It was announced in the Seoul Dynasty discord that the emotes that are of the old Seoul Dynasty players would be removed in order to free up room for emotes to be made for current players. This is a reasonable and logical move, as Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park, Hyeonwoo ‘Toyou’ Lim, Youngwan ‘Creative’ Kim, etc all do not have emotes yet. Seoulcord may or may not be unique, but each player has their own clan in which community members can join and send messages. Less messages are usually put into the chat and more of thoughtful spam of the emote that is associated with that player. That means the emotes in Seoulcord are seen all the time and many are greatly ingrained into the fandom.
13 emotes will be leaving Seoulcord, which is a substantial amount. There, of course, was sadness when the announcement was released. It is a difficult line to tread between moving forward and remembering the past in which honors the players but also helps the community focus on the present.
Always a Tiger
The Seoul Dynasty have a role in their discord where they honor the old Seoul Dynasty players. Not all players are still in the Discord but many still appear such as Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim, Jaemo ‘Xepher’ Koo, Gido ‘Gido’ Moon, Seokwoo ‘Wekeed’ Cho, etc. This allows for the community to still recognize them as members of the Seoul Dynasty in previous seasons as there is no place to show support directly.
There are no chat rooms in which the emotes are spammed for these old players. Which could be a reason why they are being removed. To spam Fleta’s emote or Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi’s when they are no longer on the team does feel odd. They are no longer a part of the team but always a part of the history. When is it the best time to remove their representation from a Discord and should the representation be removed at all?
It is the players who create those iconic moments for a team and set a narrative as well as a history for the brand. But players are not forever. Even the most impactful players will leave eventually. For example Jongryeol ‘Saebyeolbe’ Park, who was the captain of the NYXL. He was one of the defining faces of the NYXL and he left this offseason to join a new franchise. The question is what is the balance between player representation and the team as a holistic brand? As the Dynasty as individual clans whenever there is a player who leaves there is a pleading to keep the chat for memory sake. Those disappear like clockwork while the community accepts it and moves on.
Other Teams
To look at it through another team, the Florida Mayhem went a completely different direction after Season 1. The community still remembers the Mayhem McDonald color jerseys with an EU line up. The funny walk outs and legends that in the past were on that team. They have a role in their discord of ‘Brought the Mayhem’ where old members are recognized and that seems to be what most teams go for.
The Vancouver Titan’s discord still have the emotes from the Runaway days. The emotes are still present immortalizing the original players even after the sticky separation in Season 3. It seems like many teams still have emotes that represent old players. Other teams such as the London Spitfire who have rehauled their roster a few times have general emotes that represent the brand of the spitfire more than the players that are on the team. It is an interesting look at how each team decides to honor their past members as well as what emotes are in the servers. Is there more disdain from fans when an organization/Discord doesn’t recognize past players or when references of past players are taken away?
Branding?
It is not a rare thing for a player to move teams. When there are emotes and other subcultural niche items that are associated not just with the player but also the brand, how is it navigated? Rip it off like a bandaid? It will hurt but then fade away for a clear start. Maybe keep it around and try and faze it out. Does anything ever get too ingrained to remove? Or is everything replaceable?
Seoul Dynasty are one of the best teams that make sure their previous players are not forgotten. With the removal of :TobiBoop:, :ZunbaNOO:, “MichelleGravNom:, :JehongGasp:, and :FletaJudge: marks an end of an era. What new emotes will become iconic and synonymous with the Seoul Dynasty Discord? Tiger Nation has a lot to be grateful that their players have been remembered so fondly. The emotes will disappear, but the memories these players provided for the community won’t.
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