The league has had its fair share of player issues since its inception in January. Dreamkazper has separated himself into a class of his own with his horrid acts by involving himself with underage females. The Boston Uprising swiftly met this situation with immediate action and terminated his contract within 24 hours. This has undoubtedly been one of the most consequential events in Overwatch League so far.

With Blizzard structuring their league in a more traditional sports format, this invites an intense scrutiny to each and every team and player by the hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world. The anonymity of multiplayer video games is gone. Something the average pro player is not used to. Press conferences, team videos, public Discords/Twitter, and interviews show the world a component of esports and their players we have never seen before. I am sure most, if not all OWL teams have media trained their players, but it is on Blizzard and the league to thoroughly vet their players and prepare them for this type of critical observation. Jake, from the Houston Outlaws, has been a beacon of positivity and exemplified how one should conduct themselves in the spotlight. Living a balanced lifestyle and having that diverse range of skills like Jake mentioned is essential to almost any profession in the world, but Overwatch in particular as it is very team-based.

Dreamkazper’s incident teaches every player in the league that the element of anonymity is gone. They need to handle themselves like true professionals as long as they are contracted to an OWL team. I desperately hope that the league, teams, and players learn from this. The Overwatch League has been wildly successful in terms of viewership and fandom and I just don’t want to see it thrown all away.