Counter-Strike 2 professional participant Joel ‘joel’ Holmlund has been completely banned from competitors on account of cheats being discovered on his PC. Nonetheless, a part of that ban was additionally punishment for threatening the Esports Integrity Fee (ESIC) in attempting to get the ban verdict delayed or overturned.
Dishonest is nothing new in Counter-Strike 2 and is even arguably the largest drawback Valve faces in protecting the sport enjoyable and interesting for gamers. It’s notoriously filled with cheaters at each rank, leaving the group continually pressuring Valve to do extra to counteract offending gamers.
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That is true even in professional play, with professional Counter-Strike having a number of dishonest scandals through the years. The newest banned participant, joel, was a repeat offender who had been flagged by the board a number of instances up to now 2 years.
The ESIC in the end selected to provide this participant a lifetime ban after these occasions, barring him from competing in Counter-Strike 2 or every other esport overseen by the Esports Integrity Fee.
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CS2 participant banned after dishonest and blackmailing officers
The ESIC defined that joel was discovered to be dishonest on August 4, 2024, virtually a yr in the past on the time of publishing this text. He was discovered responsible of getting aimbot, triggerbot, and different cheats on his PC and in addition was discovered to be fixing matches in aggressive play.
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He requested for the fee to delay going public with the decision to ensure that him to search out “alternate employment,” they usually agreed out of courtesy.
Nonetheless, when the ESIC was about to go public with the information, joel blackmailed them with what the fee described as “fabricated allegations”.
“Following the expiration of this grace interval, Mr. Holmlund issued a risk to blackmail ESIC, with fabricated allegations, in response to ESIC’s intention to make the matter public — an act ESIC considers to be an egregious breach of its Integrity Program,” they defined in a public assertion.
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“This newest misconduct constitutes Mr. Holmlund’s third breach of the ESIC Integrity Program inside a 24-month interval and displays a sustained disregard for the ideas of integrity and truthful play in esports.”
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From there, they threw the ebook on the now-former Counter-Strike 2 professional, hitting him with 12 totally different infractions and giving him a right away lifetime ban from all occasions the ESIC oversees.
Moreover, they really useful any event organizers who aren’t underneath their umbrella, together with Valve themselves, uphold the ban and bar him from any and each event.
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Even for gamers like forsaken, one of the notorious Counter-Strike cheaters ever, their bans will not be everlasting. Lifetime bans are a verdict retained for under probably the most egregious offenders, making joel considered one of few CS gamers who won’t ever have the ability to return to professional play in many of the recreation’s largest occasions.
