Veteran League of Legends mid-laner Fabian ‘Febiven’ Diepstraten has announced his retirement, and posted an insightful message highlighting some of the issues he’s seen at the pro level.
The 24-year-old Dutch player has most recently been performing with Fnatic Rising in the UK/Nordics NLC (Febiven joined the academy side in December 2020), and has had a storied career in League.
He’s played with the likes of Fnatic, H2K, Cloud9 and Misfits, and has been regarded as one of the top mid-laners to grace the game, having put in memorable performances at Worlds in the past and in the EU LCS/LEC, specifically back in the Summer 2015 EU LCS (where he had a perfect 18-0 season with Fnatic).
Febiven took the time to thank Riot, Fnatic, and the teams he’s played with in a farewell message on Twitter, but also offered some honest thoughts on the state of League esports and how things could be bettered behind the scenes with teams and players.
“Over the years, you get to know different people in every team and honestly there are a lot of people that I’m extremely disappointed with [in terms of] how they work and what kind of decisions they make in exchange for what they get paid,” he said. “There are so many players and coaches that deserves less or more depending on how they work, and there’s nothing wrong about that, it’s just that how people perceive each other in this industry is a little bit skewed in my opinion.
“I’m sure if some owners would see how their players work under them, they would be very sad [knowing] how much money they give them compared to what they get. Generally the work ethic in the scene is extremely saddening, there are very few players who give it 110% on a daily basis and have the drive to become one of the greatest.”
Febiven also spoke about toxicity, sensitivity, reliance on teammates and the dynamic of a League of Legends team.
“The scene is full of people who are so sensitive and that’s been a huge issue for the lack of improvement and progress that players and teams are making. My message would be: be more thick skinned, don’t get so butthurt when you get called out, take responsibility for your actions and realise that you are in control of where your going in this competition.”
Febiven
“What I find very interesting is that the best competitive players I’ve worked with are usually the most emotional/toxic ones, and they usually get flagged for how they work or behave, even though those players are in my opinion the most talented and have the most room to become better and better over the years,” he continued.
“People perceive negative, toxic, problem solving behaviour as a bad thing, which obviously it can be, but come on, the scene is full of people who are so sensitive and that’s been a huge issue for the lack of improvement and progress that players and teams are making.
“My message would be: be more thick skinned, don’t get so butthurt when you get called out, take responsibility for your actions and realise that you are in control of where your going in this competition. Naturally you will have to push yourself, else you will become stale and fall off. I noticed that very few players and coaches like conflict, and push away responsibility, which will lead to nothing but a ‘mediocre’ atmosphere in my opinion.”
He also added that over the years he feels like being ‘so reliant on your teammates to perform during practise and official games can get to your head and mess with your wellbeing’.
German player Dajor has stepped up to replace Febiven in the Fnatic Rising line-up:
Febiven was one of Esports News UK’s first interviewees back in 2015 during Worlds at Wembley. We thank him for taking the time to talk to a small emerging publication all those years ago and wish him well in his future endeavours.
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.
