#competitiveintegrity

By the time you're reading this, Frosty Faustings should be underway. This is a tournament that's been getting bigger year over year, but this year I think a few more eyes will be on it than usual. Particularly since this will be the debut for 2XKO’s 1.0 debut major. There have been tournaments for the game before, but the player base was restricted to PC players. Now, anyone can hop in and try the game for themselves. Good! While this game isn't for me, I'm glad to see a fighting game thrive and do well. That said, while I think the game will have a healthy player base helped by being free, the competitive side of this game is kind of a mess.

The Early Access Gap: PC Players vs Newcomers

While everyone can play it now, there was a significant period of time when those who played it on PC got a head start on the game. Characters may change, but the system mechanics didn't change that much. Having all that time with the defensive mechanics, the tag system, and the general feel of characters could be seen as an advantage.

Still, this was something technically available to everyone. You could probably play this on a toaster and it'll run. Those who wanted to play it could do so with ease. Say what you will about Riot, they're magicians when it comes to making games run on almost anything.

The Beta Tester Controversy

If it stopped there, this would be nothing but the murmuring of the unprepared. However, there are another group of people who muddy the waters of 2XKO’s competitive scene: the testers. Those who got to play the final patch for hours before it was available to the public.

Key Point: If you're skimming through and looking for my stance on the matter, it's simple. Those who are testers should be held back from competitive play for at least the first tournament after their testing period.

I don't like that those who went to test the Caitlyn patch can then go to Frosty's and play. I've seen this discussion online, and it generally seems to be the consensus that those testers shouldn't be allowed to compete. I agree. Privileged knowledge is an advantage. Full stop.

https://youtu.be/WiepRW3gmxk Industry Precedents and Developer Accountability

Given that this game is made by people who have been in the competitive fighting game scene, I'm surprised they didn't impose some sort of ban on those players. We know that content creators that did work for Street Fighter 6 weren’t allowed to compete in tournaments for an entire year. That seems extreme, but the ban itself was a good idea. It meant that if you lost in a tournament, you weren’t losing because your opponent had an advantage you had no way of having.

Caitlyn Testing and Tag Game Mechanics

We’ve hard that the beta test for Caitlyn was strictly for Caitlyn and not for labbing out the new patch. Apparently, those at Riot would were even making people pick Caitlyn. That sounds great on paper, but thinking about it for a few more seconds will tell you why that’s still not okay. If you’ve ever just watched a pro player in training room, you can see how quickly they can break characters down:

- Finding their good buttons - Their bad buttons - Their good ranges - The ranges they struggle in, and so on

Knowing Caitlyn and how she works before the vast majority of people even get to lab her is unfair enough, but then you remember that 2XKO is a tag game. Surely, those pro players got some insight on how characters have changed.

Competitive Integrity in Fighting Games

Was the time they spent on that version of the game insignificant? I can’t say that it is. Any advance knowledge is simply unfair. It opens up the very fiar argument that those testers knew the matchup before anyone else, thus they are winning. Hell, if I were those testers, I wouldn’t even compete just so that could never be thrown at me.

- If you win, it’s because of prior knowledge. - If you lose, you’re trash because you had a heads-up and still lost.

Is that worth the first tournament of a game that will have many more tournaments ahead of it? I suppose that’s up to them, but it isn’t something I’d personally want to put up with.

Final Thoughts on 2XKO's Competitive Future

I’m no professional, but I’m someone who can be competitive. There are those who believe you should use every advantage you have, and perhaps that’s true. However, I do believe in the idea of maintaining competitive integrity. Even presenting the possibility that I’m winning because of some unfair advantage would piss me off.