Article:
StarCraft Scandal in South Korea

The South Korean police force are currently investigating a series of allegations against several professional StarCraft players who have been accused of rigging games and matches of the immensely popular game, StarCraft.

South Korea is known for its nearly fanatical take on Blizzard's hit game, with tournaments and online games being hosted every day. StarCraft accounts for more than 70% of South Korea's professional gaming scene and some of the world's best StarCraft players come from South Korea. Hundreds of people in South Korea frequently pay for coaching and many more receive sponsorship for playing in the national tournaments.

As of March 2010, allegations have come about that particular players have accepted bribes from various sources, including gambling websites, to rig their games. Various players from the pro gaming circuit have rigged their matches in order to lose intentionally or cheat for an easy victory. After this they have been leaking replay files to the gambling groups.

The scandal doesn't start at bribes and deceit though. Retired pro players and StarCraft coaches have been putting these illegal gambling rings in contact with the appropriate players in the first place.

To make things worse, rumours have been going around that the e-sports organisers in South Korea did know about this illegal match fixing and chose not to do anything about it, believing they could handle the situation themselves and possibly even co-exist with these illegal gambling groups.

This situation is being reported as the largest scandal in all of e-sports history. This backstage drama has apparently been going on since 2006, not really taking root until 2008, and now in 2010 has it become enough of a scandal for the police to get involved.

Though South Korea's human rights laws have prohibited the names of anyone involved in this mess from being released to the public, supposedly many of the best South Korean players have been involved, including the well known Ja Mae Yoon (better known as sAviOr), renowned for being one of the most successful players of all time.

This scandal is being compared to the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919 in which the Chicago White Sox were found to be purposefully losing games against the Cincinatti Reds in the 1919 World Series. The South Koreans are taking the accusations in this case against their professional players incredibly seriously.