In professional League of Legends, the top teams go head to head with the goal of being the best in their region and ultimately the world. As such, the players are expected to follow strict daily regimes and listen to the organization's staff. But while there have previously been instances of coaches being fired or pros being fined for behavior, a team in China's League of Legends Pro League has escalated a punishment for one of its players who made a mistake during a match.
The organization in question is eStar Gaming which has been a franchised member of the League of Legends Pro League since the end of 2019. Consisting of several veteran pros, eStar's roster also includes the jungler Wei. As League players know, jungling is one of the most important roles in-game with having to balance farming monster camps and ganking lanes to get their team ahead as well as securing key objectives with the summoner spell Smite. Unfortunately, Wei failed to notice he didn't have Smite during champion select as the game finished loading in.
Despite the mistake, LPL referees decided not to restart the match against Bilibili Gaming, so Wei was stuck with Ignite instead of Smite. Since Wei picked Graves, a jungler without any innate sustain compared to picks like Fiddlesticks, eStar was basically down a member early game and could not secure any objectives while Bilibili's jungler or carries were alive. Even though eStar lost the match it was closer than expected considering they managed to get 2 dragons and win some teamfights, but also highlights how things could have been much different if Wei had Smite.
During and after the match, Wei apologized to the organization and players for his mistake. But while his fellow teammates were supportive and tried to calm him down, eStar went ahead with lowering his next month's salary. Since the news spread on Twitter and the official League of Legends subreddit, many fans are agreeing that the punishment is excessive considering they lost the game and ultimately the series.
While user comments in the threads reveal shock and surprise at the penalty, it can be explained as a regional difference. Compared to the League Championship Series, winning holds much more value so LPL players are appropriately motivated to win at any cost.
More than anything, Wei's mistake shows that even the pros can make errors from time to time. But in the long run, gaffes like this pale in comparison to epic moments like Faker's various outplays. On the other hand, community response to Wei's salary being cut hopefully ensures that fines in the future won't be as severe.
League of Legends is available on PC.
Source: League of Legends subreddit