'Overwatch League' News: Several Players Face Disciplinary Action for Disruptive and Disrespectful Behavior
A few weeks ago, Blizzard released the official Code of Conduct that it expects its professional players uphold whether they be on or off camera. The developer is also very transparent with regard to how it handles these incidents as it announced the latest batch of players to face disciplinary punishment for their actions.
Blizzard posted on its website this past weekend the Overwatch League had to take disciplinary action against four players, one of which is a repeat offender.
Timo "Taimou" Kettunen of the Dallas Fuel was fined $1,000 for using anti-gay slurs on his personal stream, a direct violation of the company's code of conduct.
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Ted "Silkthread" Wang of the Los Angeles Valiant received a similar fine of $1,000, but this time it was due to account sharing, which goes against Blizzard's End User License Agreement (EULA) that applies to all of their games.
Tae-yeong "TaiRong" Kim of the Houston Outlaws is a bit of a unique case. Unlike the previous two cases, he only received a formal warning for posting an offensive meme on social media. Blizzard writes that Kim received a lighter sentence because he wrote an unprompted public apology after the incident and he made a donation to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. Blizzard took note of these follow-up actions and decide to let him off with a warning.
Finally, Félix "xQc" Lengyel of the Dallas Fuel has, once again, been fined and suspended for repeatedly using an emote in a "racially disparaging manner" on both the League's official stream and social media. He was also noted to have used disparaging language against League casters and other players.
Because of his actions, Lengyel was fined $4,000 and will be suspended for four matches effective March 12. This is the second time Lengyel has been fined and suspended for his personal behavior, he previously received a similar sentence for saying homophobic statements regarding an openly gay player in the League.
Blizzard reaffirms that demeaning, racist, and hateful speech will not be tolerated from their professional players and that any future violations will receive similar punishments.
