The Dota 2 pro-gaming scene took a turn for the controversial as organisers of the Girls War SEA tournament disqualified Team Dolls for supposedly having a male player. This was due to the nature of the online tournament where organiser Dota2zone failed to verify the identity of each of the participants, and later accused one of the players of being too good to be a girl.
Screencaps of a chat between one of the players and the organisers clearly show that they were accusing the team of using a male player and immediately issuing a disqualification. The player in question had previously admitted that her boyfriend had used her Steam account to play Dota 2 in the past, although this was due to his own account having too low a rank to play on the ladder. No other evidence of the play was produced to support the disqualification, earning the organisers a lot of anger on social media.
Dota2zone has responded with their own statement saying that they suspected Team Dolls of attempting to field an ineligible player after the team failed to check with with a Skype call. It was said that this alone should have been grounds for disqualification, although the team was allowed to proceed and join the tournament as normal. No reason was given for the apparent lack of enforcement of tournament rules.
Whether or not the allegations are true becomes irrelevant in this situation as the efforts to bring more girls into the competitive gaming scene takes a hit. Competitive online gaming is often unfriendly and hostile towards female gamers, and the organisers of this tournament should have done more to ensure that they themselves were acting to the highest standards to before issuing the disqualification notice. However, Dota2zone has also apologised on its Facebook page for the entire mess and has promised to invite the team to the next tournament.
