An in any other case unremarkable (a minimum of for the broader public) weekend of DOTA 2 motion obtained much more controversial on Saturday when Virtus.professional’s Ivan ‘Pure’ Moskalenko was caught allegedly drawing a logo of help for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over the in-game minimap.
As Yahoo first reported, throughout a qualifier for the ESL One Stockholm Main, Pure could possibly be seen drawing the letter “Z” on the map. That letter, seen painted on Russian army {hardware} in the course of the first weeks of the assault, has grown to change into a logo of help amongst Russian individuals for the actions of their armed forces and president Vladimir Putin.
(If you wish to learn extra on the thriller of the image and the way it has blown up, The Guardian has a rundown on a number of the theories of its origin, that are murky since there’s no “Z” within the Russian Cyrillic alphabet”)
You’ll be able to see Pure draw the “Z” within the top-left nook of the map within the video under, earlier than he pauses and begins to cross it out. His teammates, drawing in numerous colors, can be seen rapidly attempting to attract over the letter.
Their efforts have been for naught; individuals did discover, and rapidly, main Pure and Virtus.professional to subject a proof/apology, which boiled right down to Pure claiming the image—drawn by a Russian on a Russian staff enjoying towards opponents that includes two Ukrainian gamers— “occurred by chance”.
The organisers of the qualifying match have been having none of it. An announcement launched by Past The Summit the subsequent day mentioned:
Outsiders is disqualified from the DPC EEU Tour 2 Regional Playoffs. Thoughts Video games will obtain a retroactive forfeit win for his or her match earlier as we speak.
All future matches Outsiders would have performed are forfeit as nicely.
Following that motion, Virtus.professional themselves launched an announcement, which spends most of its time disputing the severity of the punishment (“Valve has a sure historical past of imposing disciplinary measures, however disqualifying the entire staff from a DPC match based mostly on a drawing on a minimap by single participant units up an entire new precedent”), earlier than including on the finish that Pure has had his contract terminated for “an excessive amount of hurt to our relationship with the worldwide esports society”:
Proper after the incident with Pure throughout recreation 1 we contacted Valve and the match organizer whereas conducting our personal investigation. Sergey Glamazda, CEO of Virtus.professional, personally talked to the gamers between the video games to search out out extra about what occurred. Pure publicly defined himself proper after the sport. BTS additionally contacted different gamers of our staff to listen to their aspect of the story. We have been notified that the ultimate determination was as much as the writer.
The severity of the punishment is stunning. Valve has a sure historical past of imposing disciplinary measures, however disqualifying the entire staff from a DPC match based mostly on a drawing on a minimap by single participant units up a complete new precedent.
Any actions have penalties, whether or not intentional or not. Virtus.professional has been persistently opposing any circumstances of inciting hatred in esports. The membership terminates contract with Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko for his diminishing actions that led to disqualification from the match and prompted an excessive amount of hurt to our relationship with the worldwide esports society.
Additional adjustments in our roster can be introduced individually.
