Earlier this week a rather bizarre and worrying event in competitive League of Legends eSport came to light as a recorded conversation between a pro player and the manager of the team he was a part of turned into one of blackmail and threats against the living arrangements of the player’s mother. Riot have now responded by indefinitely banning the manager involved from the LCS and levying a fine of €5,000 against the team in question, but at the same time saying that the investigation had “found fault on behalf of both player and management.”

The player was midlaner Marcin “Kori” Wolski and the team MeetYourMakers. Kori was owed some backpay from a previous LCS season by his old team, Supa Hot Crew, whom MYM had been a successor of sorts. MYM however had said that the debt wasn’t theirs to fill however and when Kori decided that he would instead leave the team before the start of the 2015 LCS season manager Sebastian “Falli” Rotterdam told him that if he did he’d be in breach of contract and because Kori’s mother signed his contract she’d lose her house because of his actions. Kori had been recorded the conversation though and took it to the press and Riot themselves.

MYM fired Falli themselves before the decision was made and now Riot’s investigation has led to them banning him from ever taking part in LCS in any role ever again. In a statement they released Riot said that while team contracts are their own business they will do everything they are able to do to ” discourage and work against unacceptable environments” and that there is zero tolerance for the intimidation of players within any part of the LCS. However despite having the tape as evidence Riot did not request it as there were “legal concerns regarding the recording which was obtained without all parties’ knowledge”.

Riot also say that they “found fault on behalf of both player and management.” Kori’s own claims of not being paid were the result of “Wolski’s own failure to provide requested tax documentation” Riot say, as MYM could provide the LCS with proof that while the player was with them and not Supa Hot Crew that he had always been paid exactly when he should have been. Therefore leaving the team would have meant that Kori was actually breaking his contract with the team. They do say that this didn’t justify Falli’s words or actions though – “Rotterdam’s actions in conversation with Wolski when addressing this contract break were both unprofessional and unjustifiable.”

The fine against the team was down to the fact that Riot believes that the team could be held partially responsible for the actions of Falli and their failure to “protect their team members from his unacceptable and bullying behavior.” To those calling for the team itself to be kicked from the league Riot have said that they feel that MYM has already taken satisfactory steps to remove toxic influences from the team and that the fine itself should be punishment enough; to remove them from the league would only “unnecessarily penalize players and interrupt their pro careers through no fault of their own.” However, “any further violations can and will put them on a path to suspension from the LCS.”

There’s been a number of little episodes in eSports in recent weeks. Now in the competitive League of Legends scene, one rather bizarre and honestly worrying episode has come to public light. The team known as MeetYourMakers has been discovered to have been using some terrifying tactics to keep their midlaner Marcin “Kori” Wolski in the team after some disputes over back-pay he was owed. Basically the MCM manager, Sebastian “Falli” Rotterdam, threatened to seize Kori’s mother’s home if he left.

It seems that if Kori left the team he would be in “breach of contract” and because his mother signed his pro gaming contract the manager felt the need to make the threat about her losing the house. The entire episode began last season with a team known as Supa Hot Crew, which in some ways evolved into MeetYourMakers when it split as a lot of the management overlaps between the two. Kori played for Supa Hot Crew and it seems that towards the end the team stopped paying some of their players, because Kori claims to be owed months’ worth of pay from last season. MYM have said that the debt isn’t theirs to pay back though, its Supa Hot Crew’s. Not surprisingly, Kori has decided that if he isn’t going to get paid he wants to leave. That’s what triggered the manager’s bizarre threat against the house.

Unfortunately for Falli, Kori had been recording the conversation. He took the recording to the media, with a big article appearing in the Daily Dot, and a complaint having been filed with Riot eSports and the boss there Nick Allen. Although MYM have issued an apology, Riot have already begun an investigation into the incident with Allen tweeting out “We take the safety and well-being of players very seriously. We are, and have been, actively looking into the situation between Kori and MYM.”

It’s not the first time MYM have been called out for rumoured unsavory practices. A former MYM coach/manager has spoken about the team keeping money for themselves that was meant to go for coaching staff and former Fnatic top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer has tweeted out that he’s rather jump off a bridge than play for them.

Who says eSports isn’t like real sport? It’s just as dramatic sometimes it seems…

League of Legends is insanely popular. And like all popular games developer Riot is constantly testing out new ideas to keep the game new and fresh. Their latest brainchild is the “Nemesis Draft”. This mode is a 5v5 match that takes place on the Summoner’s Rift. The catch in Nemesis Draft is that instead of the normal drafting process, each team goes down the line one by one, picking Champions for the opposing team.

Naturally, this leads to some rather…interesting choices. To quote Riot:

“SO.. we’re excited to see how scheming & creative you guys are. Are we about to uncover some diamonds in the rough? Will it be, “Give them all melee champs!” or “Give them all AD so we can just build armour!”. And then the inevitable, “Ok guys. We’ve got 4 junglers and a support.. but so do they! Let’s do this.” I can’t wait. :)”

Things are not all sunshine and roses however, with players repeatedly dodging lobbies to avoid playing with a champion they don’t want.  Personally, I think this is an interesting idea and hope that it makes it out of testing and onto the main LoL servers. After all, whats more fun than sticking an enemy team with all junglers and then rolling over them with tanks? Still, the LoL community doesn’t seem to be to happy.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! And, as a Smite player, let me just say that I have almost no sympathy for the LoL players upset by this. We’ve had a mode like this in Smite for ages now. Suck it up you scrubs.

Blizzard’s game Heroes of the Storm has been functioning in an alpha state for a bit now, slowly but surely adding to and improving a game based on feedback. Now it seems that enough has been tweaked to stand as a base for the game, because it’s upgraded itself to Closed Beta.

The update has come with some new features too, including a new hero and a fresh new ground on which to do battle. Sky Temple is the name of that new arena and its themed in a desert style with temples that can be taken control of to fire beams of energy at enemy structures. The new hero will be Thrall, a Horde Warchief with powerful melee abilities such as Chain Lightning, Windfury and Earthquake.

A new mode has also been added, the Hero League which is a ranked play mode for high-level players. To join you need to be Level 30 or over and have a collection of 10 heroes and can join as either a solo player or with a group of your friends in a team. Wins and losses obviously contribute to your ranking to stay within this play bracket.

Lastly a Draft Mode has been added to help players build a team to compete and counter your opponent’s hero choices.

To be a part of the closed beta you need to have either signed up at the Heroes of the Storm website or have ticked the ‘opt in’ option for Beta Profile Settings on your Battle.net account management. It’s obviously not a sure thing that you’ll gain access but you need to be on the list to get chosen. If you do get selected you’ll be able to play whenever you like as well.

Seems Blizzard have hit a little snag with their plans for new IP Overwatch. Seems someone already has a predated trademark on the name, and now Blizzard’s let it lapse over into a suspension for the game.

Blizzard filed the application for Overwatch back in April and then revealed the game in a very complete form at last year’s Blizzcon. However the USPTO suspended the two applications put in when it discovered a filing by Innovis Labs, Inc., a smartphone app company. The mobile app in question is used for real-life paintball, laser tag and airsoft matches to enhance play.

Blizzard have not responded to the notice of suspension and so the USPTO has sent a Statement of Allowance to Innovis Labs, Inc. – basically if within six months they file a Statement of Use Innovis Labs can use the trademark commercially and Blizzard cannot.

There are many different ways this could turn out, and the most likely seems to be that Blizzard will have to change the name of their game to avoid legal action. However that’s not to say that is what will happen, as similar cases have turned out differently in the past. We can only wait and see.