Yesterday a link appeared in my twitter feed from gamer and FITES forum member duder about ESEA. It went something like this:

Well, yes, that would get my attention. The link was a post on Reddit, a decidedly juicy wall of text that described a massive betrayal of trust scandal and one apparently cocky idiot admin at ESEA.

Software installed on the machines of ESEA players and users mined over $3,700 worth of bitcoins that were held in accounts owned by ESEA and all done without the consent or knowledge of the end user.

I encourage you to read the details fully yourself and know that we, the general public, may never see the full telling of the story in this case. I say case because what happened at ESEA was a violation of Federal law (see section (5)).

ESEA was found to have installed bitcoin mining software in their clients. The ESEA client is a software piece that users and subscribers of ESEA services use to play on ESEA servers. It is prudent to point out at this point that ESEA is a "pay to play" service. It is a premium quality service, but comes at a price.

While players were running their ESEA clients the software was mining bitcoins. A process that is potentially harmful as long term use of your CPU and GPU at 100% can have permanent damage to your components.

The reddit link above does a fantastic job of showcasing evidence and displaying a great timeline of response from ESEA as the case was breaking. Great as in a LOT of backtracking of responses.

Although we may never see it, what this case needs is a whistleblower to come forward from within the ranks of ESEA and tell the general public what happened. I'm sure people within the organization are currently worried about what their own culpability might be, but I am confident someone is sitting on a smoking-gun pile of evidence that was not involved in this process.

I'm trying my best not to speculate on the outcome of these events, but I'll admit that I am in no way trying to be objective. This is ludicrous, and a huge betrayal of the part of ESEA. Their organization faces criminal culpability as well as what should be a mass exodus of users and sponsors. I for one hope to see a league rise up that is based on the integrity of community and players, and less on money. Here's hoping that groups like UGC and eXtv can be the driving force behind a positive future of e-sports.

Currently this story is still developing and has been over the past 24 hours. Facts stated here are true to the best of their knowledge at the time of writing.

It's shame that LPKane is taking the fall (albeit begrudgingly) and apparently a free month of $7 Premium service plus all of the ill-gotten funds being put in the LAN prize pool (which only benefits the handful of players who make it to LAN, let alone win) seems to have completely pacified the situation and the players.  Personally, I'm still outraged and I encourage anyone in the state of NY to talk to a DA about having actual charges filed.  This is a blatant violation of I-SPY - Torbull claiming ignorance to the whole thing does NOT preclude him from accountability as the owner of the company.

I completely agree. The ESEA as an organization should be facing AT A MINIMUM a civil penalty assessment for every computer that was infected with the bit coin mining operation. Also, since this is a violation of Federal statute anyone who had the ESEA client installed should consult with a lawyer about a possible class action lawsuit.

I don't (unfortunately) see this coming to a criminal prosecution, but it would send a clear message that a company's user base is not to be trifled with.