League of Legends has become one of the most popular PC titles available today. However, even though there are some who compete in this title on a pro level, that doesn’t mean they’re immune to the same rules set forth for every other casual user!
This has been made very apparent, as a rash of bannings was followed by two more high profile players getting kicked for violation of Riot Game’s terms of service. Both Alfonso Rodriguez (AKA: Mithy) and Erlend Holm (AKA: Nukeduck) felt the ban hammer recently, preventing them from competing in either the Championship or Challenger series for the remainder of 2014.
It would seem that both men are being punished for breaking the same rule: being an asshole. OK, that’s just conjecture on my part, but the official explanation doesn’t seem far off. One report regarding Rodriguez (just in the past 30 days) reveals he’s received complaints “…in over 30% of the games he played, with nearly 60% of those reports being for Offensive Language, Negative Attitude, and Verbal Abuse. During this period, his harassment score rose to be within the top 1% of all players on EUW. Additionally, he was reported over 30 times for leaving the game/going AFK.”
This same type of “toxic behavior” also led to Holm being hit hard, who recently took to Twitter to respond. While he says he wishes Riot would have given him some type of warning leading up to the ban, Rodriguez’s states he plans to work on his behavior and spend this time coaching as much as possible.
So the moral of the story is this: be nice to each other folks…online and off.