An Updated Classification of Cheating in Esports

Introduction

In competitive sporting events, there is always the possibility of individuals who wish to break or bend the rules to illicit an unfair advantage. The temptation to cheat is not uncommon in sports, especially since most sporting events have transitioned from the amateur to the professional game. This has increased sponsorships, athlete contracts, media and broadcasting rights for further publicity and financial prizes for winning or placing significantly well in a tournament. Traditional sports have seen many instances where people have cheated overtly and covertly to illicit an unfair advantage over their opponents.

Some of these scandals are more well-known than others, such as the Balco Lab's doping program [1], the Mitchell Report (Baseball) [2], the East Germany doping program [3], USA Postal Service (Cycling) [4] and the latest example is the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) [5]. Nevertheless, despite the introduction of anti-doping policies, agencies [6], stronger bans, fines, and legal implications from national governments such as the Rodchenkov-Act [7], individuals still cheat in sports regardless of their credibility and integrity risk.

However, cheating and doping are not unique features of traditional sports. We have esports, electronic games that entail various modes of competition, from single player to team events played in a competitive sporting virtual environment [8]. With esports' increased popularity and viewership, a significant investment in the prize pools and sponsorship of national and international tournament events has been seen [9 – 10]. In conjunction with this rise in funding, there has also been a range of threats to the integrity of the esports landscape, ranging from gambling, bullying, harassment, governance and the health of athletes [11]. Furthermore, in addition to the above issues mentioned, cheating, doping and hacking are becoming a reoccurring issue within the competitive electronic gaming sphere [12].

Cheating

The literature has provided many different interpretations of cheating. Green [13] first explained it as.

• To violate a fair and fairly enforced rule,
• With the intent to obtain an advantage over a party with whom it is in a cooperative, rule-bound relationship.

Tamburrini [14] defined cheating as a violation of a game's written rules, performed to gain an illicit advantage for oneself or for one's team over rival players. Finally, Loland [15] comprehensively explains what cheating entails and what it will be used for. He stated that cheating is an attempt to gain an advantage by violating the shared interpretation of the basic rules (the ethos) of the parties engaged without being caught and held responsible for it. The goal of the cheater is that the advantage gained is not eliminated or compensated for [15]. However, Russell [16] noted in his work that describing some behaviour as cheating is typically little more than expressing strong but thoroughly vague and imprecise moral disapproval or condemnation of another person or institution about a broad and ill-defined range of improper advantage-seeking behaviour. Therefore, when discussing "cheating", it is essential to be specific as to what is being mentioned and how it can be categorised as actual cheating. Unlike strategic deception or fouling [17], not all rule-breaking is cheating; therefore, it is morally wrong but not prohibited, e.g., running down the clock to waste time in a sporting event.

With this in mind, cheating in the context of esports is the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) [18 – 19], match-fixing [20], use of illegal software, hardware and or equipment [21] and finally, other unfair and unsportsmanlike means that gain an advantage which is not established in the rules of the game such as exploiting bugs [22]. The work will not focus on the following types of unsportsmanlike behaviours, including "hostage-holding", which is a behaviour to purposefully keep other players in an unpleasant situation [23]. Secondly, “sledging” is often described as gamesmanship, trash-talk or chirping to insult and or intimidate another player [24]. Depending on one's subjective experiences within sports or esports, these examples may fall at different levels on the continuum of pro-social vs anti-social behaviour in sports [25]. In a competitive environment, these may not be favourable actions and morally negative behaviours known as toxic behaviours [23, 26]. However, they are carried out frequently by players and teams to disrupt a game's flow and even try to gain some advantage over their opponents [27]. Consalvo [28] conducted interviews (n = 24) and online surveys (n = 50) to understand gamers' opinions when it came to defining and negotiating cheating. The results revealed two main themes and seven sub-themes between a) cheating and b) not cheating themes. The cheating theme and its sub-themes are included in Table 1.0 below.

The reason someone would cheat is multifaceted and is subjective to the individual, as there are usually multiple motivators that would incentivise someone to cheat. This is shown in Boldi and Rapp's paper [29] when reviewing their nine-month-long ethnography of Call of Duty: Warzone. They found that their players' perceptions of cheating depend on their competence, socio-material conditions and the role of the individual who conducts the unfair behaviour (cheating). Cho, Lusthaus and Flechais [30] found through interviews (n = 70) with those who had cheating experiences resulting in three overarching themes. These are the pervasiveness of toxic behaviours, the absence of ethical boundaries and the oversight of supporting roles that facilitate cheating.

Further examples of cheating include those that would dope because of loss of personal significance [31] and or the dark triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) [32]. Additional behaviours, including anticipated guilt and moral disengagement, may predict cheating [33]. Then there are other motivators such as financial incentives, which can be associated with match-fixing in sports [34] and the belief that everyone else is cheating, so too, you have to engage in these behaviours [35], which is not exclusive to sports [36]. Notwithstanding, cheating within the context of video games is not unusual. It has been used to develop skills for hackers in cybersecurity and ethical hacking [37 – 38].

Some websites are dedicated to hacking guides and walkthroughs to help develop the skills to undermine and circumvent the rules within a game environment [39]. Within the realm of single-player player videogames, it has been reported by 188 players that cheating in these settings helped repair mood, stress relief and flow [40]. Cheating can be a useful skill however, within the realms of competitive sport it is against the rules and spirit of sport and unsportsmanlike. Therefore, it should not be tolerated when prize money, sponsorships and rankings are at stake. With cheating defined, the work will now explore and discuss the various methods used to cheat to date in esports.

Modes of Cheating, Hacking and Corruption in Esports

Yan and Randell [41] created the first systematic classification of cheating in video games almost twenty years ago. This framework will be utilised and revised with the new methods and terminology that have appeared in the academic literature and in the esports landscape.

2.1.2 2.1.2 2.1.2 2.1.2 2.1.2 2.1.2

• Kill-Feeding Collusion can also be Ryno 2015 [53] Free for all Halo referred to as "kill-Tournament feeding" to boost a friend's score. When players collude with each other for unfair advantages against other players [41].

2.1.3 2.1.3 2.1.3 2.1.3 2.1.3 2.1.3

• Teaming Where players from Sekosama 2020 [54 & 55] Asian leg of the Fortnite opposing teams (or in Champion Series free-for-all matches) work together to win a match or an objective [54].

2.2 2.2.1 2.2.1 2.2.1 2.2.1 2.2.1 2.2.1

• Match-Fixing Match Fixing Tournament and or Professional players 2014 [56 – 58] Banned from CS:GO match manipulation, banned including. Valve events and
• which has many Duc “cud” Pham ESL events.
• different formats, and Derek “dboorn” all involve colluding Boorn with other players to
• Casey Foster enact some form of
• Sam “Dazed” match-fixing [58]. Marine
• Braxton “swag” Pierce
• Keven “AZK” Larivière
• Joshua “Steel” Nissan

2.2.2 2.2.2 2.2.2 2.2.2 2.2.2 2.2.2

• Spot Fixes / Fixing Which is an extension 2015 (reported in StarLadder CS:GO
• Bektiyar Bahytov of match-fixing but 2022) [58 & 59] Regional Minor and Abay involves carefully Championship Khasenov planning and (ongoing manipulating critical investigation) parts or events in a game to produce the desired outcome [58 & 59].

4.2.2 4.2.2 4.2.2 4.2.2 4.2.2 4.2.2

• Speedrun Hacks Defined as "a practice “Dream” was caught 2020 [70 – 72] Official Minecraft Minecraft where players compete cheating, and the Speed-running against each other to Minecraft Leaderboards navigate through a Speedrunning Team game as quickly as published a 30-page possible; a form of document high-performance supplemented with gameplay" [68]. statistical analysis of how the player cheated.

4.2.3 4.2.3 4.2.3 4.2.3 4.2.3 4.2.3

• Spin Botting Defined as, “which is a No specific example 2013 [73 & 74] Not applicable CS:GO cheat whereby a player exists of a player but employs aim-many on CS:GO assistance, vision-online forums assistance, and “B-discussing it [74]. Hop”-assistance, whilst simultaneously spinning around in circles to make it hard for other players to accurately hit them” [73].

4.3 Internal 4.3.1 4.3.1 4.3.1 4.3.1 4.3.1

• Misuse Internal misuse refers A game developer 2017 [75] Not in a PUBG to an individual with from PUBG used an tournament or access or privileges to invisibility code when event for money. the game and can playing a live online modify or influence the multiplayer match game's outcomes or and broadcasted it on match itself [41]. his livestream. However, this was unintentional by all accounts and to date, there has yet to be an example of this in an esports tournament where prize money was on the line.

Discussing and Applying the Table to Esports

The purpose of the table is to be a spotlight on the array of cheating and hacking methods that are known within the esport and videogame communities. The work updates the previous framework set out by Yan and Randell [41] by aligning it with the modern audiences for esports. Furthermore, it not only updates their work with different modes of cheating, e.g., the use of PEDs and gender doping but there is also an expectation that the cheating methods would have advanced since the original publication as their paper is 20 years old.

The revised table provides readers with the different categories of cheating and the variations of the cheats that can be expressed within said categories. The range of names associated with said cheats supports these categories to show how it can be explained. In addition to these names, examples (where possible) of cases where these cheats have been encountered are provided. Nevertheless, the table is not to be used as a definitive list of every cheating case within esports and competitive gaming tournament history, as it is not a cheating database.

It should be stated that there may be methods out there that we are not aware of due to the secretive nature of keeping cheats hidden for an advantage. The table should be used as a reference for esport organisations, federations, platforms and anti-cheat and integrity institutions to guide their policy work and education to esport players and teams regarding the range of cheats. This is to help support their ongoing work for fair play and a cheat-free virtual environment.

Since Yan and Randell's [41] original publication, the review here has highlighted that cheaters in esports have devised new and unique ways to cheat in this environment. From the original outline in 2005, the review has revised the methods from 15 to 11 categories with 24 sub-categories to show how some cheats have multiple variations. From these variations and comparing from the previous review, there is a difference of 51 names and or phrases of cheating. These include some of the new categories such as the use of PEDs, gender doping, a "ringer," equipment modifications (hardware: non-approved equipment), equipment modifications (software: aim bot / trigger bot), geo-filtering and purchasing cheats through a third party. This review of different cheating methods spans 17 years between 2007-2024.

Within these 11 categories, there are 44 different names, phrases, or terms describe said categories of cheating. There were 99 names found from academic and esport news channels who had been caught or punished for cheating, alongside fourteen further examples where no individual was named. From these named examples, 18 different esport titles were named, with CS:GO being the most frequently named title with 12 mentions. Finally, 28 tournaments, leagues or events were named, and seven cases where a specific tournament example could not be provided. However, evidence suggested that players participated in a ranked competition, event or an online match. The largest difference between this review and Yan and Randell’s work is regarding virtual assets [41]. This was left out of the revised cheating categorisation as the very nature of a “virtual asset” is not in itself cheating such as loot boxes [111], skins gambling [112] and theft of in-game assets [113]. Acquiring said assets may be the final outcome of cheating and what the cheaters seek but it is not a method of cheating.

Nevertheless, this summary of the range of cheating methods implicates the outcomes that have manifested within competitive environments. Underneath all these cases of cheating resides the virtual environment, which suggests and even tolerates a culture of cheating. As discussed earlier in this review, cheating has been employed to get past a specific mission point, have fun with friends, speed through the game and or deliberately annoy other players [27]. Other instances of cheating in games show that toxic behaviours play a role in these situations [23, 26], and individuals have used the tools they have learned from cheating to be applied to their educational and professional careers in ethical hacking and or cybersecurity [37 & 38]. Having that context of the culture of cheating with respect to the multitude of methods to cheat, the topic of governance is the most prominent issue that emerges across these esport titles, videogames and their respective host platforms. This is because there is an evident lack of oversight in dissuading cheaters from the respective game titles and esport federations [114] due to this embedded culture of cheating already existing within videogaming.

Lack of Oversight from Games and Federations

As reported earlier [114] when reviewing anti-doping measures and policies across all the esports federations. The work found a range of anti-doping frameworks between the federations when assessing this threat to the esport landscape. Notwithstanding, when discussing the varying threats to the esports landscape, there is a greater likelihood of cheating and hacking over doping due to the nature of the events being played and the online environment they occur within [11]. Schöber and Stadtmann [12] investigated these issues surrounding the institutions, their measures and their sanctions. They noted that esports-sanctioning bodies that enforce the punishments differ from traditional sports due to how the games are set up. This is because, in traditional sports, no entity owns the sport itself. In esports, the game publisher takes on this role as they own the rights to the computer game and trademark how the game is operated, how the events are organised for tournaments, and who is allowed to participate [12].

They note that the enforcement and delivery of these sanctions vary from esport to esport and nation by nation, depending on laws and ownership of these titles. Richardson [114] mentioned that the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) is the emerging international esports regulatory body for anti-doping, gambling, and cheating. They have an online database of all the sanctions that are currently in effect, those pending investigation [114], and the various organisations they work with, from game companies, publishers, tournaments, and criminal justice entities. However, they do not extend their reach to all esports as not all publishers are signed up to them, and this leaves out large player communities such as League of Legends, which are owned by Riot Games and are not under the ESIC for testing and sanction enforcement. This then differs again from nation to nation as not all governments would criminalise or task their esport governing bodies to enforce sanctions on those who cheat. Table 2.0 shows that match-fixing cases in South Korea are examples of cheating when individuals have been prosecuted and sent to jail when the government and national esport organisations work together [48 & 56].

However, this is only transferable to some esport governing bodies as their respective governments all view esports differently. Nevertheless, this is an interesting parallel when compared to traditional sports when it comes to doping. Not all countries punish their athletes for taking PEDs in terms of a criminal sentence and or a heavy fine. They may only face a temporary ban or be removed from the competitive circuit but still be allowed to train with their national team. However, times are changing as the United States moves towards a more robust deterrent framework with their recent introduction of the Rodchenkov Act, which aims to "impose criminal sanctions on certain persons involved in international doping fraud conspiracies" [7].

Schöber and Stadtmann [12] summarise their section on these sanction institutions by stating that the scope of actions and methods are not clearly identifiable and sometimes confusing. This is an accurate assessment of the landscape when it comes to cheating but can also be applied to anti-doping, as reported by Richardson [114] for the same reasons. The governance of esports does not make it easy to understand who is in charge or whom to take leadership from when focusing on these integrity issues, especially when there are multiple esport federations, publishers and sanctioning institutions in place covering hundreds of games out there that not all feature in every federation, publisher or sanctioning institution portfolios.

This has been reported as an issue by esport players, noting they are unclear about the governance structures and consider this to be a threat to the integrity of esports [115]. Schubert, Güre, and Haller [115] noted that their sample reported varying levels of understanding regarding esport governing bodies, and some players did not even know that they existed. The authors recommended more education and increased visibility for these organisations, especially regarding their operations. As stated earlier, one of their main findings reported that almost half of their participants supported a single global governing body, which would help eliminate many of the issues [12 & 114].

By having a unified and consistent punishment and sanctions across esport titles, platforms and federations irrespective of the prize money. This would increase consistency of the delivered punishment to said cheaters and strengthen integrity across all games for all players who wish to participate in a fair and level virtual playing field, as explained in Richardson [114] when discussing anti-doping policies, which can be applied to cheating bans here. Nevertheless, looking toward the future, a report by Fuentes and Merces [108] noted the following potential targets of cheaters and hackers within the esports landscape alongside the governance issues outlined above. The authors listed their predictions of where these cheaters and hackers will flourish and attack next, which expands upon the current work discussed including cheating and hacking services, boosting services, bank details targeted, gambling and match fixing and lastly, political attacks [108].

Conclusion and Future Implications to the Integrity of Esports

In short, there will be negative social, cultural and economic implications if esports organisations and anti-cheat developers do not curtail these instances within their virtual environments. Firstly, the industry will suffer credibility issues, which may lead to loss of sponsorship or advertisement rights if organisations feel the games are not upholding a level playing field. Secondly, there is a growing need to issue sanctions, which send a clear message to those who may consider cheating, which will promote fair, safe and clean events.

Allowing the cheaters the space to carry out these deviant behaviours sends an insufficient response to players who abide by the rules. There needs to be a consistent punishment scale across all esports, which every game organiser, esport federation and anti-cheat institution signs up for. That way, it is a holistic and collaborative effort to eliminate these cheaters and to increase the integrity of the landscape. Doing so will send a vital message that any cheating will be dealt with the harshest punishments. These may be hefty fines, permanent bans and, finally, the risk of a criminal record if severe enough.

With all the various means to cheat and hack across esports, the digital environment faces multiple threats to police and effectively maintains the landscape's integrity. This shows the potential reach these hackers and cheaters may have if frameworks and safeguards are not implemented to prevent these cases. Just like traditional sports, if people are caught cheating, the punishments should be severe to send a clear message, primarily when esports will have their own Olympic Games [117]. Esport organisers and game developers must significantly reduce or hamper cheating, or they will face ongoing issues. The work here should be used as a resource for any organisation that wants to understand the array of methods and terminology used to cheat within esports.

Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding

The author confirms no conflict of interest when writing or submitting this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

None

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