League of Legends Pro Attempts Suicide After Match Fixing Scandal

[Josh Engen]

League of Legends Pro Attempts Suicide After Match Fixing Scandal

Cheon "Promise" Min-Ki attempted suicide this morning after exposing a League of Legends tournament scandal involving his team's manager.

Cheon "Promise" Min-Ki, a professional League of Legends player from Korea, is in serious condition following a suicide attempt. This morning, Promise jumped from a 12-story building, crashing through the roof of a first-floor recycling center, which undoubtedly saved his life.

The incident happened hours after Min-Ki exposed a match fixing scandal involving his team's manager, Noh Dae Chul.

In a post on Inven [http://www.inven.co.kr/board/powerbbs.php?come_idx=2653&l=7252562], a Korean gaming website, Promise revealed that Noh Dae Chul never intended to form a successful League of Legends team. Noh planned to fix matches by ordering his team to lose on purpose, so that he could cash in by betting against them on illegal gambling sites.

"...AHQ Korea was a team made by Noh to profit off illegal gambling, teammates didn't know and we had to fix games because of this," wrote Min-Ki. "AHQ Taiwan never sponsored our team, it was a lie. I am sorry for all of this, and I can't tell you everything, but I'm leaving now as I cant deal with this anymore."

Promise had been in a coma following the fall, but has reportedly regained consciousness. Right now, he is in serious but stable condition.

Before we start unilaterally blaming Noh Dae Chul for Min-Ki's suicide attempt, I'd like to point out that there are probably other factors at play here. We know that Promise had a difficult home life and that gaming was his escape. Plus, it's very difficult to tell how much of this story is being communicated effectively when most of it is unverifiable.

Either way, Cheon "Promise" Min-Ki could use a little support right now.

Source: GMA News [http://kotaku.com/league-of-legends-pro-attempted-suicide-after-tournamen-1542880793?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow]

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[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Hope the guy makes a full recovery. And by "full recovery", I mean both physical and mental. I imagine it'll be some time before he gets back into gaming, but I can totally relate to him if gaming truly is "an escape" for him.

Seriously, a good team should look into recruiting this guy, if he is pro enough for them, when he gets out. Guy could probably use a couple good friends right now.

 

[Barbas]

That's a shocker. I hope he's stabilizing and getting as much support as his friends and family can give him right now.

 

[Baresark]

Maybe it's me as a westerner who has a health relationship with games, but I wouldn't immediately tie the two together. If anything, this is just one of many factors that lead to his attempted suicide. While it probably contributed, everyone must understand that the perspective of death as an alternative to a life situation is proof that he had a lot of other issues. Also, it's disingenuous to also point out his difficult home life as the "other major factor".

I just hope he recovers into full health.

 

[Racecarlock]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

 

[Elfgore]

What I get from this article, and this makes it so much more fucked up. He must have been so excited he could play the games that he used to escape his home life professionally. Only to learn his team was created to lose and make some **** money. Honestly, fuck that manager. Hope the poor guy recovers and keeps gaming.

 

[Roxas1359]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

Thing is, LoL, and other competitive gaming scenes, are considered official sports nowadays. You might not consider it not worth it, but the fact that it's an official sport means that the United States recognizes competitive gaming as it and as a result they are considered athletes. Since it's an official sport, it also can be legally bet upon and major money can be made from it as a result. And considering how pretty much Chen was used, working his hardest to do what he enjoyed, especially after he had a rough couple of years, only to find out the person who was supposed to represent him was scamming him it's rather sad.

OT: Hopefully Cheon makes a full physical and mental recovery from this.

 

[Kyogissun]

I get that the whole idea is that 'Obviously it was more than just the scam he uncovered that drove him to a suicide attempt' but come the fuck on people, to not direct hate at the guy behind the scam is absolutely moronic. While I normally am one to be all 'So and so didn't drive someone to suicide, the person who committed suicide made the final decision', I wouldn't downplay the idea of him doing this because he was scared.

If I had been in that situation, I know I would probably be super fucking paranoid that something bad could happen to myself and my friends. I don't know that I WOULD commit suicide, but I sure as hell can understand WHY someone would. For once, as much as I hate to say it, I do understand why and I guess, as much as I hate to say it again, I can't fault him for trying. He either was scared out of his mind or just felt so hollow and empty inside that he might have just blacked out during his suicide attempt. It's not RIGHT mind you, but I won't try and argue against the reasoning because for once... I don't find it incredibly selfish or insane.

I hope this guy gets the help he needs but most of all, I really hope someone will protect him. He does very much seem like a 'tool' in the literal sense, as in he was used. To have his world shattered like that... He probably just didn't feel like he had a future or something. Hopefully someone legitimate will take him in and give him his passion and escape back without him having to fear the same thing happen again or... I don't think he'd leave any room for error on his next suicide attempt.

tl;dr I truly struggle to understand and find rational logic behind suicide and more often than not I can never 'grasp' that reason behind WHY. This is one of those rare cases I do realize and understand the logic behind suicide. But thankfully this guy has gotten a second chance and I really REALLY hope someone out there will reach out to him in a way I never could to help him out to the fullest extent. I hope you get better dude, you definitely seem like you deserve it...

 

[FancyNick]

I think I watch too many crime dramas because the first thing I thought of was that the guy handling the scam pushed him off for talking and tried to make it look like suicide.

OT: I hope this guy can make a full recovery. He seems to have some serious problems in his life and I wish him the best.

 

[Avaholic03]

So...he definitely jumped right? He wasn't pushed? Because it seems like by exposing this scam he made some enemies for sure.

 

[Redryhno]

What I get from this article, and this makes it so much more fucked up. He must have been so excited he could play the games that he used to escape his home life professionally. Only to learn his team was created to lose and make some **** money. Honestly, fuck that manager. Hope the poor guy recovers and keeps gaming.

Unfortunately, it's not that uncommon at the moment for there to be complete **** managers/owners right now, there was also Quantic, a Korean team that came to NA for the amateur league, their owner(sponser? I forget) sorta just up and disappeared when they didn't make it to the big flashy lightshow leagues, along with around half the player's money. I don't think anyone knows where he ended up still.

FXO-turned-TBD-turned-DTG-currently CLB had a manager that basically threw a fit, locked the team out of their website and social media, and up and claimed most of their prize money as her own due to them telling her they were looking for someone to replace her(as her scheduling for scrims and all the other crap that goes into running a team was confirmed by every player as being completely horrid) as compensation for her emotional distress, as well as kicking out one of the players and his brother that was renting a room from her, again claiming what they had in the room as hers now.

Then there's one of the fully pro teams(who made it to worlds) who had a change in ownership six months ago and the first thing he did when reaching out to the community was make himself look like a complete moron who has no idea what he'd bought,as well as making the claims about nepotism in the team appear completely true, and there's still controversy surrounding their decisions with little to no community outreach since the owner's "damage control" ruined most of what was left of the team's image, and they're currently the joke of the pro circuit(as they went from being top three, to dead last in less than a year), something their name change to XDG has made even more jokes about them pop up, the most prevalent of which being the name looking like some guy having a wank, and that they forgot to add their second G at the end, XD.GG, further adding onto the joke of them losing almost every game before it even starts.(laughing/troll/etc. face, "good game")

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

Considering that every team in the NA Pro circuit has like a six figure deal for the players alone for every split they play in(roughly three months), as well as brand building, t-shirts you can buy, and all manner of team gear you can get, and we're kinda the middle of the pack for how much we pay our players,most of their income comes from them streaming and minor to a few tiers below world-wide brand recognition sponsors paying them to put their logo on the team shirts.

The main difference between here and Korea being that there's not as much job security,but more opportunities to make money (advertisements, commercials, streaming again, gigantic world corporation sponsors,etc.)

So I think you can imagine exactly how big of a deal it would be if it came out that you were on a team that was created with the sole intention of losing and making your boss money, careers, it still feels funny saying that in this situation, have already been ruined from not winning one specific game, this is miles above that in terms of severity.

 

[RaikuFA]

I hope he makes a full recovery and his manager gets whats coming to him.

 

[Racecarlock]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

Thing is, LoL, and other competitive gaming scenes, are considered official sports nowadays. You might not consider it not worth it, but the fact that it's an official sport means that the United States recognizes competitive gaming as it and as a result they are considered athletes. Since it's an official sport, it also can be legally bet upon and major money can be made from it as a result. And considering how pretty much Chen was used, working his hardest to do what he enjoyed, especially after he had a rough couple of years, only to find out the person who was supposed to represent him was scamming him it's rather sad.

OT: Hopefully Cheon makes a full physical and mental recovery from this.

Yeah, I know it's an official sport. Guess what? I think soccer riots are also stupid. There's a point where team spirit or just wanting to win so badly just doesn't cut it anymore and you have to go "Ok seriously, calm your tits". Hell, even the gambling part is not a good excuse. Nobody needed to bet in the first place anyways. Suicide is still WAY TOO FAR. And so are riots. Fuck riots.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

Basically, imagine if an NFL team was outed by its quarterback as having their games specifically fixed so that the manager could win illegal bets by gambling against them, and that the entire team outside of him honestly had no idea that any of it was going on. On that same scale, you or I would be the equivalent of a bunch of friends playing football at a local park. That should give you an idea of the kind of pressure that this guy has been facing.

 

[Korolev]

Well, all the best to Min-Ki. Hope he comes out of this.

But I've always been a bit suspicious about the E-sports scene. How much match-fixing is really going on? For that matter, I've always been highly suspicious of all professional sports. There was a major scandal last year, involving a major Singaporean businessman fixing PREMIER LEAGUE soccer matches in the UK! I'm not joking, match-fixing was going on in one of the highest levels of soccer, and it was going on for a long time! Japanese Sumo-Wrestling was revealed, a few years ago, to be almost ENTIRELY fixed, for the benefit of the gambling clubs and the wrestlers themselves. The Pakistani Cricket team was, a few years ago, proven to almost always lose matches on purpose, explaining their terrible recent record.

I've always been super, super suspicious of sports as a result of previous match-fixing scandals. You just don't know if a team has been paid to lose. In Australia, we have a sporting event known as the "State of Origin" - it's a series of three rugby matches between New South Wales and Queensland, and it is a BIG DEAL. It generates a huge amount of money. I've always found it weird that, in recent times, the event ALWAYS goes to three matches. No one ever wins two and the third is cancelled - both sides always win one match, regardless of how bad one side is. I believe strongly that it is fixed so that both sides will win one match, to entice a higher viewership for the third match.

This scandal might just be the very tip of the iceberg.

 

[klaynexas3]

Yeah, I know it's an official sport. Guess what? I think soccer riots are also stupid. There's a point where team spirit or just wanting to win so badly just doesn't cut it anymore and you have to go "Ok seriously, calm your tits". Hell, even the gambling part is not a good excuse. Nobody needed to bet in the first place anyways. Suicide is still WAY TOO FAR. And so are riots. Fuck riots.

Here's the thing. Him losing the games has little to do with why he tried to kill himself. He had just found out that what he did for a living, his pride and joy, was a lie. Any fans that followed him, it was all because of a lie. He was cheated, scammed, and in the end, he may even feel like he might get blamed for it. Some people might think that he was in on it, in which case he may have not wanted to deal with that. On top of that, it does disband his team, letting the other oblivious teammates down, and he's the one that spilled it. Maybe he felt like his teammates would hate him after this. And again, add in other shitty circumstances, the game itself becomes rather paltry by comparison. This isn't some team spirit bullshit that is involved in riots, this is losing his livelihood, letting down a fair amount of people, and finding out he was nothing more than a pawn being used. The man was hysterical, and understandably so.

 

[Two-A]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

We already have people rioting over teams of 11 people kicking a ball, professional video gaming isn't that long of a stretch. And as Elfgore above me said, his situation was already unstable. To find that his first break into the scene was a ploy for a scumbag to get some easy money must have been the breaking point.

OT: I hope the guy recovers, and I hope his life gets better from now on.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Yeah, I know it's an official sport. Guess what? I think soccer riots are also stupid. There's a point where team spirit or just wanting to win so badly just doesn't cut it anymore and you have to go "Ok seriously, calm your tits". Hell, even the gambling part is not a good excuse. Nobody needed to bet in the first place anyways. Suicide is still WAY TOO FAR. And so are riots. Fuck riots.

Here's the thing. Him losing the games has little to do with why he tried to kill himself. He had just found out that what he did for a living, his pride and joy, was a lie. Any fans that followed him, it was all because of a lie. He was cheated, scammed, and in the end, he may even feel like he might get blamed for it. Some people might think that he was in on it, in which case he may have not wanted to deal with that. On top of that, it does disband his team, letting the other oblivious teammates down, and he's the one that spilled it. Maybe he felt like his teammates would hate him after this. And again, add in other shitty circumstances, the game itself becomes rather paltry by comparison. This isn't some team spirit bullshit that is involved in riots, this is losing his livelihood, letting down a fair amount of people, and finding out he was nothing more than a pawn being used. The man was hysterical, and understandably so.

yepp, there are so many other factors to consider into this it's a bit mind boggling, the amount of pressure and even possible enemies he made after this would drive anyone to insane levels of stress.

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

We already have people rioting over teams of 11 people kicking a ball, professional video gaming isn't that long of a stretch. And as Elfgore above me said, his situation was already unstable. To find that his first break into the scene was a ploy for a scumbag to get some easy money must have been the breaking point.

OT: I hope the guy recovers, and I hope his life gets better from now on.

hah riots? did you see the game that had the ref get his body ripped apart?!? his head was put on a damn spike in the middle of the field even.

(granted this was after the ref stabbed someone mid-game...but still horrible all around)

here is the link, I won't link the pics/videos, because you can find those yourself if you are still interested [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357453/Brazilian-referee-beheaded-Angry-fans-head-stake-stabbing-player.html]


OT: really feel bad for the guy, tough situation, but besides the suicide attempt I think he did the right thing on exposing this and I hope the manager gets brought to justice in what he did do.

 

[Two-A]

People take these games way too seriously. Like, I understand getting invested in a competitive match and even playing on a team. But suicide? Holy shit! Come to think of it, match fixing too. Who considers THIS important enough to actually fix matches in it?

We already have people rioting over teams of 11 people kicking a ball, professional video gaming isn't that long of a stretch. And as Elfgore above me said, his situation was already unstable. To find that his first break into the scene was a ploy for a scumbag to get some easy money must have been the breaking point.

OT: I hope the guy recovers, and I hope his life gets better from now on.

hah riots? did you see the game that had the ref get his body ripped apart?!? his head was put on a damn spike in the middle of the field even.

(granted this was after the ref stabbed someone mid-game...but still horrible all around)

here is the link, I won't link the pics/videos, because you can find those yourself if you are still interested [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357453/Brazilian-referee-beheaded-Angry-fans-head-stake-stabbing-player.html]


OT: really feel bad for the guy, tough situation, but besides the suicide attempt I think he did the right thing on exposing this and I hope the manager gets brought to justice in what he did do.

That situation was so ridiculous I honestly thought you were making fun of me. Figures it had to be in Brazil, they take football so seriouly they already kill themselves over it. It really makes me afraid of the people who are going to the World Cup.

 

[littlewisp]

In the reddit thread there was also a translation of everything that went on:

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/209ogj/league_scandal_must_read_source_by_former_pro_adc/cg148e3

It's an awful situation all the way around. Best to him, and I hope he has the support to make it through this.

edit: ahh, more stuff: http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/209ogj/league_scandal_must_read_source_by_former_pro_adc/

first post after the main post there:

[?]cakezz15 366 points 1 day ago
He is confirmed to have woken up. Not completely sure on his status. His family is extremely poor, his father left his family when he was 15 in korean age and left them in a house that had no heating (translated from his words). Basically he was in a situation where league progaming was all he had and the coach fucked that up.
http://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=105972&iskin=esports
http://m.inven.co.kr/board/powerbbs.php?come_idx=2653&l=7252562

So this, to me, definitely sounds like the last straw, the thing that tipped him over the edge.