The competitive Dota 2 world was shaken by Valve’s ban hammer on Dec. 18. Following up on close investigations, the developer handed out 10 lifetime bans to players who were found guilty of account sharing in official matches, including Virtus Pro’s latest position one player, Kamil “Koma`” Biktimirov.
Following his ban, Koma released a statement yesterday regarding the matter in the hopes of receiving a lighter sentence since he’s currently permanently banned from participating in all Valve and PGL events, a career-ending situation.
“I made a mistake and listened to the persuasions of other people,” Koma said. “I played an official match with another account, hoping to receive prize money. I admit my guilt and apologize to the entire community, especially to VP fans.”
The 20-year-old carry player expressed that he had been hiding this fact from the community, hoping that no one would ever find out since he wanted to join the ranks of VP. Though his dream of joining the team came true, Koma’s past also came back to haunt him.
The young carry ended his statement by asking for a reduced sentence from Valve. While Valve is yet to release a follow-up announcement on the matter, VP’s CEO Nikolai Petrossian expressed his disappointment while assuring fans that the club will prioritize fair play, integrity, and sportsmanship above all else.
Valve generally refrains from releasing any evidence in such disciplinary cases, but statements from multiple parties indicate that the account sharing might have occurred before Koma signed with VP. When it comes to competitive integrity, however, DPC rules are quite clear on the matter and the punishments.
Alongside Koma, nine other players were also banned due to account sharing, and there have been others sharing their side of the story. In a recent interview with escorenews, Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin described the whole situation as a stupid mistake that arose due to greed and the hardships of living a life dependent on prize money.
According to Limitless’ statements, one of the players, illusion, could simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Due to ongoing power outages and internet troubles in Ukraine, illusion’s account details were in the hands of his close friends and teammates on S9. Luna Gaming members purportedly used his account without his knowledge in a tournament match, a situation that will be relatively difficult to prove in the eyes of Valve.
