mére 🐿️

The amount of hate Doran is receiving is absolutely ridiculous and unfair, not to mention irrational. This is no longer about fans expressing dissatisfaction with a player's performance or having opinions about roster changes. We're talking about targeted, sustained harassment that follows a player beyond the sporting environment and into his personal life. From relentless personal attacks and mockery to people flooding his personal Instagram with demands that he leave the team, and even death threats, the level of hostility directed at him is completely disproportionate. How has any of this become acceptable? Let's get one thing straight: criticising a player's performance is perfectly fair. If you think he played badly, you can say so. If you think another player would be a better fit for T1, you are free to make that argument. But there's a fundamental difference between criticising someone's performance and personally targeting them with abuse, ridicule and humiliation. The argument (many are saying, especially the Korean community) that he 'deserves' this or that 'he had it coming' because he's a professional player and should be held accountable is equally absurd. Being a professional athlete means being subject to public scrutiny and criticism. It does not mean surrendering your basic human rights, dignity or the right to be treated with decency. No bad performance, no matter how disappointing, justifies sustained harassment, personal abuse or threats against someone's life. These are basic standards of human decency, not privileges that someone has to earn through good performance. And hiding behind the excuse that it's all "for the sake of the team" doesn't make it any more justified. If you genuinely believe Doran isn't the right player for T1, that's a roster opinion. If you have an issue with the organisation's roster decisions, address the organisation through appropriate channels. But using harassment and intimidation to force its hand is not legitimate criticism or fan activism. What exactly does harassing him on his personal social media accomplish? How does publicly mocking, humiliating and targeting a player contribute to a team's success? Fans are entitled to their opinions, but that doesn't give them the right to dictate a player's career, let alone make his life miserable because he failed to meet their expectations. Roster decisions ultimately belong to the organisation, not the fanbase. There's also a fundamental difference between being emotionally invested in a team and treating its successes and failures as personal victories and defeats. T1's victories are not your personal achievements, and T1's defeats are not personal injuries inflicted upon you by its players. Being a fan does not give you ownership over the team or the people who play for it. You can dislike a player, criticise his performance, and want him replaced. But none of those things gives anyone the right to subject him to harassment, intimidation or degrading treatment. You don't have to support Doran to recognise that what's happening to him is wrong. Basic human rights and decency are not conditional on how well someone performs in a sport or any other competitive discipline. If you think a player's poor performance makes them fair game for sustained personal harassment, perhaps it's time to reconsider what being a sports fan actually means. There is something seriously wrong with people who take pleasure in tormenting another person like this. The level of obsession and cruelty directed at him is genuinely disturbing. If you care about esports and the kind of fan culture it fosters, please make your voice heard. Loudly. We should be building a sporting culture that celebrates competition without dehumanising the people who compete in it. This level of toxicity should have no place in esports. #SpeakUpForDoran #RespectInEsports