There is a storm in a teacup in the Korean eSport scene of Overwatch .
As a football star or musician has their groupies: female fans seeking the closeness of icons. eSports players have something like that too… kind of. At least they would like to.
As reported by the Korean site Inven, a post from a female Korean fan is causing trouble in the eSport scene. She claimed to have dated a pro gamer from the Overwatch team “Lunatic Hai”. The player Lee Tae Jun, a DPS expert who can be flexibly utilized.
He denied it: There is a clear boundary between him and his fans.
However, photos surfaced showing him with female fans. And he confessed: “Well, okay. I did it.” This was interpreted as a breach of trust between fans and the team.
Another player from his team, Geum “dean” Dong-geun, a strong Reinhardt, has also been caught. Women uploaded pictures showing how he asked them for personal meetings.
Both published letters of apology.
Online relationships with fans are not appropriate for professional players
They contacted female fans, asking for meetings and pictures. They are sorry. It is behavior that is not appropriate for professional athletes. They apologize to the fans for their behavior. They have learned a lot from this. One also says he has been ashamed of it in the meantime but could not hold back. It will never happen again.
Both Overwatch players have been “benched” by their team. They will not be allowed to participate in the APEX season, which started in January and ends in April. They are also banned from team events for two months.
From an eSports perspective, this is probably not a big loss. As the eSports site dotesports believes, the team can replace both. The Lunatic Hai team has 8 players, two of whom always sit out anyway.
The loss of the Reinhardt player can be compensated by a strong Winston. And in the DPS position, the team already has a better Overwatch player in reserve. Tough luck in the game, tough luck in love.
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