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Follow-up to SK-Gambit Situation

Riot··3 votes·5,662 views
Hey Summoners, After our decision to remake the SK vs. GMB game, we wanted to shed more light on the thought process that went into it. There have been other games in the past that appear to have been impacted by bugs, but this one was unique for a few reasons: the bug was immediately verifiable with 100% certainty, and the disadvantaged team paused because of the bug affecting play. Ultimately, the fault in how this situation played out lies on us, and that’s why we remade. As we mentioned previously, the correct decision was to remake, and while we wish that we had followed that course of action in the moment, we felt that not remaking the game afterwards would be unfair to SK, who followed all of the rules throughout this process. The big problem we ran into with this remake was the clarity of the rules. In the LCS ruleset (Rule 9.4.2.1), it states that a game can be remade if it "experiences a critical bug at any point during the match which significantly alters game stats or gameplay mechanics." When a team experiences this kind of bug and notifies the referee, we expected that the disadvantaged team would request a remake of the game (or that, at a minimum, they knew that they could). Unfortunately, the teams expected the opposite: that we would ask them if they wanted a remake. So what happened was that the LCS referee didn't offer the chance for a remake because they thought the player was supposed to request it, and the player didn't request a remake because he didn't know it was possible. This might put us in conflict with Rule 8.8.3, but we came to the conclusion that no decision was formally made and that the decision to not remake was defaulted to (due to unfamiliarity with the rules). After the game finished, we looked at the bug and how it related to the integrity of the game. Because the bug happened so early, we couldn't predict how much of an impact it had on the overall conclusion. What we did know was that some aspect of the game was changed because of it. Rather than asking SK if they would have preferred a remake (and risk pressuring them to make a public decision), and given the lack of clarity in our rules that led to this, we took what we considered to be the fairest approach. SK did not approach any LCS officials to request a remake; this was decided to be the appropriate course of action because we made the mistake and felt obliged to remedy the situation. We also had to make the decision quickly, given that the landscape of the game changes with patches (and the teams also have a number of games to play next week). Once the decision to remake had been made, we followed the rules in place around remakes (Rule 9.4.3), which allowed both teams full freedom in picks and bans. Our rules allow for new picks and bans in any remake that occurs after Game of Record is established. This is designed to allow teams to employ a new strategy instead of starting a new game with foreknowledge of their opponent’s plans. The biggest lesson we've learned here is that rule 8.3.3 and rule 9.4.2.1 aren't sufficient for what we designed them for and we need to make sure that a full framework exists to empower our referees to make (or not make) in-game decisions. We'll be editing our rules to be more applicable and will release a change log when the updated ruleset is ready (soon™). We'd love to share the updated rules with you, but we want to take the proper time first to make sure the rules are well-designed so that we can avoid unfortunate situations like this in the future. Sincerely, Nick Allen

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158 Comments

Okupant96 votes

So the main point is that Riot screwed Gambit big time because they can't follow and fix their rules. Good job!

Goare74 votes

Agree. I've been a fan of Riot since launch, but this episode was a MAJOR step backward in E-sports legitimacy:

  • A call was made to continue the game by the ref ("no decision" is incorrect, the game continued). That was overturned the next day. Don't overturn the call on the field after the game has ended.
  • Show a little more decency and professionalism than to let the teams know a few hours before their first game starts (and AFTER announcing to the public) that they're playing a rematch. Reading Gambit's official post on the situation was jaw-dropping to me. Not to mention, way to crush a team's morale on D2 by telling them right before they begin that their D1 results just got voided.
  • I can't fathom the logic that a few minutes of the W-bug significantly influenced the outcome of that game. What REALLY influenced the outcome was the pick-ban phase, and SK was basically given a second go-around for free to learn from their awful mistakes in Game 1.
  • Combination of points 1 and 3: Riot basically just stated they can toss any game result out the window after the fact if they so choose. This hugely undermines the legitimacy of the competition in my eyes.

In short, wow. This has been a tragedy of errors by Riot. I elected not to watch the NA LCS this weekend and likely the rest of the split - I know one viewer is a drop in the bucket, but that is how distasteful this series of events has been to me.

Edit: Woah, formatting is a challenge.

Wholesale Whale51 votes

I'm hugely disgusted in the way this was handled. I don't even have a lot of emotion toward the EU LCS in general and I'm definitely not a fan-boy of either team. The point of this is that it IMPACTS THE INTEGRITY OF LEAGUE OF LEGENDS AS A LEGITIMATE SPORT. The situation was a win-win for SK in that they had a chance to replay and possibly win a game they'd most certainly lost, while being a lose-lose for Gambit in which they could possibly LOSE a game they'd already most certainly won. THE MIDDLE OF A PROFESSIONAL SEASON IS NOT THE TIME TO BE PROUD OF YOURSELF FOR IDENTIFYING INCONSISTENCY IN YOUR OWN RULE SET. This whole thing is a huge mistake and I personally have lost and incredibly amount of respect for Riot regarding these decisions. I have so much salt on my tongue because of this. You clearly see the LITERAL OUTRAGE of the community even before the remake was played and failed to EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE IT. How long is Riot going to keep act like nothing is going on? Admit that this was wrong and badly handled or I swear on everything Riot will completely lose my support (meaning my MONEY). WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Geakzor46 votes

I quote: (Rule 9.4.2.1), it states that a game can be remade if it "experiences a critical bug at any point during the match which significantly alters game stats or gameplay mechanics."

Well how was that a CRITICAL bug? it didn't effect the game outcome at all I mean it wasn't like he made a PENTA kill on SK gaming and made all the other lanes do well.

I have to make a link to the Zed bug that appeared at all stars where RIOT stated that the outcome of the game wouldn't be affected just by the zed bug although zed got free XP and Gold, where Darien his Aatrox did not get free XP or Gold.

So how did this bug change the outcome of the game as it only occured for a couple of minutes.

Also in the rematch SK insta locked the Lucian. which Genja played in the first match coincidence I think not. Really unfair to me when a team that lost got the first pick in the game. Even to pick a complete new team comp seems unfair cause whe are not gonna see that Vel'koz support pick anymore.

So with this said the only fair way to not benefit one of the teams seems to give them both a loss. Just because you fucked up shouldn't mean that one team gets a disadvantage and the other team not. Giving them both a win is not possible because then it would be unfair against all of the other LCS Teams.

So please get your shit togheter and give Both SK and GMB a lose it seems to be the least you can do to make this right.

Also according to your rules GMB needs to get a Re-match because they got a disadvantage by you guys.

And finaly I want to highlight one more thing:

after the rematch none of the casters that were talking to CandyPanda metioned anything about the SK vs GMB rematch. And he didn't appologize to GMB and its fans for the inconvience and this unfair win for them which to me was the most annoying and unsportsmans like.(if I even say this correctly)

Right now SK is the most hated team in the LCS because of your mess up and I don't think one of them will get picked in the ALL STARS voting.

Sorry for the words but it is unacceptable to see you guys pull one team above the other.

Ofermod35 votes

As far as comparisons to legitimate pro sports teams go, and players not being familiar with the rules...

There was an incident in the NFL where I believe it was the Philadelphia Eagles that did not realize that it was possible for overtime to result in a tie, rather than continuing endlessly until one team won. The ref did not inform the players of that being the situation prior to the start of the overtime period. So did the NFL schedule a rematch because the players did not know the relevant rule and the refs did not inform them of it?

Of course not. They basically said "Well, you should have actually read the rulebook. Result stands. Deal with it."

And then they started informing players about it prior to overtime, just to be sure.

But again, I've never seen a mainstream pro sport match replayed because a player didn't know all of the rules of the game. It is the player's responsibility to know the rules. It's like if a player talked during a pause. Riot's still going to take away a ban from their team in the next game, rather than say "Well, he didn't read up on the rules ahead of time, and the refs didn't walk down the line making sure that each individual player knew they couldn't talk, so we're going to go ahead and not punish him this time."

Koragg19 votes

And right here is the perfect example of how PROFESSIONAL sports are run and refereed. Well said!

Bronze Johnny4 votes

of course they wouldn't rematch. No decent Sport would do that, Ive never heard of a case for a rematch in legitimate sports. Especially if the players didnt know the rues, its just garbage and Mr.Allen knows this as well.

UnCosoAzul32 votes

This whole situation was handled poorly. Once the game ends and an outcome is reached, you simply can't remake it. Someone is going to suffer injustice at that point, no matter what. I think SK suffered an inconvenience by that bug (one that clearly didn't shape the outcome of the game), but Gambit suffered even a bigger one by the rematch. And on either case, it was Riot's fault. Nick says they just didn't make a decision, but the defaulted decision is a decision nevertheless. Your only argument is: "the players didn't know all the options available to them". It is then a judge's fault, SK player's fault or Riot's fault. I'm glad Nick promises it'll never happen again by clarifying rules and making sure players know what are their rights. But, impact-wise, this decision was even worse than the original bug.

Pandorka Ich32 votes

If riot really think that this bug affected on game more, that vision bugs, thresh hook and lattern bugs... So I made a conclusioun that they don't play league at all.

SK lost cause velkoz pick (and picked Jinx for it, its another mistake). Aatrox bug lasts for 6 months and riot knew about it, but 'noticed' only now, when one game can decide all. Maybe remake all aatrox games? Why not?

I'm so angry! And so sad for Gambit and for Alex. They prepared so hard this week.

Darth Melkor5 votes

I can only imagine how you all must be feeling right now. It's BS how Riot handled this situation, plain and simple. You have every right to feel this way. I hope you, Alex and the other Gambit guys can keep your heads up tho. Give Alex a hug for me, I'm a big fan and hate for this to happen.

noLastChance27 votes

@Nick Allen From every aspect, your decision to remake the game was the worst possible. First of all mr Allen can u tell me one sport that players dont know the rules and the refs need to inform them about them during the match? If u want league to be part of e-sports, think carefully before u make any decisions cus then u become a joke. Secondly, do u know any sport that post match decisions are made without informing team managers of the problem occured? You didnt even give the teams the chance to have a say about it and you think you protected sk from being hated this way? You couldn t act in a less professional way, really...

Ranigad12 votes

It's important to cover a few things here.

First of all, e-sports is still a fledgling sport, only recently taking off in the last few years. Its unprecedented in that there really hasn't been anything like this set up for video games in the past that has risen up to this large of a scale. Lol is on the forefront of this scene and thus has the responsibility of setting precedents and making sure that in the end, the model that they come out with is the best one. As a result, its important to realize that the priority shouldn't be on this singular game like Squirel said below but rather on how rules and procedures are ironed out. You can't expect Riot to have everything perfectly in order already because they're also working it out as they go along. Although they might've lacked in the communication of their decision, the decision itself was very professional, following the rules to the best of their ability, not showing any particular bias (unlike us), and realizing that their rules do need some reformation.

Also, there are many sports that have obscure rules that players may not know about. It's not as obvious because a lot of these rules are for specific situations that don't arise on a daily basis. It's a lot like this situation where something unorthodox came up and Riot had to deal with it using a lesser known rule that players may not be familiar with. Obviously, there has to be better communication of options available to players but at the same time, its not an impossible situation.

Koragg19 votes

I don't expect Riot to be perfect, but the precedent is set by other sports than when refs screw up the games aren't replayed. Refs screw up in every sport, and sometimes it screws people over, however you don't fix a mistake with another mistake. Two wrongs certainly don't make a right.

If this was near the beginning of the spring split, I would agree it isn't too important, however at the end of a split where 5-6 teams are within one game of each other and there are only 4 games left...you can't rush a decision like Riot did because one of your refs screwed up. It's okay to admit you are wrong and not do anything about it. You don't have to make it up to someone every time you screw up.

It looks like SK got favoritism because of this situation and it's just going to open the hater floodgates. This is like when a ref makes a bad call in a game, sometimes they look for a way to "make it up" to the people they've wronged, when in reality that just makes everything worse.

Ranigad11 votes

Again, E-sports is an unprecedented scene. It's somewhat difficult to compare a competitive LoL to another sport such as basketball or baseball because of the differing platforms. You have real life physics that don't fail v. computer based coding that sometimes will have a bug. In real life, if you hit a ball with a bat or throw a ball with your hand, it'll move in a different direction than if it came in; but with league, sometimes you might hit a ball and it gets stuck in the bat, or maybe you're playing Aatrox and you're getting lifesteal every 2 autos instead of 3. These are bugs that inherently come with the complexity of a game and they have rules (as laid out by the article) to address the situation when it arises. I would understand if it purely was a poor referee decision (for example a disqualification of a team based on someone not showing up, perhaps getting DDOS'd from home) but in this situation, there were technical problems and they addressed it as per the rules.

If this was near the beginning of the Spring Split, it would still be important because fans would still look back and say, if x game had a different outcome we might've been able to reach y goal. Riot approached this as objectively as they could with the rules that they had on hand; rules, I might add, that were clearly not prepared for this kind of situation (again outlined in the article).

FaerKhan13 votes

I think the argument still stands that if Riot wants esports to be viewed in the same way as professional athletic sports they should have handled this differently. It is inherently unfair to play the whole game through and then reverse that result. If something significant happened in a real professional sport, the game would be paused until the rules could be clarified and then if it was impossible to continue the game due to a problem (say a stadium defect of some sort, that's similar to a bug in a game) then they would replay the game later. However, finishing the game and then going back later opens a whole can of worms and basically removes all of Riot's credibility as a "sports league."

ON top of all that, there have been many other bugs this split that have been more gamechanging (Curse in particular has been screwed royally at least twice) and nothing was done about those matches.

UnholykissSRB20 votes

What you just wrote here is bunch of nonsense , you screwed gambit 100%. Community could find 100000 games in both NA and EU lcs that were afflicted by ''gamebreaking'' bugs and they were not played again.

Zagula Biggs17 votes

I don't ever comment on anything but this annoyed me so much I have to. Your explanation seems more of an excuse to get the problem swept under the rug than actually admit you made a mistake. I'd understand if you came out and said: "Listen we felt that bugs were impacting the games recently and had made a decision to start taking action against them. In our effort we chose a poor match to replay for our first attempt at this and apologize to both Gambit and SK for the atrocious way we handled the situation," and so on.

Like mentioned probably everywhere, because I refuse to believe you aren't aware of the uproar, there is no way the company who made the game could reasonably expect that the bug changed the course of the game. So you stating it happened "too early" to judge is simply wrong. Furthermore, you should have realized the impact this would have on players, game, and the league standings (you may have royally screwed one of the best teams in Europe - it was clear they didn't want to play after the announcement that day). Also, you had plenty of time in between your decision and the game to revert it and think about it further but you didn't! That, however, I can understand - can't look indecisive can you? But sometimes it is better to look indecisive and appear that you're adapting than sticking to a wrong decision until it is too late to reverse (like you did now).

Sorry but this has left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I will probably stop watching LCS for a while and I'm not sure when I'll log into playing LoL either. I know this is extreme but I hate when the integrity of something is ruined. I tune in every week to see good teams play on a fair field. That was completely changed with one decision and the whole playing field of EULCS got shuffled.

You have almost lost me and as I'm sure you're aware, you have competition coming from Blizzard, Dota, Smite, etc. so next time please watch your step before you end up falling backward.

Fiscuous17 votes

Nick Allen you embarrassed the whole esports scene. You're an unprofessional, miserable hack.

Dr Kalash12 votes

The words a bit too harsh, but indeed - yesterday was a sad, sad day for e-sports and Riot. I'm not even going to mention the ridiculous decision to fine NiP players for having friendly banter in private game.

What disgusts me the most in this post, is not a single mention of Gambit, who suffered the most of all parties (not only W turned into L, think what effect that could have on the whole team and their performance vs SHC and possibly in Super Week). Riot screwed up, SK kinda screwed up by not knowing the rules of a league they participate in, but it's GMB being punished and not even getting an apology.

Poor show Mr Allen, very poor show.

Tonelica15 votes

I know a lot of people are really upset over this, I myself feel like SK was given an advantage by being allowed to trash their Vel'Koz pick since it didn't work out for them, and go with the much safer Leona. I feel that probably turned the tide of the game more than anything. The issues I have lie within the rules that allow a team to completely change their strategies when given a second chance. I don't believe it's necessarily "fair" but, at the same time, I can respect how difficult it is to make these rules fair for both teams involved.

I am grateful, however, that Riot has chosen to release an official statement regarding this and their plans to restructure some of their rules. Gambit did not play all that well, but I can see how it's disheartening to win and then suddenly be handed a loss. Ultimately I hope Riot takes strides to make sure their contracted players know the rules and understand their implications. I know it is difficult to foresee a situation like this until it happens, just as I'm sure we'll see other rules altered going forward regarding players playing on work-Visas. Again, I appreciate the acknowledgement of the "mistake" regarding the structure of the rules and I don't disagree that a rematch was the correct decision. I just hope there is some way it can be made completely fair for both teams someday.

Thank you.

Cut 4 ocelote13 votes

What about Gambit? Gambit stomped SK in the 1st game, and the bug on Aatrox were not game changing for this specific game. No matter what it is Gambit than ends up as the big losers here, even though they can't be faulted in any ways.

Dissapointed in how you completely ignore Gambit in this situation. Gambit should not be punished in this way, all the consequenses should affect Riot and their staff only. If the game were pretty even I would understand it, but since Gambit won in such a convinsing way, the bug had a minor and not a major impact.

I understand that Riot's decision for a re-make was not the bug itself, but because the lack of information they gave to SK, but I don't think that is a good enough argument for a re-match.

Sonimus13 votes

RIP Diamond's surprise Xin Zhao pick

Kira Onime12 votes

This remake never should of happened. Sure this little bug happened and might of had an impact, but GMB bot and mid simply stomped SK.

If anything, Riot should of informed both teams about the possibility of a remake and nothing says you have to do it publicly. Ask both teams, see what they want and remake the game at a later date if deemed necessary.

Bad decision overall and Riot directly influenced the ladder standings.

Li7hium6 votes

Please, how naive can people be? The rematch was made because clearly SK wanted to.

And if there were any doubts before the match they were dissipated by SK first picking lucian (picked by genja in first match), not picking vel'koz (what really cost them the first match) and their shitty smiles at the end of the rematch.

So please Riot, stop this charade and man up, say you fucked up and admit it was actually SK that bitch up for the rematch.

Strident4 votes

If SK is forcibly given a rematch, then they must play a rematch.

or

If SK requests a rematch, then they must play a rematch.

If SK plays a rematch, then they want to win the match. If SK wants to win the match, then they don't pick Vel'Koz and pick Lucian.

Regardless of whether or not they requested the rematch, they would want to win the game and not pick Vel'Koz.

Squirelzrme11 votes

The problem I see is that people are too caught up in the moment. It's less important that a single standing in a single game is changed. What really matters is that Riot identified the mistaken clarity in their rules, and that by addressing it early and making sure of future clarity, that stuff like this doesn't happen again. If you are caught up in your feelings for either team, and that is what makes you call it unfair, then you aren't in a fit state to judge. If you think of the teams as just variables that happened to be the ones called upon in the situation, it puts everything in a less harsh light.

Koragg19 votes

That's cool they found an issue in their rules, but you shouldn't punish either team for it. Like I said, should've done the remake game after the Aatrox bug was fixed with the exact same team lineups. SK lost because of support Vel'Koz, not because of the bug.

Squirelzrme10 votes

I guess I should have just made a post complaining about Riot instead of trying to be reasonable. My bad.

Koragg11 votes

Well the problem is Riot got caught up in the moment and tried to fix a mistake that they didn't know they made originally. SK could have requested a remake as per the rules state and the refs could have asked if SK wanted to remake. Since each of them thought the other would be the ones to ask, the mistake falls on both parties and Riot is just trying to make it up to them. If SK had won, we would have never heard about this. After SK lost, they basically got a free do-over when they should have taken the loss because they should have known the rules.

Riot are the ones at fault, but SK is not without some blame, and because Gambit essentially got screwed because Riot felt bad for SK, you are going to see a lot of posts with people upset at Riot. Good job to Riot for finding problems in their rules, they shouldn't just change results because of it though. The remake wasn't fair to Gambit, it wasn't even fair that SK got one. It wasn't fair to anybody and that's what people are upset about.

Maybe you should make a post about being passive aggressive and upset that people don't share your opinion because you should mask over the mistake that Riot made by saying all of us are getting caught up in the moment, when it fact it is Riot that was caught up in said moment more than us.

Beanface11 votes

Just looking for clarification on the language used in this post. You use the word "remake" and not "rematch." Do you think a new match with a new draft is a remake, because to me that seems like a rematch. Would it have been possible to delay the game until next weekend, giving the teams time to prepare and Riot to fix the Aatrox bug, and then have a proper remake with the same picks and bans?

BANDE DE SINGES11 votes

You handled the situation so poorly that it's nearly laughable. You reversed the whole euw LCS ranking because of the obvious lack of professional rulebook and the lack of referee's jurisdiction. Sad to see so much unprofessionalism.

Brabisoid11 votes

It's really nice explanation, but i think you have to stop explaining and just make an** apology** and ensure everybody that this wont happen again. Because of that decision of remaking/rematching you made yourself and the eu lcs look like a joke. It was really unfortunate and the situation was not handled properly. I'm fan of gambit and this just made me very upset. You have made fantastic game that become e-sport with many people watching and playing. They deserve more then damaging one ot top eu teams like that.

Cryovix4 votes

they should apologize, its the players duty to know the rules, just as the their coach should have made sure they knew them. the fact that the referees did not stop the game and let it keep going, is a formal decision on what they decided to do. SK didn't request it so i agree 100% with your comment about how riot should apologize for this.

Liara7810 votes

Remember the game when curse had that fight in the baron pit and Tibbers came off at random? I think that match should be rematched then, too. Curse was leading that game and lost that game in the long run. (I believe this was curse, but i think most will knwo what situation I mean).

KimTheNukeJongUn6 votes

The difference with that game was that the bug couldn't be verified - that is, they couldn't recreate it, so they couldn't prove that's what actually happened.

Koragg9 votes

I am happy that you have noticed a problem with the rules, however it is a shame that these two teams have to suffer in some way because of it. Gambit hadt a very important victory stripped from them for a mistake that Riot made. If anything some middle ground should have been reached that did not punish either team, such as the game not counting as a loss for SK or remaking the game with the exact same teams after the bug was fixed.

This whole situation gives off a suspicious feel to it because of how terribly SK played that game where they lost. It was like they got a free chance after making some terrible picks/bans and now Gambit are the ones that have dropped from 1st in standings to 4th with 4 games left. That literally changed the season for every team in the top because of a mistake Riot made. I don't think any team should have to suffer because of the mistake of the company running the tournament.

EUW Kahnar9 votes

Yes there are some issues on LCS rules. You find ones, so you will change it after this split. But there are so many bugs during matches, I really don't understand Why this match ? You learn from your mistakes, that's fine, but show respect to players and give Gambit back THE win they deserve ! The referee did a mistake, it s on him. When referees do mistakes in a soccer match for example, there isn't a rematch. This is so stupid and it creates things like that. Sk doesn't deserve all the negatives attitudes from watchers, but Gambit doesn't deserve to have a loose like that.

Slashiroth9 votes

What are you talking about Nick? SK didnt even want the rematch. This was just a bad attenpt by you guys to improve PR but it honestly did the opposite

Moxxz9 votes

"Hey let's comment here"

"wtf rito so bad fix yur game yur the worst"

+12

"I'm sorry that everyone is yelling at you, Riot."

-8

Really proud of how nice and reasonable the community is about people expressing their opinions.

Dr Kalash5 votes

Looking at top voted comments you can clearly see your comment is exaggerated and point moot. People are disappointed and outraged at how poorly the whole situation has been handled, and rightfully so.

I don't have time to read all the downvoted comments, but if people come here to "cheer Riot up" because esports fan show discontent with how Riot acted, then I say downvotes are in place - those comments bring nothing into discussion and Riot is the last party involved that needs cheering up at the moment.

sinfourteen6 votes

http://www.in2lol.com/en/news/16971-sk-gambit-there-will-be-a-rematch

hauau wrote at 29.03.2014, 12:56 CET: Thunderst0rm wrote: And just for the facts: doing a rematch is necessary after some team got advantages due to bugs

Should we expect rematches?

Copy pasting the above comment from another website. Read a comment here where this match doesn't really affect the standings, seriously? Gambit is down 4th places to 5th. The result should have stand. The excuse that some people put that e-sports is a new scene, it is not. I have been a CS e-sports follower since SK SpaWn days, yes SK, I do actually support SK and fnatic CS team but now, since SK happily agreed for a re-match even though it was a clear result that they got whipped by GG in the original match (with Mid, Bot and Jungle winning their opposites). This is such a noob (note that it is noob and not newb since this is Season 4) decision made by Riot. Most points has been posted by others so Riot, the result of the remade should be reversed and the original result should stand.

Cryovix5 votes

i do not agree with this call. it falls onto the players to know the rules and the owners of the team to make sure the players know the rules. i don't think riot handled this well but gambit is one of the top three teams in EU so i have no doubt they will win and earn their spot back.

Cephalad5 votes

And once again I'll point out that no matter what the referee did or didn't do does not matter in sports. SK didn't know the rules - tough luck. They are a professional team and should not rely on the referees to hand-hold them, whether they wanted the remake or not.

Riot as one of the biggest producers of esports in the world should be aware of this, and if Riot ever wants esports to be taken seriously outside of Asia, then they need to stop taking these hindsight decisions. When you second-guess your own decision making then you open up for all kinds of vague argumentation and will always end up alienating part of your fan base.

The beauty of the referee system is that (s)he is the ultimate power during the game and his/her decisions cannot be altered once they are made regardless of the impact they have on the game. So please spare us your excuses. The only update you have to make to your rules is that a referee's call always stands no matter what mistake or omission he is responsible for. Remake of games simply do not happen. The only thing that might be altered afterwards is an administrative altering of the outcome if a team was caught cheating for example.

Scypier5 votes

My main concern is that Riot enforced a decision based on an interpretation of the rules that was made AFTER the situation had occured. With that in mind, it feels like what Riot did to Gambit was kind of like sentencing someone for a crime that was commited before a law was passed on it. I'm all for having the standard that the referee should ask the players if they want a remake, but what Riot should have done was release a public statement saying that this is how thing will work from now on. You do not, I repeat, DO NOT go back to previous situations where it applies and enforce it on them. As I said, that sounds like sentencing someone for a crime that was commited when it wasn't a crime, which no decent legal system does, and I suggest you don't either, Riot. Not to mention the fact that you should have given the teams time to prepare for the next game, and not blatantly favour one team over the other, given the circumstances, considering how much of Gambits win was because of outsmarting SK in champion select. It also leaves me wondering if you would have forced the rematch if SK had won. Probably not, but that can only be speculated upon. I just want finish by saying that this whole situation leaves me with the feeling of disappointment and resentment towards the LCS. You had a good thing going, it really is sad to see the integrity of esports in general, and League of Legends in specific, get hurt so much.

Meanie405 votes

Keep trying to explain it away Rito, but the fact remains... You robbed Gambit by:

  • Allowing a remake.
  • Forcing the new game on 7 hours notice.
  • Not requiring the EXACT SAME CHAMPIONS in the remake. You had a week to fix Aatrox, use it.
Karfuss4 votes

No formal decision made... Yet we had a big flashy "VICTORY!" Legit.

Katastrofik4 votes

So what about the Curse/Stvicious bug. The one where it obviously affected the game and where HE PAUSED AFTER THE FIGHT AND TALKED TO THE REF ABOUT IT???

ElliotRodger Fan4 votes

And not even an apology to gambit who got completely screwed up for no reason at all. GJ rito. gj

DoS Skotostrious4 votes

Things are simple : if we have two conflicting rules we simply follow the one that favours the bigger organisation (SK) over the smaller one (Gambit).The big fish wins

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