While balancing a game like League of Legends isn’t easy, managing an entire competitive system across the world is even more so. Riot Games has appeared in public several times about the tough decisions a streamer has to make regarding matches or team/player attitudes. These MSI-related pings aren’t the worst League has ever had, considering past scandals.
Swenskeren and his nickname
In 2014, SK Gaming confirmed its ticket to the world. In his training story, the swans in the jungle decide to call themselves Taipei Ching Chong. The purpose of this maneuver was to make fun of Asian languages, so badly received (correctly) by the local community. Riot Games banned the player from the first three games, which will cost competitor SK to play as a substitute. The penalty today may seem light, but there are a few factors that explain it. While 2014 was not far off, public opinion was less sensitive to anti-Asian racism, which may partly explain such a light sanction. But for us, it was just something Riot Games suddenly noticed. Banning a player before a match weakens the team considerably, killing part of its interest, and the broadcaster had to find a compromise between fair penalties, but it does not have much impact on the competition. This made other players and organizers innocent. Today, such behavior will result in a much heavier fine.
Azubu Frost is watching you!
The second scandal dates back to season 2. During the group stage of the World Cup, several teams are accused of looking on giant screens behind them for information they do not need, such as the whereabouts of opposing players. Several entities have been alerted and one of them, Azubu Frost, will be found guilty. The team will receive a penalty for this behavior (light today, but not so trivial then). It’s hard to completely blame the players, however. The screens were easily visible to them, and the second season of the World Cup was interrupted by technical problems which led to very, very long breaks (several hours). Naturally, some players have succumbed to the temptation to consider bets and conditions. Riot Games is now convinced that players will not be able to see the giant screens to avoid similar incidents.
Break my hand…
This scandal took place at LVP and did not make much noise in France. During the match against S2V, the players of the Giants Gaming team took advantage of a back-to-back break and left the stage stretching their legs while their opponents remained in place. The Giants eventually won the game which was crucial for their qualification. While it has never been shown that the team took advantage of these moments to do anything prohibited by Riot Games, such as sharing information with each other, Spanish fans called these attitudes disrespectful at best. And he didn’t appreciate the event at all. .
The Linak player who pays the rest
The AA Worlds runner-up’s season one jungler squad was no saint, however. He had a straightforward layout and wasn’t shy about throwing SoloQ games if everything in the game didn’t evolve to have a reputation for being extremely toxic to humans. While he was far from the only pro at the time (we’re talking about a sizable portion of the western pro pool at the time), Linack had a reputation as the worst of them all. As with the creation of Season 3 and the LCS, Riot Games says it is looking to tighten up the summoner rules so that Pro players now have reckless behavior both during and outside of competition.
Linak changes his behavior and manages to qualify aAa for LCS. A few weeks before the start of the competition, comes the sanction of Riot Games: Linak will be banned from all official competitions for one year. Only this sanction is based on the facts before the policy of Riot Games changes and severely sanctions the French structure, which must find a new forest as soon as possible. Riot Games needed an example for its new policy, and Linak paid the price for its past behavior. Unless the sanction is grossly unjustified, the record of the only build in France to qualify directly for the LCS has left a bitter taste in the mouths of French fans.
Korean logic game
As the 2014 NA LCS summer season draws to a close, CLG qualified for the playoffs by deciding to send their professional team to South Korea at Buttkamp and play their last game without a bet with substitutes. This attitude, if it is not prohibited by the rules, did not please Riot Games, which refused to count the players so that they could train in South Korea (a security number is necessary for create a social account on the Korean server). As a result, the latter had to share accounts with other players, and Riot Games fined them $1,250 for all four players and a token OGN broadcast for 2 years. (This sanction is not really relevant because no player will play in the Korean league and Riot Games hosts international competitions).
In this story, it is believed that Riot Games wanted to make an indirect payment to CLG because they wanted to play the smartest game to show that this little game can be played by two people. The penalty did not sit well with the American public, who felt that CLG should not be penalized, even indirectly, for the clever use of a poorly drafted clause in the rules. The team didn’t win a single game in the playoffs, especially since Karma was careful to catch them.
RNG, MSI, a story that repeats itself
Let’s take a look at last year’s MSI scandal, in which RNG was already involved. With the top spot in the group stage, Damwon first had to face MAD Lions to get an extra day of preparation for the final. Only Riot Games changed the match order at the last minute due to logistical issues with COVID-19 (the Chinese had to do a certain test 48 hours before the eventual final flight and no other flights were found , forcing Riot Games to advance to the match). This has deeply disturbed the community, because this extra day of training can be a very important asset. The decision was also denounced by the Korean branch of the broadcaster, who believed that Damwon had lost an advantage that they had acquired legally.
Vietnam Ligue 2 scandal
The most recent scandal happened very recently and this season in the Vietnamese second division, VCS B. The Genius Esports team is third in its groupThis prevents him from reaching the playoffs. Tournament organizer GARENA then expels the second team DNS Gaming from the group, allowing the geniuses to continue the competition. Initial statements and previous lawsuits raised public suspicion, initially accusing GARENA of supporting the team. After submitting more convincing evidence, GARENA seems to have made a logical and legitimate decision in accordance with the regulations in force.
Source : Millenium
