***Update*** To clarify on the original story, only Rivera's OTHER "existing known accounts" were permanently banned. IWillDominate is suspended from the League of Legends Championship Series for a year.
***Original Story***
In professional sports, commissioners may fine or suspend players for misbehavior, but outside of Pete Rose I don't think I've ever seen a permanent ban. As we learned today, the gaming world of eSports is a totally different beast, and developers aren't afraid banning even the most professional of players. Case in point, Riot Games who today issued a lifetime ban to professional League of Legends player Christian Rivera, better known as IWillDominate.
IWillDominate is part of the renowned group Team Dignitas, but it just goes to show you that being a professional doesn't mean you necessarily act like a professional. IWillDominate has been to the Tribunal — a system in which the League of Legends community democratically decides the fate of players reported for negative behavior — of nine times. He's been voted by the community to be "punished" in eight of those instances.
According to Riot, IWillDominate has a "persistent record of in-game harassment, verbal abuse, offensive language, and negative attitude." Despite the punishments and warnings, his harassment score rose more than 30%, placing him among the top list of North American pro players and among the worst 0.7% of all North American players.
"We take sportsmanship and player behavior very seriously, and we fundamentally believe that pro players should not be exempt from scrutiny over their behavior. In fact, we believe pros have an additional opportunity to act as positive role models for the entire community," said Riot's VP of eSports.
"The decision to impact someone’s career is not one we make lightly, which is why this is tough news to deliver. Unfortunately, our Tribunal recently was forced to permanently ban a pro player as a response to his persistent toxic behavior."
"Promoting good sportsmanship and improving player behavior is a mission that’s extremely important to Riot, and this ruling is a reflection of our commitment," Riot concluded.
We all can agree that League of Legends is can be an incredibly frustrating game. I'm sure at the higher ELOs, which I will likely never see, there's even more pressure. That's know excuse to act like a jackass though. These players may make a living being among the best, but control your temper. If eSports wants to be taken as seriously as pro sports, than players need to start acting like professionals.
