Alliance’s new coach, PPD is seen coaching the team live during an official match. Is this allowed? Does it break the rules? Check out what the Dota 2 community thinks of the latest coaching controversy.
Update: DreamHack has since reveerted its coaching rule change as per guidance from Valve.
Original Article follows:
If you thought Dota was drama-free, you’d be wrong. This week started off with some controversy facing Alliance as we begin to rap up season 2 of the DPC. Today, Alliance posted a video that included footage of their new coach Peter “ppd” Dager, talking to the rest of the team during an official match. This sent some people over the edge, specifically OG captain and position 5 player Johan “N0tail” Sundenstein.
N0tail’s first tweet really encapsulated how he felt about the situation, sub tweeting Alliance saying: “Having a coach during a Dota game has never been allowed. 0 respect for people that cheat.”
Can Dota 2 coaches communicate with players in-game?
As it turns out however, the rules regarding coaches talking to their team while playing was changed by ESL. The tournament organizer apparently informed the teams in an email saying that the rule has now been changed to allow coaches to communicate with their team during the game. This information is corroborated by Ben “Noxville” Steenhuisen who said that he has a source that confirms the coaching rule had been intentionally removed. In addition, in a later tweet, N0tail and the CEO of OG seemed to decry that the rule was not made more public.
There are no rules which specifically prohibit this behavior in the current rulebook. [...] I have heard from 3 sources now that the rule was intentionally removed, and this removal was communicated to teams as a detail in a larger mail by ESL at the start of the season. Multiple teams didn't communicate this to the coaches apparently?
OG's CEO confirms they received an email comprising the DPC ruleset at the start of the season this year. The teams got together to discuss the rules highlighting any problematic clauses. Alliance was also a part of these discussions, says Luna.
OG's CEO confirms that the team's manager missed the tournament organizer email. However, he believes a change of this magnitude (allowing six people in the server) should warrant detailed discussion between the teams and the tournament organizer. He also believes the current coaching controversy could have been avoided with proper communication between teams.
Community reacts to six-man Dota drama
Despite the practice being legal now, it did not stop some twitter fights and jokes being made all across twitter. While players and talents joined in on the jokes, there is an underlying issue about the rules in the Dota Pro Circuit. Valve needs to have a more concrete set of rules that covers all six regions in the DPC.
Niko and N0tail had a Twitter spat over the rule changes. N0tail (as with other OG members) believes such a change in rules should warrant more than a single line in an email. Alliance clearly does not believe its actions are afoul of any rules as the revelation was made via Alliance's own social media content.
While OG's players feel teams should present a united front in discussing Major changes to the ruleset as such, there is a section of the community that believes that Alliance did nothing wrong in following the rules as they are.
Dota 2 needs a unified ruleset
The coaching controversy emphasizes the need for a unified ruleset in Dota 2. The Dota Pro Circuit has six different regions with a different organizer for each region. With different leagues releasing their own rules (guided by Valve), things can often overlap and would require Valve interference. The recent controversy of whether coaches should be able to communicate with players in-game is a case in point.
Valve recently confirmed the schedule and location for The International 10. Dota 2 fans can also support their favorite teams via the new Supporter's Club in the game.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Dota 2 news and updates.