Esports will always have its challenges and there will always be players that make mistakes. But it’s not always a reflection of the team they play for, it’s how we handle difficult situations that help the scene grow and flourish – especially in lower-tier leagues – argues ENUK editor Dom Sacco in this opinion piece
There’s been a few instances of players being suspended/benched or booted from their teams in UK, Ireland and Nordics League of Legends recently. ‘So what?’ you might think, ‘this has been going on for years’. It has and it will continue to. But, well, hear me out.
You could argue instances of toxicity or team breakdowns are more common in lower-tier esports and European Regional Leagues like the NLC – there are more players, staff and talent that are new to esports, they’re younger and will make more mistakes than those at the pro level. The same goes for pretty much any industry.
But while UK League has had a penchant for drama over the years, it’s not quite the same as it was back in 2015/16 when I started covering the scene. There’s something I’ve noticed in more recent times – and that’s better handling of difficult situations.
Usually this comes down to a specific esports organisation or tournament organiser. Some are good and some are bad, you might think. However, for me it’s not so black and white. The esports scene itself has levelled up in recent years – I’ve seen a collective improvement as orgs learn from one another. It’s not always about being his or her mistake, or their mistake.
This article is not designed to be a love letter to Verdant – Lionscreed handled their releasing of a player in a similar way recently, and the scene responded positively to their decision as well. Orgs like Lucent, MNM, LDN UTD and more, for me, have handled difficult situations well.
When something goes wrong at this level, we all fail in a way – and we all learn together. This has helped to make the scene more professional – at least more than it was a few years ago anyway.
Take this a recent example: UK esports organisation Verdant, who are playing in Division 2 of the LoL NLC, suspended their Austrian top-laner Valkyrie a few days ago, after becoming aware of “conduct unbecoming a member of this organisation”.
Valkyrie explained in a Twitlonger it was for this behaviour from seven months ago (which Valkyrie was previously punished for) and also recent toxicity.
“This created concern towards me as a player from [Verdant’s] management side, which I can completely understand, as another incident like this would obviously damage our entire operation,” he explained. “This led to my benching until the behaviour check by Riot occurred. I passed the behaviour check without any complaints, which is why I will be back in the starting line-up for next week.”
Verdant explained bringing Valkyrie back into their starting line-up here:
A few in the scene reacted positively to Verdant’s decision in the tweet above, saying it was well handled.
Like I say, situations like this will happen with players – not that I’m excusing Valkyrie’s behaviour. It all ties in with this piece Meg Kay wrote for Esports News UK a year ago: Do those who make toxic comments deserve a second chance in esports?
It’s more about how the org/team or tournament organiser handle it, and their approach to dealing with these kind of things, as well as the player’s willingless to learn and improve. Heck, players like Caps have been in situations like this in the past, let’s not forget. No one is perfect.
When I reached out to Verdant owner/founder Sam ‘Sami’ Cunningham to give him a heads up I was planning to publish a news article on this situation, he was polite, understanding and accepting of my job as a reporter.
This is unfortunately not the norm when I let an org know I’m going to cover something that they might not want dragged out or made more public beyond their Twitter page. They will usually go on the defensive, maybe try to start an argument with me or accuse me of only giving an org negative coverage (that’s not true by the way – see this thread from my Twitter for more context), or even discreetly threatening me.
Sam has built a good group of mature staff – with a significantly older average age than most orgs at this level, and it’s clear he takes this kind of thing seriously and deal with it properly. Long nights and last minute meetings happen, and it can’t have been easy dealing with this and their recent head coach situation in losing Surza.
While UK League has had a penchant for drama over the years, it’s not quite the same as it was back in 2015/16 when I started covering the scene. There’s something I’ve noticed in more recent times – and that’s better handling of difficult situations.
Verdant are also not afraid to get advice when making decisions like this to avoid being stuck in their own echo chamber. They also declined a prize from ENUK when they were randomly selected after filling in our reader survey, and asked us to use the money to plant some trees instead (which we gladly did)!
After chatting with Sam, I had an idea to turn this article into an opinion piece, not specifically about Verdant, but others who have done the same.
This article is not designed to be a love letter to Verdant by the way – Lionscreed handled their releasing of a player in a similar way recently, and the scene responded positively to their decision as well. Orgs like Lucent, MNM, LDN UTD and more, for me, have handled difficult situations well. They’re more empathetic than egotistical, and in the long run will benefit from this – as will the scene – in my opinion.
The UKEL also handled incidents like this well, back when they qualified teams into the UKLC, before they and other third-party UK/Nordics LoL leagues were shut down by Riot and Freaks 4U.
That’s why I said orgs like Verdant give me hope for the future of UK LoL. I did the same when I praised Excel in this opinion piece back in 2017, saying why hard work pays off and what we can all learn from the Excel Esports brothers’ efforts. Praise someone when they do well, but look at how this can help others as well. That’s my approach, anyway.
So, this isn’t just about Verdant. It’s about the scene as a whole, and orgs setting a good example to give us all a boost. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.
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.
