There has been some interesting news coming out of the world of League of Legends, with an esports partnership between Riot Games and top teams around the world bringing a host of new emotes to the game. However, there was one particular emote that caught the attention of the cheeky types within the League of Legends player base, as it came with the infamous bait ping, which has since been removed from the game due to unintentional use by the community.
The emote is Team BDS’ Bait Da Sardines, which features an adorable little penguin holding a fishing pole with a beloved, now-dead bait hanging from the end. You can purchase this emote right now, along with emotes from other teams in the League of Legends pro ecosystem.
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But why was the emote removed? Well, it was originally introduced when Riot Games was trying to expand League of Legends’ in-game tagging system, hoping that it would improve communication without you having to actually talk to the mobs and monsters on your team. One of these new tags was a yellow fishhook, which was meant to convey the meaning of “bait,” the act of luring an enemy player into a trap for the benefit of your team.
There were two problems with it. According to Riot, it was removed due to lack of use, but it’s worth noting that the hook looked a bit like a lasso, something the League of Legends community noticed almost immediately. So instead of using it as Riot intended, players would send decoy pings to erring teammates. Leaving teammates to their own doom is certainly a ToS violation, but sending in-game pings? Totally fine!
But it wasn’t, and Riot Games certainly wasn’t, which is why the company removed it from the game. Ever since then, the community has been left feeling helpless as Bronze 2 Thresh mains. Until now, of course, thanks to Team BDS. One can’t help but wonder how this emote was allowed to pass, because anyone who knows anything about League of Legends community behavior could have predicted that frequent use of this emote in-game would become the new hot way to tell junglers who are… well, you know.
But hey, maybe it was inevitable. League of Legends hasn’t been the cute, friendly, hopeful place it once was since the decoy pings were removed. People have been sending stuff like this to each other for over a decade, so why not package this all-important message with an adorable penguin? It’s also a brilliant financial move by Team BDS, as 30% of the revenue from emote sales goes back to the team that helped design it, making them rich. Maybe that’s the secret to actually making money in esports.
Are you planning on buying these emotes? Tell us why below! You don’t have to tell us, we know why.
