The two-time League of Legends world champion Wolf, who played for SKT1 for many years, announced his retirement. He cited mental issues that have plagued him for many years while gaming.
Who is Wolf? Lee Jae-wan is a 24-year-old LoL player and was the support for the team SK Telecom 1 for years. He joined the team in 2013 and won the Worlds consecutively in 2015 and 2016 together with superstar Faker. The team at that time was considered legendary and invincible.
In 2018, he decided to transfer to the Turkish LoL team SuperMassive. With this team, he reached 2nd place in the TCL (Turkish Championship League) in both the Winter and Summer Playoffs of 2019. This was not enough to qualify for the Worlds 2019, as only the team in first place qualified.
Now, Wolf is ending his career as an active player and he is not the only professional facing issues.
Mental issues force star support to retire
Why is Wolf retiring? In an interview with Invenglobal, Wolf revealed why he is stepping back from being a professional League of Legends player. He struggles with 4 mental disorders:
- Depression, which he claims to have under control
- Adjustment disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Panic disorders
The issues began in his perception in 2016 and worsened significantly in 2017. It got to the point where he had to vomit after every game:
I think it started in 2016. Whenever I played, I felt like I wanted to vomit, but I just thought I was really nervous. However, in 2017 it got even worse.
No matter if we won or lost a game, I would immediately go and vomit afterward. Then, when I felt better, I would go to the interviews.
In the meantime, the disorders and anxieties have also crept into his daily life. Therefore, Lee Jae-wan has now made this radical decision, although he regrets that it is an illness and not his skill in the game that forces him to stop.
How has Wolf dealt with the problems so far? So far, mainly his coach kkOma, his manager, and a few close friends knew about his mental issues. Although he regularly visited a psychologist, which his teammates knew about, the extent of the problems was known only to a few.
As another scenario, he can also imagine running his own PC cafe. His career at SKT1 began in such a cafe.
At the end of the interview, he thanked his fans and stated that he will continue to stream in the near future.
In his closing statement during the interview with Invenglobal, he also mentioned that the end as a professional is also a new beginning:
Although my time as Wolf, the professional player, has come to an end, my time as Lee Jae-wan is just beginning.
His psychologist and ultimately those around him recommended Wolf to step back from the professional scene. This is why he first made the switch to another region in 2018 and now the complete withdrawal.
Mental problems as a taboo subject, criticism also directed at “haters”
Do players talk about their problems? In the interview, Wolf revealed that he did not talk about his mental problems with his teammates, partly because he is a “closed person.”
With this interview, however, he also wants to raise awareness of the issues. Fans often forget that players are also just human:
I hope that a lot will improve. I think fans will have much to think about. That’s why I pondered for a long time whether or not to speak about such topics, because I knew that fans would get upset.
The reason I talked about such things in this interview is because… I hope it will make everyone think about the issues professionals face and that we are also just humans.
Criticism of the “haters”: Wolf also directed his attention to the haters. While he acknowledges that there were often things that could be criticized justifiably, he feels that much criticism was also unjustified:
Sometimes I thought: “Did we really do something so terrible to deserve all this hate?” Although there were some fair criticisms, the criticism was much more often destructive.
Future as a coach or caster?
What does Wolf plan for the future? After his retirement as a professional player, Wolf wants to focus on resting and enjoying his life for the time being. However, he can imagine a return to eSports:
Retirement may sound great on paper, but it really isn’t. I can take some more time to recover and become a coach or even a caster once I learn the technique.
I know there will be many paths for my future. Becoming a reporter is also an option.
As another scenario, he can also imagine running his own PC cafe. His career at SKT1 began in such a cafe.
At the end of the interview, he thanked his fans and stated that he will continue to stream in the near future.
In his closing statement during the interview with Invenglobal, he also mentioned that the end as a professional is also a new beginning:
Although my time as Wolf, the professional player, has come to an end, my time as Lee Jae-wan is just beginning.
