多年來，把玩游戲作為職業似乎一直等同于癡人說夢。但電子競技聯賽的興起卻讓這個想法成為了現實。如今，職業電競選手有薪酬，有福利，有退休金，坐在小隔間里的他們還收獲著越來越多的羨慕之情。但隨著電競發展成一種正當職業，它也出現了一些令人困擾的問題，而且已經足以讓如今的電競組織建立自己的人事部門。

大家可以想一想發生在菲力克斯·倫杰爾身上的事，他的ID“xQc”更為知名。今年1月，這位22歲的加拿大電競選手讓動視暴雪（Activision Blizzard）旗下的《守望先鋒》聯盟頗感頭疼，原因是他用反同性戀語言攻擊了一名同性戀對手。倫杰爾立即遭到了禁賽。這可不是他第一次“搞事情”——他已經因違規行為被罰過幾千美元。今年，他在電競直播平臺Twitch上對一名聯賽主持人使用了有種族歧視色彩的表情符號（倫杰爾后來說他當時沒有意識到那是一種冒犯）。

FOR YEARS, THE IDEA OF MAKING A CAREER out of playing video games seemed to be little more than a pipe dream. Then the rise of e-sports leagues made it real. Today’s professional gamers enjoy salaries, benefits, retirement plans, and the envy of many a cubicle dweller. Yet as gaming has grown into a proper profession, so have its harassment problems—enough so that today’s virtual workplaces could use an HR department of their own.

Consider the case of Félix Lengyel, better known by his digital moniker “xQc.” The 22-year-old Canadian gaming pro gave the Overwatch League, a division of entertainment company Activision Blizzard, quite a headache in January when he hurled a homophobic slur at a gay competitor. Lengyel was promptly suspended. It was far from his only infraction: Lengyel had racked up thousands of dollars in fines for his antics. This year, he used an “emote,” the name for the emoticons used on Twitch, the live online gaming channel, in a racially disparaging way toward a league emcee. (Lengyel said later that he didn’t realize he was being offensive.)

已有六位《守望先鋒》選手因為在個人社交媒體渠道或官方聯賽直播中的行為而遭到警告、罰款或禁賽，倫杰爾就是其中之一。（《守望先鋒》聯賽總監內特·納茲爾說：“參加《守望先鋒》聯賽是個很棒的機會，但也有很大的責任。”）然而問題并不僅限于去年組建，囊括了12支隊伍的《守望先鋒》聯賽。如今，越來越多的電競組織都在問自己一個同樣的問題，那就是如何確保電競人才不會成為累贅？

正在進行第一個賽季的《NBA 2K》聯盟有17支電競隊伍。該組織想在這個問題爆發前做好準備，他們的辦法是參考“真實世界”聯賽的政策。（《NBA 2K》聯盟由NBA和游戲發行商Take-Two Interactive共同擁有，后者發布的最著名游戲是《俠盜獵車手》。）該聯賽的執行董事布倫丹·多諾霍表示，今年的聯賽開始前，選手們被安排了一堂行為速成課。

但大多數電競組織都很年輕，從未被迫應對大規模不當行為。（亞馬遜旗下的Twitch稱自己同時用人工和算法來對付這樣的行為。）然而，電競界已然中毒的軟肋讓我們有理由擔心正在成長的電競平臺只會把這個問題放大，就像2014年的“玩家門”事件（游戲玩家對幾位游戲界女性成員的攻擊）所展現的那樣。

另外，電競界存在的行為問題，其結果可能也各不相同。ID為“Trihex”的職業電競選手邁克爾·杰弗森是一位非裔美國人，他說自己有時會在Twitch上看到有種族歧視色彩的笑話。這位選手在Twitch上有超過30萬粉絲。杰弗森說：“這很傷人，會讓你筋疲力盡。”

但這也可能給人動力。女選手溫蒂·弗雷明參加了今年的《NBA 2K》聯賽海選。她說這種情況激發了她的斗志。這項聯賽挑選的102名正式選手中沒有女性。

弗雷明說：“我特意給自己起名叫‘ALittleLady87’，這樣人們就知道我是女的，他們也就會知道自己剛剛敗給了一位女選手。”

本文最初刊登在2018年7月1日出版的《財富》雜志上，題為《這個游戲失控了》。

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Lengyel is one of a half-dozen Overwatch League players who have received warnings, fines, or suspensions for their conduct on personal social media channels or official league streams. (“Playing in the Overwatch League is an amazing opportunity but also a big responsibility,” commissioner Nate Nanzer says.) But the problem isn’t limited to the 12-team Overwatch League, which was established last year. Today, e-sports groups are increasingly asking themselves the same question: How do we ensure that the talent doesn’t become a liability?

The NBA 2K League, a 17-team organization in the midst of its inaugural season, is trying to confront the issue before it becomes a problem by looking to the policies of its real-world counterpart. (The virtual league is co-owned by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, the game publisher known best for Grand Theft Auto.) Before this year’s e-season began, players were given a crash course in conduct, says league managing director Brendan Donohue.

Still, most e-sports organizations are young and haven’t yet had to deal with bad behavior on a large scale. (Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, says it polices harassment using humans and algorithms alike.) But the gaming community’s toxic underbelly—on display during the Gamergate controversy in 2014— offers reason to be concerned that e-sports’ growing platform would only magnify it.

In the meantime, results may vary. Pro gamer Mychal “Trihex” Jefferson, who is African-American, says he sometimes sees racially disparaging jokes on Twitch, where he has more than 300,000 followers. “It can hurt,” he says. “It can take you out of it.”

It can also motivate. Wendi Fleming, a female gamer who participated in this year’s NBA 2K League draft—no women were among the 102 players selected—says the dynamic fuels her competitive streak.

“I purposely made my name ‘ALittleLady87’ so people would know that I’m a woman,” she says. “So you could know that a woman just beat you.”

A version of this article appears in the July 1, 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “This Game Is Out Of Control.”