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Fans cheer during
an Overwatch
League match
on May 4 at
Blizzard Arena.
quite a headache in January when he
hurled a homophobic slur at a gay competitor.
Lengyel was promptly suspended. It was far
from his only infraction: Lengyel had racked
up thousands of dollars in fines for his antics.
This year, he used an “emote,” the name for
the emoticons used on Twitch, the live online
gaming channel, in a racially disparaging way
toward a league emcee. (Lengyel said later that
he didn’t realize he was being ofensive.)
Lengyel is one of a half-dozen Overwatch
League players who have received warnings,
fines, or suspensions for their conduct on personal
social media channels or oicial league
streams. (“Playing in the Overwatch League
is an amazing opportunity but also a big responsibility,”
commissioner Nate Nanzer says.)
But the problem isn’t limited to the 12-team
Overwatch League, which was established last
year. Today, e-sports groups are increasingly
asking themselves the same question: How do
we ensure that the talent doesn’t become
a liability?
The NBA 2K League, a 17-team organization
in the midst of its inaugural season, is trying to
confront the issue before it becomes a problem
by looking to the policies of its real-world
counterpart. (The virtual league is co-owned by
the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, the game
publisher known best for Grand Theft Auto.)
Before this year’s e-season began, players were
given a crash course in conduct, says league
managing director Brendan Donohue.
Still, most e-sports organizations are young
and haven’t yet had to deal with bad behavior
on a large scale. (Twitch, which is owned by
Amazon, says it polices harassment using
humans and algorithms alike.) But the gaming
community’s toxic underbelly—on display
during the Gamergate controversy in 2014—
ofers reason to be concerned that e-sports’
growing platform would only magnify it.
In the meantime, results may vary. Pro
gamer Mychal “Trihex” Jeferson, who is
African-American, says he sometimes sees
racially disparaging jokes on Twitch, where
he has more than 300,000 followers. “It can
hurt,” he says. “It can take you out of it.”
It can also motivate. Wendi Fleming, a
female gamer who participated in this year’s
NBA 2K League draft—no women were
among the 102 players selected—says the
dynamic fuels her competitive streak.
“I purposely made my name ‘ALittleLady87’
so people would know that I’m a woman,” she
says. “So you could know that a woman just
beat you.”
www.t.me/velarch_official
“HIKE,” OF COURSE, BECAUSE OUR ANNUAL summer retreat for Fortune 500
leaders, tech entrepreneurs, and investors takes place on the bucolic
campus of the Aspen Institute, nestled in the Rockies. This year’s mustsee
program is a blast of crisp mountain air: JD.com’s Richard Liu, Grab’s
Hooi Ling Tan, Lyft’s John Zimmer, AMD’s Lisa Su, Viacom’s Bob Bakish,
and Air Force Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski—plus U.S. Transportation Secretary
Elaine Chao and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, both pictured at left—
will join us. Can’t make it this year? No problem. We’ll live-stream many
sessions on Fortune.com. Tune in starting July 16. —Andrew Nusca
FANS: ROBERT PAUL— BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT; CHAO: BILL CLARK— CQ ROLL CALL/GETTY IMAGES; KHOSROWSHAHI: CHRISTOPHE MORIN— BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
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FORTUNE.COM // JULY.1.18