In League of Legends, the community is currently shaken by a frightening report from Japan. The 20-year-old top laner of the most famous LoL team there, DetonatioN FocusMe, has fled the gaming house. The situation seems to be complicated.
This is the news in brief:
- The 20-year-old Haruki “tol2” Shibata wrote on Twitter yesterday that he felt compelled to flee from DTM’s gaming house because he feared for his life.
- Allegedly, he was threatened by head coach Kazuta “Kazu” Suzuki after having felt “verbally abused” for a long time.
- The young man says that an adjustment disorder was diagnosed in him, but he has nevertheless been subjected to harsh treatment for months.
Who is the young professional? tol2 is in his rookie season with the team, meaning he has never played for a professional team before and has to replace “Evil”, a former star player of DetonatioN FocusMe since January 2023: He switched to the competition in December 2022.
DetonatioN FocusMe is currently flawless in the Summer Split of the LJL 2023 with 4-0 games in first place. Nevertheless, it seems that there are serious problems within the team.
Professional has complained to management, was punished for it
This is what the young man says: The 20-year-old claims that he has been repeatedly “verbally abused”. This started after the Spring Split of 2022. Allegedly, head coach Kazu and assistant coach Ceros have been targeting him.
As an example of the things he has to endure, tol2 recounts: They saw a dog in the street, and coach Ceros said to the 20-year-old: “Hey, you are also a dog, why don’t you join it.”
He says he complained to the management about this mistreatment: They told him that if he told anyone, he would never play in the professional league again, for any team. Moreover, he was punished for it. He states that from his perspective, there was thus no possibility to “escape”.
The player recounts that he collapsed in London and could not stop crying, and only bot laner Milan (22) helped him calm down. Another bot laner, the 26-year-old Yutaponi, is also mentioned by tol2 as one of his few supporters in the situation.
Why has he run away now? Allegedly, a major argument escalated yesterday. After that, he fled and now dares not return to the gaming house because he does not know what to expect. The last post was:
“I felt like my life was in danger. I want to compete in the game tomorrow, but I don’t know how they will react when I return to the gaming house.”
What about the league now? There is still no statement from the club, and the player is currently silent.
The community on reddit is watching the situation with concern:
- Many are showing solidarity with the player and praise the teammates who stand up for him: Especially Yutaponi is a great guy. The Japanese has been playing for the same team since 2013: Only Faker is similarly loyal.
- It is said that this is an example of the “Japanese” work culture.
- One user speculates: Many older people (“boomers”) may not be able to understand this, but it is a well-known problem with coaches in general. Even in traditional sports, there are abusive coaches like this.
The often young players of a professional team in e-sports live together in so-called “gaming houses” during the season. The worst case of how a situation can end has occurred in Brazil:
Team fires the 2 coaches
Update 9.7., 12:09 PM: The team has reacted. They have confirmed that the allegations are justified. The coaches said things that could be seen as threats.
The team has fired the two coaches Kazu and Ceros with immediate effect.
