(courtesy of Riot Games)
“I want to give a special shout out to Nientonsoh, Seraph, Dexter and Link for the series and uh, I did it for you guys.”
This short quote from Zacqueri “Aphromoo” Black’s post-victory interview has caused a tremendous amount of backlash from the league community today. The general consensus is that his intent with this statement was to hurt his longtime Bot lane partner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. It is certainly true that in his statements leading up to the aforementioned quote he was alluding to the fact the team environment was poor in previous splits, but the purpose of recalling fallen Counter Logic Gaming comrades of old was not to drum up controversy. Besides being formerly on CLG the four players that he mentioned have another thing in common, they each suffered an onslaught of community hate.
With CLG being simultaneously one of the most popular western teams and one of the most maligned, it comes as no surprise that their players are often the butt of jokes, memes, harsh criticism and even hate. The four players that Aphro paid tribute to were certainly no exception, although players or circumstances themselves often invited criticism from the community.
The famous Link Manifesto for example did nothing to help the former Midlaner’s cause, just as the incredible hype that surrounded the arrival of Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong did not help his subsequent struggles as the CLG Top Laner. Yet these circumstances notwithstanding, we as a community were so damning towards these players that ultimately they left either CLG, NA, or League altogether.
What is incredibly ironic about the Aphromoo backlash is we are now turning the same hate aimed at the players he was honoring and redirecting it towards him. How long before we as the League community suck the life out of another player, forcing him into early retirement?
Our words and the intent behind them affect many of the players far more than any of us either realize or are willing to admit, something which was never more evident than when Zachary “Nien” Milhas’ suddenly departed from the game. In his interview with Travis Gafford, Nien cites the community’s relentless harassment as a reason for retirement, calling the community trash talk “one of the main reasons”. It is sad to see we can have such a profoundly negative impact on both the psyche and career of a player.
(courtesy of Azubu.tv)
This is not to say that criticism should not be allowed, in fact it should be encouraged. We should point out where things went wrong with certain players or teams and how they could have been amended. However, the vitriol that is spewed on a daily basis on both the League Subreddit and the internet as a whole is abhorrent. Before we go online and begin to trash players, we need to at least consider the tone and choice of our words.
As Aphro rightly pointed out, we the community have a history of blatant disrespect towards the players who have dedicated themselves towards being the best they possiblly can. Their willingness to put themselves in the public spotlight to compete at least should earn them a modicum of respect, if not more. Nien himself aptly summed up these sentiments when he wrote on Reddit, “Just remember that we are real people with real feelings.” It would do the community some good to consider his words.
