Overwatch League Pro Suspended for Boosting Accounts

A professional Overwatch player has been banned for several Overwatch League games after Blizzard says he boosted other players' accounts.

Blizzard announced on Thursday that Dallas Fuel player Minseok "OGE" Son would be suspended for four matches as a result of the boosting infractions that occurred last year.

"As of today, the Dallas Fuel player Minseok 'OGE' Son is suspended for four matches for taking part in 'account-boosting' schemes during the summer of 2017," Blizzard's official ruling read.

For those who don't recognize the term, Blizzard also elaborated on what exactly "boosting" entails. When a player boosts another's account, they play on an account other than their own and use their skill to boost the account's rank, often in exchange for money or some other form of compensation. In this particular case, Dallas Fuel's OGE boosted another player's account, something that Blizzard says violates the Blizzard End User License Agreement.

Even if the rule wasn't explicitly known to exist in Blizzard's EULA, it's a fairly common guideline in most game as well that boosting is forbidden. While accounts will usually just end up being banned when evidence of boosting is discovered, the offence obviously carries harsher penalties for pro players who represent the Overwatch League and other esports organizations.

This is far from the first time that the Dallas Fuel has made headlines for the wrong reasons. On March 9, Blizzard announced that the Overwatch League would be taking disciplinary actions against three players and one coach, two of which were also member of the Dallas Fuel team. Timo "Taimou" Kettunen was fined $1,000 for anti-gay slurs used on-stream and Felix "xQx" Lengyel was suspended for four games and fined $4,000 for using an emote in a racially-charged manner.

Later that same day, it was announced by the Dallas Fuel that xQx was being released from the team after numerous controversies and punishments. The player responded soon after and called the fallout "preventable" while saying that he wished someone had told him to stop using the emote in the manner that he did.

The Dallas Fuel currently sits close to the bottom of the teams at the second-to-last spot with a record of two wins and seven losses. The team will kick off Saturday's series of Overwatch matches as they face off against the London Spitfire, the No. 2 team in the Overwatch League standings at the moment. Those games can be watched through the Overwatch League channel on Twitch.