LUMBRIDGE LOSERS // GRAFBLADE
In his match against Space Khergits on Sunday, 07.01.18, Lumbridge Loser's player GrafBlade played with an unallowed modification that shows the class composition for both teams on the scoreboard. He played in two of the sets, and was present on the server for all four sets. During all four sets he was in a position to gain clear information on the class composition of his opponents at the touch of a button. Playing with a modification not specified as allowed is not allowed according to the following rule.
§2 I said:
It is strictly prohibited to gain an advantage by modifying texture files or using game modifications such as aimbots or autoblock. Every player that is found to have modified texture files or using game modifications will be suspended from the tournament. Exceptions from this rule are listed in Appendix A.
Since the incident happened, GrafBlade made a few posts on the tournament subboard explaining his point of view and stating he did not intend to cheat by using said modification. Whilst his intention may indeed have not been malicious, we run into the unsolvable issue of trust here, and with the possibility of future rule breaks of this sort in mind, we have no other option but to suspend him for the rest of the tournament.
If we start basing these decision on the unprovable intentions of the players we are going to leave the door wide open for biased decisions in the future, where a players relationship to the administration may very well decide whether they believe him or her and drop the case or take action. That will inevitably lead to accusations of bias and sour the atmosphere within the community.
Additionally, the rules state the player has to forfeit all relevant rounds during which a break of rules took place and a significant advantage was gained as per the following rule.
§2 III said:
If a player is found to have broken any of the rules during a match and the admins determine that a significant advantage was gained, that player's team will forfeit the relevant rounds.
We had a long debate within the administration whether or not the additional information provided by the modification were significant. We found points for and against it, and decided to speak to the captain of the opposing team, Blixn, whose interests are aimed to be protected by this rule. He said he does not believe GrafBlade intentionally cheated, nor were Lumbridge Losers actively using the additional information provided by the modification in his opinion and thus no significant advantage was gained. Space Khergits do not wish to claim any rounds.
Therefore, in agreement with Space Khergits, the administration decided to let the result stand. As stated above, the rule aims to protect the opposing team of the rule breaker, and since they deem no significant advantage was gained, we see no reason to go against their judgement. If they had said they think there was an advantage gained, we would have counted the match 12-0 in their favour.