Valve issued lifetime bans to 10 Dota 2 players on December 18th for breaching the developer’s terms, including Virtus.pro latest recruit Koma`. Upon undertaking close investigations, the organization found that the players were guilty of account sharing in official matches. The decision had since caused a stir in the competitive Dota 2 community with fans seemingly impressed by the organizers’ strong stance on cheating within the esports title.

Currently, Koma` is permanently banned from all Valve and PGL events, a decision that would effectively end his professional Dota 2 career. In an attempt to lessen the consequences of his ban, Koma` released a statement yesterday explaining his actions. He hopes that by admitting to his wrongdoing and pleading for leniency, he may be able to receive a lighter sentence.

“Today I learned the biggest lesson of my life. I made a mistake, listened to the persuasions of other people, believed them, and played an official match from another account, hoping to receive prize money from the tournament,” Koma` said.

“I fully admit my guilt and apologize to the entire community, especially to VP fans. I understand how much I let my club down, but I can��t do anything with it. I really wanted to be a Virtus.pro player, so I hid the fact of my wrongdoing during the tests at VP, hoping no one would find out about it.

“I am 20 years old, Dota is my whole life, and now it is put to rest, and I have no one to blame except myself. I agree, there should be a punishment for my mistake, but I will ask Valve to reduce the ban. I want to believe in the best, but I will accept any choice Valve makes.”

The 20-year-old carry player admitted to hiding the fact that he had shared his account from the community. He had hoped that no one would discover his actions and that he would be able to join the VP team. However, his past caught up with him when he achieved his dream of joining the team.

In his statement, the young carry requested a reduced punishment from Valve. Despite the player’s plea, Valve has not yet issued a response. However, VP’s CEO, Nikolai Petrossian, expressed his disappointment and assured fans that the club values fairness, integrity, and sportsmanship above all else.

“Despite the fact that Koma` had made that fatal mistake before joining @virtuspro, the club strongly condemns any manipulations in professional esports, which undermine public trust to the esports industry. Hope these tough sanctions will teach a lesson to everyone,” Petrossian said.

Although Valve typically does not disclose evidence in disciplinary cases, statements from various sources suggest that the account sharing may have happened before Koma` joined VP. It should be noted that the DPC rules regarding competitive integrity are very clear on this issue and the corresponding punishments.

Aside from the Virtus.pro young star, nine other players were culpable and were banned for account sharing in Dota 2 official matches. Others players have also related their stories on what transpired. Russian Dota 2 player Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin in a recent interview shared that the incident was a foolish error caused by greed and the financial challenges of relying on prize money for income.

The Alliance offlaner claimed that one of the banned players, illusion, may have been innocent and probably a victim of the “wrong place at the wrong time” analogy. Limitless stated that his account was used by his friends and teammates on S9 in a tournament match due to internet and power issues in Ukraine without the Ancient Tribe support’s knowledge. It may be challenging for Valve to verify the circumstances of this event, but we await any responses from the game developer.

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