'Call Of Duty' eSports Tourney Criticized By Pro Player For Lack Of COVID-19 Safety Precautions

A "Call Of Duty" eSports tourney was slammed by a pro player for an apparent lack of safety procedures against COVID-19, after the said player contracted the virus himself.

That tournament was the preseason CDL Kickoff Classic for "Call Of Duty Vanguard," which pro player James "Clayster" Eubanks recently criticized on Twitter right after he tweeted a photo of a positive COVID test:

According to GameSpot, the event is among the first times that the COD Pro league matches have returned to the LAN environment. It featured the Toronto Ultra beating the Seattle Surge 3-1 in the grand finals.

It was considered as a non-bearing preseason event, however, as it didn't give any CDL points to the participating professional teams. Clayster's tweet was also corroborated by fellow player Dylan "Envoy" Hannon, who plays for the Los Angeles Thieves.

In Hannon's reply to the original tweet, he mentioned that the event's staff "had masks on their chins," and were reportedly fine with players posing for photos with fans and meeting them backstage.

Furthermore, Clayster and Envoy claimed that the event didn't even require fans to wear masks while in the crowd, writes Upcomer. While there was technically a mask mandate, it wasn't strictly enforced.

Eventually, Eubanks' tweets were accosted by people who were downplaying his COVID-19 diagnosis, to which he posted a rather scathing reply:

After the CDL Kickoff, "Vanguard" will return for its regular season on February 4th. This comes after the developers announced a big mid-season patch is coming soon, as well as after the recent release of the "Attack On Titan" crossover which experienced mixed reactions from fans.

How This 'Call Of Duty' eSports Event Is Showing COVID's Effect On Pro Gaming

Ever since the world has been gripped by the pandemic, eSports has had a relatively rough time. This is despite pro gaming events being technically more suited to remote arrangements than other professional sports, such as basketball or football.

During the early days of the pandemic, numerous tournaments were either canceled outright or moved to a strictly online format, as reported by ESPN. Almost two years on, things might have mellowed down a bit, but the threat of numerous, highly contagious variants like Omicron is still out there.

Still, it wasn't all bad for professional gaming circles. Gaming as a whole is still experiencing a renaissance with people basically stuck at home and being pushed to try out the hobby. This leads to the potential of increased revenue every year until 2024, according to research firm Newzoo (via EsportzNetwork).

For now, what tournament organizers need to do is keep taking the pandemic seriously. There should be regular COVID testing among players, fans, and event workers, as well as mask mandates (and perhaps even vaccine mandates) to ensure everyone's safety from the coronavirus.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce