Part One

We live in an age of fandoms, tribalism for the digital era, new and sophisticated reasons for people to act like primitives. You’ve read the headlines. Actors driven out of plum roles because of digital lynch mobs, musicians canceling tours amid security concerns following a fake beef with another artist that was only ever designed to sell records. YouTubers, the most wretched of the new wave of celebrities, whip their fans up into a frenzy ahead of boxing matches, groups of total strangers threatening each other as proof of their loyalty ahead of a pay per view slap fight. Where social media was supposedly meant to connect us all it has instead driven division, providing those who want to belong to something, anything, with the ability to misguidedly show their allegiance through hostility. In pointing out the inherent insanity of fandoms, you put yourself in a relentless firing line. Don’t you know the one thing you’re never supposed to do is criticize the fans. They make this all possible and as such are always beyond reproach. You must praise them right up until the moment they cut out your heart and hold it up in front of you. To do anything else is career suicide.

Strange times then in Counter-Strike, a scene that I had always understood better than any other in competitive gaming. The latest version of Counter-Strike had mostly been immune to this outside of a few notable examples. Sure, we’d had the crazies back in earlier versions of the game but they are all mostly grown up now, no doubt embarrassed by their need to take up arms in the name of entities that no longer exist. They are married now, kids crawling around them or on the way, mortgages to pay off. The only thing that could stir them to violence would be a threat to hearth and home and not a forum argument. Age doesn’t necessarily bring wisdom but it does bring perspective, displaced teen angst usually replaced with contentment somewhere along the way. Alas, fandom culture and the cult of personality has crept in to this scene too, like it has everywhere else, and to unlikely extremes.

For example, can you conceive of a cult of personality around someone who has done all they can to mask that they even possess a personality in the first place? That’s where we are at with up and coming player Shuaib ‘D0cC’ Ahmad. Incredibly if you follow professional Counter-Strike you’ve probably heard of him despite him having never been on a team and maybe never even likely to be on one. I cannot characterize him as an aspiring pro. His intentions have never really been signaled in that regard. He doesn’t need to. There’s an ever growing hoard of fans who will tell you what they are, spout their own fantasies for his future as cast iron truth. They say he is the best young player in the world right now, that he will be on a major professional team sooner rather than later, that it is inevitable and anyone with any doubts are old scum with agendas.

I have come to know this crowd as the d0ccheads. Although not exclusively they mostly seem to follow a set pathology. They are mostly teenagers themselves who play the game, definitely ones who aspire to be “someone” in the scene but lack the necessary skills for that rise to prominence to be immediate. They have little cliques where they all bemoan the shadowy forces that hold them back, trash pro players, share cheating conspiracy theories, desperately try to gain negative attention from anyone established so they can boast about it on their Discords. And in Ahmad they have the perfect mascot. Painfully shy in person yet egotistical on Twitter, a teenager too and someone who can play the game better than any of them. In an act of deranged projection they think, “yes, he is just like us and thus I can be just like him. Anyone who doubts him doubts me too. Why must these jealous old fucks hold us all back.” Those shadowy forces never sleep eh?

The issue as I see it is that I’ve not seen anyone of substance openly doubting Ahmad’s talents. The reason people have been skeptical has all been down to the numerous and frequently uttered lies. To summarize, this is a player who pretended to be mute when he infuriated people by never uttering a single word in game. Then, he followed this up by using a voice program. Eventually he came clean and explained that he was afraid of using his voice because he thought he sounded too childish, but that wasn’t even him speaking. Turns out he would pay other people to watch his games through screenshare and call for him. The most notable player to do this was a Lithuanian player called “Leaken” who did it for sometime. Recently he put out a Twitlonger claiming that despite promises having been made he never did receive his payment from Ahmad. According to Leaken, FACEIT knew of this arrangement and initially allowed it.

Then Ahmad said he had done all this because he lives at home and his parents don’t want him to be a player, so this was the only alternative to him. Other bizarre relationships manifested themselves. People had dug up that he had played on an account that was now Overwatch banned which he explained away as having been stolen by a friend of his called jztflokzz. This friend has accounts on several cheat coding websites, even talking about cheats and scripts he has supposedly made himself. Here, here, here, and here. Despite this and the account theft, Ahmad still talks to him, having summoned him to defend him on Twitter and keeps him close on his Steam account. There’s also a strange coincidental Steam account, created with the name Docc and used by jztflokzz, still clean with no bans on it. Ahmad denies any knowledge of it, stating it’s just another coincidence.

The more you look at it all the more the weirdness piles up. An ESEA account he created lies about his age, putting him ten years older than he actually is. And in regards to ESEA, Ahmad received a ban for DDOSing related activity which he has protested his innocence about since it happened. ESEA obviously won’t present any evidence publicly, but it is worth noting that it is now a matter of public record that ESEA anti-cheat is so invasive it can read chat programs on your computer. Just a thought.

The lies haven’t ever stopped since he became a public figure. Even recently, at the same time a large VAC ban wave was being reported, he tweeted that his parents had put a BIOS password on his computer meaning he’d not be able to play for six weeks. The image was blurry, some people pointed out that the password box wasn’t aligned with the screen. The tweet was summarily deleted and Ahmad was playing again within the hour.

I’ve probably missed a lot, because honestly, it’s impossible to keep up with it all. This is why comparisons to the previous FACEIT Pro League phenom, Robin “ropz” Kool, are absolutely ridiculous. He came with none of this baggage and pretty much went about his playing without saying much at all, despite numerous pro players erroneously calling him a cheater.

Now, maybe the reasons for all these lies and deceptions are exactly as stated; domineering parents and a desire to get out from under them to pursue the pro dream. I can support that. I do support that. Back in my management days I had many a conversation with parents trying to explain that their child had talent, that they could make a living from playing games now, that it was safe out there for them to do so, that not every adult in the space was a weirdo or predator. You win some, you lose some and no doubt vast amounts of talent slipped through the cracks of overprotective doubt. Yet let’s also be honest; these are still lies and what if the lies masked something else, something sinister and potentially harmful to the fabric of the Counter-Strike. What then?

In this specific case I’d like to think everything I’ve listed – and remember there’s much more that would simply bog down this article to repeat – would give anyone reasonable pause for thought before committing to the idea that this individual can be relied upon to tell the truth. I’ve never called him a cheater anywhere. I’ve explicitly said to do so without evidence would be outrageous. Yet can we agree that if any other player had this bizarre catalogue of excuses and provable lies in their past few would be defending them? The d0cchead says no. There must be an agenda in talking openly about these facts.

Fandoms confuse watchdogs for gatekeepers when their idols are the ones engaging in suspect behaviour. I’ve always been the former rather than the latter. I don’t want to stop people coming or drive them out unless they are doing something bad. The range on that can be the minor liars, cheaters and scammers that we’re saturated with or it can be the organisations that break promises, the corporations that seek to monopolise and the businesses that prey on the vulnerable. I’ve gone after them all, big and small, because it only takes a few to get through unchecked to fuck everything up irreparably and I don’t want that. Not just for me either, but for my friends and for future professionals that are going to reap the benefits of the past generations hard work.

And when asking questions about something’s legitimacy or indeed presenting facts that should give people pause for thought I cannot allow myself to care about your fandom warped view of reality. I cannot assume the best and get swept along with the PR spin and most positive interpretation of the storyline. There is a much bigger picture for me to consider. If there exists facts that create doubt in my mind I should be able to voice those doubts and present those facts. Sure, I know what to expect by now when I do. I’ve been doing it since 2006. I expect to be called a liar. I expect phone calls from the affected parties to be made to whoever my superiors are perceived to be. I expect to be blacklisted. I expect the most extreme fans of whatever entity they feel is being attacked to call me names. Now, the extreme is the norm and the new extreme is something else entirely. We’ll get into that later… Take a break for now.

*Photo: FACEIT