The Madden NFL 17 Championship Series was announced in September r. This tournament, which would span from December to May, would pit the best Madden players from around the world against each other. These matches would lead up to the Madden NFL 17 Championship finals, where an ultimate Madden champion will be crowned.
But while great games have gone on since the start of the Madden NFL 17 Championship Series, there have been major issues that plagued the competition. In December, the Madden Classic was decided on a massive QB glitch, which gave a team a win on a fumble. Even with that in-game issue, it seems that the bigger issues seem to happen when the players are not playing Madden.
One of the winners of the early Madden NFL 17 Bowl tournaments, Chris “Dubby” McFarland, was found to have made overly racist remarks on his Twitter feed ( which can be found here courtesy of PastaPadre). EA Sports spoke to McFarland, but after more racially insensitive comments were made, McFarland was docked $3,000 and 100 Madden NFL Championship Points.
The issues continued as EA Sports determined that during qualifying, two players, SpotMePlzzz and Mr. Hollywood, participated in account sharing. When players participate in account sharing, they allow others to play games for them under their gamertag or account, which is obviously against the rules in the Madden NFL Championship Series.
SpotMePlzzz was banned from the Madden NFL 17 Championship Series while Mr. Hollywood, who was guilty of the same crime, will be able to continue on in the tournament. Mr. Hollywood will be docked 125 Madden Championship Points and downgraded from Tier II to Tier III status for the tournament. He will also forfeit ten percent of the points that he accrues during his time in the Madden NFL 17 Championship Series.
These issues show how important more oversight on competitors in eSports really is. Yes, what competitors do on their own time outside of competition is their business, but if players are entering worldwide competitions, it is up to EA Sports or any company to vet who is coming into these tournaments. These players could become the face of a certain game or bigger yet, an entire video game company, so knowing who could be in that position should be a priority. Players who use racially insensitive comments on social media should be nowhere near a tournament. Players who participate in account sharing should be disqualified without exception.
With eSports still growing, any hiccup could become a major issue that could affect eSports viewership. To stop issues like the two mentioned, EA Sports will need to be vigilant as to who are entering these tournaments. A company like Electronic Arts does not need bad press because a player wants to break the rules and/or violate EA’s Code of Conduct. Going forward, companies should look at the cases of these three Madden players as a cautionary tale because the same things could happen to them and next time, it could be a lot worse.
