Are we jeopardizing the professionalism in our sport, when 5-digit prizemoney are handed out by organizations that doesn't care if serious flaws in the setup will have influence on the results?

With $60,000 on the line, KODE5 was seen by onlookers as a much needed addition to the International tournament-schedule. The event was indeed a fresh breath of air, structuring the tournament with a group-stage and then going straight to single-elimination.

Given the teams participating, the prizemoney involved, and the general hype about the event, a lot of people were already talking about KODE5 as a definite "Grand Slam"-event. Listening to Lester Lau, the KODE5 "revolutionary in command", it was also quite clear that the organization wants to reach the same level as WCG or ESWC. Not in a big leap, but in small steps, improving all areas of the tournament in order to expand.

Following the event in Moscow there is certainly room for improvement on the organizational side of things. The amount of controversies in the Russian capital were simply too high. Luckily for KODE5, none of them were (to my knowledge) defining for the tournament, but it should be obvious to everybody that those flaws can't be repeated.

Live HLTV-server, just next to the players

The most important flaw was also one of the easiest to avoid. Due to the nature of the venue, (which had a little café in the middle - which was surrounded by stage and booths) the stage-setup was very compromised. It created a really intense atmosphere, but it also created some awkward situations. The most controversial of these, were the placement of the shoutcaster.

Placed to the left of one of the players, the Russian shoutcasters were running a non-delay HLTV-server to be able to broadcast the game live. This would have raised absolutely no eyebrows, if it wasn't because the player sitting next to the shoutcaster would only have to do a 90-100 degrees turn (maybe even less) to watch the same HLTV-stream. fragbite documented this fact early on Day 1, but nonetheless the organizers continued with the same setup throughout the event.

As you can see on the picture from fragbite.com, Edward from Virtus.pro is watching the entrance from the radio-room to the center-room on de_nuke, while the shoutcaster is watching the defending CT-guy on the way to scout to the radio-room. There are no indications - whatsoever - that Edward did look at the shoutcasters screen, but the result of just a short glimpse could determine the outcome of a round - possibly even more.

Picture by www.fragbite.com

Russian shoutcast while Virtus.pro were playing

The second flaw was already obvious before the event started. As I arrived on Friday alongside Peter from QPAD - who had to set up his booth, the crew were testing the speakers that were used for the shoutcast. Having seen multiple events where the noise-level had influence on the outcome, I tried to wear a PC350-headset. Though I squeezed the cups against my ears, I had no problem hearing the sound in the room.

When I confronted Lester Lau with the fact, and the question about Russian teams and Russian shoutcasts, he told me that they would try to avoid putting Russian teams on the stage. As Virtus.Pro and fnatic entered the stage, it was obvious to everyone that the former could have a potential advantage. The crowd was all on their side and according to several Russian-speaking sources, the audience were screaming out the position of fnatic-players in several key-situations.

Live HLTV-feed behind the players and coaches

And how can you run a live HLTV-relay just behind the players. The manager only had to take one or two steps back from the podium to "accidentally" get a glimpse of it. If bending forward and watching closely when there was fade to black (when they were dead) the players could also see the stream reflected in the monitors.

Even looking down the row of monitors, peeking at your team-mates' screens could potentially give you the possibility to pick up something from the stream.

mTw.MJE is looking down the row of computers. If he is twisting just 15-20 degrees more, he will be able to pick up things from the live-stream behind him

If? How? Then what?

While no one can say whether or not any of the above-mentioned things had influence on the results at KODE5, we can't know. And to professional organizations and teams, that is simply not good enough. Imagine the Champions League-final between Chelsea and Manchester United with goals that are 10 centimeters too wide, and then imagine a late winning strike from either team. It would not only cause uproar from the losing side, it would most likely also instigate a replay of the game, as the sport can't live with the doubts.

If I had been eliminated from the tournament in a stagematch, I would most likely think "Did these things affect my match? If they did, how was it carried out? And if it was carried out, then what should happen with the game?". As a tournament-organizer, one of your prime tasks is to avoid these concerns. How can you expect players and organizations to be professional, if you can't even guarantee that organizational mistakes won't have defining influence on the games?

Luckily, one might say, Virtus.pro didn't eliminate fnatic in their stagematch, no Russian team made it past the groupstage and no one raised their voices about the issues. Beginners luck for KODE5, but next time it's business. Repeating any of these mistakes will put their integrity at stake, jeopardizing the professionalism in our sport. We can't accept that.