Have Vitality SCREWED Their Season? sAw Is On FRAUDWATCH! OVERCOMM'D ft. Thorin & Tedd

We had a bit of a weird incident that sparked the same sort of conversations I feel like we have far too often.

There never seems to be any changes, there doesn't seem to be any adjustments, and things have really been the status quo in terms of this.

Esports events are essentially revolving doors.

Like, you can kind of walk around them almost accidentally, sneaking into areas you shouldn't be in.

Sometimes with malicious intent.

Most of the time, not, though.

And that's been a key factor, is that we've been very lucky for about, I'll say, 15 years, maybe more, since, you know, esports started getting bigger and bigger.

Sure, they were always a bit sketchy when the scene was small, but...

For a while, they've been big and they have still been poor as far as security.

I had a story just for myself from the Blast Blast London where I genuinely got lost.

Like I just pushed the wrong door and end up with the production people.

I end up backstage, just walking about, just walking around.

And some security guard stops me and he goes, Where's your badge? And I was like, I don't know, mate.

I'm looking for the Luke's.

I was.

And he was like, oh, just go out there and then turn around.

And I ended up backstage watching like Banks, like setting up something with the Blast people.

I think it was Banks.

Obviously the dodgy

part about that is that's what they always lie about when they're trying to like, you know, clone someone's laptop in the spy movie.

When they go like into the bedroom, they go, hey, what are you doing there? He goes, sorry, I was just looking for the toilet.

Even though you're like putting it in the doorway.

Like that's even the worst.

Even though it was, your problem is it was actually the real story, but it's actually the worst

excuse

ever, isn't it? You just become the most suspicious person out there.

Yeah, but that guy wasn't even that pressed.

He was like, oh, yeah, just out that door and turn right.

And he sent me backstage.

He sent me further backstage.

Like, that's how unserious security's been forever.

And I knew, as a guy who worked DreamHack events as a volunteer and was the security team, like, come on, it was a bunch of, like, 17, 18-year-olds hopped up on monsters trying to check people's ID badges, which, of course, led to abuses left, right, and center.

People claiming to be with Blizzard were just trying to force their way through anyway because Blizzard... apparently are notoriously kind of dicks about this sort of thing.

They consider themselves bigger than the events when they show up to those sorts of DreamHacks and things and they just don't bother.

So I'm not surprised we finally got someone who actually went behind the stage, got into these social security areas with something malicious in mind and got it done.

I think we're just lucky again that it wasn't something more serious.

It's insured.

It's property.

It's okay.

We'll live with it.

But we get closer and closer every day to that pit.

That event, you know, that spark where everything all of a sudden becomes serious in our security.

And I'm really hoping we don't actually have to get to that point.

The best example would be, remember, at the Copenhagen Major when all those dickheads from that certain gambling site were paid to run on stage.

Well, imagine if they just had access to the backstage area.

There's all sorts of outrageous things they could do there.

That's what I was going to say as well.

I think this is where it all started.

But unfortunately, with things like these, I feel like you can... almost take measures after something bad has already happened, right? Very, very early, you're going to see people take precautions before something has already escalated.

And the Copenhagen Major, I was there and I witnessed that with my own eyes, the guy just running up the stage towards the players.

I think this was the point where people thought, okay, you know what, maybe we need to actually have security in front of the stage.

Maybe we need to actually have people that are following whether you're in the sector that you should be based on your ticket and whether you can get on top of the stage.

It is an interesting thing because I feel like it varies from event to event.

So the last couple of bigger events that I've been to, both last two majors, basically, so both Cologne and Budapest, I thought security was actually quite decent.

So I think it's very weird because it's not like it's impossible for people to figure out how to have decent security and for people to be almost a little bit you know getting under your skin with how punctual they're trying to be with checking your your passes all the time even if it's day four of the event that they already clearly know your face right uh but i think some events have been decent it's a little bit weird that these issues are still occurring but i think this is something that it's probably going to be very difficult to fix in general because they still have these issues with a lot of the sports events that are happening around the world as well and that's been going going on for so many years so a Is it impossible to fix, I guess, to have things like that? Obviously, to allow someone that is coming in from the outside to get into the backstage, that is ludicrous.

Now, that's an entirely different level of, you know, what the hell are we doing?

She do blame events though.

Here's why.

Because the amount of events I've been to where like pro players and broadcast talent walk in like, oh, do I have to show you my badge? I'm on this team.

It's like, no, you dickhead.

You actually want every badge to be checked every single time.

And yes.

Do you know what, famous commentator? If you left your badge in the hotel room, that's a you problem, bro.

That isn't the problem of the fucking tournament.

The guy on the door is not supposed to recognise you by face, mate.

He's supposed to check every person, whether it's fucking Donk or it's Sponge or whoever.

He's supposed to check every single time because that's how someone doesn't then get backstage to where Donk is or to where you are, Sponge, et cetera.

So I think that's one area where I actually think part of the problem we have in esports is...

It's not like these are famous football players that the security guy knows.

He's probably just some fucking guy working for a minimum wage just on the door.

He doesn't know anyone.

So, by the way, think about this angle.

Actually, how does Donk look different to a Spirit fan? They're both wearing a fucking Spirit jersey.

They both walk in with a grassroots shirt.

He doesn't know which one that is.

So, I think, actually, one problem we've had in esports is it's a sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Because it's been chill as fuck in the past and because everyone's a shy nerd who wouldn't, in theory, try and blag their way in...

We've actually just gotten used to really lax security.

Whereas I've got to say, I do want it to be literally like going to a fucking concert where you would never in a million years get backstage if Ariana Grande was back there.

I can tell you this is absolutely solvable because when I used to work E-League, that wasn't even an event, by the way.

i'm not talking about when i went to the like live show when i would just come in for the brookshire meeting at like eight in the morning every single time no matter what you have to show the security guard a real badge and he does like a metal detector on your whole bag it doesn't matter that you're the same person who's worked there all these months it's not even a live event it's only people in the building every time they check here because they don't ever want the scenario where we're being polite mate talking about people's group no the actual nightmare is someone just goes in with a gun and kills everyone Something like that one day will happen if it is possible to just get entry without a pass.

It's also why it's a quicker side.

Luckily, they're better at it now.

But this is why if you are a young pro or a fucking staff person, you never take a photo of your badge.

Because in the modern day, especially like AI, you could so easily clone that.

And then the guy has a real badge to get him.

That's an even bigger nightmare, mate.

Now, all of a sudden, just because you did, like, an Instagram story that you didn't think about, now the person has a plausible-looking badge that, you know, he either really has yours or even just one that you could, like, glance at and say he saw.

Thankfully, it's just that someone stole something so far.

But I don't think people realise how low down the fucking, like, scary list of things that could happen that is.

Like, that's pretty harmless to someone nicking some gear from that.

But, like, there's a million worse things could happen than that, mate.

Yeah, exactly.

It's literally, as I was saying, why do we need to...

Well, we know why, apparently, because sometimes it's a little bit easier to pretend that this is not happening.

But oftentimes you need to wait for something very bad to happen in order for measures to be taken, right? What you're saying about the metal detectors, that's actually something I was thinking about, I think.

One of the last events I went to as a media, not as a broadcast talent.

And obviously when you go as a press or a media or whatever, no matter... who you go for up you're bringing in a backpack maybe you're gonna have a microphone you're gonna have a laptop you're gonna have a notebook whatever you're basically going in as with a backpack uh where well that's probably the slightest one for for the crew with the cameras and the mics and everything they have even more equipment oftentimes there isn't a lot of people that are going to open your bags and check them and i know if you're getting a press accreditation this is supposed to you know guarantee that you are someone that is going to be legit but i was i was just thinking that as i was going into one of the last events that i attended that way and i was thinking i could literally carry on anything that i wanted to i just showed them a badge and they let me in and and this is so easy to exploit and it's honestly a little bit terrifying because i know if you're pressed you're probably not going to do anything messed up but maybe you can copy a pass maybe you can create your own then you can go and you can get anything bottom line is i think with the metal detectors and with the security just checking the backpacks and everything that should be a normal thing to do like in concerts like in sports events i don't think i'd be able to go to a football game like a european league or a champions league game with a backpack and no one's gonna tell me sir could you please open your backpack and show me what's inside

yeah there's a it's a like an naivete, I guess, to this, the way we do esports events, because we use arenas and stadiums and things that host other events.

Yeah, they

have the infrastructure for it.

They could be safe, yet we don't let them be.

Like, the Blast example I gave, like, Blast had the major, had a guy run on stage.

You could, as an audience member, basically just climb on.

Like, it was so easy.

London the next year...

The stage is a single step, no rope, nothing.

You could just walk on upstage and get on the stage and be in the booths, like right there.

Nothing's changed.

By the way, I can tell you this isn't

even just a CS-specific topic.

In League of Legends a few years ago, a guy just ran on stage and hogged Faker, as in he was able to physically touch Faker's body.

Oh, I've seen that.

I remember it.

there's

another thing i'm sick and tired of the second someone enters the stage right again you would never be able to get to ariana grande even if you go on stage mate you would be actually some guy who would look like a rugby scrum half or whatever would body bag you that's it by the way even if it turned out with some pure like coincidence like actually that was like part of the act if you did it in some way where it wasn't something that guy was checked for you wouldn't even get there so the idea you could even reach the person is insanity Never in a million years in a real sport.

Again, as you're saying, it's only because people stupidly think it's just video games.

Yeah, but at this scale with millions of people, it isn't.

Like, I've always said to Richard, the craziest thing of all, in a weird sense, is how you know esports isn't mainstream, is actual real terrorists genuinely don't seem to realise that millions of people watch the game live on stream.

Like, if you actually were going to make some outrageous, like, political statement, you could make ripples around the whole world if you did something at, like, a CS major, League of Legends, World Championship.

These have millions of people watching.

I actually think we're just lucky they don't know that's the case because if they knew simultaneously how many people watch and the fact that it's almost treated like it's an old dream hack and it's like, ah, it's gone through or whatever, like not even really checking shit, that is wild.

Yeah, the fact that the front of the stage is policed the same way the dream hacks I worked were, which is there's one guy at one edge, one guy at the other, and if you get too close, we'd be like, oi, oi, oi, back.

That's not security.

There's nothing secure about that.

And real gigs, real events have a full-on palisade with a gap.

People line that gap like it's the last stand at Helms Deep, for crying out loud.

They actually hold the line.

At esports events, yeah, just step on, step right on up, which I've always found very alarming.

yeah uh what i what i will say i think one of the issues uh because obviously i want to i want to give a bit of representation to some of the people that i know for a fact that are part of the industry we're unhappy with some of the measures because uh at the cologne major and not the budapest major again i thought security was excellent some of the people that suffered a lot because of what happened in copenhagen were actually the photographers Because nowadays, because of these things happening, you have these fences that even the photographers are not allowed to cross.

So even that has led to another extremity of, okay, we didn't take, I guess, control of the situation early on.

We weren't thinking about what could happen.

We didn't have the appropriate ways to deal with what could potentially go wrong.

So now we need to go to the other extremity and just have all these fences and not allow people to get even close to the stage.

And that includes a lot of the photographers.

And I know for a fact, I've talked to a lot of photographers about that over the course of the last couple of years, that at some of the events, they themselves are just finding it very difficult to get good pictures and good photos of what is going on.

Yeah, they're

just...

yeah they're just not allowed to i mean you're and you've got some very skilled and very capable photographers working in counter-strike right and and these people are just not given the access they're not allowed to get on stage they're not allowed to get up close and personal so it kind of feels like it's either one extremity where you're just allowing everyone to walk around without getting checked and cleared or whatever or is the other extremity where no one is allowed to get close even people that that's basically their job and this is the quality of their work that we're talking about