We all come from different philosophies in life; different schools of thought. Some people have the belief that there are no absolutes morally, and others are from the frame of mind that there are things that can be considered "right" or "wrong."

These beliefs will always bleed into everything that we do as people, whether it be in how we govern our relationships with others, deal in our places of business, or even how we play our sports:  and eSports is no different. One person might be on the side of - "Win at all costs!" while the next guy might say, "Whether you win or lose is not what is most important.  What really matters is how well you think you played the game."  And because of these beliefs coming out through the players' actions, we, the audience and players of games like Quake III and Counterstrike, find ourselves having to face some questions of right and wrong concerning other players' actions. This happens in the world of online competitive games all of the time.  Say you're on pro-q3dm6 and you're running around the map having a great game in a serious tournament setting.  The game is drawing very close, but the other guy is in the lead. 

You finally come VERY close to his score, making a tough, well deserved pile of gibs of him.  Then, to your complete fortune, the guy suicides. The match is now extremely close, and it's just a matter of time before you come back and win.  The other guy, being scared of losing his precious game, starts running off and hiding from you, who are having a very, very good comeback streak of frags.  The other guy starts playing in such a manner that he runs to a corner and waits until he sees you, then runs off and hides somewhere else, displaying the attitude that he doesn't want to fight anymore, because he's very scared of losing.  After several minutes of wasting good gameplay time doing this, the match finally ends, and you lose by one frag when you KNOW you could've beaten the other guy if he didn't play like a coward in the final minutes of the game.  Think this type of thing doesn't matter? 

  [4z]Cooller - v4.Keeper  (ASUS Winter Q3 2004)

Here is one moment in eSports history that will be remembered in the shroud of controversy. There is the link from a match through Cooller's POV. The very outcome of the ASUS Winter Cup might have been changed if this hadn't happened to the great player Cooller. Or, as we've all experienced, how does the problem of lag fit into the equation?  Once again, in the spirit of "win at all costs" there are cases where players will take advantage of another player's lag, even when it's not the lagged player's fault, and frag them anyway.  Citing one particular example, "not my trouble" was the response of the player that took advantage of the lagged player. The said event can be found here. 

  4z-Cooller - All*Z4muZ  (Wipeout LAN)

Now there is a match that will godown in eSports infamy. Is this right or wrong? Perhaps the admin/referee should've called time-out right when the lag spikes started showing, and maybe this instance calls for more strict policing of server admins. The point is, this controversial happening begs the question, "Is this type of behavior acceptable in eSports?" One must remember, deathmatch can be pretty cut-throat, but we are developing a sport.  So, in a professional setting like the WipeoutLAN, as opposed to some amatuer's private LAN party, is it OK to play so dirty? That is a point perhaps all cyberathletes should keep in mind - you are now in the eyes of the public when you play big tournaments and the demos are being made. People are looking at you, that well-respected clan/team tag you have at the beginning of your name, and really, then, they're looking at the sport in general. All of the time, you hear about professional athletes getting in trouble in the news.  This football player was illegally using drugs, or this baseball player was caught cheating in the game. Such behavior reflects badly on many people and organizations. The player (obviously) will recieve a lot of criticism (much like Cooller received after the afformentioned occurance at Wipeout). Because this culture of online gaming is still basically an underground movement, does that make it OK to act with what appears to be unsportsman-like conduct?  It really is a tough issue. Now, there is no rule in Quake III Arena which states that, "You may NOT hide from your opponent in order to maintain your score and win the game if there's a total of five minutes left in the game!" or even, "Do NOT frag player experiencing lag!" However, what does this type of in-game behavior say to
the audience that watches the demo or even the guy you're duelling?  Is it smart thinking and good defense skills, or is it more of an issue of poor sportsmanship in an arena which doesn't cater to the standard of morals a given player exudes? 

Every person has his or her own opinion about such things, and with some recent glaring examples of this type of in-game behavior at the ASUS Winter Cup, we are all drawn back to the question:  Was what that guy just did OK? You decide.

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