The Last Of Us Challenge Controversy

In May 2020, KidSmoove was given the challenge of completing The Last of Us on Grounded difficulty for $800. The stipulations included beating the game in 30 hours (within the game) or in 15 days. This event led to a numerous amount of controversies and new classic memories within the Crumbside. These events include Smoove's rage moments, the first-ever live-flagging in Crumbside history, and many situations where KidSmoove potentially cheated to get through sections of the game.

## Joel Upside Down Section

This section gave KidSmoove an immense amount of difficulty. His inability in understanding that Joel had an unlimited amount of ammo led to numerous deaths. This section was memorable since it included Smoove's falcon punch towards his DualShock controller, giving Smoove the honor of being included in BLACKB0ND's #Colapes series (Falcon Punched DualShock Video).

## Sniper Section

This section was a large turning point in the challenge. He had particular difficulty in the sniper section. It included a sniper that continuously killed KidSmoove for over a two-hour period. KidSmoove's rage moments earned himself an additional video in BLACKB0ND's #Colapes series (Case Destrcution Video), which captures Smoove's destruction of a PS4 game case. The controversial scenario arose when Smoove rage quit the section and resumed the following day. After being destroyed for over two hours the previous day, he passed the sniper section in 8 minutes during his first try. This led to a significant amount of controversy as many in the community believed KidSmoove looked up walkthroughs to get past it.

## Generator Section

It seemed as if KidSmoove was able to pass this portion of the game with the help of an online video walkthough. BLACKB0ND posted a video that puts Smoove's stream and the video side-by-side in order to let viewers determine whether or not he cheated (Side-By-Side Comparison Video).

## Subway Section

This portion was the most memorable moment in the entirety of the stream. Hard8Times began to livestream KidSmoove's stream to point out how bad of a gamer Smoove is. Hard8, as well as his viewers, knew one of the most difficult sections of the game was going to commence. The subway section of game is includes all types of infected that seems daunting at first. However, if a player sprints to the end of the section with Ellie, they can potentially skip the area without having to fight the infected. This exploit is never known to a player who has played it for the first time. KidSmoove knew of this exploit and attempted to abuse it. Soon after his failed attempts, Smoove stops playing in order to flag Hard8 for live streaming his stream. This monumental moment in history caused BLACKB0ND to create a flagging video, which included TheOmegaLoser's classic Flagging & Snitching song (KidSmoove Flagging & Snitching). His flagging attempt of Hard8 led him to spawn nicknames for Smoove such as: TekashiSmoove9, Master Splinter, Jerry the Mouse, SmooveCheese, Chuck E Cheese, Kid Rat, and other snitch-related nicknames.

## Firefly Section

KidSmoove was stuck near the end of the game for over three hours in the hospital area of the game. He struggled immensely and consistently blamed the game for his mistakes. He ended the stream after consistently losing, but beat the area the next day on the first try (similar to the sniper section of the game). He took a route that allowed him to bypass the enemies in that section.

## Summary of Points Where/Why Potential Cheating Occurred

* The sniper section. KidSmoove was getting killed by the sniper for over two hours and was not improving over the course of two hours. He rage quit and shut the stream down. He began the next day stream by passing the area on the first try in 8 minutes.
* The generator station. BLACKB0ND created a video (See Firefly Section) to show how Smoove passed the location in nearly an identical manner to a video that helps individuals pass the section.
* The area with David. He was stuck in the area and shut the stream down. The next day he began the stream by passing it.
* The subway station. KidSmoove understood to sprint to the end of the location to attempt to bypass all of the infected. However, a first-time player would never guess to attempt that.
* The Firefly section. He was stuck for three hours and indicated that "I have no idea what to do." He shut the stream down. The next day he began streaming and passed the area by taking a route that was not taken at all the previous stream. Also it's important to note that throughout his entire playthrough, he did not know how to counter-punch enemies. However, on the day he passed it, he knew how to counter with ease.

## Aftermath

KidSmoove's playthrough was discussed on both the AGS Podcast and Weapon Wheel Podcast (WWP Ep 238), where a number of claims by Smoove were made. One particular outlandish claim was that he purposely kept dying during the Hospital/Firefly section (see Firefly Section) because Hard8 was livestreaming his stream. He claimed that through his many deaths, he was "casing" the place and learning the layout. Therefore, he was easily able to pass it the next day. However, Smoove did admit to cheating by looking at the chat in order to learn how to counter-punch, which was a violation of the stipulations. This confession led to some of the sponsors requesting their money back. Due to Smoove's flagging, Hard8 deleted his livestreams in an effort to not get anymore more strikes on his account.

## The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC

After gaining confidence in his abilities, Smoove began to livestream his grounded DLC gameplay. It turned into another comical livestream as Hard8 also began to livestream it as well. Smoove struggled in many sections throughout the DLC. One section included the clicker section where a player must insert gasoline into a generator. However, the most difficult section for Smoove was attempting to take down a plethora of human enemies. Smoove struggled so much, he rage quit his stream.