A "Call Of Duty" eSports tourney was slammed by a pro player for an apparent lack of safety procedures against COVID-19, after the said player contracted the virus himself.
"Penguin" from "Fierce" eSports takes part in a match at the epicLAN esport tournament at the Kettering Conference Centre, on October 12, 2019 in Kettering, England. EpicLAN events see between 32 and 700 networked players compete against each other for cash prizes and trophies.
That tournament was the preseason CDL Kickoff Classic for "Call Of Duty Vanguard," which pro player James "Clayster" Eubanks recently criticized on Twitter right after he tweeted a photo of a positive COVID test:
Really happy I had to attend a meaningless kickoff single elim event without proper testing and regulations. Fucking pathetic. pic.twitter.com/zVjwXnFvDT
— Clayster (@Clayster) January 25, 2022
According to GameSpot, the event is among the first times that the COD Pro league matches have returned to the LAN environment. It featured the Toronto Ultra beating the Seattle Surge 3-1 in the grand finals.
It was considered as a non-bearing preseason event, however, as it didn't give any CDL points to the participating professional teams. Clayster's tweet was also corroborated by fellow player Dylan "Envoy" Hannon, who plays for the Los Angeles Thieves.
In Hannon's reply to the original tweet, he mentioned that the event's staff "had masks on their chins," and were reportedly fine with players posing for photos with fans and meeting them backstage.
Furthermore, Clayster and Envoy claimed that the event didn't even require fans to wear masks while in the crowd, writes Upcomer. While there was technically a mask mandate, it wasn't strictly enforced.
Eventually, Eubanks' tweets were accosted by people who were downplaying his COVID-19 diagnosis, to which he posted a rather scathing reply:
If you’re downplaying COVID in my mentions, I need you to swiftly unfollow me. Ignorant morons.
— Clayster (@Clayster) January 25, 2022
After the CDL Kickoff, "Vanguard" will return for its regular season on February 4th. This comes after the developers announced a big mid-season patch is coming soon, as well as after the recent release of the "Attack On Titan" crossover which experienced mixed reactions from fans.
How This 'Call Of Duty' eSports Event Is Showing COVID's Effect On Pro Gaming
Ever since the world has been gripped by the pandemic, eSports has had a relatively rough time. This is despite pro gaming events being technically more suited to remote arrangements than other professional sports, such as basketball or football.
Participants sit at a computer monitor to play a video game at the 2019 DreamHack video gaming festival on February 15, 2019 in Leipzig, Germany. The three-day event brings together gaming enthusiasts, mainly from German-speaking countries, for events including eSports tournaments, cosplay contests and a LAN party with 1,500 participants.
During the early days of the pandemic, numerous tournaments were either canceled outright or moved to a strictly online format, as reported by ESPN. Almost two years on, things might have mellowed down a bit, but the threat of numerous, highly contagious variants like Omicron is still out there.
Still, it wasn't all bad for professional gaming circles. Gaming as a whole is still experiencing a renaissance with people basically stuck at home and being pushed to try out the hobby. This leads to the potential of increased revenue every year until 2024, according to research firm Newzoo (via EsportzNetwork).
For now, what tournament organizers need to do is keep taking the pandemic seriously. There should be regular COVID testing among players, fans, and event workers, as well as mask mandates (and perhaps even vaccine mandates) to ensure everyone's safety from the coronavirus.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
