Dire Wolves’ player Shernfire has been suspended from the 2018 World Championship for breaking the player conduct rules of League of Legends.
Shernfire to sit out two games of the 2018 World Championship
Earlier today, Riot Games posted on their official League of Legends website that Shernfire has been suspended from the 2018 World Championship after it was discovered that he had been consistently breaking the game’s conduct rules. The post reads:
On September 23, routine player toxicity checks revealed that Shern “Shernfire” Tai had exhibited a pattern of extremely toxic and culturally insensitive language in solo queue on the Korean Server.
Riot Games has imposed a suspension on Shernfire for the next two games of Dire Wolves in the World Championship and additionally, fined him $2,000 for the offenses.
The offenses in question refer to ‘toxic and culturally insensitive’ language, as well as, going AFK or leaving the game in three instances.
This is not the first time Shernfire has been punished for his behavior. Back in early January, Riot imposed a 2-week ban for similar offenses, citing violations of the Summoner’s Code, namely vulgar and obscene use of language.
The current suspension will surely come as a blow to Dire Wolves, considering the 2018 World Championship is just around the corner. Shernfire will miss out on the initial Play-In stage, which is vital for Dire Wolves to succeed in in order to advance to the Group Stage and Knockout Stage. The suspension is highly damaging to the team since Shernfire is also the Team Captain for Dire Wolves. Most likely, Rippii will have to stand in for Shernfire in the Jungler position, or at least until the suspension expires.
Riot’s history of enforcing rules
Riot Games is known to hold professional League of Legends players to the highest standards when it comes to their behavior, be it during official events or in their spare time.
A notorious case is that of Jensen, also known as Incarnati0n and Veigodx. Back in 2013, Jensen was hit with the ban hammer hard after it was revealed that he had engaged in abusive behavior, toxicity, and DDOS activity against high-ELO players. The ban was indefinite and prohibited him from playing in any official Riot-sanctioned event. It also prevented him from opening new League of Legends accounts and any discovered ones would be instantly banned. Following the 2015 ban policy revision, Riot lifted the ban and Jensen was once again allowed to play, stream and participate in official tournaments.
IWillDiminate is another prominent example of a player receiving punishment for unprofessional and unsportsmanlike behavior. The Jungler of Team Dignitas at the time, IWillDominate was banned for a whole year in 2012. Riot accused him of acting aggressively and derogatorily towards lower-skilled players as well as, being toxic and offensive. This case is notable as it was the first time that Riot Games had imposed penalties on players from the professional scene.
