By now the news of the finals in MLG's Summer Championship in League of Legends must be all over the web. And one just have to wonder. WOT happend there - what were they thinking? And could they make it more obvious???



E-sport is still in it's infancy and slowly getting more and more accepted in greater and greater mainstream circles. The professional teams are still working towards getting to a point where it is actually possible to make a decent living as a pro-gamer, and gaining ground each day.

We see more and more mainstream brands jumping on the band-wagon, getting engaged in the scene, which is what is really needed to start making ends meet for professional teams as well as tournament organizations.

So how can 2 respectable professional teams pull a stunt like this?

If you do not know what I'm talking about - it is the League of Legends MLG's Summer Championship match between Team Curse and Team Dignitas where the 2 teams before the finals agreed to split the prize money, no matter who won, and then entered in to a farce of a match. Not even the shoutcasters could cast without laughing. This was how obvious it was.

MLG responded to this complete lack of respect for the set up and organisation, as well both the rules and the spirit of the MLG, that they disqualified both teams (statement from MLG)

So not only did both teams miss out on the potential prize money, they also just removed the "pro" in front of their team names with this kind of behavior. Apparently the players on the team did not realize that a lot of people are - or were - watching them, and that being a pro does not only comes with perks - but also with obligations! Pretty sad since this kind of behavior can have consequences for not only the players and their teams, but also for others in the gaming scene.

From the statement from MLG:
Both teams have agreed that the disqualification was warranted. While there is some contention over the exact nature of the actions taken by Curse NA and Dignitas which led to the disqualification, both teams, as well as MLG and Riot, agree that any collusion, or anything involving not playing a tournament match to win, warrants disqualification.

None of the parties involved, especially the teams, are happy about this occurrence, because they all take League of Legends eSports very seriously.

Hopefully we will not see this kind of behavior in the future of E-sport and can put it behind us. So to end it on a lighter note - enjoy the funny shoutcasting here:

---

Source:

MLG statement