Today, I had several tweets to Connor White, the pro-player who admitted to cheating. My position on what he did has not and will not change.
What has changed is my willingness to further discuss this topic with exception to this article. I do NOT want to rock the boat in the Halo community. I do NOT want to be “that guy.” However, that said if I should lose “street cred” over my stance, so be it. It would pain me if I did though. With 343 and community leaders and especially you my readers, fans, and followers. The whole point of my stance is to uphold what I believe SHOULD be the right position for the WHOLE of the community. If others disagree and take the side of Connor here, then it will truly diminish in my opinion the community of Halo. How can we put up with blatant cheating?
It’s safe to assume others have cheated in the Halo 4 Global Championship. What makes it worse with Connor White is his being the co-owner of AGL (Arena Gaming League) and their affiliation with 343 by using Halo in their tournaments. He should never have participated in the competition, let alone cheat in it.
What it seems like Connor isn’t understanding is that his very actions by just PLAYING in the competition can put himself, AGL, 343 and Virgin gaming into some very serious legal recourse if gamers who played in the competition file a lawsuit. It’s called the Federal Statutory Unfair Competition Law. Putting his admitted cheating aside, his very playing in the competition means other gamers could file a class action law suit against 343/Virgin gaming. Connor seems to not realize that his playing knocked out hundreds if not thousands of other gamers from potentially placing in one of the top 4 spots for any week he played in the competition.
Yes, he says he earned his position week 2. However, it’s not his skill that is being called into question. Because he, through AGL, has a business relationship with 343, and that being legally defined as an affiliation, his mere playing regardless of placement causes the whole competition’s legitimacy to come into question.
At this point, the only portion of the contest that has been fair has been the RTX qualifier. The Gamescom qualifier coming up would be the only other portion that would be legit given the restrictions placed on those participating in the in-person portions of this tournament. So what does that mean then? Well, by my description of this, I’m saying the WHOLE online portion of the competition should be scrapped and ONLY those 16 players who will qualify from the in-person convention events should be eligible for the finals in Seattle. Yes, that would likely piss of those thousands of players who put in the time into the competition. However, I would hope that they would see through this to what my proposal means. It means that they in some part would be vindicated. The only ones who would be really affected by disqualfying the online portion of the event at this point would be those who did qualify in the on-line portion. Given that one of them has admitted to cheating and stated others are doing it, DQing what amounts to 16 gamers to this point or 20 by the end of this week, in order to have a completely legitimate pool of qualifiers from the in-person events is the right thing to do, IMO.
That would then completely negate not only Connor’s actions but those others who cheated in the competition. Beyond this, the very idea that alternate accounts were allowed at all, while it may not be illegal, was tacky and NOT in the best interest of fair play and good sportsmanship. How and why 343/Virgin Gaming came to that decision is beyond me.
Again, I want to point out that I am a HUGE supporter of 343 for having continued the Halo franchise. But the decision to allow alt accounts to be okay in the competition is something I can not nor will ever agree with.
Further, due to Connor’s association with AGL, those who were invited to play via AGL contests should ALSO not be allowed to participate. Again, invites to those who did not legitimately secure a qualifying position while not illegal is VERY tacky and unsupportive of the greater Halo community. If those invites are upheld, then at the VERY LEAST Connor White should be completely disqualified from the competition. That decision would be in the best interest for the WHOLE community.
Connor, if you’re reading this, I know it may seem unfair or over the top, the position I’ve taken. However, young man, you MUST realize that your actions may have serious repercussions. With respect to you, I don’t know if it’s that you are too young to understand unfair competition laws or that you didn’t know of them. Or if your playing was truly just to have fun or was motivated by greed and/or to knock out others who might be able to give you a run for the money in the competition. The whole point is, you ARE affiliated with 343 through AGL. Do the RIGHT thing and completely remove yourself from the Halo 4 Global Championship, less you further divide the Halo community, make a mockery of the tournament, and possible cause legal recourse. This would ultimately be a small sacrifice on your part to save face as well as keep from harm 343, Virgin Gaming and AGL. Show this measure of respect for the greater good of the WHOLE Halo community.
Okay all that said, I will no longer comment on this topic. Any replies from Connor or others via tweets that I made earlier today will go ignored. Any replies to this article here on the blog that seek to thrash me will not be posted.
Respectfully,
-Sal
