Hwasin and Calm: E-Sports' Henry Poppe and Jack Byrnes?
By Tadzio00.
On Jan. 17, 1951, Henry Poppe and Jack Byrnes were the first players arrested on bribery and conspiracy charges for their involvement in collegiate basketball's greatest game-fixing scandal. Poppe and Byrnes were indicted for violations of section 382 of the penal code, the bill passed by the New York State legislature in 1945, which made illegal any attempt to bribe a participant in any sporting event, amateur or professional. But they weren't the last players touched by the scandal. Between 1951 and 1952, District Attorney Frank Hogan arrested 32 players from seven colleges who fixed 86 games between 1947 and 1950. Only 8 of these 32 players were not convicted.
What Has All This To Do With Hwasin and Calm?
On Oct. 21 2007, Hwasin and Calm, teammates from the S.Korean Broodwar e-Sports team, STX SouL, played in China's International Electronic Sports Tournament (IEST) Grand Finals, a best of 5 games series, and are confirmed to have sent whispers to one another before games 4 and 5. According to TL.net member, A.G)Andy, Hwasin and Calm were colluding to engineer how these games would play out.
A.G)Andy explained that he was watching Hwasin's FPView live before the beginning of game 4 and he noticed that Hwasin had gotten a tell from Calm, revealing that Calm would 12 pool and suggesting Hwasin put a barracks in the center of the map. A.G)Andy said he thought they were chatting about game 3-- the previous game-- but as game 4 unfolded, Hwasin built a barracks in the center of Tau Cross and he realized that the players had been planning for game 4. Then again, before the beginning of game 5 A.G)Andy reports that Calm wrote, in part: "all drone 1 sunken." Hwasin replied, in part: "2sunken no ring."
Screen capture of Hwasin and Calm's whispers before game 5.
Two days and 450 posts after the creation of A.G)Andy's thread alarming the TL.net community to this controversy, the thread was closed because of the abundance of racist flames and other belligerent posts. The thread can still be read here.
STX SouL's Explication
STX SouL's public reaction to the developing controversy was nearly immediate. Speaking to Fomos.kr, STX Coach, Cho Gyu-baek explains, "It is true that the players were chatting during the finals. But match fixing is ridiculous. [...] There was a lot of chatting going on and most of it was simply routine mind games between the players. There were some people at the scene that made accusations, but the organizers who are familiar with Korea understood that there was nothing wrong going on."
STX SouL also issued flat denials to FighterForum.com, explaining:
Calm: "It was a mind trick, I was saying that even if I play like that I could still win, it was a taunt. I didn't expect it to cause this kind of misunderstanding."
Hwasin: "I played along with his messages but chat like that happens every game [during practice]. The one thing I didn't want was for the games to go long. So I attacked early with the thought that, if it works great, if not, then Calm wins so great."
Coach of STX: "Why would we fix a match when it doesn't matter who wins? I don't know where this controversy came from. What happened was two teammates with little experience playing in overseas tournaments were playing light-heartedly." Translations courtesy of TL.net member, HonestTea.
Whether the whispers were made in an effort to fix the outcome of the match, and for what reason, has yet to be officially determined. Still, strong suspicions remain, and will likely continue to linger until an official investigation is launched and some decision is made on how to handle it.
Community Reaction
Broodwar fans around the world have shown mixed reactions to this opprobrium. MYM.Testie downplayed it, suggesting that nothing should be done. "They are friends and teammates who probably agreed to split the prize money. [...] they did win fair and square."
NonY[rC] countered, "Fans want to know who the champion is, not who are the co-champions."
And {88}iNcontroL advanced this sentiment, "They can agree to split the money and still have a solid fucking series that the fans can view with excitement."
According to TL.net posters, OneOther and FConnectionUK, the S.Korean BW community is also divided. Many Koreans refuse to believe any of the charges, claiming that "jealous Chinese" photoshopped the evidence to frame Hwasin and Calm. But others wonder why they whispered one another if the chat was simply "mind games," as claimed.
Speculation of Repercussions
In 1951, just the accusation of point shaving and game fixing could ruin the basketball careers of NBA hopefuls. Bill Spivey, Kentucky's All-American center, was never officially implicated in points shaving, but he was accused of it by teammates, and on March 2, 1952 he was barred from athletic play at his university and subsequently blackballed from the NBA. It's hard to predict how S.Korea's e-Sports officials will react to this scandal, but however they decide to rule on it, I for one hope they take it very seriously. Their reaction to this instance of apparent cheating will influence the future of e-Sports.
Youtube vids of the incriminating FPViews:
Game4
Game5
Edit: There's a poll on page 3. Please make your feelings about this event known by voting on it.
It's not my hope to incite another flame war, but teamliquid.net is a Broodwar news website, and I think it's only proper for it to report news like this on its front page. I wrote this in the hopes it could be placed on the front page and inform visitors of the controversy. If the TL.net mods don’t think this is news-worthy, or that my writing sucks, and close this thread… okay. Just trying to help.
I personally refuse to believe they "fixed their matches" It sounds absurde and it makes little sense, however the strongest argument is the Korean mentality, they're too competitive for this. I don't see how it would matter too much, since they're on the same team, and both Koreans. It's not like China had a chance for 1st place and they got cheated or anything. While if this is true, then it would be very bad sportmanship, and a little bad mannered on the behalf of the Koreans, I don't think KeSPa or anyone should have a very powerful reaction to this.
Well, the thread that was closed had some really good responses to this. It came down to: Koreans didn't want to play their hardest, Chinese fans got an exhibition.
It basically undermined the sportsmanship and the competitive spirit of the medium itself, which StarCraft hasn't really got a whole lot of in the first place (or eSport in general). It's hard to take something serious when this kind of stuff happens. All of a sudden this opens up a whole bag of questions concerning tournaments we all know and trust. I'd say that if it really doesn't mean that much to you, don't go to it. If what the coach said was true, then don't go next time, let someone else go.
On October 23 2007 06:20 minus_human wrote: It sounds absurde and it makes little sense, however the strongest argument is the Korean mentality, they're too competitive for this.
no, the strongest argument is the fact that they told each other what builds they were gonna use before the games.
On October 23 2007 06:20 minus_human wrote: I personally refuse to believe they "fixed their matches"
You gotta understand something:
It's not what you believe that makes it true.
It's what's TRUE that makes it true.
All that's left is to decide how you'd react to it. The professional gaming scene is a korean phenon. Now China's trying to do the samething, they invited the pros with the promise of big purses knowing that Koreans have a great shot at winning it all, for what? Good Games. Now the coach admits to not caring. Fine, don't go next time. But don't anyone turn this into an ethnic thing to take the attention off of what happened.
On October 23 2007 06:20 minus_human wrote: It sounds absurde and it makes little sense, however the strongest argument is the Korean mentality, they're too competitive for this.
no, the strongest argument is the fact that they told each other what builds they were gonna use before the games.
But that doesnt really prove it wasnt indeed a mind game. For me it makes more sense that it was a mind game rather than some kind of fix.
On October 23 2007 06:42 kamehameha wrote: thx for the recap once again.. one time was enough imo
Well, for me an announcement made in broken english and a thread with 450 posts, most of which aren't informative, makes for a poor front-page news story. Thats why I tried to write 1 post clearly describing the whole incident with evidence included. If its not appreciated, oh well, I just wasted a couple hours.
On October 23 2007 06:20 minus_human wrote: It sounds absurde and it makes little sense, however the strongest argument is the Korean mentality, they're too competitive for this.
no, the strongest argument is the fact that they told each other what builds they were gonna use before the games.
But that doesnt really prove it wasnt indeed a mind game. For me it makes more sense that it was a mind game rather than some kind of fix.
You don't say "ok" to a mind game like Hwasin did.
And you don't tell your opponent what you're building twice in a row, when you're up 2-1, and if you're trying to win.
It's already been established that they did it, denial doesn't change the fact.
On October 23 2007 06:20 minus_human wrote: It sounds absurde and it makes little sense, however the strongest argument is the Korean mentality, they're too competitive for this.
no, the strongest argument is the fact that they told each other what builds they were gonna use before the games.
But that doesnt really prove it wasnt indeed a mind game. For me it makes more sense that it was a mind game rather than some kind of fix.
well if it is a mind game calm is pretty fucking retarded, telling his build twice even after hwasin direct countered it the first time.
On October 23 2007 07:12 il0seonpurpose wrote: If it was mind trick, why did their strategies for real happen? And what is 2 sunken no ring
2 sunkens (technically Calm had 4, but I think 3 had just been placed as creep colonies, so there was really only 1 sunken to defend) and no zerglings OR no bunkering. No zerglings seems more likely but some Koreans brought up at it could be #2.
seriously the people who think the "mind game" bs is even remotely true need to reconsider their lives asap. I am sure that is something they do all the time in practice games... but NOT on stage with thousands of people watching and $30k on the line (yes I know they were splitting it, fact remains thats a large chunk of cash = suggesting seriousness of the event). EVEN IF they were so dumb to not recognize the magnitude of the event (very unlikely, and if it is true than that is just as incriminating as the fixing itself imo) the fact they both did EXACTLY what they "joked" about in their mind games TWICE is either vastly unfortunate for them (fuck you, you are guilty) or it is a cover for what was actually happening.
Look, for me, this is a bad situation anyways. No answer they can give will dig them out of this hole short of "We are really sorry, we do honor and respect the event and all its participants. If our actions suggested anything short of this we would like to ask for forgiveness and give thanks to those that invited us to this wonderous occassion..." and the time for which they could have answered in that fashion, is long gone. They pointed fingers, gave excuses and made denials.
SC is starting to lose a lot of its luster for me. I feel like we live in a day and age where hackers and disrespectful people/actions are not held in the same light as what they used to be. SC didnt used to have a penguin plug or anything like that, so when "we" found a hacker they were socially punished by being banned/shunned/marked and forgotten. Same could be said for characters that pulled stunts on the level of Hwasin/Calm. But it doesnt seem like thats the case anymore. The endless rivers of excuses, scapegoats and finger pointing seems to taint this game and its community for a cluster fuck of reasons I dont care to get into too deeply. Fucking sad times.
If the games were fixed it was probably done before the match. What idiot would chat like that when thousands of people are watching. Its just plain and simple.
EPT![[image loading]](http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5613/hwasinfaketw4.jpg)
