NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Harvard team booted from “Heroes of the Dorm” tournament for cheating
Team Ambush, a competitive gaming team from Harvard University, has been disqualified from Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming Heroes of the Dorm tournament after one of its members was caught cheating.
According to Blizzard, one of the Harvard students involved with Team Ambush shared his Battle.net account, which is used to log in to Heroes of the Storm, with “a higher-rated player who was not on his team’s roster during official tournament matches.”
Blizzard strongly frowns on account sharing in almost all situations with the exception of a minor playing on his or her parent’s account, but with $500,000 in scholarships on the line for the top teams in the Heroes of the Dorm competition, the studio is taking Team Ambush’s violation even more seriously.
“We have zero tolerance for cheating in our tournaments,” Blizzard said in its official ruling. “The rules are in place to ensure a fair playing field for all participants—when these rules are abused, they put the integrity of the competition at risk. The students found to be sharing their Battle.net accounts and the players with whom they were sharing will be banned indefinitely from participation in any future Tespa tournaments.”
“In addition, Blizzard Entertainment will be taking disciplinary actions against the Battle.net accounts involved.”
While cheating at a video game may not seem like a big deal compared to academic dishonesty, it certainly does not look good for the reputation of a school , especially when that school is Harvard. In academic terms, account sharing in Heroes of the Storm is the equivalent of having a friend show up to take a test for you.
Blizzard noted that Team Hot Boys from Michigan has also been found guilty of account sharing and will face penalties similar to the Harvard team.
The teams from UC Berkeley and Purdue University will compete to determine who will take Team Ambush’s place in the “Super Sixteen” in the Heroes of the Dorm bracket, and Blizzard has said that the other bracket scores will be adjusted accordingly.
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment Inc
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