Professional League of Legend player banned for ‘toxic behaviour’

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   December 6th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

League of Legends professional player Christian ‘IWillDominate’ Rivera has been banned from the Championship Series for a period of one year, while all his existing accounts have also been suspended on account of his ‘toxic behaviour’.

Rivera is without any doubt an extremely skilled player who really knows his way around in the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game.

However, his inability to show respect for the less-skilled players, strong tendency to engage in verbal abuse and insults, and lack of cordial demeanour is something that has been deemed unacceptable by both the players as well as Riot.

The professional League of Legends player had been brought before the Tribunal “eight or nine times” after getting reported for toxic behaviour.

With majority of the players voting for him to be punished, the Tribunal banned all his known accounts.

Furthermore, the vice president of eSports Dustin ‘RedBeard’ Beck revealed in his post on the official forum of the game that Riot’s eSports team has also suspended him from playing in the Championship Series for one year, with the ban to come in effect immediately.

He said that it had been a difficult decision to take since Rivera is a professional player and thus facing such a ban will surely take its toll on his career.

However, the persistent display of toxic behaviour in and even out of the game has left the eSports team with no choice but to ban him.

“We take sportsmanship and player behaviour very seriously, and we fundamentally believe that pro players should not be exempt from scrutiny over their behaviour” the announcement by Riot read.

A post on the League of Legends official forum also revealed that the studio expects professional players to act as role models for the community due to their high-profile status.

Rivera has no one but himself to blame for the action that has been taken against him, as a negative attitude and lack of respect for fellow players is undesirable in any form of sport.

Majority of the League of Legend players are supporting the decision taken by Riot and are hopeful that this incident would set an example for other players who indulge in similar behaviour during gaming session.

Rivera represented the international eSports team Team Dignitas at the Season 2 North American Regional Finals recently, where his team was named first runner-up.

Owner of Team Dignitas Michael O’Dell has confirmed that a replacement for Rivera will be found now that he is ineligible to participate in Championship Series for one year.

Not everyone is great at gaming, but that does not mean that they have no right to enjoy the online experience. Skilled players need to be patient with them and guide them to help them become better players.