Riot Games’ branch in Korea has decided to officially press charges against professional coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho.
The news comes shortly after cvMax’s former teammate, Choi “Sword” Sung-won, filed a police report against him for “abusive behavior.” Sword attests that cvMax would verbally and physically assault him as part of his coaching, with profanity-laced tirades often punctuated with violence. On one occasion, Sword claims that cvMax grabbed him by his shirt and violently shook him, though little proof has been offered up of any of these situations.
However, other players that worked under cvMax during his time at Griffin have come out with the same claims. Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong, Byun “Chaos” Young-sub, and Shin “Rather” Hyeong-seop have also all come forward to accuse cvMax of “disrespect,” supporting Sword’s complaints.
Riot’s formal charges come incredibly close to the day of cvMax’s debut as coach for his new team, DragonX. In their statement, Riot insists that their charges are meant to help clarify the facts of the situation. They’ve also utilized the moment to help “establish a complaint window. . . to protect human rights” within the esports scene, including providing legal support for professional players and teams.
[#KeSPACup] @DRXGlobal Chovy: "cvMax is a lot more relaxed now. He told me that he’s a lot happier than before."
✍ @David_Viion & @VANVANprj #LCKhttps://t.co/xGq2c1nrfo
— Inven Global (@InvenGlobal) December 26, 2019
Despite the high number of players all accusing cvMax of the same thing, many in the League of Legends community continue to support cvMax against Riot. Riot banned cvMax almost immediately after the original complaints came out earlier this year, prompting the fan community to start an online petition on the matter, stating the ruling was unjust. The petition reached over 200,000 signatures, and Riot decided to begin a more transparent investigation with the help of a third party.
Now that their investigation is beginning to close and they’ve decided to press charges once again, much of the community is turning on Riot in return. In social forums, such as Reddit or social media platforms, many players are claiming that this is nothing more than drama for some vendetta that Riot has against cvMax. Otherwise, they claim, the official charges wouldn’t be coming on the day of his DragonX debut, overshadowing his achievement.
Whether or not Riot Korea has a grudge against cvMax can’t be said definitively by anyone other than those involved, despite the rabid suggestions of cvMax’s fans. Given that many are supporting the accusers, it seems that the charges pressed against the coach could be valid indeed. However, others involved in the esports scene have come out to say that, while cvMax’s behavior was reprehensible, it was by no means an uncommon coaching method in the Korean esports scene.
