Top Esports top laner Yu “Qingtian” Zi-Han has been fined one month’s salary after he was found to be purposely feeding the enemy team while solo queuing in ranked play.
On March 9, iconic Leauge of Legends player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was streaming a ranked game when Qingtian began acting toxic. During the game, Qingtian was ignoring his teammates, playing poorly on purpose, and repeatedly trying to end the game early.
While Faker kept his composure, he decided to look into who the player was after the match and realized it was Top Esports’ substitute top laner Qingtian, playing on the Korean server from China.
League of Legends community rallies behind Faker
Faker is probably the most recognizable League of Legends player in the world, often considered a superstar in Korea. The veteran player often makes mainstream news, including in this situation with Qingtian.
The League of Legends community applauded Faker for speaking out against the toxic behavior, stating that he is probably one of the only voices in the community who could make changes happen as a result of his words. Unfortunately, this isn’t a new problem in the world of ranked League of Legends.
Faker explained on stream after the incident that Chinese pro players have continued to get “super accounts” in the Korean servers. Some of these Chinese players may purposely behave poorly in the servers, intentionally ruining matches, he said.
Faker told fans that every pro and streamer has run into these issues in ranked play, saying the experience is the “lowest quality” it’s ever been.
Other pros have discussed the issue in the past, leading Riot Games to acknowledge that
Chinese players have been disrupting servers
and intentionally griefing in relation to illegal Chinese gambling sites.
Unfortunately, that was back in 2020 and things don’t seem to have much improved since.
After the incident with Qingtian, Faker reported the problem to Riot Games offices in Korea. The matter is allegedly being discussed there.
Top Esports responds to toxicity allegations against Qingtian
After being called out by Faker himself, Qingtian apologized for his behavior. On Weibo, he said that he “did something wrong” while solo queuing. He apologized to the nine other players in the game, stating that he would “treat every game with integrity” going forward.
Top Esports replied that the organization was fining Qingtian the equivalent of one month’s salary in response to his poor behavior online.
Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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