On League of Legends, the more you play a champion, the more you increase your level on it (and if this is not the case, it is probably that the character is not made for you and that you should perhaps -be consider another). In addition to your level, your mastery points increase. As you play, you earn CP (Champion Points), reach new ranks, and unlock rewards associated with that rank. Of course, the better your performance, the more points you receive..
Earning CP will allow you to gain Mastery levels (up to level 5). Earning an S- or higher rank with champions for whom you have already reached Mastery level 5, you earn Mastery tokens. You can combine them with Hextech drops to reach Mastery levels 6 & 7.
Riot Games has never ruled out making new mastery levels in the future, but the system has already been frozen for some time. For players, reaching level 7 is a small personal achievement that shows the rest of the community our love for one or more champions. But in this quest, one player seems to have got completely lost.
Rot games for mastery points?
The case broke on Twitter yesterday. People have gone to dig into the history of Toucan Celeste — analyst for Unicorns of Love but above all member of the League partnership program — only to discover that the player was consciously losing all his games (by going to the 15th minute), all with near perfect scores. The goal of the maneuver is simple: display an indecent KDA on a champion to earn as many Champion Points as possible to raise said champion to the highest possible mastery as quickly as possible.
The fact of losing all his games lowers his MMR quickly as a bonus, which causes the player to tag only low-level summoners, who have not yet reached rank 30, which as a result still allows him to have an impressive KDA. Note that the games are skillfully orchestrated with 4 premades so that everything goes according to plan.
Many have condemned this practice. There’s no denying that getting run over when you start a game is still a bad experience. And even the conceded victory is not a valid excuse. Getting cleared like this isn’t good enough — no one likes being opened in half. Following the reactions of the community, mostly negative, the player wanted to clarify the situation on his personal Twitter.
He explains in particular that the players encountered during his games are not “traumatized”, that they remain cool and do not flame. He also presented a screen showing a conversation with a Riot Games support member and explained the whole thing to him. It would seem that Toucan Celeste is being sanctioned – but rather weakly.
What shocked the most in this case, rightly, is that the player is a member of the League partnership program. Summoners who are part of this program are supposed to lead by example: “As a member of the PPL, you will be representing Riot Games and the program, so the creators of the PPL will be expected to observe exemplary behavior in-game and on social media.” Riot defines the good behavior of its creators via several points and some have clearly been flouted by the player:
- No arranged victory, MMR boosting, account sharing (he himself provides an account to his premades) or other boost behaviors on your accounts or other accounts.
- No voluntary defeat – disconnection, AFK, inaction, refusal to play or channel hijacking.
Being a member of this program is not necessarily easy and it would therefore seem logical that after having this behavior the player is excluded from it. It would be a lie to say that it hasn’t ruined the experience of many gamers. What’s more, masteries should reward true dedication to the game and shouldn’t be earned that way. It is by playing with players of your level, by improving yourself, that they are earned. However, even if his behavior is reprehensible, harassing him on social networks is certainly not the solution.
A reduced penalty?
What also makes many members of the community wince is the apparent benevolence of Riot Games against him. The sharing of accounts turned out to be voluntary defeats. And, you know this as well as I do, if for the second offense you can get a temporary ban, account sharing is totally prohibited by Riot Games and is sanctioned with a permanent ban. Yet, in the tweet above featuring a screenshot of Celestial Toucan’s personal Discord, it does state that he provides accounts for his premades.
In his exchange with one of the members of the support, the latter tells the player that he “risk at worst a warning” — which seems outrageously light. One can legitimately wonder if the studio is not knowingly showing leniency to what can be considered a community influencer.. If it was an ordinary player, like you or me still with my old account which still bears the stigma of season 3, we can say almost without batting an eyelid that the sanction would have been immediate and severe (bye bye my more than 300k masteries on my hands).
The truth is, there should be no distinction between players, no matter how many followers they have. Whether you are a Faker or JeanKevindu41, if you break the rules, you must be punished according to your infraction.
The matter is now in the hands of Riot Games and it is hoped that the studio will make a fair and measured decision.
Update: The sanction has fallen and Toucan Celeste receives a ban (even if we don’t know if it is a temporary or permanent ban).