It’s been one full year since Tyler1, the most toxic player in League of Legends’ , was banned from the game. Riot Games never banned a single player before, but Tyler’s toxicity, vulgarity and general awfulness damaged the game so drastically action had to be taken. Since then he’s developed a strong streaming community where he regularly pulls in thousands of viewers a night. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a LoL personality as polarizing as the “alpha bro” Tyler1.

In the beginning of 2016, Tyler1 was a high-level, Draven-only League of Legends player.. A relative unknown, Tyler1 could play extremely well, or, tilt off the face of Summoner’s Rift depending how his day was going. Even if you're a fan of the guy, there’s no doubt he was a menace to the Challenger scene; intentionally throwing games because he didn’t get a champion he wanted (see: Draven) or his teammates did something that set him off..

Tyler1 got his break in March of last year, when a League of Legends YouTuber called DiscoHeat made a video showing this full-grown man’s temper tantrum during a stream before he quit the game in the middle of the match. Some hated him for ruining games, others loved him for being a troll. He soon became a League personality, albeit one that personified all the worst parts of its online community. While Riot Games promoted an atmosphere of partnership and teamwork, here was Tyler1 screaming toxic obscenities and being generally dickish. His audience soared. So did the bans.

In total, Tyler1 had 17 accounts perma banned before Riot Games did something actually permanent. On April 30, 2016, Riot Socrates, a player behavior mod, announced that “because of a well-documented history of account bans for verbal abuse, intentional feeding, as well as account sharing/purchasing, evasion of sportsmanship systems, and player harassment, we will not allow Tyler1 to hold a League of Legends account, indefinitely.” This tore the League community in two, with many flocking to Tyler1’s stream to protest the ban.

Since then, Tyler1 has turned into a full-time streamer. He has to thank DiscoHeat for that initial video, saying that without that initial video nobody would ever know about him, he’d be just another random toxic stranger online. He still finds ways to play and stream League, that is until his account gets banned, but also chooses to stream hits like Overwatch and Minecraft with fans or other personalities like Greekgodx. He’s a lot less toxic now than he was then, actually condemning teammates of his that start to flame or harass others.

Now that it’s been a full year, should Tyler1 be allowed to play League of Legends again? If Riot backs down on their decision just because he’s a popular member of the community, it makes them look weak and malleable. But as long as the ban stays in place, toxic players will continue to view him as a martyr, an “alpha bro” that “cuck Rito” wanted gone. If you get banned 17 times, you had to really bad, like run it down mid every game bad. Inviting Tyler1 back to League of Legends would give the trolls someone to rally with, so I hope Riot sticks to the original verdict.

Do you think Tyler1 should still be banned from League of Legends ? Tell us in the comments.

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