To set a new standard for transparency in esports, Valve has introduced a system for players to declare a “Conflict of Interest ” ahead of tournaments. They believe that having such information ahead of events will improve the fairness of the events, given the rise of players becoming investors in tournament organisers and organisations participating in events.
Valve foresees a significant impact on the CS2 esports community with the introduction of the system. Several teams share common investors, sponsors, and owners in the backend, and declaring this ahead of any Valve-affiliated event is mandatory.
Valve has released a ‘Declaration of Conflict of Interest’ form that requires players to reveal all their ties to the parties involved in the event. The declaration will have players declare every single tie, including but not limited to ” friends or former business partners”.
This sets a new standard for transparency, and failure to comply will result in serious consequences, including disqualification from the tournament or forfeiture of prize money. While the community has mixed opinions about the new system, the consensus is that this will eliminate insider manipulation in tournaments.
The intention from Valve is clear, but the execution is something to debate about. The CS2 community is closely knit, and it won’t be surprising for underlying ties to be surfaced with this change, with TOs and players having to go through an additional step in order to take part in events. Only time can tell how events unfold, but for now, we are a step closer to fairness and transparency in CS2 events.