What just happened? It’s not often that we hear positive stories about good sportsmanship in the world of competitive gaming, but it does happen. This weekend saw a pro Apex Legends player choose not to shoot a competitor who had lost his connection to the game, despite $2 million being up for grabs.
The incident took place during the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Championship on Saturday, an Apex Legends LAN event in which teams compete for a $2 million prize pool. During one match, Philip “ImperialHal” Dosen and his TSM teammates spotted a lone player standing out in the open and not moving.
ImperialHal recognized that the player had likely lost their connection. While there are no rules against shooting opponents in this situation, ImperialHal instructed his teammates not to take advantage of the player’s misfortune.
“Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him, bro! He’s crashed,” ImperialHal said. “He 100 percent tabbed out or crashed or something. Don’t shoot them – it’s Scarz.” You can see what happened in the (sweary) tweet below.
Fans are heaping praise on @ImperialHal after he refused to eliminate a disconnected opponent during the $2m #ALGS Championship 🙌 pic.twitter.com/76iHuAfwaQ
— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) July 10, 2022
ImperialHal rightly received plenty of praise for his actions from eSports fans and fellow professionals alike. Responding to the comments, he said: “It’s the least every player can do out here with these issues,” likely a reference to some of the connection problems Apex Legends has been facing recently, which have led to calls for a No Apex August.
Being a good sportsman didn’t come at a cost, either; TSM and Scarz made it through the heat and onto the championship rounds. The grand prize was eventually won by Australian squad DarkZero for the second time in a row.
