A female eSports pro is making waves, but not for a good reason, as it’s turned out that she faked playing games entirely. The shocking eSports scandal has shaken up the competitive community, and has led to unfortunate circumstances for her team members in the midst of a tournament.
eSports are a big deal, with the potential for fame and cash prizes often on the line. Unfortunately, the competition can also lead to players trying to cheat, which has led to tournament winners being stripped of their titles, and in a couple of cases, Fortnite tournament cheaters have been forced to apologize publicly for their transgressions. However, having someone make it this far in an eSports competition without playing the game themselves at all is extremely unusual.
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eSports Competitor Never Played Games Herself
A large controversy has been unfurling regarding an eSports competitor named Warasin Naphat, aka Tokyogurl. As a member of Thailand’s national team for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, she was participating in the event’s Arena of Valor competition on December 15 when officials noticed a disparity between what was happening in Tokyogurl’s gameplay when compared to the movements of her hands. Officials investigated, and it was discovered that rather than actually playing the game, she was instead using Discord to screen share someone who was playing the game remotely, acting as her. As a result, Tokyogurl was expelled from the tournament, and her entire team ultimately withdrew, even though they had qualified for the finals.
After the incident, Tokyogurl insisted upon her innocence, but more truth has since come to light. Another Arena of Valor eSports competitor who goes by Cheerio posted a video on TikTok revealing that he was the one that was actually playing the game that was being screen shared to her phone. He has apologized for the incident, alleging that he didn’t intend for the incident to “escalate to this point and cause disappointment to many people” and said that he would accept the consequences of his actions. Since then, the only message Tokyogurl has shared was a brief message of “I’m sorry” on her Facebook account, apparently admitting to the cheating scandal.
This incident will have lasting consequences for both individuals. Tokyogurl saw her contract with her club terminated shortly after, and RoV Esports has banned her for life from further competition, though given she was never gaming herself, it’s likely she wouldn’t qualify for another attempt at the scene regardless. Cheerio’s career is likely also in jeopardy. The President of the Asian Electronics Sports Federation and head of the Thailand eSports Association is pursuing legal action against both of them “to the furthest extent.”
Cheating Doesn’t Pay
Tokyogurl’s teammates had apparently noticed some red flags prior to the event, like an unwillingness to attend in-person training and hiding her hands when streaming her alleged gameplay online. While she might have been able to hide that she wasn’t actually the one playing the game while livestreaming, entering a competition comes with a great deal of scrutiny to ensure fairness among competitors. She was apparently added to the national team without having to ever participate in formal tryouts due to her online reputation, which was evidently a mistake, given the result.
It’s not clear why these two ever felt that this was a good idea in the first place, especially since Cheerio, who had apparently been competing legitimately on his own, will likely now be banned from future events. While Cheerio and Tokyogurl are far from the first eSports cheaters out there, this scheme backfired in a spectacular way for them both.
Sources: RudeVulture, Bangkok Post, TikTok
