Esports committed to fair play and transparency: 68% of esports pros against cheating to win

A new global survey, conducted by Kaspersky, explores the role of performance in gaming and their attitudes towards it.

A recent Kaspersky survey revealed that professional gamers stand for fair play and competition. According to the study, 68% of esports pros agree that using cheats is inappropriate, even if it means their team can win. Survey results also show that cheating can even cause negative emotions in gamers – 86% of professional players admit they get angry when another player obviously cheats. In addition, 76% of pro gamers believe that using cheats or loopholes just shows that a player is not good enough to win honestly.

According to various surveys, cheating is not unusual in the gaming world. According to the recent study commissioned by Omdia “Cheating, hacking, piracy and esports: critical steps needed to protect the industry.”, 81% of respondents flagged cheating or hacking in esports as either a ‘major’ or ‘moderate’ concern.

Kaspersky’s data revealed that most of the professional gaming community stands for fair play. In particular, 68% of esports pros don’t recognize cheats as a suitable method of winning. And 86% of professional gamers say that they become very angry when other players clearly cheat.

Besides, esports pros believe that the use of cheats and loopholes discredits gaming qualities and achievements. According to research data, a majority (76%) of professional gamers believe that using cheats and loopholes shows that a player’s skills are not good enough to win fairly.

Moreover, the professional gaming community believes that the industry must do more to stop cheaters. Almost all esports pros (92%) believe that game providers should do more to prevent players from using cheats in their games.

“Cheating can negatively affect the performance of gamers’ computers, or cause data and gaming assets leaks. Such scenarios can happen because cheats often contain malicious files and programs. Besides, cheating creates a trust issue between gamers, game providers, and platforms. Gamers are not happy when someone has an illegal advantage over honest players and expect game manufacturers and platforms to create conditions for fair play,” comments Marina Titova, Vice-President, Consumer Product Marketing at Kaspersky.

The full report is available via this link.

In order to maintain the high level of performance and security of the system, Kaspersky recommends the following:

• A strong, reliable security solution would be a great help to you, especially if it won’t slow down your computer while you’re playing. But at the same time, it will protect you from every possible cyberthreat.
• It’s safer to buy games on official sites only and wait for the sales — they regularly take place, so you won’t be sitting on your hands for long.
• Try to avoid buying the first thing that pops up. Even during Steam’s summer sale, before buying less well-known titles, read the reviews. If something sounds like an unbelievable offer, it probably is, and people will figure it out.
• Beware of phishing campaigns and unfamiliar gamers. It’s a good option to double-check the website you are redirected to via a link in a received email and the extension of a file you are going to open.
• It’s safer to buy games on official sites only and wait for the sales — they take place fairly often, so you won’t be sitting on your hands for long.
• Try to avoid buying the first thing that pops up. Even during Steam’s summer sale, before forking out the dough for a little-known title, at least read some reviews of it. If something is fishy, people will probably figure it out.
• Beware of phishing campaigns and unfamiliar gamers. It’s a good option to double-check the website you are redirected to via a link in a received email and the extension of a file you are going to open.
• Reliable security solutions can support specific modes created for gamers. For instance, “Gaming” and “Do not Disturb” modes in the new Kaspersky solutions turn on automatically while users are gaming, watching movies or on a video call, and turn off when they are done. When apps intended for work, study or play are used, the relevant mode activates itself, hiding tasks and notifications. Users only receive critical security alerts when their attention is required.

Within the report Kaspersky defined the following gamers’ categories:

• Esports Pros
• See gaming performance as extremely or very important; have taken part in tournaments at least once in the last two years; are either building an income from gaming, or aim to make money from it
• Esports Amateurs
• Have taken part in tournaments at least once in the last two years and like taking part in tournaments and competitions; do NOT look for money making opportunities from their gaming
• Hardcore Gamers
• Play at least 20 hours per week
• Gadget Gamers
• Invest a high or very high sum of money to improve their gaming performance (hardware / training / nutrition, etc.)
• Gaming Influencers
• Stream at least once a month; have a minimum of 1,000 followers
• Top Gaming Influencers
• Stream at least once a week and have at least 10,000 followers