Winner of The Old School RuneScape Deadman Invitational Disqualified

Before reading on, some of you may be wondering what the Deadman is. Deadman mode is a player-vs-player survival game mode for Old School RuneScape. The hardcore game mode features constant PVP, as well as harsher and stricter mechanics made to challenge the players in the server.

On March 20, an Invitational was held. A brand new Deadman mode server was opened for five days, accessible only by the top 2,000 Deadman seasonal players starting from nothing. The last Deadman left standing after five days will take home the prize of $10,000. The finals of this grueling battle took place the following Saturday.

Since the Deadman finals, there has been talk of targeted DDoSing, allegations of staff favoritism, broken game mechanics, and unfair disqualifications. The staff felt that they were not yet ready to make a statement about these controversies.

After deeper investigation, it was discovered that the last survivor had been using a bot farm to cheat their way to the end of the competition. They have, in turn, been disqualified, as have all other accounts associated with said bot farm. As it currently stands, there is discussion of what to do with the unrewarded prize money, varying from charity to pushing it to the next Deadman. Allegations outside of bot farming have been heard by the event organizers, but due to unsubstantial evidence, no action relating to such have been taken at this time.

It is unfortunate that an otherwise enjoyable and exciting occasion has been sullied by cheating, but I am glad to see that efforts are being made to resolve this. You can read the official statement by the Old School Team here.