- Statement in second sentences seems to disagree with the attached quotes from THIS very thread.
- This hardly seems genuine, if I am getting the general drift you have in this thread.
4 Likes
Back on topic, the other thing I wonder is whether Cam Jeffersâ relative âcelebrityâ within the cycling world - he has a fairly popular YouTube channel - has anything to do with his behaviour and subsequent response.
I used to enjoy his videos, which often gave a good insight into training and racing and the life of a young and maybe sometimes understandably immature semi-pro. But lately Iâve turned off them, because of the constant clickbaiting video titles (âis this MY SEASON OVER???â âHe CRASHED into a TREEâ) and attempts to create some kind of drama to keep people interested and commenting. Less cycling, more YouTuber by numbers.
And part of me thinks that going to such great lengths to get the coolest bike on Zwift, and putting so much effort into eRacing, was all part of building an image that was far greater than his actual cycling talents.
6 Likes
And what makes a zwift virtual cycling âchampionâ more worthy than a Wii virtual cycling champion?
In both platforms being a more competent gamer than cyclist is definitely a boon, and in at least one known instance, being a knowledgeable cheater helps, too.
All the âattached quotesâ merely underscore the current state of cycling as an esport. Virtual cycling is great for at-home entertainment and exercise â like a Wii and WoW mash-up â but thus far itâs qualities for viable, trustworthy, and sound professional competition are completely lacking. Jeffersâ case a sterling highlight. Maybe it was good to get that black eye out of the way in the first round.
2 Likes
Ok, I laught at the eracing championships, but this seems harsh. He cheated not in the competition, but before that when it was just a game. And now it ends up affecting his pro career. And the type of cheatingâŚitâs like buying (stealing?) extra aero kit, which then gets banned, but you still use it. Should be DQâd maybe, but the ban seems harsh.
As I have stated earlier, I have nothing against eRacing, in general. Have at itâŚ
My issue is with the national bodies and now the UCI getting involved (along with the awarding of national / rainbow jerseys). Donât even get me started on the idea of awarding the first Maggie Rosa in the Giro to the winner of a Zwift stage.
See you next Tuesday British Cycling!
Not a big fan of Cam but this is harsh.
He cheats in a video game to get the best bike several months before the event. This leads to a 6 month ban from all cycling competitions in the real world! 
Chris Froome on the other hand has no punishment for being well above the threshold for Salbutamol.
Oh the world we live in!
And his game account should have been terminated, thus rendering his entry to competition void.
His real life pro career wouldnât have been affected if the game purveyors adhered to their own rules and deleted his account. He wouldnât have been able to enter the competition and wouldnât have been officially sanctioned. Guess the zwifts of the world are in the same boat as the rest of the e-world when it comes to digital cheats and hackers â always playing catch-up.
Maybe the perpetrator can sue z using some weird reverse engineered legal ruling: âIf you had done your job and caught me when I actually cheated then I wouldnât have been caught later on when it actually mattered!â
In the real world they just say, âThe steak/chimera did it.â
From a cycling perspective, this is silly.
From a gaming perspective, this makes sense.
Zwift wants eRacing Championships to solidify their platform. More users, more hours, etc. Ultimately its about subscriptions, and if some fast cyclist wants compete in next years eRacing championship, they can subscribe to Zwift 2 weeks prior, and just get all the unlocks. It took me 5 months to get the tron bike, and I donât see it happening faster than 3 months.
So if eRacing takes off, Zwift could potentially have hundreds of racers just subbing only for the race(s), since they donât have to âgrindâ for their equipment. Personally, I think they should just eliminate that and put everyone on the same bikes, but again, that doesnât incentivize subscriptions.
2 Likes
Whaddya mean itâs all about the money?! 
Guess he wonât be back for any more Zwift commercials
The whole thing is just about getting more people to pay/play Zwift, which is similar but as at today, not the same as real world sports. No child I know aspires to be a champion at stationary bike. So while the cheats should be despised as much as any cheat, Iâm not really bothered.
In fact, thereâs a certain irony to it that makes me chuckle.
To point some made about his only crime was a lack of integrityâŚthis is what all cheats have in common. You think itâs okay to cheat today, you think itâs okay to cheat tomorrow.
2 Likes
I have no inside knowledge here so this is all speculation, but I could see Zwift thinking âif riders can get virtual equipment advantages then weâll have all these pro riders using the platform all the time so they can compete at the highest level!â
If thatâs what they were thinking then it kinda blew up in their face. Maybe they just didnât think about leveling the playing field.
The other interesting thing is that you donât need to use Zwift to be a Zwift champion.
Are there any other esports like that Steve?
Not that I know of. There may be some specific formats for Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone that only allow players to bring decks they have acquired through play or purchase, but Iâm not familiar enough with that scene to know.
Every major esport with large viewership and semi-sustainable ecosystem (LoL, Dota 2, CS:Go, Overwatch) has evolved to follow roughly the same type of model:
- Leagues are formed around groups of players and teams, that have some type of relationship back to the title publisher that allows access to special accounts and servers, with rules to swap in and out players
- For tournaments, individual machines are provided for matches that are connected to specific tournament servers that are usually completely isolated from public networks and loaded with a specific patch in advance that is known to all parties. Only keyboards, mouses, and headsets are brought in unless there is a specific sponsor, in which case, only individual keybindings and settings are allowed.
- All content is unlocked for all parties and the balance/interplay between gameplay is known ahead of time, usually for multiple weeks on a known stable build
- Pros are briefed on ToS and prohibited activities ahead of time by both league officials and team managers
- Only in the event that there is purposeful use of exploits used during competition will there be wins vacated or actual competitive penalties levied (e.g. screen looking during 2012 match between Azubu Frost and TSM where the team was fined $30k but wins were not vacated)
There have been times in the past where players have been punished for actions that go against ToS (e.g. account boosting) but in these instances, the actual wins were also not vacated.
So to summarize in this instance:
#1. If some pros were granted unlocked accounts and others were not, then that is a big failing for Zwift in terms of not providing an equitable structure.
#2. Vacating the win is also egregious in this instance especially if #1. is true
#3. The time ban for violating ToS is fair.
---------end section ------
(begin âpersonal opinionâ again)
From a optics perspective outside of the narrow world of indoor riders, this is the worst possible scenario. All of the headlines involve some form of âedopingâ ârobo-dopingâ âcheatingâ which instantly makes the casual observer think of the Armstrong era and the inherent issues with cycling in the past two decades. So Zwift/UCI/British Cycling just made headlines in a way that discourages the mass of people that you need to actually watch your esport in order for it to become viable from an economic perspective.
10 Likes
This is 100% spot on imo
Clearly not many glass house owners in this thread.
5 Likes
No one on this forum ever inflates their FTP
Itâs the same kind of mentality that motivates people to cheat âjust a littleâ on Zwift⌠the scale says 72kg, but I think itâs reading high, so Iâll round down to 70kg⌠many people donât even view this as cheating, itâs just stretching the truth a little.
4 Likes
Well this was a British Cycling (BC) event. They decided to use Zwift as the platform of choice for the cycling âesportâ, this could change in future years.
IMO opinion there are lots of âZwiftâ races, and the bike etc you unlock should form part of that. Like a traditional computer game.
For the BC event it should be a level playing field, as Zwift are there to provide the âvirtual roadsâ for the race.
Also there is speculation that some pros get this bike for free, yet to see a comment from Zwift on this. I worked for my Tron bike (took months) and Iâve seen pros with them when, it seemed unlikely they played the game for months++
1 Like
Personally I think the actual details of why Cam was stripped has been lost in poorly worded headlines and general perceived âdopingâ within the Zwift platform.
This all comes about based upon how he obtained the bike, not about if he should have used it. When you look at the details of these fake rides to get a bike it is clearly unethical at best.
That said I regularly take part in Zwift races, whilst Iâm not going to enter into a argument about real life racing and eSports I feel that they both have a place. Racing on Zwift is completely different and requires a totally different skill set; no you donât need to have any bike skills but you do need to know who to read a race and it is definitely something you can train for. If in doubt just look back at some of the KISS super league races, professional riders got served by average Joes because normal racing rules do not apply.
I actually took part in the qualifier with Cam for the Nationals, got spat hard on the second lap but it ended up being one of the hardest rides I have ever done; to this day I have never gone quite so deep!
Of course we can all argue till the cows come home about rules regulations and if it is racing but these things are here to stay and honestly if it brings more people into cycling and more investment into the cycling industry then I for one will welcome it.
1 Like
The guy cheated at a video game and was then banned from the video game championships. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
Imagine he were playing a different game (one where the controller is in your hand rather than receiving input from a PM), like Fortnite and used a bot to quickly get in-game perks. I think most people would say thatâs dishonest and against the terms of service.
1 Like