•

•
This PDF titled "ESIC Final Report on Streamsniping in Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive was compiled from two tweets originating from the
Esports Integrity Commission's (ESIC) announcement of its end of the
investigation into streamsniping in professional Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive esports.

The source tweets from @ESIC_Official can be found through the

following links.

https: //twitter.com/ESIC_Official/status/1334074907 211091969

https://twitter.com/ESIC_ Official/status/1334074919865389057

WIN.gg Staff Writer Nicholas Johnson transfered the contents of the

tweets to PDF format in an effort to increase both the readability,
accessibility, and visibility of the information containted therein.

No content was edited, alterered, or added besides this page, clearly

labeled "NOTICE:" above.

For any questions, please contact Mr. Johnson directly at :

Nicholas Johnson
CSGO Staff Writer
/4/2.........,
·
~Q'jv
•
,u.
Nicholas@win.gg
 United Kingdom Office
1 Brassey Road,
Old Potts Way Shrewbury,
SY3 7FA United Kingdom

AustralIiian Office
Suite 4, Level 5 1 Horwood Place
Parramatta NSW 2150 Australia

Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) Statement Regarding

Stream Sniping/Ghosting in online CS:GO tournaments
th
11 November 2020

OVERVIEW:

Through the period May to June 2020 ESIC received numerous allegations of coaches

and teams engaging in stream sniping behavior (having the broadcast stream visible during

the progress of the match, usually on a second monitor, sometimes called "ghosting")

during online competitions. Since the initial notification of this issue to ESIC, ESIC has

received and assessed compelling evidence depicting that this behavior has been taking

place on an alarmingly regular basis and at all levels of competition.

Stream sniping is cheating and is specifically prohibited

_J_ by the rules of almost
- all

CS:GO tournament organisers. Furthermore. this form of cheating is a breach of the

ESIC Code of Conduct.

ESIC STATEMENT REGARDING STREAM SNIPING:
As of the date of this release, ESIC has issued a direction to its member to recommunicate,
•
•
re-em phasise and reinforce the CS:GO
• tournament rule prohibiting stream sniping during

online events. ESIC strongly recommends that non-member organisations do the same.

ESIC has notified its members that this form of• cheating will be treated with zero

tolerance if detected in future.

FURTHER MEASURES TO BE TAKEN:

ESIC
• further recommends that additional measures be urgently implemented in order to

-
mitigate the ongoing threat to competitive integrity which is posed by this practice. The

recommendations found below are specific to CS:GO and are not meant to cover any other

game. An unfair advantage could accrue by use of some of these recommendations in other

games. Accordingly, separate but equally tailored consideration should be given to

measures that should be impl emented to mitigate this risk for other game titles.

Recommendations for CS:GO Tournament Organisers

1) Any tournament rule prohibiting the viewing of a CS:GO match broadcast stream be

•
reviewed and, if necessary, strengthened, republished and notified to all participants.

,,,
It is noted that prohibitions within the ESIC Code of Conduct against the access
 and/or use of any direct real time data feed by players, coaches or teams remain in

place and in full force and effect.

2) The delay between the real time match action and the stream broadcast be increased

to a minimum of 3 minutes.

3) During any technical

I
pause in a match, the broadcast stream should be amended so

as to not show any current round information or current round caster or analyst

commentary.

4) In Tier 1 CS:GO online competition, as a minimum, every effort should be made to

-
include live video feeds from each •team playing room w iIth as much of the room and

the participants covered by video as logistics and practicality allows. This footage

does not need to be broadcasted, but it must be stored by the tournament organiser

for at least 90 days following the match. Further to this, communication between

coaches and players should be recorded and kept for a minimum of 90 days.

5) In recognition of the fact that betting markets are highly likely to be offered on

•
broadcast CS:GO matches (whether supported or endorsed by a tournament organiser

or not) ESIC notes that it is imperative to establish countermeasures against the

potential exploitation of a broadcast delay for the purposes of betting fraud being

committed by participants of the tournament (i.e. taking advantage of the broadcast

delay by using inside information). In order to do so, ESIC reiterates that it is

important for tournament organisers to conclude "official data"

• agreements for the

provision o f real time data via a data partner or directly to the esports betting industry.
•
ESIC explicitly disclaims that this recommendation is not to be construed as an

endorsement of betting on esports. Furthermore, this recommendation does not imply

 that all risk associated with the existence of betting markets (such as match-fixing)

•
are wholly mitigated by official data agreements, but these agreements are

considerably better for esports

• integrity than the alternative or, even worse, pretending
that the betting market does not exist.

....
ESIC is open to discuss rules and practical measures that may be adopted with respect to

other games and welcomes dialogue from any member, tournament organiser or game

developer on this issue.

•

Overview of investigations conducted by ESIC, the reasons for our recommendations and

investigation outcomes:

• ESIC received a significant number of allegations of ghosting against teams, players

and coaches from across the CS:GO ecosystem. If all were credible, it indicated a

..
widespread practice of rule breaching across the online competitive CS:GO scene.

• Initial investigations and dealings with teams did indicate that, although far from

universal,• the practice was widespread in online matches.

• To be consistent and fair to previous p layers sanctioned for this offence and the

precedent we set in previous decisions, ESIC and some of our Member tournament

organisers were faced with the very real prospect of the banning of a significant

number of players, ,coaches and, in a few cases, entire teams. This would have had•

an extremely adverse effect on CS:GO esports, particularly in the top tier. Accordingly,

such an action would have been, in ESIC Commissioner Ian Smith's view, a

disproportionate outcome to the actual harm done by the practice. In addition, due

to the domino effect of such an action, ESIC -and our members would have been
 faced with weeks o r even months of further investigations into these alleged offences,

involving many hours of video footage (where available) and hundreds of hours of

in-game team communications, all over the period of our investigation into the coach

..
bugs, which already threatened to overwhelm our limited resources.

• ESIC was also faced with the very real challenge of proving breaches in many cases

where, due to the teams playing in their own environments, -Iit simply could not be

ascertained with sufficient certainty whether the teams were ghosting to sustain a

regulatory prosecution. The offence, is, t o all intents and purposes, impossible to

police meaningfully or consistently without the measures recommended above being

in place.

• ..
There is n o perfect solution. ESIC has considered scrapping the rule altogether, but

this affected the meta of the game even though it levelled the playing field, and, in

•
our wide consultation, most agreed this was not acceptable. ESIC also considered
•
increasing the delay between real time play and broadcast t o 5 minutes or more, but

this had many unintended and bad consequences and only partly solved the problem,

while significantly increasing the overall integrity threat.

• The delay implemented by the tournament organisers in every case between the real

time game action and the broadcast stream negated almost all of the realisable

competitive advantage that could be gained from the on-screen information and

standardising that at 3 minutes or more is, in ESIC's opinion, a reasonable

countermeasure 'capable of mitigating the threat to integrity posed by this behavior

to the greatest extent possible.

 -
• The inherent unfairness of taking strong action in those cases we investigated and

where we felt there was a case to answer extended to the fact that many of the

other allegations received were simply impossible to prove, which meant that some

participants faced prosecution and sanctions simply because they were unfortunate

enough to be in environments or circumstances where proof is or was available to

ESIC and others would "get away with it" by luck.

• ESIC has therefore concluded that the only sensible solution for the CS:GO

community was to draw a line in the sand as of the date of this statement by

indicating that we are closing all current investigations without prosecution and

reiterating that any violation of this rule from today onwards will be prosecuted

vigorously and the maximum available sanction sought if the player, coach or

team is found guilty.

, integrity threat in every case investigated by ESIC so far was
• The potential betting

negated by an official data provision agreement that meant that odds/markets

provision to betting operators occurred in real time so that the stream broadcast was

always behind the betting markets. No participant could, therefore, "beat" the delay

between game outcomes in real time and that outcome being reflected by betting

operators. Concurrently, ESIC takes the view that any betting operator offering markets

based on the broadcast stream of a match accepts the inherent risks associated with

inaccuracies and inefficiencies in available information.

• The prohibition on ghosting set out at Article 2.3.3 and 2.4.4 of the ESIC Code of

Conduct. therefore remains in full force and effect and will be enforced from now

on with zero tolerance.

ESIC Commissioner, Ian Smith, said:

"Whilst I am disappointed with the level of abuse of this facility and clear rule breaking,

it is my view that we have done

• what is best for the broader CS:GO community, which
has already been rocked by serious scandals this year. In taking these actions, ESIC

has collaborated with many stakeholders in the CS:GO space. In almost every case
.,,, ...
revealed in our investigation, •there was no discernible direct competitive advantage to

be gained due to the delay between the real time match action and the broadcast

stream. There are minor exceptions to this, but they can be circumvented by implementing

our recommendations. Our decision not to proceed with prosecutions and our

recommendations are born out of pragmatism and the desire for a holistic approach that
'
actually works and has the
' minimum adverse impact on this important esports community.
ESIC has fulfilled its purpose to protect esports integrity by acting as we have, but those
•
coaches, players and teams we have given a pass to by this decision have been warned

and we are watching them closely. They w ill not be so fortunate a second time."

ESIC will not

• make any comment regarding any player, coach or team involved in the
resolution of any existing allegations, investigations or completed cases with agreed sanctions

by plea bargain. ESIC is available for further comment on the general issue of stream

sniping in CS:GO and other games.

-END-

For further information about ESIC, please contact: info@esic.gg

 •
•
This PDF titled "ESIC Final Report on Streamsniping in Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive was compiled from two tweets originating from the
Esports Integrity Commission's (ESIC) announcement of its end of the
investigation into streamsniping in professional Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive esports.

The source tweets from @ESIC_Official can be found through the

following links.

https: //twitter.com/ESIC_Official/status/1334074907 211091969

https://twitter.com/ESIC_ Official/status/1334074919865389057

WIN.gg Staff Writer Nicholas Johnson transfered the contents of the

tweets to PDF format in an effort to increase both the readability,
accessibility, and visibility of the information containted therein.

No content was edited, alterered, or added besides this page, clearly

labeled "NOTICE:" above.

For any questions, please contact Mr. Johnson directly at :

Nicholas Johnson
CSGO Staff Writer
/4/2.........,
·
~Q'jv
•
,u.
Nicholas@win.gg