Vaevictis eSports becomes a joke in the LCL scene

Imagine yourself as a professional athlete who worked his or her entire life and dedicated everything to join a professional league. You spilled blood, sweat, and tears to be eligible to compete with other professional athletes just like you. How would you feel if you were told you were going to compete against amateur athletes who are levels below you in a professional league?

LCL, also known as the League of Legends Continental League, is the top level of professional League of Legends competition in Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States. League of Legends is one of the most famous games worldwide and it constitutes a huge part to the eSports scene. Vaevictis, a team from the LCL, wasn’t performing well as they were ranked in the lower areas of the competition. Vaevictis, knowing that they don’t have a good chance at aiming for a higher ranking, decided to pull off the most obvious marketing stunt the world has seen in the past years. Vaevictis announced that they were swapping their entire roster with an all-female roster, “It’s time to experiment. We would like to check how competitive the women’s team will be on the professional stage and how strong their progress would be.” This move enraged many League of Legends community members not because it was an all-women team, but because these people aren’t even eligible to compete against other players.

In League of Legends, your skill is determined through a ranking system. The highest rank is named Challenger. If you are a Challenger, then you are one of the highest ranked players in the game. The new Vaevictis team, however, proceeded to gather up a team full of players that are ranked Diamond. Diamond is a ranking that is three levels below Challengers. In simple terms, the skill difference between Diamond players and Challenger players is huge. Given the fact that these are professional gamers who are the best of the best within their Challenger realm, it is impossible for these Diamond players to beat any team in this league.

After expectedly losing their first game, Vaevictis faced Vega Squadron. The score line was tragic. Vaevictis took a huge blow as they lost 52 to 2. This means as a team Vaevictis died 52 times to Vega while Vega only had two players die once. This score line was also controversial, however, due to how it became 52 to 2. Vega had several chances at ending the game quickly, but they purposely dragged the game longer in order to decimate the other team. VEGA ultimately received reprimands as Riot Games (you can think of them of like the NBA or FIFA). Their official statement was, “Riot Games considers gender discrimination — and any other kind of discrimination — completely unacceptable, and expects no less from all players of the LCL who are to demonstrate competitive integrity and respect towards their opponents… Vega Squadron’s egregious behavior violated the guiding regulations of LCL, as well as paragraph nine of the Summoner’s Code.”

However, it doesn’t mean women shouldn’t be able to participate in competitive League of Legends. Even if Vaevictis went with an all-male team, if the players were all Diamond they would be receiving the same treatment. Many male League of Legends players are attracted to female players who are brilliant at playing the game. The move by Vaevictis, however, wasn’t about giving women a platform, but just a marketing stunt to attract attention. For people arguing that the article is being sexist and are just trying to prevent women from joining the competition, they should realize that creating an all-female team that isn’t even skilled is sexist as it shows Vaevictis’ obvious motivation and purpose to sell off their team using gender.

Featured image – Vaevictis eSport’s Team Photo Photo Courtesy of Vaevictis eSports Team

by Jason Lee