Aui_2000 Calls Out Virtus.pro for Seemingly “Encouraging Pub Ruining Behavior”

The International 5 (TI5) champion, Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling, largely involved in Dota 2 analysis and commentary nowadays, called out Virtus.pro for appearing to encourage “pub ruining behavior.” Aui_2000 brought up the matter after Virtus.pro defeated PSG.LGD 2-0 in the upper bracket of ESL One Fall 2021: Bootcamp Edition and made a tweet in response. In the now-deleted tweet, Virtus.pro showed that its mid player, Danil "gpk" Skutin went AFK in a pub match when playing with PSG.LGD's stand-in mid player, Zhang "xiao8" Ning, but outperformed xiao8 and his teammates when playing officially against them.

Virtus.pro creates meme on gpk’s ‘Shadow Amulet’ act in a pub match; deletes the tweet after getting criticized

Virtus.pro has been undefeated in the ESL One Fall 2021 and now secured a spot in the upper bracket final after defeating PSG.LGD 2-0. As Virtus.pro was on the verge of victory in the second game, gpk, who played Void Spirit, spammed his "Aether Remnant" just outside PSG.LGD's base to lock them in.

In the aftermath of the game, the CIS organization posted a meme on Twitter based on two events: one in a past pub game in which gpk seemed to have bought a Shadow Amulet and went AFK, and another in which he defeated PSG.LGD. Gpk had xiao8 as a teammate in the first scenario, but as an opponent in the second.

This joke on Twitter didn't sit well with Aui_2000 who criticized the org for promoting such behavior.

Virtus.pro deleted the tweet later today with more members of the community pointing fingers at them. A Reddit thread also popped up complaining that the tweet by the CIS organization did not send a good message to its audience.

Usually, players who tend to give up during pub matches destroy their items and go AFK, evidently ruining the game. The community has been discussing this issue quite a bit lately, with many members voicing their thoughts.

Dota 2 commentator, Austin "Capitalist" Walsh, sent a tweet earlier today regarding the pub ruining issue, in which he stated that players who ruin games should be banned permanently. Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann, a former Vikin.gg player, replied that this issue can be handled by initially disallowing streamers and pros from showcasing such behavior during livestreams. These personalities should be held to a higher standard of accountability, KheZu added.

Dota 2 currently provides a means to report your teammates for various reasons such as:

• Ability Abuse

• Feeding

• Suspicious Movements/ Casts

• Scripting/ Hacking

• Griefing

A report is then judged by a team of trustworthy members of the community through the Overwatch system or by a Valve employee. Those convicted of the reported offenses are then banned. However, a lot of game-ruining cases still escape the system and it remains to be seen what future steps will be taken by Valve.