by Jeremy Waxman on Jul 21, 2015
In April of 2014, Konstantinos "Forg1ven" Tzortziou was issued a fine by Riot Games for extreme toxicity and inappropriate behavior in-game. Since then, the player has claimed to realize the error of his ways, and to have reformed his behavior. Unfortunately, it seems that has not been the case.
On July 9th of this year, LCS officials received screenshots revealing "targeted harassment and the use of discriminatory language towards a fellow player" by Forg1ven. This triggered an investigation into the player, and Gambit Gaming was notified on July 13th that Forg1ven was being investigated, and a suspension was a possibility, pending the results. What was uncovered was that in the last 30 days, Forg1ven has been reported in a staggering 70% of his games, with 92% of those reports being for verbal abuse, offensive language and negative attitude. This incredibly high number of incidents placed Tzortziou in the top 1.5% of toxic players during that 30 day time period.
As punishment, Forg1ven has been suspended from playing in the LCS for four games (CLG's Stixxay received the same penalty for a similar offense.) This means he will not be able to participate in the last two games of the regular season, as well as Gambit's first two playoff games, should they make it that far. Riot Games is aware of how losing their star AD Carry could affect Gambit's playoff chances, and did not take this decision lightly. However, Riot has consistently punished players under these circumstances regardless of LCS standings, and they would be remiss if they did not do the same here.
It's truly unfortunate that this has occurred, as there were many who wanted to believe that Forg1ven's days of extreme toxicity were behind him. We can only hope that this has not been an ongoing pattern of behavior, and it will help him truly correct his mistakes so that the superstar we all know he can be can shine.