Home Gaming League of Legends pros banned from streaming other games

League of Legends pros banned from streaming other games

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Riot or RIOT

Ah, eSports – so fun to watch an association go through the growing pains of becoming accepted and professional. The thing that makes eSports so unique is that we expect players to act like gamers, while also being professional eSports athletes. Riot has taken a stance on this that has raised some eyebrows.

According to a new contract for League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) teams, team members are not allowed to publicly stream game play of titles such as Dota, World of Tanks or Blizzard games. This got many gamers very upset, leading to the Director of eSports at Riot making a statement on Reddit. This point, while it makes sense, seems a bit off the mark in this context:

I can’t stress enough how these guys in the LCS are on the road to being real, legitimate athletes. This is new territory for a lot of teams (especially in esports), because the transition goes from being a group of talented individuals to being real icons of a sport and a league. Similarly, you probably wouldn’t see an NFL player promoting Arena Football or a Nike-sponsored player wearing Reebok on camera. Pro players are free to play whatever games they want – we’re simply asking them to keep in mind that, on-stream, they’re the face of competitive League of Legends.

I completely agree that they should not be touting the competition. You wouldn’t see a player for Man United wearing a Man City jersey, and the example of a Nike-sponsored player wearing Reebok is spot on. However, you often see pictures or videos of famous athletes attending or playing different sports. Why not watch a footballer try to race a car? Or how about watching basketball players trying out baseball? We don’t expect them to be professional at those other sports, but it certainly doesn’t detract from our interest in watching them play what they’re good at.

I suppose the issue comes in with money, as always. Most pro eSports athletes earn extra money from their streams. Whether streaming LoL or Hearthstone, people will pay to watch their favorite eSports pros play games. Riot obviously wants their players who are getting a monthly salary by playing LoL to only stream that MOBA. This will cut into interest in streams (maybe), but will also mean that if players want to give World of Tanks a try, or laugh at themselves while playing StarCraft 2, they aren’t allowed to stream that to their fans. This can certainly cut into their cash flow, and seems rather unreasonable from Riot. I’m sure some celebrity level athletes are paid to attend other sporting events, why not allow similar dispensation for eSports athletes? Sure, they shouldn’t play competing games, I understand that. But I don’t see how a LoL pro streaming Hearthstone is going to detract from the Riot brand.

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Last Updated: December 5, 2013

48 Comments

  1. Vampyric Squirrel of the Sith

    December 5, 2013 at 11:09

    Most of our cricketers play golf… and they’ve also played cricket against the Springboks (rugby team for those who don’t know)… so why can’t a LoL player go onto DOTA or WoW?

    Freaking stupid.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief of Souls

      December 5, 2013 at 11:17

      To be fair, they are not competition to each other, or not completely related.

      Yes they are all “sports”, but vastly different.

      Reply

      • Vampyric Squirrel of the Sith

        December 5, 2013 at 11:23

        True, but it’s like telling you that you cannot, on any level or device, play anything other than Dark Souls until you’re finished with it, completely, with all the achievements, secrets, etc.

        It’s ludacris.

        And WoW isn’t a MOBA like LoL… 😛

        Reply

      • frikkenator

        December 5, 2013 at 11:24

        True, I suppose you could equate it to a Sharks player playing a game for the Bulls. But not really, it’s more like a Sharks players tossing a rugby ball around with some bulls supporters and someone getting it on camera.

        Either way, this form of competition has never worked and will likely harm them more than it’ll do them good.

        Reply

        • Kensei Seraph

          December 5, 2013 at 11:26

          It’s more like a Sharks player kicking around a ball with a bunch of Pirates fans.

          Reply

          • frikkenator

            December 5, 2013 at 11:34

            Lol, fair point.

        • Willem Swanepoel

          December 5, 2013 at 12:25

          Have you ever seen a Sharks player played a game of touch rugby or kicking the ball around with a Bulls player and the sharks player is wearing the bulls Jersey ?

          Reply

    • Willem Swanepoel

      December 5, 2013 at 12:22

      If you sign a contract and they pay you MONEY to play their brand and stream it. Then you cannot go and do a stupid thing like that.

      It is not stupid if you getting money …

      Reply

      • Vampyric Squirrel of the Sith

        December 5, 2013 at 12:45

        Yes, but they aren’t paying you to ONLY play their game… which is why it’s stupid.

        But yeah… it’s just one of those things.

        Reply

        • Willem Swanepoel

          December 5, 2013 at 13:07

          On the end of the day, if they played the game without streaming it then there was no problem ..

          Reply

          • Gareth

            February 25, 2014 at 20:24

            That is where it gets confusing, They don’t get paid to play the game (if they win or come top 10 or whatever you get paid prize money and even then its not garenteed) What is a Garentee is the income from high populated streams..

            For example I only watch 1 person for 1 game because he is funny as hell when he streams but other types of games I will just go from streamer to streamer..if they where playing a game I actually enjoy I would watch them but because they are tied down to LoL only…they are missing out on stream growth and a high possibility of people like me that will hate seeing repetitive games and would prefer a variety.

            hell even streaming a game the day its released and BAM! a ton new subscribers/viewers…shame these people won’t be able to do it.

  2. ToshZA

    December 5, 2013 at 11:13

    I would understand not being allowed to play for other teams, but other games entirely? Well that’s just daft. People who watch & play LoL probably don’t do much of DOTA, and vice versa. While they’re in the same genre, they’re different games and have different followings. This is just the dumbest shit I’ve seen from the eSports world, and we have our local eSports joke (that association that should not be named) to compare to, which is saying something.

    Reply

    • GAMMABOY88

      December 5, 2013 at 12:04

      They are allowed to play other games, they just can’t stream playing those games to the public. which really is not all that bad as it’s only for a select few professional players anyway

      Reply

      • ToshZA

        December 5, 2013 at 12:49

        That’s like saying microtransactions are ok, as long as they’re not in your face all the time.

        Reply

  3. frikkenator

    December 5, 2013 at 11:13

    That’s quite bad, and his analogy is completely wrong. If the team is sponsored by Razer then they shouldn’t appear at a tournament with a SteelSeries mouse/keyboard, this I agree with. But that is also a matter between the players and the sponsors.

    But this is about the game they’re playing (i.e. a rugby player kicking a soccer ball around) and as such they should have no say in what the do/don’t play.

    Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 5, 2013 at 11:22

    If they’re earning a salary from Riot then I think it’s a fair point not to have them streaming other MOBAs because that’s their competition. Other genres should not be an issue.

    Reply

    • frikkenator

      December 5, 2013 at 11:32

      Yea, but they’re not, they just get prize money. Their salaries come from the sponsors.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        December 5, 2013 at 11:37

        Ah okay, then Riot can get lost.

        Reply

  5. Kensei Seraph

    December 5, 2013 at 11:28

  6. Hammersteyn

    December 5, 2013 at 11:33

    More politics surrounds E-sports than E-tolls it seems

    Reply

  7. B4d R0b0t

    December 5, 2013 at 11:35

    This is new territory with new rules. Riot who have a huge production, marketing and development team are paving the way. Although rules like this should be understood and negotiated before anything is signed. Either the player, or the players manager/agent missed that point or chose to ignore it. I do doubt that it was “fine print” as streaming is central to Riots business model, it shows in the nearly 100 000 +views LOL gets nightly on twitch.tv. Typically 2 x the amount of Dota2 viewers.

    Reply

    • frikkenator

      December 5, 2013 at 11:39

      They most likely knew about it, but what choice do they have other than to sign?

      Riot may be paving the way, but they’re doing it wrong. It’s not like people are leaving LoL in droves just cause one of the pro’s had a casual game of DotA and streamed it.

      Reply

      • B4d R0b0t

        December 5, 2013 at 11:51

        Agreed it is not the best policy but to say they have no choice is not true. Everything is about negotiation and if you rush into any contract you will get burnt. I guess its time for gamers to wise up to that point.

        Reply

        • frikkenator

          December 5, 2013 at 11:57

          Dude, you’re a pro LoL player, you have a choice between signing a contract with this one clause you don’t like, or not being able to compete in the biggest tournament in LoL, which do you choose?

          It’s also not about gamers wising up to that, the contracts and all admin/legal stuff is handled by the organisation the team belongs to, not the players. And the organisation is not going to say no to this event because they need to keep the sponsors happy. ESports on this level is much bigger and much more organised than you think.

          Reply

          • B4d R0b0t

            December 5, 2013 at 14:12

            I know how organised it is, that’s not the point. My knowledge of artists contracts is based on 12 years in film. That includes getting international artists to sign waivers ect as a producer. In so far as my knowledge of international gaming goes I know enough to have this discussion. And yes if you just go ahead and sign a contract your are bound to it. And no a company like Riot games would not kick you out the door if you wanted discuss a clause or amend something.

            Never forget that as great as Riot is they know this whole scene is based on the cult of personality, they themselves admit it in the release. What they are doing it totally fair in regards to what they are trying to achieve. Make no mistake they are light years ahead of the competition when it comes to production. What they are doing did not just appear out of nothing.

            The production team for Riot is made us of very experienced people from the film & broadcast world. And I stand by my statement that no contract needs to “just be signed” so as to confirm participation. If someone is offering you a contract they want something from you, they are offering your something in return. It is about negotiation and failure to do that means whatever you sign will be biased towards the party that created the contract.

            And yes obviously gamers do need to wise up to this, we have way too many teams in the world with way to little management & representation.

          • Gareth

            February 25, 2014 at 20:29

            Team Managers sign on behalf of the players. (only comment I have to make) so can’t hold the players responsible to breaking a rule in the contract that they didn’t even know about.

  8. Weanerdog

    December 5, 2013 at 11:53

    Hey Zoe some clarity, you said :”Riot obviously wants their players who are getting a monthly salary by playing LoL to only stream that MOBA.” are Riot paying them or is it their sponsors that are paying them. If its the sponsors then the sponsors should get together and tell riot that they can get stuffed and that none of the players will play. I don’t watch dota games but do watch WOT and therefore get exposure to the sponsors from that, so I believe that it hurts the sponsors as well.

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      December 5, 2013 at 12:08

      Riot plans to pay set salaries to select players. This brings down prize pools at tournaments, but gives players a more consistent income.

      Reply

      • Weanerdog

        December 5, 2013 at 12:25

        Well if they are paying them then I suppose they can dictate the terms of the payment.

        Reply

      • frikkenator

        December 5, 2013 at 12:49

        Yea that changes everything, and Riot paying “select” players salaries is a very bad thing for eSports in general.

        Reply

        • ToshZA

          December 5, 2013 at 12:53

          Cannot agree more. It’d be like (using Kromas’ analogy above) the Tri-Nations paying the salaries of the national teams’ players. That’s really, really not a good thing for any sport, not just eSports. Its just that every other discipline hasn’t even considered this, and won’t. Why eSports? This is just stupid as all hell.

          Reply

          • frikkenator

            December 5, 2013 at 12:58

            Exactly. By doing so you’re effectively going from a sport like rugby, to WWE (which we all know is 100% scripted and pre-determined). If everyone is paid by the same guy, you don’t have competition.

          • Gerhard Davids

            December 5, 2013 at 13:36

            Very good point.

          • Gareth

            February 25, 2014 at 20:36

            Difference is that Ordinary sports make so much money from Tickets sold, sponsors (millions of USD just to walk out the bathroom with shampoo bottle in your hand) etc and the players make atleast R200-400k/month (I can find out easily the exact amount as a few Ex Spring bok work for my Uncles company (sports company)

            In E-sports the only prize money is “hardware” and only for top 3 teams, I have never heard of any competitive team actually receiving any type of cash in hand other than prizes from Tournaments.

            With PandaTank Quitting E-sports because of lack of funds to sustain him and to have a better life..the idea of Riot paying players that have talent and are critical to the survival/growth of their game is a great idea, Pay them enough so they can cover debt and live a descent life as if they had a job and they will continue to support the Gaming Company and continue to attract players.

  9. Kromas

    December 5, 2013 at 12:13

    Lets do an actual comparison quickly because I am getting annoyed. Cut away all the bull about sponsorships etc cause that is not what is happening here folks. I will take rugby as the direct analogy of e-sports and thus LCS would be compared to Tri-Nations. What their contract is saying is that if you play in the Tri-Nations you can not play in the world cup unless it is not going to be aired. Right there is the heart of the problem.

    Reply

    • Willem Swanepoel

      December 5, 2013 at 12:21

      no you got it wrong.

      You sign a contract to play a certain brand of the eSport and they getting paid to play LoL online and to stream it to the fans.

      Now you go and play DOTA or even Starcraft 2 and stream it. Of course LoL will lose some fans because they want to play what their “heroes” are playing. It is just some weird psychology thingy, very interesting if you google these stuff.

      Gaming is the eSport and LoL is the brand.

      If you are sponsored to play LoL then you cannot go and login Dota and play and stream it. Dota is still a Game. If they streamed their Golf (not the game) but the real life GOLF game then they wouldnt have been banned.

      You get mixed up with leagues(tri nations, world cup etc.) vs brands of the game.

      Reply

      • frikkenator

        December 5, 2013 at 12:48

        The players are contracted to organisations (i.e. Na’Vi). The organisations don’t have a problem with them playing other games, but if they want to play in the LCS which is just one competition run by Riot, then they may not play other games.

        The sponsors also don’t care what they play, as long as they play (more airtime is better).

        Riot are the ones who put this clause in place. Riot does not pay their salaries, they just pay prize money for this one competition.

        So basically no one cares what they play, except if the want to take part in the biggest LoL competition, then suddenly Riot has a say. And that, is where the problem lies.

        Reply

        • Kromas

          December 5, 2013 at 12:54

          You pretty much said what I wanted to say right there. Play in LCS and you can not enter for Dota in the WCG. Does not happen often but it does happen and Riot pretty much just screwed your team over.

          Reply

          • frikkenator

            December 5, 2013 at 12:55

            This is even worse, they’re not even entering eny DotA tournament, they’re just playing casual games and streaming it on their private channels.

          • Kromas

            December 5, 2013 at 13:02

            That is true.

          • Her Highness the Hipster

            December 5, 2013 at 13:25

            Exactly – no way to say “hey, watch me try out a new game” without worrying about Riot coming down on them. I can understand (if not agree) with a MOBA exclusivity deal, but not across all games

          • B4d R0b0t

            December 5, 2013 at 14:26

            That for me is the biggest issue. Like if the contract said, no streaming of competitive games then sure. But we love to see our favourite gamers/streamers play different games. Its fun to see them learn how to play live or noob out a bit.

        • Willem Swanepoel

          December 5, 2013 at 13:06

          No one forced them to sign a contract or were they forced to sign it ?

          Reply

          • frikkenator

            December 5, 2013 at 13:11

            Like I said to Bad Robot, this is your career, and this is the biggest tournament in your career. Do you really have a choice? A contract, even if signed willingly, does not mean it’s right.

          • B4d R0b0t

            December 5, 2013 at 14:23

            No obviously this is not the way it should be done. I get what they are trying to do and its more about exclusive rights to the personality. What they are trying to do is similar to when Pepsi sponsored the IPL and suddenly you could not buy or even bring Coke into the grounds.
            They try to sign the personality and then control the content. They want to dominate twitch (even more). This type of contract smells like it was dreamt up by some ex NBC TV producer who was trying to find another way to gain further control and hold onto or increase user counts.

            And yes this is just like FIFA paying the players but more in line with a WWE type contract were you are a entertainer first and foremost. Yes I would liken Riot to WWE in many ways, same ideology to control everything from top to bottom. Meaning in-house production teams. Artists contracts, limiting what the artist can do outside of WWE but at the same time helping successful artists launch huge careers outside of the WWE circle.

            Is this good for gaming ? Who knows, we presume it is not but these are early days and there will always be a counter to people like Riot.

  10. Willem Swanepoel

    December 5, 2013 at 12:27

    It is not stupid at all.

    They knew about it and now they are banned for their stupid mistakes.

    If you earn a Salary and you signed a contract to get that money then unfortunately you have to stick to their rules or get a real job 😉

    Reply

  11. Devourer of Small Bunnies

    December 5, 2013 at 12:52

    No but thats an argument of sponsorships. If them footballers want to go race cars, they can. Publicly or not. How can playing a different game be considered as “truant”? Im sorry I disagree. If it got to a point where they had to play in leagues/official matches etc, yes, then there would be an issue if, lets say, an alternate sponsor was willing to run with the player on the alternate platform. To straight up disallow it? Thats retarded. They forcing players to live their careers with blind folds on. How do you exceed and excel and learn? New techniques? Honing skills? Practising?

    Swimmers are regularly found in the weights section of a gym, cricketers are often found playing a little footy before a match. Now you play lol pro, but can never play dota? No man. Theres no legitimate reason in my mind as to how any one can dictate what or how you do things outside of your career.

    Its just another form of control, I get that, but at what cost? At whose detriment? As usual.
    The gamers.

    Reply

  12. Gerhard Davids

    December 5, 2013 at 13:35

    I sorry WHAT?!

    This would make sense if and only if players are directly sponsored by the LCS. This is a very slippery slope Riot are playing on right now.

    Reply

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