Competitive ruling: proNEO3001

[Burza46]

Dear gamers,

GWENT Masters is the official tournament series for GWENT: The Witcher Card Game designed to let the best players use their skill to compete on the highest level possible. All players participating in the official tournaments or competing in the Pro Rank are asked to accept GWENT Masters rules and regulations and thus are bound to play fair.

After receiving multiple reports indicating that professional player Oleksandr "proNEO3001" Shpak was getting an unfair advantage during the last Ranked Season ("Season of The Viper") while playing on Pro Rank and competing for the spot at World Masters, CD PROJEKT RED has launched an official investigation to confirm or deny these allegations.

During this investigation, we have found solid proof of proNEO3001 violating paragraphs 14.3(a) and 14.3(c) of GWENT Masters ruleset.

We have established that:

-proNEO3001 was exploiting the known game bug to receive favorable results in the otherwise lost matches several times during the season.

-proNEO3001 was receiving unwarranted victories from the players forfeiting to him with a purpose to improve his position on the ladder.

Taking into account the importance of this Ranked season and the severity of the offenses, we have decided the following:

- Reset results of Oleksandr “proNEO3001” Shpak achieved in Season of The Viper;

- Disqualify Oleksandr “proNEO3001” Shpak from participating in any official GWENT tournaments for a period of 12 months;

- Ban the account "proNEO3001" for a period of 3 months.

We strive to keep GWENT Masters free of any form of cheating and sincerely hope that all its participants will respect the rules and conduct themselves to the highest standards of integrity and good sportsmanship.

Based on the analysis of this situation and the feedback received from the community, we will be implementing changes to the format of GWENT Masters and its ruleset in the near future.

 

[ortokot]

During this investigation, we have found solid proof of proNEO3001 violating paragraphs 14.3(a) and 14.3(c) of GWENT Masters ruleset.

Are you willing to make solid proof publicly available?

 

[m1asmatic]

Gj CDPR, banning Proneo for ppl surrending to him without proof he asked em. Not investigating GameKingAt wintrading and sniping. Not punishing Aretuza members Alessio and FreddyBabbes for hatespeech towards CIS region, insulting and calling names. This is dissapointing, truly. U only punish CIS players.

 

[TheCreepyCreep]

What about gameking? He accepted he sniped on proneo. Is it legal?
Also, if you have proofs that proneo wintraded with other players, what about them? Are they punished too?

 

[AHTOH_OCOKuH]

Where is ban of gameking for wintrade?

 

[ThorSerpent]

What about gameking? He accepted he sniped on proneo. Is it legal?

So-called "queue sniping" isn't prohibited by the current ruleset (it's also a default "feature" for players who have each other in friends lists). Since there is some controversy around this topic in general, we will think of the ways to mitigate it with the future rules updates.

Gj CDPR, banning Proneo for ppl surrending to him without proof he asked em. Not investigating GameKingAt wintrading and sniping. Not punishing Aretuza members Alessio and FreddyBabbes for hatespeech towards CIS region, insulting and calling names. This is dissapointing, truly. U only punish CIS players.

Please read the announcement - wintrading isn't the only offense on the list that was investigated. You're not going to defend ropebug abuse, I hope? We've investigated claims against GameKing and didn't found any suspicious matches. If you know anything - please report and we will check. So-called "hate speech" allegations are overstatements, however, we've issued some official warning for personal attacks.

Are you willing to make solid proof publicly available?

No. I must note that this is a normal practice for similar investigations in other esports - there are multiple reasons why sharing this information publically either impossible or wrong. However, there are some publically available Twitch VODs for some of the cases we've investigated using internal tools.

 

[Paco1303]

Where is the proof of colluding ProNeo with others? While there is proof of GameKing's sniping?

 

[I_love_Burza]

proNeo showed his game history on his stream. Also he asked GameKingAT to show his game history, but got rejected. Oh, you know guys, recently I played Gwent and my opponent forfeited in round 1, am I deserve to be banned? And if you've done a good investigation, you found some information about GameKing's snipe, haven't you?
Pawel, OPEN YOUR EYES please. Hope, you'll change your deceision about proNEO. Thanks

 

[Ariveth]

Watching all those delusional posts is so much fun ; )

 

[SkiZophreniC]

It is incredible. Proofs have been brought publicly denouncing a cheating player, CDPR takes the right decision banishing this type of behaviour, but still people are trying to divert the debate on other players (GameKing) who have been playing fairly to my knowledge.

Cheat is punished. Stop these inappropriate complaints, and thanks CDPR for your quick action.

 

[TheCreepyCreep]

It is incredible. Proofs have been brought publicly denouncing a cheating player, CDPR takes the right decision banishing this type of behaviour, but still people are trying to divert the debate on other players (GameKing) who have been playing fairly to my knowledge.

Cheat is punished. Stop these inappropriate complaints, and thanks CDPR for your quick action.

Well, if he's banned for abusing rope bug I totally agree with you. But if he's banned for wintrading, why players he wintraded with aren't banned too? It seems weird.

 

[SigilFey]

Once again, users are reminded not to call others out publicly. If you believe someone may have been playing unfairly, submit such evidence directly to CDPR Support.

The issue here was part of a public event. The results of that situation have been made public so that viewers are aware of the change.

That's not the same thing as publicly slinging accusations. Attempts to point fingers and shame others will not be permitted.

 

[Lantea]

Thanks to CDPR for fully investigating the situation and making a hard evidence based decision, to preserve the integrity of the Gwent Masters.

Ultimately no matter what decision was taken some people would not be happy with the outcome.

For those asking for evidence, you just need to look. There are many videos and 'articles' discussing the situation, and also mentions of other players receiving bans.

The key is for CDPR to presetve the integrity of the Gwent Masters and make sure no cheating or other behaviour that is against the rules takes place.

It is unfortunate that we have lost a pro-player, but I have full trust in CDPR that they would not take such a severe decision if they did not have clear evidence to support it. They have definitely earned that trust over the years.

 

[rrc]

I am a (serious) casual gamer and I don't even know who ProNeo or GameKing is. I don't belong to either community/region. So, as a completely neutral civilian observing this situation, I have to give a huge shout out to Gwent team for doing this. They know that it is going to offend a big part of their customer community and they were still brave enough to do it. Keeping the game fair should be the HIGHEST priority for any game company, irrespective of the price the company has to pay.

All the comments which says that this decision being community/region based is not fair. If someone used unfair things and got unfair advantage against other pro players (who are spending most of their time and life in Gwent) and goes unpunished, it is going to be a big black mark for the company and will discourage other pro players to pursue Gwent as their career. What CDPR has done now will send a message to anyone who would want too take unfair advantage and I think this will be a huge morale boost for pro players who play honestly.

I used to play Counter Strike Global Offensive regularly (being a noob there too), but nowadays I don't play much. It is because, the last few times I was matched against hackers. I reported them and then downloaded and watched the game and it was clear they were hacking. Now, even after reporting (and all my team reporting against the players) those accounts were not banned. When these things happen, you lose respect on the game and the company.

This bold move from CDPR sends a strong message that "No matter who you are or how may fans you have and how much business you bring to our game, if you are found guilty of taking unfair advantage in the pro scene, you will be punished". And this is a HUGE thing. Huge Respect for you CDPR! Well Done and Thanks for being bold in keeping the game fair.

 

[dhaasler]

You guys keep pointing out others in the comments trying to defend proNEO. The fact that others cheat doesn't mean everyone can cheat. They found solid evidence of him cheating so he should be disqualified. They made the correct decision. The fact that he abused the bug to have loses count as wins is in the logs and that's solid proof. The part where others forfeited games to him is more difficult to prove, but with the first violation I stated it's enough to ban him for not obeying Masters rules (using bugs to your advantage).
I hope CDPR bans anyone that breaks rules in the Masters ruleset.

 

[ortokot]

I see this decision as the successful completion of a collective harassment against proNEO3001 headed by Freddybabes and GameKingAT.

Freddybabes's video is full of slander and insult against proNEO3001. Nevertheless, he achieved his goal. (

).

No publicly available evidence contains ProNeo's proof of intent.

 

[TheCreepyCreep]

Keeping the game fair should be the HIGHEST priority for any game company, irrespective of the price the company has to pay.

Well, we all agree with that I think, but what is fair in this situation is the point of discussion. Gameking blamed proneo in wintrading without any proofs and asked his popular friends to support him. As we can see from the post above, if you suspect somebody in cheating, you should submit directly to gwent support. Did he submit to support? No, he pulled it out to public with support of his popular friends. Not the nicest move. Also he was sniping proneo which is not prohibited but can be called cheating. After all I hope CDPRs decision is based on internal data and they know more then we do. It only seems strange for me, cause if they confirmed wintrading, why dont they say who he wintraded with and what punishment those players got.

 

[Chiko_moreno]

It's interesting. Who will be next victim of this gang (gameking, alessio and freddy)?

So in this case, someone in pro rank can forfeit match to GameKing, then someone report to CDPR, and Gameking will be banned? Lifehack

 

[Adzikov]

Well, we all agree with that I think, but what is fair in this situation is the point of discussion. Gameking blamed proneo in wintrading without any proofs and asked his popular friends to support him. As we can see from the post above, if you suspect somebody in cheating, you should submit directly to gwent support. Did he submit to support? No, he pulled it out to public with support of his popular friends. Not the nicest move. Also he was sniping proneo which is not prohibited but can be called cheating. After all I hope CDPRs decision is based on internal data and they know more then we do. It only seems strange for me, cause if they confirmed wintrading, why dont they say who he wintraded with and what punishment those players got.

https://gyazo.com/5de2af0137192d37847a7139efc72919
4 days before Freddy's video.

 

[Burza46]

Like Vlad mentioned, we've thoroughly investigated this case before reaching any type of verdict. Unfortunately, the evidence was damning - please bear in mind that the main violation here is bug abuse to gain a unfair advantage. Any player, who abuses any type of bug and/or exploit will receive bans and pro players are no exception.

We've also checked GameKings account and didn't find any evidence of bug abuse and/or win trading. As for name-calling we had a warring issued to Freddy some time ago - this type of behavior is unacceptable in the GWENT community.