On September 25 2012 12:54 veralynn wrote:
First of all, I'm glad I got caught and I can finally end this - My intentions were to help grow e-sports which I achieved through running Z33K.TV, but this has obviously turned out horribly wrong and has accomplished the complete opposite to what my intentions were:
I'm a masters Zerg player and needed coaching to help me to get to Grandmasters. I contacted a website for a coach and was put in touch with Deathangel. However, instead of coaching, we discussed that he'd boost my account to Grandmasters to give me that initial boost to help me.
Once it got to grandmasters, he continued to play the account for me regularly to keep bonus pool down/keep it active. While this happened, I put up a coaching profile to coach people. As I had never coached people, I did numerous hours of free coaching on my stream. This was known to Deathangel.
While this happened, Deathangel continued to play the account and I tried to do some coaching etc. In total, I had 3 paid coaching students. Any feedback on coaching I received was from free coaching and NOT paid coaching. I have since refunded those students and apologise if it was not helpful.
As people requested to see me stream, I asked Deathangel to stream on the account for me. He streamed regularly but charged $20-$30 an hour for each stream he did. Outside of streaming, each game that Deathangel played, he charged $3 per game, and as he regularly played for me, he did mini-discounts.
When I was invited to play any event - Millenium Girl Tournament & AGL Invitational - that he played, he took the entire prize, which I have also refunded to the organisers - I am sorry for this being under false pretenses. I have refunded the money that I never received as I gave it to DeathAngel.
We subsequently agreed to play Showmatches and he was very happy to do them - I gave him 100% of the prizes. I did not invoice SixPoolGaming for the showmatch against Sjow or Cytoplasm and so never received any money from them - However, I sent the relevant prize to DeathAngel immediately. I never received the MilleniumTV Tarson Showmatch money (yet), but I have already sent him the prize for that.
The entire thing was a terrible idea, and I apologise to all people who were hurt by this.
I am especially sorry to Z33K.TV and Z33K.Com as I grew the casting organisation with the casters and am sorry to leave it. Rifkin, Badfatpanda, Pengwin, and the rest - You guys were so close to me and this spiralled out of control. Z33K.TV grew to cast Dreamhack Valencia, TSL Qualifiers, Pokerstrategy.com League and run its own $1,000 Team league and If I had stopped it earlier, perhaps we could've continued on to grow it more - I apologise for misleading you like this.
I am happy to step away from my position as head of Z33K.TV and will happily assist in any handover procedures necessary.
I am also sorry to sixpoolgaming.com for any damage caused to their reputation - they are a great site and helped me so much and I apologise to them.
What I have said here is 100% the truth from my perspective, and thus I do not intend to make any follow up posts regarding this - I am happy to step away from the Starcraft 2 Community in a professional capacity and bid you all farewell.
First of all, I'm glad I got caught and I can finally end this - My intentions were to help grow e-sports which I achieved through running Z33K.TV, but this has obviously turned out horribly wrong and has accomplished the complete opposite to what my intentions were:
I'm a masters Zerg player and needed coaching to help me to get to Grandmasters. I contacted a website for a coach and was put in touch with Deathangel. However, instead of coaching, we discussed that he'd boost my account to Grandmasters to give me that initial boost to help me.
Once it got to grandmasters, he continued to play the account for me regularly to keep bonus pool down/keep it active. While this happened, I put up a coaching profile to coach people. As I had never coached people, I did numerous hours of free coaching on my stream. This was known to Deathangel.
While this happened, Deathangel continued to play the account and I tried to do some coaching etc. In total, I had 3 paid coaching students. Any feedback on coaching I received was from free coaching and NOT paid coaching. I have since refunded those students and apologise if it was not helpful.
As people requested to see me stream, I asked Deathangel to stream on the account for me. He streamed regularly but charged $20-$30 an hour for each stream he did. Outside of streaming, each game that Deathangel played, he charged $3 per game, and as he regularly played for me, he did mini-discounts.
When I was invited to play any event - Millenium Girl Tournament & AGL Invitational - that he played, he took the entire prize, which I have also refunded to the organisers - I am sorry for this being under false pretenses. I have refunded the money that I never received as I gave it to DeathAngel.
We subsequently agreed to play Showmatches and he was very happy to do them - I gave him 100% of the prizes. I did not invoice SixPoolGaming for the showmatch against Sjow or Cytoplasm and so never received any money from them - However, I sent the relevant prize to DeathAngel immediately. I never received the MilleniumTV Tarson Showmatch money (yet), but I have already sent him the prize for that.
The entire thing was a terrible idea, and I apologise to all people who were hurt by this.
I am especially sorry to Z33K.TV and Z33K.Com as I grew the casting organisation with the casters and am sorry to leave it. Rifkin, Badfatpanda, Pengwin, and the rest - You guys were so close to me and this spiralled out of control. Z33K.TV grew to cast Dreamhack Valencia, TSL Qualifiers, Pokerstrategy.com League and run its own $1,000 Team league and If I had stopped it earlier, perhaps we could've continued on to grow it more - I apologise for misleading you like this.
I am happy to step away from my position as head of Z33K.TV and will happily assist in any handover procedures necessary.
I am also sorry to sixpoolgaming.com for any damage caused to their reputation - they are a great site and helped me so much and I apologise to them.
What I have said here is 100% the truth from my perspective, and thus I do not intend to make any follow up posts regarding this - I am happy to step away from the Starcraft 2 Community in a professional capacity and bid you all farewell.
Source: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=371282¤tpage=44#868
+ Show Spoiler [DeathAngel's post] +
On September 25 2012 10:49 DeathAngel[ro] wrote:
Hello everyone
This is DeathAngel
1st : hats of to KawaiiRice , very smart and observant guy and nice job in
studying all the stuff , remember playing you on both accounts on ladder , you
being fateofseven on EU server
2nd : yea.. I'm a scumbag and I played on other ppl accounts , I also play on
some smurfs too not only on my nick , just to try different strategies etc.
3rd : I am very sorry to everyone affected by this , I basically played on
someone's else account , make it into GM .. wich seems ok , like a smurf for me..
but the effects were very bad it seems
I am very sorry for this , but I played legit starcraft , not map hackign or
something .. I am interested in the competitive aspect of the game.. and I never
got the chance to play in any showmatch on my own.. never got invited.. was
amazed when I found out that there are so many ppl interested to see a girl
play.. so I accepted to play.. wich is bad.. I am such a scumbag.. I should just
refuse it..
I also hurt some ppl it seems , I just wanted to play some good
matches of sc2 in wich seemed a friendly showmatch ..
I just wanted to see if I am skilled enough to beat someone good in a showmatch .
What can I say.. I shouldn't done that.. I would also feel bad if someone would
come pretending to be someone else and beating me.. feels bad , but I had no
interest in scamming someone or put them to get coaching from veralynn.
I just played on her account as a smurf of mine , and now I feel kind of dumb
hearing ppl paid coaching lessons.. I thought there was only free coaching cause
I would see free coaching all the time when I was looking at her stream , I am
pretty sure there must be some misunderstanding regarding this.
Feel sorry ppl were so naive , but that must be a lesson also , why would you
take lessons from a girl just because she is gm , and also , don't you see that
the coaching is not GM level ? or maybe the coaching was good and deserved the
money.. I have no ideea and I feel very sorry if the things were like this.
I should also play only my own account from now on , I am not interested in
scamming ppl for money or other stuff like that.. I am a legit player and I can
play and win showmatches against those players on my own , also I can coach on my
own and give good coaching and good advices , what I did was stupid and didn't
benefit me in any way .
I really feel sorry , I just wanted to play some good games , my intentions were
good.. but.. stuff happens.. such a sick life..
I trully feel very sorry for the guys that were upset to have lost to a ,,girl''
, you guys actually lost to me .
Also very sorry for my english.
It's 5am and I am tired.
I am kind of a guy that sold a gun to a random guy on the street then realising the crime
PS . Never trust women , they are evil.
Hello everyone
This is DeathAngel
1st : hats of to KawaiiRice , very smart and observant guy and nice job in
studying all the stuff , remember playing you on both accounts on ladder , you
being fateofseven on EU server
2nd : yea.. I'm a scumbag and I played on other ppl accounts , I also play on
some smurfs too not only on my nick , just to try different strategies etc.
3rd : I am very sorry to everyone affected by this , I basically played on
someone's else account , make it into GM .. wich seems ok , like a smurf for me..
but the effects were very bad it seems
I am very sorry for this , but I played legit starcraft , not map hackign or
something .. I am interested in the competitive aspect of the game.. and I never
got the chance to play in any showmatch on my own.. never got invited.. was
amazed when I found out that there are so many ppl interested to see a girl
play.. so I accepted to play.. wich is bad.. I am such a scumbag.. I should just
refuse it..
I also hurt some ppl it seems , I just wanted to play some good
matches of sc2 in wich seemed a friendly showmatch ..
I just wanted to see if I am skilled enough to beat someone good in a showmatch .
What can I say.. I shouldn't done that.. I would also feel bad if someone would
come pretending to be someone else and beating me.. feels bad , but I had no
interest in scamming someone or put them to get coaching from veralynn.
I just played on her account as a smurf of mine , and now I feel kind of dumb
hearing ppl paid coaching lessons.. I thought there was only free coaching cause
I would see free coaching all the time when I was looking at her stream , I am
pretty sure there must be some misunderstanding regarding this.
Feel sorry ppl were so naive , but that must be a lesson also , why would you
take lessons from a girl just because she is gm , and also , don't you see that
the coaching is not GM level ? or maybe the coaching was good and deserved the
money.. I have no ideea and I feel very sorry if the things were like this.
I should also play only my own account from now on , I am not interested in
scamming ppl for money or other stuff like that.. I am a legit player and I can
play and win showmatches against those players on my own , also I can coach on my
own and give good coaching and good advices , what I did was stupid and didn't
benefit me in any way .
I really feel sorry , I just wanted to play some good games , my intentions were
good.. but.. stuff happens.. such a sick life..
I trully feel very sorry for the guys that were upset to have lost to a ,,girl''
, you guys actually lost to me .
Also very sorry for my english.
It's 5am and I am tired.
I am kind of a guy that sold a gun to a random guy on the street then realising the crime
PS . Never trust women , they are evil.
Hi Starcraft community,
Today I am writing to expose a fraud in our community, VeraLynn. VeraLynn is a self-proclaimed Irish Grandmaster zerg player and streamer that streamed pretty regularly. Vera has also recently been playing showmatches with certain known players such as desRow (2-4), Ziktomini (5-3), Cytoplasm(2-5), Tarson (4-3), and Sjow(5-4).
All these showmatches have been occurring as of August. Vera also competed in the AGL August Invitational where she took third behind Hyun and Tod, winning $60. Her Grandmaster status and performance in showmatches and the AGL tournament have given her credibility as a knowledgable coach, appearing on a recent Pro Corner with LiquidSheth and the amazing ChanmanV, as well as being an instructor over at SixPoolGaming and head of z33k.tv
I have several pieces of evidence to bring against VeraLynn. Unfortunately, she caught wind of what I was doing before this post so all stream vod links I had no longer work, but I still have screenshots.
1. Hotkey analysis. I have replays of her showmatches against Sjow, Tarson, Cytoplasm and Desrow. Gretorp and others have analyzed her hotkey usage in the showmatches against some of DeathAngel’s replays (TSL4 qualifiers, IEM Guangzhou qualifier vs livezerg) and confirmed that DeathAngel played on VeraLynn’s account for the showmatches.
+ Show Spoiler [Vera showmatch hotkeys vs DeathAngel h…] +
i. Both players hotkey 5 at the same time around 1:30 – 2 minutes.
ii. 09 for hatcheries.
iii. Hotkey spam is similar in each showmatch to DeathAngel.
2. Streaming. In Vera’s stream vods there were two types of vods; one was laddering and the other was purely replay analysis of her own games and viewer interaction/(coaching?).
+ Show Spoiler [Stream quality comparison] +
As you can see, there are two completely different setups (and these are consistent throughout the 57 vods which are no longer available).
i. Normally, VeraLynn has a webcam when she streams (ONLY replay analysis). When DeathAngel streams, there is sometimes a picture of Vera, sometimes no picture.
ii. When Vera streams, control groups are visible, but not when DeathAngel streams.
iii. Different streaming resolutions (note the black bars on sides in 2nd pic, and one black bar at top on first pic)
iv. VeraLynn has higher graphics settings than DeathAngel (look at creep)
v. When VeraLynn streams, there is an overlay and scene switcher. After she exits a replay it goes right to her VeraLynn overlay. When DeathAngel exits a game it goes to the normal SC2 interface.
+ Show Spoiler [Scene switcher differences] +
3. Instance of talking in stream chat while playing with no visible interruptions in gameplay (stopping actions to reply, alt tab pop up, pausing in game). This skype chat log was provided by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
+ Show Spoiler [Skype chat log] +
[19/09/2012 12:26:10 | A 12:34:59] Vera Lynn: www.twitch.tv/veralynn_sc2 << laddering EU for EU GM, should probably get it on stream
[19/09/2012 12:35:23] A: how are you typing on skype and twitch chat without tabbing out or even idling ingame?
[19/09/2012 12:43:18] Vera Lynn: delay on stream, only type inbetweetn games and with skype had it on another monitor
[19/09/2012 12:43:22] Vera Lynn: so saw the typo in my stream link
[19/09/2012 12:43:29] A: nah man
[19/09/2012 12:43:33] A: when you tab out to 2nd monitor
[19/09/2012 12:43:50] A: you still see the tab window plus you have to pause your ingame actions to type
[19/09/2012 12:43:57] A: I have two monitors too, and your game didn't pause
[19/09/2012 12:44:06] A: you didnt idle once while you were typing in twitch chat or skype
[19/09/2012 12:44:51] Vera Lynn: What are you trying to say? when i go on stream later i'll do it again and show you
[19/09/2012 12:45:33] B: if you have xsplit premium thing you don see tabs or pause
[19/09/2012 12:45:40] B: you can show a game as output
[19/09/2012 12:45:48] A: uhm I don't think you understand what I'm talking about B
[19/09/2012 12:46:04] Vera Lynn: it's fine, when i stream later, we can work it out or i can do a custom game and we can see
[19/09/2012 12:46:05] B: ah wait i get it now
[19/09/2012 12:46:07] A: realisticly, if you'd tab out to type in another window, you would idle ingame even if the stream was showing sc2
[19/09/2012 12:46:10] Vera Lynn: ill brb 2 min
[19/09/2012 12:46:22] A: she didn't idle once, typing twice on stream
[19/09/2012 12:46:27] A: which of course wasn't shown
*end of chat with Vera and B
[4:26:44 PM] A: I confronted her about it and got no response
[4:26:53 PM] A: other than her claiming to have typed between games, which wasn't the case
[4:27:06 PM] A: she edited her typo in stream link during the game
[4:27:25 PM] A: also theres a vod of that session here http://sv.twitch.tv/veralynn_sc2/b/332706362
[4:27:33 PM] A: at no point does she tab out or even idle during the game
[4:27:42 PM] A: theres a constant flow of actions
[4:27:55 PM] Me: she was talking to you/the stream chat during this vod?
[4:28:12 PM] A: she wrote something in twitch chat then she corrected her typo a few mins later
[4:28:22 PM] A: so she chatted on twitch/skype
[19/09/2012 12:35:23] A: how are you typing on skype and twitch chat without tabbing out or even idling ingame?
[19/09/2012 12:43:18] Vera Lynn: delay on stream, only type inbetweetn games and with skype had it on another monitor
[19/09/2012 12:43:22] Vera Lynn: so saw the typo in my stream link
[19/09/2012 12:43:29] A: nah man
[19/09/2012 12:43:33] A: when you tab out to 2nd monitor
[19/09/2012 12:43:50] A: you still see the tab window plus you have to pause your ingame actions to type
[19/09/2012 12:43:57] A: I have two monitors too, and your game didn't pause
[19/09/2012 12:44:06] A: you didnt idle once while you were typing in twitch chat or skype
[19/09/2012 12:44:51] Vera Lynn: What are you trying to say? when i go on stream later i'll do it again and show you
[19/09/2012 12:45:33] B: if you have xsplit premium thing you don see tabs or pause
[19/09/2012 12:45:40] B: you can show a game as output
[19/09/2012 12:45:48] A: uhm I don't think you understand what I'm talking about B
[19/09/2012 12:46:04] Vera Lynn: it's fine, when i stream later, we can work it out or i can do a custom game and we can see
[19/09/2012 12:46:05] B: ah wait i get it now
[19/09/2012 12:46:07] A: realisticly, if you'd tab out to type in another window, you would idle ingame even if the stream was showing sc2
[19/09/2012 12:46:10] Vera Lynn: ill brb 2 min
[19/09/2012 12:46:22] A: she didn't idle once, typing twice on stream
[19/09/2012 12:46:27] A: which of course wasn't shown
*end of chat with Vera and B
[4:26:44 PM] A: I confronted her about it and got no response
[4:26:53 PM] A: other than her claiming to have typed between games, which wasn't the case
[4:27:06 PM] A: she edited her typo in stream link during the game
[4:27:25 PM] A: also theres a vod of that session here http://sv.twitch.tv/veralynn_sc2/b/332706362
[4:27:33 PM] A: at no point does she tab out or even idle during the game
[4:27:42 PM] A: theres a constant flow of actions
[4:27:55 PM] Me: she was talking to you/the stream chat during this vod?
[4:28:12 PM] A: she wrote something in twitch chat then she corrected her typo a few mins later
[4:28:22 PM] A: so she chatted on twitch/skype
i. In the chat log Vera is very defensive about the matter and avoids the matter entirely at the end.
ii. In various laddering vods (now no longer available), it is clear that her using a second monitor is a complete lie. Why would anyone using a second monitor to talk in stream chat open the stream chat in the main monitor on a different stream vod? Unless this is a third computer with no dual monitor?
iii. http://sv.twitch.tv/veralynn_sc2/b/326796781 (0:42:45)
4. “A” from the previous point also confronted Vera about the differences in her stream quality while going over replays and laddering.
+ Show Spoiler [Stream quality explanation by Vera] +
[4:29:20 PM] A: just curious, how many computers do you have?
[21/09/2012 16:00:26] Vera Lynn: In my house? 3-4
[21/09/2012 16:00:35] Vera Lynn: 3 desktops, a laptop and 1 HTPC
[21/09/2012 16:00:37] A: you stream ladder and replay on 2 different computers?
[21/09/2012 16:01:10] Vera Lynn: it depends where i am or sitting at the time, i have 2 pcs downstairs, one upstairs
[21/09/2012 16:01:32] Vera Lynn: most of the time the replays are done from the pc in the cornercause of camera and also its closer to the router have huge issues with internet in y house)
[21/09/2012 16:02:13] Vera Lynn: Why? adid you watch me ladder and watch replays and compare the quality of each?![](/mirror/smilies/puh2.gif)
[21/09/2012 16:02:47] A: replays? no
[21/09/2012 16:03:03] A: just trying to understand
[21/09/2012 16:03:15] Vera Lynn: i build PCs as a hobby, so i have different comptuer sin and hout of the house depending on whos pc i'm fixing but it varies on who is visitng my house, and where i can stream from etc
[21/09/2012 16:00:26] Vera Lynn: In my house? 3-4
[21/09/2012 16:00:35] Vera Lynn: 3 desktops, a laptop and 1 HTPC
[21/09/2012 16:00:37] A: you stream ladder and replay on 2 different computers?
[21/09/2012 16:01:10] Vera Lynn: it depends where i am or sitting at the time, i have 2 pcs downstairs, one upstairs
[21/09/2012 16:01:32] Vera Lynn: most of the time the replays are done from the pc in the cornercause of camera and also its closer to the router have huge issues with internet in y house)
[21/09/2012 16:02:13] Vera Lynn: Why? adid you watch me ladder and watch replays and compare the quality of each?
![](/mirror/smilies/puh2.gif)
[21/09/2012 16:02:47] A: replays? no
[21/09/2012 16:03:03] A: just trying to understand
[21/09/2012 16:03:15] Vera Lynn: i build PCs as a hobby, so i have different comptuer sin and hout of the house depending on whos pc i'm fixing but it varies on who is visitng my house, and where i can stream from etc
i. Even if a person streamed with different computers, what kind of GM level player plays with two different sets of settings (graphics, displaying hotkeys)?
ii. What kind of streamer would stream on multiple computers regularly and not even have their overlays on each computer?
iii. What kind of streamer would coincidentally ladder ONLY on a different computer with inferior settings ONLY with no webcam?
iv. What kind of person in general hops around different spots in the house to stream on different computers? That makes zero sense.
5. During one of VeraLynn’s ladder stream vods she had Grooveshark opened and received a Romanian advertisement. This means that the streamer is probably in Romania.
+ Show Spoiler [Romanian Grooveshark ad with translati…] +
6. At the start of one of Vera’s ladder stream vods she also had Adobe Flash Player crash. Her error message is in Romanian, not Irish or English. This means that the computer is in Romanian language(DeathAngel is Romanian).
+ Show Spoiler [Romanian Adobe error message] +
7. On reddit, “wants_to_die”, accused VeraLynn of being a fraud as well. Although the comment is deleted from this thread you can find the picture below.
+ Show Spoiler [Reddit quote from founder of Girls of…] +
8. Stream vod statistics as of September 22, 2012 (which can no longer be verified)
38 VeraLynn vods with a different setup, laddering, no commentary, no webcam, no overlays, no scene switcher (total time: ~40.5 hours across 3 months; June 2nd to September 19)
18 VeraLynn vods with VeraLynn replay analysis/coaching/talking with stream, webcam, overlays, scene switcher, higher quality. 0 ladder games or team games.
1 VeraLynn vod with the text "HI MORROW IM NOT A FANGIRL IM A GRANDMASTERS ZERG NOT MASTERS : )" running across the screen for 8 minutes … yeah okay.
So why does it matter whether or not VeraLynn is a fraud?
VeraLynn has been getting attention recently through her performance in showmatches and the AGL tournament and was in a position to profit from the scene through her deceit. If this had not been the case obviously I would not go into such detail. I hope the community can take this as seriously as I have and shun her from the Starcraft community altogether.
As previously mentioned, Vera is a SixPoolGaming instructor, making training videos and tutorials for them. Being an instructor there myself I contacted SPG management about the matter, and they had this to say.
An investigation by one of our staff has revealed undeniable evidence that VeraLynn was using leveling services in order to build her own reputation. We take these matters very seriously at SPG and do not condone, support, or endorse that sort of behavior in any way and as such we will not be featuring VeraLynn's content any more on our site.
I also reached out to Z33K and here is the opinion of their founder, Lane LaRue.
“Vera Lynn is a successful manager in the z33K.tv casting organization, a coach on z33k.com, and her extracurricular involvement in the community extends behind the scenes touching dozens of gaming organizations and teams in a positive way. The accusations of account impersonation come as a complete shock to me. As startling as this is, Z33K.tv and Z33K.com are dedicated to furthering competitive gaming. That will not change - regardless of how this shakes out we will persevere. Vera Lynn has temporarily unpublished her coaching profile from z33k.com and we will continue to evaluate the situation.”
- Lane LaRue, Z33K Founder, 9/23/2012
- Lane LaRue, Z33K Founder, 9/23/2012
Special thanks goes to:
Gretorp for analyzing the hotkeys from VeraLynn’s showmatch replays.
desRow for being my Watson helping me gather screenshots and information from VODs.
Other sources which chose to remain anonymous.
Thanks for reading.