Apex Legends pro Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen is earning praise for his performance this weekend at the $2 million Apex Legends Global Championship tournament—not because of all the people he killed, but because of the one person he didn't kill.
The incident, captured and shared on Twitter by Alpha Intel, began when Dosen heard and then spotted an opposing player in the distance, standing out in the open and oddly still. Dosen quickly realized that the player had crashed, and instead of taking advantage of the opportunity for an easy kill, he told his TSM teammates not to shoot.
Fans are heaping praise on @ImperialHal after he refused to eliminate a disconnected opponent during the $2m #ALGS Championship 🙌 pic.twitter.com/76iHuAfwaQJuly 10, 2022
There's a little bit of dissent among the ranks at first: Dosen's squadmates note that they need to get to a beacon that's presumably close to where the crashed player is stuck—and where his teammates may be waiting. They eventually decide to withdraw, but at least one of the TSM players doesn't sound entirely happy about it.
Fortunately, it worked out for all involved: Both TSM and the opposing team in the match, identified by Dot Esports as SCARZ, qualified for the finals. When it all shook out, TSM earned $72,000 for a seventh place finish, while SCARZ took home $24,000 for 11th.
I won't lie: If I'm in Dosen's position, I'm taking the shot. Sportsmanship is great for beer league curling and trivia night at the pub, but when there's money on the table—especially amounts of money with multiple zeroes attached—then I'm gonna do what I gotta do. (And honestly, if there was no money involved I'd probably do it anyway, because when there are no real stakes involved it's just funny.)
Dosen, apparently, has a higher opinion of human nature: In response to one tweet praising his sportsmanship he tweeted, "It's the least every player can do out there with these issues."
