League of Legends suspends player until 2020 for 'credible threats of physical violence'

A League of Legends (LOL) player has been suspended until 2020 after he was caught on a livestream making physical threats against his girlfriend.

Chinese LOL player Li Wei Jun, who goes under the name Vasilii, was fired earlier in October from Chinese team Newbee, and an investigation into his behaviour was launched.

Riot has announced that the player would be suspended for 20 competitive months, which run from Jan to Oct -- meaning he'll effectively be banned until January 2020.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Although the investigation results don’t show proof that Vasilii physically assaulted his girlfriend, he made credible threats of physical violence and death threats toward a defenseless person in a private home that were intimidating enough for her to call the police," said the organisation in a statement.

"This is unacceptable."

Changing the rules

Currently, LOL players can only be sentenced to a maximum suspension of ten competitive months for "extreme misconduct."

But the organisation actually made an exception for Vasilii, doubling his sentence.

"Vasilii’s behavior was particularly egregious, beyond the worst kinds of extreme misconduct that we originally had in mind when we devised the Global Penalty Index," said Riot.

The organisation also added that they also kept in mind Vasilii's previous violent episodes, including showing physical aggression onstage, smashing a keyboard and physically intimidating a camera operator, when deciding on his sentence.

Riot has also changed its rules to allow for harsher punishment in the event of domestic abuses cases in future.

Cases of extreme misconduct now carry a maximum penalty of indefinite suspension, which Riot says will "account for the most extreme acts of misconduct."

Vasilii however, hasn't fallen under the maximum sentence because there isn't any evidence of physical assault. Both him and his girlfriend have denied that he assaulted her.

According to a copy of the Global Penalty Index that has yet to be updated, penalties such as "extreme misconduct", "ongoing misconduct", "tampering or poaching another player" and selling accounts to a "severe degree", all carry 10-month long suspensions.

Other offenses such as match-fixing or cheating, have the option of an “indefinite” ban.

Mashable has reached out to Riot for comment.