Years of CS:GO replays will be investigated for coach exploits
That's a lotta demos.
Coaches eh? They're meant to be a great help for improving your game, but it seems some sneaky Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams have taken that to mean peeking where they're not allowed during high-stakes competitive games. Now, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) is raking through years of demos to find these meddlesome cameramen, with the suggestion that they might go easy on folks who own up to their crimes.
YouTuber 3kliksphilip explained the exploit's technicals in a video earlier this week, but in short - a hitch in coach spectating let coaches detach their view from teammates, giving them insight into the match they wouldn't (and shouldn't) normally have.
It does seem the exploit has been fixed, and three coaches from Hard Legion, Heroic, and MIRB teams have already been suspended by the ESL earlier this week. But with potential cases dating back to 2016, the ESIC has decided to perform an extensive investigation on the matter, scrubbing around 25,000 match replays for cases of camera-fiddling.
It's one hell of a task, and one the ESIC reckons may take eight months or more to complete. As with the aforementioned suspensions, being caught red-handed will net coaches a lengthy suspension from all major CS:GO esports events. However, the ESIC have opened up the possibility of concessions, should any guilty parties feel remorseful enough to admit their wrongdoing during something the ESIC call a "Confession Period".
"ESIC recognizes that people sometimes make mistakes and regret their decisions. In ESIC’s view, wherever possible, it is important to work towards reform and rehabilitation of offending parties into individuals who value competitive integrity and can recommence serving the CS:GO community."
There's no guarantee you'll get off lighter, of course. But the ESIC is banking on people wanting to uphold the "competitive integrity" of the scene - and, of course, hoping they can lessen the load of digging through roughly 5TB of Counter-Strike demos.
Cheers, PC Gamer.