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Last night after SDO #46 concluded, player ArcTic from the clan Ris3n Community, admitted to smurfing throughout the tournament. He had his Grand Master friend and fellow clanmate Dragonite log in and play on his account.
ArcTic’s motivation wasn’t to win, but to prove that someone could get away with smurfing and that it was ruining our tournaments.
This was done in reaction to Ris3n members ( Spore and ArcTic) being knocked out of SDO #44 and #45. Porosha, PopHip, Hydra, Sashamon and Commander were all accused of being smurfs by Ris3n members despite these players being regulars in our tournaments and being competitive in skill with all other Diamond and Platinum players.
Upon check in for our tournaments we require players to provide their Battletags. Using sc2unmasked and rankedftw we verify their current and past placements across all servers and compile all of this information in a spreadsheet. We keep track of all players who have ever checked into our events and ensure our tournaments are as fair as possible.
We take smurfing seriously and until now we have not encountered any problems. CranKy Ducklings encourages players who have any concerns to contact admins and provide replays so that we can address any issues in a constructive manner.
Due to breaking tournament rules, ArcTic as well as Dragonite will be banned from all future CranKy Ducklings events.
Ris3n Community posted an official statement on their Discord server and Twitter.
Discord post by StillFly:
As many of you are aware by now, there has been an issue with smurfing in Cranky Ducklings tournaments involving Arctic, Dragonite, and Spore. This was brought to our attention this morning when Cranky Ducklings went public, and I am shocked to hear about this.
These actions are unjustified, no matter what the circumstances. We all understand that players will practice on ladder on lower level accounts on occasion, but it absolutely never acceptable to participate in any event, tournament, clan war or otherwise under false pretenses. These actions undermine everything Clans like Cranky Ducklings, Risen from the Ash3s, and so many others continuously work to achieve in our growing SC2 scene. The actions of these players absolutely do not represent the values or beliefs of the Ris3n Community. We stand for a positive atmosphere online for all those who seek it, justice, and fair play. Forgiveness and overcoming adversity and problems is at our core, and while we can never justify these actions, we strongly hope that these three players will learn from their mistakes and rise to a better future, as many in this clan and elsewhere have done. Spore, a longtime admin, leader, and friend in the Ris3n Community, has recruited a countless number of you to this team. While greatly admired, his actions were completely uncalled for, and made no effort to take his issue to anyone else in Ris3n Leadership that we are aware of. Spore was stripped of all leadership roles for the time being, and has ultimately made the personal decision to leave the Ris3n Community. We hope that one day he will Rise from the Ash3s.
Dragonite, who is also a longtime member of the community, has been removed from the Ris3n Competitive team, as well as his role as an overseer and officer of the clan. Arctic, another longtime member of the clan, has been removed from his overseer role and along with the other players involved, will be completely barred from participating in any event, clan war or otherwise with the Ris3n Community until further notice. These players are all still welcome in the Ris3n Community at this time, as they all have a long history of dedication to the clan and the StarCraft scene
On behalf of the entire Ris3n Community, I extend my deepest apologies to Cranky Ducklings, Light_VIP, and all parties affected by this issue, including the Ris3n Community. You all know this is not how we roll, and we will continue to dedicate ourselves to the online experience we so strongly believe in.
Let this be a reminder to you that justice trumps all, and there is never a time or a place for cheating in competition.
Until FURTHER NOTICE, all Ris3n players are barred (per my personal request) from participating in any Cranky Ducklings Tournament until further notice. Statements will be made to VTL and ATL
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well to be fair ive participated in one of these tournaments as well. and from what ive seen and watched it does appear to have a skill base a fair bit higher then diamond. i dont think these guys are in the wrong. clearly they are just frustrated by a issue that has also frustrated me in the past. true they could have handled it better tho
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D1 players have always bordered having a skill level of a M3 player but who might not have achieved M3 or even so they do get it, they could not cope and drop back to D1 and struggle between in terms of skill levels. So there are definitely going to be some D1 players who appear better than everyone else. There are even players who don't win or make it to finals often who have already made it to M3 and stopped playing in SDO.
The main thing which I find in poor form is intentionally doing it to make a point that yes while possible to smurf, would you do it just to prove a point? Or do your own detective work that a certain person is indeed really smurfing (check replays/ study hotkeys etc etc). To do it yourself to prove a point especially when the players themselves have accused others of possibly smurfing (without evidence) in my opinion is poor form because you have done the very thing that you believe has happened knowingly. I personally think it is poor form to bring your point in this manner and disappointing as the admins in Cranky Ducklings try their very best to ensure as fair a competition as possible including keeping tabs on the players even the regulars which requires effort.
There will be always problems like this in a non-open league tournament and it does not help if we do not respect the admins or the tournament by smurfing or in this case trying to just prove a point. Do you really think the admins are not aware that these problems do exist? Are you really making it easier for them? I think these members should at least apologise to the admins who have made a lot of effort to bring tournaments to the levels of bronze to diamond.
I have admined BSG and PD tournaments in the past and I know the amount of effort behind the scenes is more than what most people would understand. This is definitely not the right way to have done what you have done.
I really hope all players of every level to respect the admins of tournaments which are not open-league tournaments like plat/dia, bronze-dia tournaments etc. They are trying to bring the tournament experience to these levels which is competitive and fun. Work with the admins and not make their work any harder.
I apologise if I do sound very strong on the topic and it is from experience that I share their feelings. I do not want to offend anyone and I hope everyone will understand what I'm trying to bring across.
Thank you.
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Porosha got knocked out by me 2-0 in a previous tournament. That account is on provisional MMR (you can tell by the +91 mmr) Porosha definitely isn't a smurf. He's young and he's improving quickly, but he's obviously around diamond 1 / masters 3 level.
Spore and Arctic are salty that they got knocked out of the tournament a couple of times and so they cried smurf, then got their GM friend to stomp some diamond players to prove absolutely nothing. It's pretty dumb and it spoils a really nice, fun community tournament.
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On behalf of myself and the rest of the risen community i would like to formally apologize for my part in this event. I realize that it could have been handled much better and delt with in a much more constructive way. It seemed in previous attempts to alert the admins to potential smurfing were left undelt with. I say this not to stir trouble but to provide context. This resulted in us feeling like we are not being heard. And we became bitter and resentful. that maybe our words are not being taken seriously. that is what prompted this next action. Our actions were wrong and childish. i honestly thought this would have a different and better outcome. I didnt expect the level of anger or hurt we would cause the admins as a result of these actions. we simply meant to illuminate the admins to some of the problems that we believe happened on a regular basis. and again i would like to apologize for taking that idea and performing it in the wrong way. furthermore i would also like to state that although i used ArcTic's account. he was actually not part of this whole ideal. he is a pure soul who lent us his account without knowing what we would use it for, I understand that the admins need to make a example however i feel the blame for this event rests on my own shoulders. that the punishment for ArcTic may be to sever, i would ask that the admins review their decision to remove ArcTic from future events.
Sincerely.
Dragonite.
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That's a screenshot from AFTER Poroshas participation, that proves nothing of what you accuse him of. Detective work shouldn't be this sloppy.
Porosha got knocked out by me 2-0 in a previous tournament. That account is on provisional MMR (you can tell by the +91 mmr) Porosha definitely isn't a smurf. He's young and he's improving quickly, but he's obviously around diamond 1 / masters 3 level. In addition 4800 MMR was still diamond some seasons ago and is Masters 2 nowadays.
Furthermore I want to advice anyone to not break Blizzards ToS in the future.
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From the discord screenshot it surely doesn't seem like ArcTic is unaware what his account is used for, contrary to what Dragonite has said. I can understand if he wants to take full responsibility on the issue but unless you are saying his discord message was not from him, I think the admins still have the right to extend the ban to him.
Of course it is up to the SDO admins and I do think Dragonite has taken the right direction in this matter. Please trust the admins to have done their investigations and I can say the admins in SDO are really as thorough as they can possibly be.
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On November 17 2018 22:53 SC2_Dragonite wrote: On behalf of myself and the rest of the risen community i would like to formally apologize for my part in this event. I realize that it could have been handled much better and delt with in a much more constructive way. It seemed in previous attempts to alert the admins to potential smurfing were left undelt with.
Dragonite.
When you throw baseless accusation you shouldn't be surprise of not being taken seriously. Spore just seemed like one of those players accusing players of smurfing everytime he loses while he could just realise that even among diamond leagues there can be significant difference of skills.
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Arctic, Dragonite and Spore are my friends. Every single one of them has owned up to and accepted the consequences of their actions. They all love starcraft, have coached and helped many other players, and been involved in or hosted countless events.
Please think critically about the situation, and read the statement carefully.
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On November 18 2018 01:44 PopHip wrote:Show nested quote +On November 17 2018 22:53 SC2_Dragonite wrote: On behalf of myself and the rest of the risen community i would like to formally apologize for my part in this event. I realize that it could have been handled much better and delt with in a much more constructive way. It seemed in previous attempts to alert the admins to potential smurfing were left undelt with.
Dragonite. When you throw baseless accusation you shouldn't be surprise of not being taken seriously. Spore just seemed like one of those players accusing players of smurfing everytime he loses while he could just realise that even among diamond leagues there can be significant difference of skills.
My favorite bit was when he accused a player he actually beat of being a smurf.
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Ris3n Community posted an official statement on their Discord server and Twitter. https://twitter.com/RisenCommunity/status/1063983281606221824
Discord post by StillFly:
As many of you are aware by now, there has been an issue with smurfing in Cranky Ducklings tournaments involving Arctic, Dragonite, and Spore. This was brought to our attention this morning when Cranky Ducklings went public, and I am shocked to hear about this.
These actions are unjustified, no matter what the circumstances. We all understand that players will practice on ladder on lower level accounts on occasion, but it absolutely never acceptable to participate in any event, tournament, clan war or otherwise under false pretenses. These actions undermine everything Clans like Cranky Ducklings, Risen from the Ash3s, and so many others continuously work to achieve in our growing SC2 scene. The actions of these players absolutely do not represent the values or beliefs of the Ris3n Community. We stand for a positive atmosphere online for all those who seek it, justice, and fair play. Forgiveness and overcoming adversity and problems is at our core, and while we can never justify these actions, we strongly hope that these three players will learn from their mistakes and rise to a better future, as many in this clan and elsewhere have done. Spore, a longtime admin, leader, and friend in the Ris3n Community, has recruited a countless number of you to this team. While greatly admired, his actions were completely uncalled for, and made no effort to take his issue to anyone else in Ris3n Leadership that we are aware of. Spore was stripped of all leadership roles for the time being, and has ultimately made the personal decision to leave the Ris3n Community. We hope that one day he will Rise from the Ash3s.
Dragonite, who is also a longtime member of the community, has been removed from the Ris3n Competitive team, as well as his role as an overseer and officer of the clan. Arctic, another longtime member of the clan, has been removed from his overseer role and along with the other players involved, will be completely barred from participating in any event, clan war or otherwise with the Ris3n Community until further notice. These players are all still welcome in the Ris3n Community at this time, as they all have a long history of dedication to the clan and the StarCraft scene
On behalf of the entire Ris3n Community, I extend my deepest apologies to Cranky Ducklings, Light_VIP, and all parties affected by this issue, including the Ris3n Community. You all know this is not how we roll, and we will continue to dedicate ourselves to the online experience we so strongly believe in.
Let this be a reminder to you that justice trumps all, and there is never a time or a place for cheating in competition.
Until FURTHER NOTICE, all Ris3n players are barred (per my personal request) from participating in any Cranky Ducklings Tournament until further notice. Statements will be made to VTL and ATL
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o_O It's an odd feeling when you realize that every subcommunity of a subcommunity has their own drama... There's probably a bizarrely specific German word for this.
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