The Korean League of Legends server is known to be one of the most competitive in the world, oftentimes grabbing the attention of those hoping to sharpen their skills before diving back into competition—or create more enticing content for their audiences.
But an ongoing attempt at climbing the Korean solo queue ladder from multiple content creators has been prematurely halted due to a large wave of bans targeting their accounts, likely resulting in the end of their endeavors. According to these creators and fans, this may be due to a stream of toxicity from a few of the creators, as well as the means by which they obtained Korean accounts, though no official reasoning has been provided.
One of the streamers at the heart of the controversy, TFBlade, admitted on Twitter that he expressed levels of toxicity toward other players during his climb across three different accounts, all of which were banned in the span of a single day—doubling down that he “will not apologize regardless of if they are pro or well known.”
Over the past few years, South Korea has pushed for the implementation of stricter laws regarding cyberbullying and harassment, though the existing law allows for action to be taken against those publishing threats in public online spaces. Multiple individuals have been charged in South Korea across a variety of competitive games over the past decade due to forms of cheating such as boosting and scripting.
A variety of League streamers who ventured to South Korea to partake in the solo queue climb other than TFBlade, including Dantes, YamatoCannon, and Detention, all received bans on the Korean accounts they were playing on. But other content creators still have access to their accounts and thus can continue the grind, leading TFBlade and many within the League community to suggest that Riot Korea issued manual bans on accounts associated with the IP of the hotel many of them are staying at. Dantes explained on stream that, upon communication with Riot, these accounts will not be reinstated.
Though getting access to a legitimate Korean League of Legends account has long been difficult for those not living in South Korea due to the requirements involved to create an account, the LCS Players Association (LCSPA) recently released information regarding offering official accounts to individuals who are actively a part of the NACL or LCS. Content creators are eligible to receive Korean accounts from Riot Games by working directly through its PR teams, thus allowing them to partake in Korean solo queue on Riot-sanctioned accounts—though they still need to abide by both Riot Korea’s regulations, as well as South Korean law.
To play League on the Korean servers legally, players must register for an account with an official Korean phone number and ID to identify them as a Korean citizen and prevent the creation of multiple accounts. Those visiting the country on a visa are also eligible to make an account, though the process is often favorable for those staying in South Korea for large amounts of time rather than short stints such as for studying.
As of now, it is unclear as to why multiple accounts were banned in rapid succession, nor is it clear if all of the accounts these content creators were playing on were official accounts provided by Riot or obtained through other means.
