For the majority of domestic lol players and netizens who pay attention to lol events, the ongoing "hero League mid season" (hereinafter referred to as MSI) makes them feel terrible. Reasonably speaking, MSI, as an important international event second only to the "s series" of lol, is a feast that can not be missed, whether for lol, professional teams in each division, or global lol players. Unexpectedly, this year's "feast" almost didn't make the domestic audience vomit out.
Using two words to describe the current mood of domestic netizens who pay attention to MSI events is "getting angry".
The cause of the matter has to start with the decision of the fist company to invite RNG teams and allow them to participate in MSI events online. This decision seems to be "unprecedented", but it is the result of mutual compromise under the influence of the current aggravation of the epidemic situation - on the one hand, this year's MSI is held in Busan, South Korea, and South Korea's epidemic prevention policy is true. It is hard to say, which is comparable to "putting it out". Even team T1, the number one sub team in South Korea, has heard that the whole team has tested positive for nucleic acid; On the other hand, Shanghai, where RNG club is located, is also plagued by the epidemic. It is even more difficult to get out of Shanghai.
Under such extreme external environmental conditions, RNG team has the intention to give up participating in MSI competition. However, as a qualified team in the LPL division and the champion of the last MSI, the fist company naturally does not intend to let RNG be absent. Therefore, there is a special case that RNG teams compete online in China.
Other teams came to Busan to compete as required, but RNG team fought online, which will inevitably make netizens in other competition areas feel dissatisfied. In fact, there are not many gossipers on the Internet who say that RNG is engaged in privilege and that fist companies bow their heads to the LPL division. However, the fist company still defied all opinions and said that it would absolutely ensure the fairness, impartiality and openness of the game. For the fairness and preciseness of the event, the fist company has taken a series of measures, of which a very important point is that the teams of both sides keep fighting under the "35ping" network delay at the same time.
Source: microblog @ hero League event
But it was this "35ping" that became the fuse for a series of broken things in MSI.
First of all, when the fist company proposed that both teams should compete according to the requirements of "35ping", it again aroused the dissatisfaction of netizens in other competition areas and thought it was quite inappropriate.
When the seeds of dissatisfaction have been planted, it means the "reason for pushing the result", which has become the reason why many people on the Internet attack RNG. During the competition, there were endless complaints about finding fault with the non-compliance of RNG cameras, headphones and other external equipment, and that fist companies were partial to RNG. But these are just small things, which have been calmed down under the explanation and confirmation of the fist company. However, when RNG won 3-0 in the group match with absolute strength, the official said that the two sides delayed different announcements, which escalated the contradiction again.
Source: microblog @ hero League event
According to the announcement, the official will change the configuration of the game to reduce the overall delay on the field. However, what really made the majority of domestic netizens angry was the content of the second half, that is, because the delay of the competition venue was too high, the RNG team participating online was not affected by the high delay, so it needed to replay three games.
As soon as the news came out, people dissatisfied with RNG on the Internet took the opportunity to output, and even the official accounts of some participating teams began to "ride their faces". The reaction of domestic netizens was more shocked and incomprehensible, because the decision of the replay was more unprecedented and unreasonable than the previous decision to let RNG compete online alone - after all, the decision was not discussed with the team RNG, but directly announced its implementation.
The on-site network delay is higher than the regulation, which is obviously a mistake of the event organizer. Moreover, before the game, the fist company promised to strictly follow the "35ping" rules. However, after this announcement was issued, the one who actually paid for the official error became RNG. Don't underestimate these three replay games. Three more games means that RNG will expose more strength and cards, and provide more reference and blueprint for other teams to study RNG tactics and playing methods.
Source: microblog @ RNG E-sports club head coach: Zhu Kai
In short, as soon as the news of the need for a replay came out, many domestic netizens expressed their dissatisfaction in the community forum, believing that it was an insult to the players of RNG and even the whole LPL competition area. There are not a few people who want RNG to abandon the game after the replay. The RNG team members and coaches also made a unified voice on the microblog after the announcement. The blog is very simple, with only a balance expression representing "fairness".
Source: microblog @ rngming
Of course, there are also many foreign netizens who disagree with the RNG replay and believe that the official fault should not be imposed on the RNG, which is unfair to the RNG team. Netizens should question the ability and decision-making of fist officials, not a certain division or team.
Source: Post Bar @ ye jiekananing
Although there were many voices of doubt and opposition at home and abroad, RNG still obeyed the schedule and completed three consecutive replay games on May 14. As for the result, there is still no suspense of 3-0. After that, the group match of group B where RNG is located was all over, and RNG won the first place of the group and qualified with a win-win record. Although the final record of RNG given by the official is 6-0, we all know that RNG has completely achieved an absolute score of 9-0.
In the face of absolute strength, even the Internet began to play some black jokes about RNG replay.
At the end of the group match, RNG successfully qualified from the group match. Although the wind rating of this MSI has fallen to a low point, many netizens no longer care about these unpleasant things. Seeing that MSI is about to get back on track and eliminate the Brazilian team players interviewed by the local media, a news suddenly came out that put the fairness of this MSI on the fire again - after the official adjustment of the network delay of Busan stadium, in fact, the delay of the venue is only 20ping to 25ping.
As soon as the news came out, the emotions of many domestic lol players were detonated again. After all, the delay in the venue was high before, so that the RNG replay was OK. As a result, after the adjustment of the network delay, the fist official did not strictly implement the "35ping" rule set before, but adjusted the delay to less than 35ping - this time, RNG became the victim under the rule. But what makes domestic netizens more angry is that fist officials have no explanation for this change, which has been regarded by many domestic netizens as public bullying of RNG.
After the interview of Brazilian players was released, Netizens found that the network delay displayed on the game screen during the players' competition was "22ping" in the official lens, which further confirmed the accuracy of the message. Countless netizens in communities at home and abroad have asked fist officials to give explanations. Even domestic official commentators have decisively "opened a group" in the column of "mid season dining hall".
Source: Post Bar @ ye jiekananing
If the RNG needed a replay because of the delay, then according to the official decision, most teams will be dealt with in the replay. But in fact, the fist did not achieve fairness and justice, which is also the fundamental reason why the majority of netizens questioned the fist.
When the news kept fermenting in communities at home and abroad, fist officials obviously knew the truth of "paper can't stop fire", but their subsequent operation further angered the majority of netizens - Smart fist, secretly revised the press release for RNG replay released on May 13. However, they may not fully understand the true meaning of "the Internet has memory". After all, the famous professional player "big brother" (official ID "doublelift") of lol had seen the news release before the revision completely in the live broadcast, and this action of fist became extremely funny because of the evidence from "big brother".
Source: Post Bar @ super Yu Xiaoman
Incidentally, after that, "senior brother" also made "sharp comments" on many farces of this MSI.
Source: microblog @ esportsfocus
Finally, fist officials issued a statement of apology, expressed deep apology for the trouble caused by this MSI, and made it clear that they would share a technical note.
I also apologize and thank you for the fairness of the game and the understanding and cooperation of the RNG team.
However, as mentioned earlier, once the seeds of suspicion are planted, it is difficult to achieve the desired effect no matter what official actions are taken to save them.
For fist officials, a series of problems on the MSI are undoubtedly a significant weakening of their credibility. Considering from the commercial level, it is a greater blow to its domestic market. In fact, many domestic netizens have been disappointed by the fist official through this matter. This undoubtedly accelerated the decline of this game, which has existed for more than a decade.
It has to be admitted that lol is far from as brilliant as it used to be. The biggest pillar supporting it is undoubtedly a perfect and wide-ranging E-sports event. Once the "root" goes wrong, lol is really not far from "death".
After the series of MSI events, the recognition of domestic netizens for the fairness of their competition has been reduced to the lowest. Even, many netizens complained to the operation of the Asian Games, which was postponed for one year, hoping to kick lol out of the official competition of the Asian Games.
Source: Weibo @ game event
In the past, players questioned or ridiculed lol only at the level of game content, such as hero balance, equipment change, map design and so on. It can be said that the designers of lol were the worst scolded in the past. Before this MSI, players have always had confidence in the ability of fist officials to host events. After all, the game has held 11 "s series" and MSI for many years.
But this MSI event may change this view. As a competitive game, the rigor and fairness of the game have always been the most valued by players. Once there is a problem in this regard, the last layer of trust between fists and players may also be completely eliminated.
By then, it will not be the problem of fist "house collapse" - perhaps, the IP of the whole lol will face the most severe challenge.