In League of Legends, there are times when one team completely dominates the other. This can sometimes lead to extremely lopsided scores, and the dominating team will try to “farm kills” as much as possible by continuously executing solo kills, forcing the opponents into team fights more often… This is completely normal in solo queue or ranked matches, but it is seen as unsportsmanlike behavior in professional play. In the past, there have been teams that were heavily penalized by Riot for intentionally stalling the game to crush their opponents both in score and spirit. These teams were not sympathized with by the audience but were instead criticized for their inappropriate conduct.
Recently, Bilibili Gaming committed a “taboo” in the professional gaming environment during their match against LGD Gaming. Specifically, the MSI 2024 runner-up won, but in the second game, instead of quickly ending the match after invading the enemy’s base, all five players deliberately let the minions attack the towers while they waited for the opponents to respawn to “farm kills”. Consequently, each time a member of LGD respawned, they were quickly taken down again while the two defensive towers and the Fountain were only being affected by minions.
BLG’s behavior immediately received numerous criticisms on social media in China. According to many opinions, this is an act of attacking the spirit of the opponent. Some spectators even suggested that Riot China should impose heavy penalties on the BLG players to set an example, especially when this team is seen as the new face, the hope of LPL after Royal Never Give Up and Edward Gaming faded.
– Playing poorly, please don’t make people dislike you.
– If only they could win against Gen.G or T1 as they tortured LGD.
– LPL is showing that they are lacking in both skill and attitude.
Not to mention, BLG just had poor results at MSI 2024 and the 2024 Esports World Cup. The LPL region is also becoming a hot spot as the official Weibo page of the tournament has posted language that negatively targets Faker’s family. Therefore, the actions of the BLG players further make it completely understandable for the audience to find it hard to accept.