No matter the industry, big or small, there are always the minority that over-inflate their ability or worth and in sporting there has always been a bit of a prima-donna problem. It would come as no surprise that esports isn’t immune to this either as over the years there have been a fair share of players that certainly fit into this trend and make even the worst of personalities look good – the latest look into this problem has been with the Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team MiBR as they have recently quickly fell apart, with many looking back at the team and players history making note of just how problematic they were.
The downfall started recently following an investigation into a number of coaches abusing a spectator bug which would provide an advantage depending on how widely it was abused, the coach of MiBR Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia had been one of the coaches found widely abusing this bug but would be quick to deny the claim until footage was revealed of him doing so – this forced the organisation to take a closer look as the previous number one team had now been struggling to compete even at the tier two level following a huge string of extremely poor performances.
This closer look meant that the team would part ways with fer and TACO, two of the longer standing players and two of the premier Brazilian players, with the experienced former team leader in FalleN also announcing he would be leaving following the recent changes.
The team with these players had initially been propelled to the top of the rankings under the SK banner winning a major championship a few years ago and forcing a change in the way the game was played whilst also quickly becoming one of the favourite teams for online CSGO esports betting, but since then it has largely been downhill – and the players are to blame. Insisting that tournament rules didn’t apply to them as they were protesting decisions around rounds restarting, whether or not they’re allowed to sign an agreement with a new organisation, as well as more extreme examples such as death threats being issued to players over performance or choices in game. Rather than the highs of being the first major win for the region and a period of time in contention, the history of the team will instead become focussed on the many controversies and issues through players who felt they were above the rules, better than their peers, and could do what they wanted.
They were all put in a privileged position – high player salaries without the expectation of delivering results, and seemingly a lack of drive to really compete at the highest levels have plagued the former Brazilian powerhouse – the prima-donna issue that surrounded the team will no doubt be something that many will look at as an indicator of performance, and whilst the majority of players are very level in this sense, as popularity or fame, alongside salary and prize money continue to increase, with younger players rising through the ranks very early, this could be a continued problem within the scene.