wrongdoings. Don’t get caught off guard by Schadenfreude.
That’s just how life is.