Sexual Harassment and other allegations are being made against industry players and talent alike, and those found guilty have effectively been outcast from the community for such despicable act.
Dota 2
A lot has been happening since the past two weeks. Women across the industry are coming out with sexual harassment charges leveled up against some of the big names aka the power yielding personalities in the scene; casters and professional players alike.
Few of such names in Dota 2 against whom sexual harassment charges were brought up are Toby “TobiWan” Dawson, Grant “GrandGrant” Harris, Jimmy “Demon” Ho, Andrew “Zyori” Campbell -- to name a few.
Immediately after the accusations were made, Grant Harris recused himself from Dota 2 and esports scene in general after issuing an apology. However, Evil Geniuses and Beyond The Summit were quick to show him the door and release him from his employment with the latter also mentioning that they would never work with him again in the future.
Perhaps the most controversial outing has been of Toby Dawson, often touted as the voice of Dota. Many incidents have come to light regarding Toby’s past behaviour with women that describe him and the experience as a “creepy and an uncomfortable” situation to be in. Many have called out Toby on his sexual misconduct, dating back 10 years, and the community has been in a state of shock.
From Valve removing his voice lines from the Battle Pass to BTS and Code Red Esports releasing him from employment while simultaneously mentioning their decision on not working with him in the future, Toby has essentially been on the receiving end of the backlash in a huge way. This situation has not only resulted in the end of his close friendship with Synderen and Capitalist but also with other prominent personalities like Nahaz, ODPixel, Sheever -- to name a few.
Similar is the case with Demon, ex professional Dota 2 player. Various organizations have announced their intentions of not working with him in the future.
It is safe to assume that Grant, Demon and Toby’s career in Dota 2 has come to an abrupt end.
The only person to leave relatively unscathed from this fiasco is Zyori, whose explanations and apology have made the most sense. He has the backing of the community as well the talent and we might just see more of him in the future.
That said, the shining beacon of light in the midst of this terrible situation is none other than SirActionSlacks. Take a look at this video, it says it all!
League of Legends
Unfortunately, the sexual misconduct has reached the League of Legends sphere, as Jeffrey Lin, otherwise known as Riot Lyte, had constructed a mentally abusive relationship with a streamer. In another sexual allegation, previous LoL EU shoutcaster Joe Miller has been under fire as well. Lastly, esports lawyer Ryan Morrison had verbal abuse allegations levied against him.
In lighter news, Immortals have fired their general manager Keaton Cryer and head coach Zaboutine, after Immortals have received heavy criticism from the community on their roster decisions and poor play on stage. Now they have fielded their veteran jungler Xmithie, along with Apollo and Hakuho in the bot lane, and picked up their first win of the season this weekend against Golden Guardians.
Valorant
Riot Games officially launched Ranked mode with the 1.02 update, live earlier this week. Although it was available in the beta, the ranked mode was not available at launch in order to allow Riot Games to enhance the system, and so new players could learn the game before going into competitive mode. There are, though, some changes from its initial version. The most remarkable one is its new name, Radiant instead of being referred to as Valorant, which seemed to create confusion among players.
The game's most recent 1.02 patch might have improved the game's performance overall, but several bugs have been identified. One of the most recent ones include headshots not being registered. Crouching is supposed to increase the accuracy of one's aim. Registering headshots while crouching would be easier. The issue is that when you register a shot when crouching, the headshot can be felt, the head injury wound will be shown; however, due to this bug the shot is counted as a body shot instead.
Overwatch
The Vancouver Titans continue their upward trend this week with a strong showing over the Boston Uprising, who admittedly was on the mend. Even with their 0-3 loss to the Atlanta Reign, the Titans qualified as the 4th seed going into the Summer Showdown tournament, granting them a much needed first-round bye. After what looked to be a flash in the pan during his debut, Danish star Niclas "sHockWave" Jensen continues to impress and has been pivotal in this team’s rebound.
The San Francisco Shock sent a letter of intent to the league, wax sealed with their win over the Philadelphia Fusion, 3-0. Their road to qualification lies unbeaten as they roll into the Summer Showdown 3-0 in matches and 9-0 in maps. This echoes the same kind of domination the 2019 Shocked showed us last season during Stage 2 when they completed the first “golden stage,” an unbeaten stage both in matches and in maps. Coming into this season as an unknown quantity, Seonchang "ANS" Lee has been lights out on the Widowmaker as of late and his performance against the Fusion was no different. The Shock are on another level and the only team to seemingly rival them is locked away in Asia.
Speaking of, the Shanghai Dragons continue their reign as the kings of Asia with their dismantling of an Hangzhou Spark roster that looked rejuvenated if we view it through the lens of Week 20. It seems like it does not matter the meta or the hero pool, the Dragons are just a set above the pack. Again, very comparable to the Shock in the west. Now this begs the question; COVID-19 willing, which team is the best in the world? Is it the champions of the west, the San Francisco Shock or the kings of Asia, the Shanghai Dragons? While the details of the end of season playoffs are still unknown, the stage is set to have the most memorable Overwatch to date by the end of this year.
Editor's Take
It's rare for me to praise the existence of social media, but when it comes to exposing harm done so that we can all work in a safer ecosystem, I'm all for it.
The beauty of esports is how almost anyone can be a part of it if you have the heart and drive. It's not like the NBA where you're going to run into huge hurdles if you're not tall enough.
Gentlemen and ladies, please, do keep your hands to yourselves. We have a beautiful gift that we're responsible for keeping safe and approachable.
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KarY
2020-06-30 01:55:55