British League of Legends streamer Ali “Gross Gore” Larsen has switched to North American servers to get away from the ‘toxic’ EU West community.
He made the decision yesterday evening after being trolled by his team’s jungler, who was making stupid plays like this. His behaviour prompted Ali to rage-quit the match.
“I have to deal with this on a daily basis, you have no idea how it is to be Gross Gore,” Ali said on stream. “I’m afking, I’m not playing this game, I’m switching accounts.”
Although he didn’t openly ‘rage’ as such, it was that type of controlled, calm-on-the-surface but deep-down-annoyed kind of rage:
Grossie later explained his reasoning on Twitter, and said he was looking forward to playing with the likes of Tobias Fate, Nightblue and Yassuo.
Official;
I’ve left EUW.
Not playing on that server.
I’ll rather play on 105 Ping then to play with EUW.
No regrets. EUW corrupts people.
— Gross Gore (@GrossieGore) August 15, 2017
“The reason I switched to NA is not about elo, it’s about the community of Europeans, I feel like I’m a target to always troll/hate on,” he said.
“I feel like the NA server will be more welcoming and less toxic, as EUW is making me a horrible person on/off stream. I don’t want this.
“When you are around people flaming all the time, it turns you into the flamer. I don’t want to be that guy, I need to get away.”
“In the past couple weeks of playing with numerous amounts of masters/challengers, everyone uses the same insults, ‘KYS/Cancer’ etc etc, and when you are around people flaming all the time, it turns you into the flamer. I don’t want to be that guy, I need to get away.
“When I go to NA I will change my attitude on/off stream to better myself to be happy and respected, so no one trolls/ints me.
“My goal is to be a well-respected player, so when people get me on their team, they know it’s a free win if we work together. That’s all.”
He gave an example of the kind of flaming he wants to get away from:
Scrolling through my news feed, this is just out of hand, this is what EUW is like, it needs to be fixed ASAP. I’m so happy I left. https://t.co/OlJqB5agwc
— Gross Gore (@GrossieGore) August 16, 2017
The flaming and trolling has got to him in the past. As a well-known streamer you’re always going to get players wanting to ruin your match for a laugh, or to get five minutes of fame on your stream. Because of this, Gross Gore often plays – and gets better results – off-stream.
He’s not the first high-level British player to leave EU servers behind because of toxicity.
Overwatch streamer Mark “Valkia” Purdy did the same thing a couple of months ago.
“When you play the game as much as I do, you find you get drained not from the gameplay, but having to babysit the toxic f*cks who decide to throw games constantly,” he said. “EU always feels like a roulette to me.
“When people only use voice comms to flame others over making necessary calls in the game, that’s what I’ve got an issue with. The hatred and sexism is really high and I just want to enjoy the game.
“I found that people on NA people are less likely to tilt or insta-hate. The teams are more likely to talk together, it’s rare I’ve come across toxic players [at my skill rating].”
Gross Gore was unbanned by Twitch in June and on his return pulled in 1,600 subs in three days.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
