As eSports comes to be a more legit and popular market of competition, we can sometimes forget that there are rules to be observed, especially at the top level of play. That was a lesson that Cloud9 member Hai “Hai” Du Lam learned the hard way. The player has received a fine for throwing the middle finger at Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten of the Fnatic eSports club.
The action took in the video below as Febiven gave his prediction in an interview that Cloud9 was going to lose their match against the ahq eSports club. It’s barely a little gesture in the top right corner, but it’s there and Riot took notice, handing down a €500 ($556) to the player for violating a their competitive code of conduct, which states in one of its rules, “a Team Member may not take any action or perform any gesture directed at an opposing Team Member, or incite any other individual(s) to do the same, which is insulting, mocking, disruptive, or antagonistic.”
Hai would later claim that he meant no ill will towards Febiven, tweeting that the gesture “was more in good fun than malice.” Nonetheless, it’s a reminder that as eSports competition seeks legitimacy, public gestures such as Hai’s cannot go unanswered, malicious or not.
