The Faker Solo Queue Drama Explained

Faker isn’t happy. Last week, he called out a Chinese pro player for inting his solo queue games. Now – that player has been punished, hard.

Faker has said that if this kind of thing continues, he’s going to boycott solo queue. While I’m sure we’ve all said that ourselves after a 10 game loss streak, Riot are taking Faker’s concerns a lot more seriously.

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

[Soho_Minos]

"I'll boycott soloq" *Aram players visibly nervous*

[sunnie_days]

The fact that Faker is generally a very humble and calm person speaks volumes about this. Faker has always said he tries to be a good example because he knows how influental/famous he is, and that he can't be doing whatever he wants because he provides a standard for people to follow. The fact that he openly complained and got angry, so much so that he actually said he would boycott soloq? That's huge. He's tired of being targetted in his games, from illegal betting sites to pros who can't handle a small setback in game. He's been experiencing this for years, and other korean pro players have agreed with him (wolf, khan, ambition, morgan, etc.)

Hopefully Riot can do something about it properly, competitive league is a huge part of their business and the way pros are complaining about it, well it wont be good for them if Faker does boycott.

[johngo]

You know it's bad when Faker, who is known to be chill and causes no drama, does this.

[kppeternoh]

For those who don't understand why this pro player got punished for playing a game the way he wants to outside a tournament, please remember that the esports scene is a sort of marketing system too. It's a way for game developers to get their game more public interest. If a person who is supposed to be representing the best of their game is deliberately trying to ruin that game experience, it makes sense for Riot to try to mitigate that issue.

[Icipherx]

Imagine thinking the punishment is too severe. He's not a random soloq player inting. He is tied to a professional team. Actions of a single player can badly affect the whole organization but I guess people will find reasons to be butthurt about everything.

[DUxMORTEM]

Imagine going into a korean server and deliberately throwing the game, then claiming the people who report you as racists...

[asherm]

I understand the implications and the vision behind the punishments... overall, wp riot. Hopefully they are able to concoct a stable and sustainable solution. Increasing quality of the environment and safeguarding the longevity of the game.

[tftsheepcup]

I think watched the original clip as it happened, and I understand korean. From what I remember Faker does clarify in the original clip that he isn’t just singling out Chinese players for trolling. He says both Koreans and Chinese players troll. However he reacted different because it is a pro player. And it isn’t just a normal case of a pro player trolling on their main accounts, these are special accounts that place them in high elo games (most likely meant for Chinese pros to get challenger level practice in soloque without having to do the initial grind to climb there.) However exploiting this fact and using their special accounts to grief or int is therefore extra infuriating for pros (esp ones like faker who uses their main account all the time.) also, there are potential for the ones who are association with gambling sites to abuse these accounts to fix marches.

[sword]

IMO pros should be held to higher standards then regulars. He represents the game. He should be held accountable for what he did even if its outside of games.

[jabishi]

the goat has had enough! im surprised it took him this long, dude's got the mental of steel for playing through several years with these type of players

[admiralbriggs]

The fact that people tried to bring race into this is just a example of how wrong racism is being handled these days. Accusing everyone and everything of involving racism helps nobody.

[mikelwiese]

Me: "Why isn`t Riot as concerned about someone inting my game as they are with someone running Faker down? I am a human too"
Everyone else: "Faker is not a human, he is a god"

[lambertjonhurqueza]

Imagine people are getting mad at faker for getting mad because of what happen and people saying it happens on all server, but the difference between casual soloq players and a "League professional Player" is different because as a professional you must not be the one promoting a bad behavior on the game.

[kuvjason]

When the GOAT for your game is calling you out on your bs... you know you're doing something wrong.

[달빛비친저택]

The real problem with the Chinese super account is that they lose less points than the other solo queue players even they afk and end up losing thanks to their unbelievably high MMR. So many Chinese super accounts are in the highest ranks of the Korean solo queue leader board and it eventually caused breakdown of Korean solo queue ecosystem. This is the main reason that Faker and other Korean players in high tier are mad about.

[whatitdobaby]

For those who think that this is severe, this is NOTHING. Many players in Asian regions (China, Japan, sometimes Philippines) are given accounts to Korean servers by Riot as GUESTS to the server in hopes that they will keep the level of competition high. Riot Korea gave them a chance to play soloqueue with some of the best players in the world because it is known that Korean soloqueue has the highest standard of mechanical and macro play. So for pros who are supposed to represent the game that they play to the viewers and fans that watch the pro games as well as personal streams. So for someone to repetitively run it down, and have pre existing behavior of bad attitude in Korean soloq only for them to be a pro from a different region makes many Korean players feel like they dont deserve to play soloq in the Korean server.

[antoniomatthew]

Happy this is coming to light. Even someone like me, an average Gold player, the amount of grieving, running it down inting is simply ridiculous. Cannot even have fun playing the game as this happens EVERY SINGLE GAME. Sad that this happened to Faker, but hopefully he can use this opportunity to improve how toxic players are and make the game a more fun and safer experience for everyone.

[royfablooo]

People still don't understand that Korean High Elo MMR is basically the best of the best. If you own an account from that MMR you are expected to play at your own best every game, plus again Faker said it's a Super Account. You didn't grind that account to level 30 it was given to you.

[thoseriseofkingdomsadswith]

Flame said it the best. SEA, Chinese, and Japanese pros are given KR super accounts because KR solo-q is the best training ground outside of pro-scrims. If you're in THEIR server to train, treat the training ground and the people there with respect.

[kenshin]

Riot listen to Fakers complains because they know Every action or statement of Faker will have a huge impact in League Community. I think riot should not give Pro players a Super account to prevent this From happening again. Riot knows the Influence of Faker.