Get Dunked: Dota 2
Get Dunked: Dota Tuesdays
DDoSed
During the past week the G1 league, as well as a handful of other online tournaments, has been plagued by a series of DDoS attacks from an unknown source for unknown reasons. The attacks began during the matchup between Absolute Legends (AL) and Evil Geniuses (EG), with Maelk, followed by Bdiz, disconnecting from game two after AL’s victory in game one; this eventually led to AL being awarded the match, and EG dropping out of the competition.
While the game was paused various members of the
community, whether serious or jovially, accused Maelk of deliberately disconnecting
as EG were behind in the series. Maelk took offense to this, as any
professional player under those circumstances probably would.
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| Twitter rage... |
The DDoS attacks then continued during the other
matches of the G1 league, with Kaipi and Dignitas focussed; it should be noted
that the majority of the DDoSing was towards North American teams and players,
whether this is significant is still unclear.
As a result of this the G1 league has been postponed
and the popular betting site Dota2Lounge has stated there is no betting on G1
games. The translated statement from G1 League reads:
“Season 5 of the G-1 Champions League has been streaming
smoothly and successfully for over 20 match days now. However, over the past
few days, matches on the DOTA2 European servers have been faced with a serious
series of DDoS attacks from unknown sources, which has caused players to
continuously disconnect and ultimately made it impossible to carry on the
competition. In light of the current situation, 17173 and 2P.com have decided
to postpone the G-1 Western Qualifiers while waiting for advice on technical
solutions from Valve. Apart from this season of the G-1 League, disconnections
also interrupted the recent DreamHack Invitationals, and both competitions are
serious competitions with large amounts of prize money on the line.
What next? We've shared a
guide with all the teams in the G-1 Western Qualifiers yesterday on steps to
take to prevent DDoS attacks. Additionally, communications are established with
Valve, reporting what has happened in the past few days of G-1 Champions League,
along with related details regarding what we know about the as-yet unidentified
DDoS attacker(s).
Place Your Bets
There is much speculation as to the reason of these
attacks, but at this stage there is nothing concrete. Much of said speculation
has been linked to betting on the games. Not just in-game items through
Dota2Lounge, but actual cash through “other means”. Again, whether this is the
case is still unclear at this point.
There have been solutions suggested from many areas
of the community as of how to solve this issue, with Skype, steam friends and even
streamers being blamed for the leaking of players’ IP addresses and suggestions
that the tournament should be played in private and rebroadcast at a later
date; everyone seems to have an opinion on the issue.
@cyborgmatt @themaelk Guys, the real cost of that DDoS was me and LD having to tell knock-knock jokes for an hour.
— PyrionFlax (@PyrionFlax) April 15, 2013
These DDoS attacks are arguably the biggest threat Dota 2 has encountered, with the entire online professional scene in danger of collapsing unless a viable solution is conceived. I have faith that Valve and the G1 League will fix this issue, and hopefully the community will give the G1 League its full support when it resumes. The impact of gambling actual money on Dota 2, however, could prove to be a serious long term problem, especially when considering the history of professional sports and gambling within China.
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