About two weeks ago, we were ready to go forward with fully officially announcing the winners of Capture the Gem League 2, working out the logistics with Re-Logic for rewards, as well as ending the tournament. However, given recent developments of the winning team, an extensive investigation, and a tough choice, new decisions have been made.
What Happened?
Not too long after the tournament “closing,” contending teams and staff members reported to the admin team suspicions a participating member in the winning team (Nirvana) was using a modified Terraria client to cheat in the tournament. It didn’t help that this member was also a part of our admin team.
Given the accusations, it was clear that further investigation and insight was required. An emergency group was formed, consisting of relevant administrators and the initial staff member that brought up the concerns, intended to determine an appropriate move forward. In addition, we reached out to the reported member for counterargument, since accusing a staff member – especially an administrator – of inappropriate behavior to this degree is severe enough to warrant investigation. Unfortunate to us, this member was unable to respond to any comment during this investigation, putting us in a blind spot for this investigation.
Ultimately though, after days of discussion and tough decisions, we are ready to go forward.
What is Happening Now?
The following actions have been and are being taken:
- The accused member has been fully demoted, revoked access to internal systems, and is banned from the Terraria server.
- The team Nirvana, for having this member as a part of their team, have been fully disqualified, and are barred from any rewards they would have received. From investigation, we can determine they were not necessarily aware of this member cheating, so they will remain on the server. They may also still participate in future events.
- The winners for Capture the Gem League 2 have been adjusted. Congratulations to [place holder] to winning first place, Luma’s Basement to winning second place, and Last Minute to winning third place. Captains of those teams will shortly receive a private message regarding their team’s awards.
We are deeply disappointed that a staff member on our team has been found playing at a cheating advantage, especially for a competitive tournament with real prizes at stake. Internally, we will also be reflecting on the logistics of staff members participating in future events, big or small, prize or no prize.
As for the new winners, congratulations! Although this is not the way we wanted things to go, even in the end, you still held up your own and had one of your best performances in Capture the Gem.
For those who came forward, thank you for being patient as we wrapped our heads around on what to do. It has been a tough two weeks deciding how to go forward, with no clear “yes” or “no.” Your evidence has been helpful with contributing to the investigation. At the same time, we wished to keep things a bit more private for the sake of professionalism. It especially does not help the investigation when jokes, memes, and other non-serious remarks blur with legitimate concerns.
And for everyone else, thank you for being patient in general with Capture the Gem League 2. There were a lot of struggles running a large event as this, and something we were not necessarily equipped to handle throughout. We are reflecting on what worked and what did not, putting all relevant criticisms to run better events, with bigger promises and bigger prizes (We will bleed Re-Logic dry).
Why Was There a Capture the Gem League 2?
There have been some comments saying that Capture the Gem League 2 was a “publicity stunt,” “an attempt to get more players,” and other self-promoting reasons. This is not the case at all.
Demand for a Capture the Gem League 2 have been present since the original event ended in 2018. There have been consistent suggestions, comments, memes, and so on around CtGL2 since then. Unfortunately, until this year, there was no real drive to really get something organized – a consequence of wanting to do something big.
Planning for this event started in early 2022, with intentions to start in June 2022. Of course, plans fell through, but the framework was laid out. Who knew it would only take another year for the event to start for real?
The point we are trying to get across is that we simply wanted to run a fun competitive event, but also raise the quality a bit more! We wanted a cool bracket to show off progress, cool prizes to incentivize people to participate, a stream to live commentate, and more. Sure, that may involve some publicity acts, but it was all for creating a fun experience for the Penguin Games community.
Despite hurdles of technicalities and struggles to manage the event, it was a fun experience! For the first time in forever, we hosted a large event and finished it. So, who knows what that means for the future? Only time will tell…
Thank You's to Everyone Who Made CtGL2 Happen
Capture the Gem League 2 would not have happened had it not been for these people. Thank you for helping pick up each other and work together to organize this event.
Developers: pontaoski, GameRoom
League Management: Toasty, Celestina, Hassaan11, Tcalfer, Squid
Streaming: AzureVermeil
League Planning: Event Coordinators and Server Staff (Too many to list!)
Special Thanks: Re-Logic, Pryaxis, Clara, CtGL2 Participants, You (Wow!)
Server IP: penguingames.fun [Port: 7777]
Terraria Server List: https://terraria-servers.com/server/1728
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PenguinGamesFun
Discord: https://discord.gg/penguingames
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PenguinGames