rooster
The main problem with cheating is that its not just a few individuals which are doing it, many teams cheat. The other thing is that in this sport, just 1 wipe in a game can change the entire outcome of that game and possibly the whole tournament, eg key player in key position gets tagged, dosnt walk, goes on to rip up most of the other team and win the game -seen it many many a time.
But you cant just blame the players, the way the sport has developed means that the short-term success of a team, i.e winning a tournament, is often a judge of a teams overall success in the long-term. By this I mean sponsors.
In order to attract and keep sponsors, teams have to be successfull and continue this success otherwise sponsors will look elsewhere. I mean lets face it, why have your brand label splashed all over a bunch of schmoes with their hands in the air when it can be on a team hanging the flag and picking up the trophey.
I believe that sponsorship is one of the driving influences behind cheating, winning or losing at a game is one thing but at pro/some am level theres money involved, and nobody wants to lose money.
I know of sponsors who offer teams free paint, as much as they can shoot...but its only free if they make the semis. So what if you dont make the semis? Oh youve got 30 boxes of paint to pay for...no big deal!! Yeah right!
Im not supporting cheating here but saying that cheating now comes from alot more than the will to win or 'ego'-its coming from money and the growth of teams.
The sad thing is, theres nothing anybody can or will do about it....
l8rs all.