Dota 2 eSport Team Banned From Event Due to ‘Unfair’ Mouse

Dota 2 Team Banned From Event Due to Use of ‘Unfair’ Mouse

In terms of eSports, Dota 2 is, without doubt, one of the biggest games currently competitively played. The MOBA strategy game requires teams to play with smart movement and map knowledge.

Part of a successful Dota 2 player though is their APM or ‘actions per minute’. This figure basically denotes how many commands you are able to input into the game within a minute. If you needed any idea of context here, then a bad competitive player in Dota will still manage to achieve around 500 APM during a match. I, incidentally, probably manage less than 50. So that kinda gives you a rough idea as to the level required.

One team, however, has been banned from attending an eSports tournament due to the use of a mouse which may affect this input range.

APM Mouse Leads To Team Ban

In a report via the BBC, a Peruvian team known as ‘Thunder Predator’ has been banned from attending an upcoming eSports event. The reason for this ban is due to one of their team members using a mouse which has been deemed ‘unfair’ in terms of player balance.

The mouse which has been used is at present unclear. It is, however, believed that the mouse allowed for pre-programmed quick action commands. With these, the player was able to input commands to a specific character which allowed faster movement than would usually be possible.

Why Is This A Problem?

As I understand it, the spirit of the rules of eSports in regards to these games is that you shouldn’t use a tool that would give you an unfair advantage. Although I stand to be corrected, it’s my understanding that to do this, players are required to use fairly standard mouses. They can certainly have shortcuts etc. but these must be implemented and created during the game, not before.

The team, of course, feels that the ban is unfair. The team is claiming that the mouse had merely been customised to allow for a more optimal performance. In fairness, while I still think they broke the rules, I think I understand their point. I guess it all boils down to whether you believe they did this maliciously or not.

What do you think? Do you play Dota 2? Do you think this ban is fair? Is the teams excuse legitimate enough to allow it? – Let us know in the comments!