League of Legends pros get lengthy suspensions for 'verbal abuse' and 'racial slurs'

In online games, it’s common to meet players who verbally abuse others and use racial slurs. In professional sports, that behavior is very rare. In professional League of Legends, however, it happens enough that developer Riot Games has to step in and occasionally lay down harsh penalties.

The studio announced today that it is suspending two professional players from official League of Legends competition for their “toxicity.” Alfonso “Mithy” Rodriguez and Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm are both barred from participating in the League Championship Series until the end of 2014. This comes after Riot conducted an investigation into the behavior of each pro, and the company determined that both were continually responsible for harassing other players. Riot punished the players mostly for behavior they exhibited in the public game that is unrelated to official competitions. This isn’t the first time Riot has banned a player for violating the player code. In 2012, the company suspended Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera for a year for “persistent toxic behavior.” Other e-sports leagues have also punished players, but League of Legends (with its huge number of active players) has seen more suspensions than other games.