DDoS attack responsible for DotA 2 TI5 tournament delays

Almost every year we hear about DDoS attacks ruining the online experience for players, locking people out of their favourite games for days at a time. Today, DotA 2‘s Evil Geniuses and Complexity Gaming were apparently shut out of their LAN game by DDoS attackers. 

This stopped their match from continuing for almost three whole hours, the games only just resuming at about 4:30 PM PDT. This took place almost simultaneously with an attack on League of Legends tournament.

Today: DDOS leading to forced forfeit, lag on LAN, meta chaning patch before the most important tournament. #EsportsIsRealSports

— Wildhawk (@wildhawklol) August 4, 2015

Thankfully, unlike the League of Legends game, the TI5 match was salvaged using DotA 2‘s replay mechanic. This placed players on a new server in the same positions they were in prior to the DDoS attack. While fans watching the game in person and live on the in-game match viewer were visibly upset, it was comforting to know that this mechanic was able to salvage the game.

This comes in not long after Turkish League of Legends players complained about having to play a game where they had been DDoSed and were forced to play an unfair game. In that match, they were forced to random a champion, leading to problems, and ultimately a forfeit match under unfair circumstances. 

Essentially the DDoSers got to pick who won the game, and that is simply unprofessional from a game as big as League of Legends.

Considering that many MOBA eSport games have thousands (if not millions) of dollars at stake, I think that Riot Games should take an example from Valve’s model. People’s lives are sometimes on the line with these games as eSports are their career, and forcing players to go through a game without the ability to play the match on their grounds is like forcing a football match where an all-star player has been swapped out with some kid they pulled off of the street. It is simply unfair, and it can ruin a team’s career.

Hopefully, this will not be a problem for future games during DotA 2‘s TI5 tournament. With a prize pool of over $18 million, it would be a shame to have any game decided over something as unfair as a DDoS attack. Then again, Valve has already shown they won’t make the same mistakes involving DDoS attacks with DotA 2 as Riot did with League of Legends. 

The fans seem to still be in high spirits too.

Spirit of #TI5 pic.twitter.com/gMjfGRScKV

— Toby Dawson (@TobiWanDOTA) August 4, 2015