Pro VALORANT Players Asked ‘Not To Teabag’ During Matches
Riot Games has delivered a warning to its professional VALORANT players and asked them not to teabag opponents when they've shot them down inside the hero shooter. Following in the footsteps of Overwatch, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, VALORANT was Riot's entry into the tightly-packed genre that hoped to continue the publisher's success with League of Legends. As VALORANT heads into its second year, developers have a polite request from its players.
The latest controversy came during a VALORANT Champions Tour match when European VALORANT players took to teabagging downed enemies. In games like Fortnite, some ask is there anything as distasteful as busting out "Gangnam Style" over the body of your victims? When it comes to VALORANT, players are taking it even further in a pretty awkward display of dominance.
Why were VALORANT players asked not to teabag opponents?
In a match lobby, one host asked players not to teabag or shoot already dead enemies. Patryk "paTiTek" Fabrowski shared the exchange on Twitter, and what was supposed to be a simple request turned into a meme-worthy display. The message read, "One additional info: Please do not tea-bag or shoot on dead enemies during the match. This behavior is not desired during the broadcast", but unfortunately, it didn't have the desired effect. During G2's match against Team Dfuse, there was more teabagging than ever, as the battlefield was littered with corpses having genitals being shoved in their faces.
In particularly, G2 was adamant about defying the request. It went as far as owner Carlos Oceleote insisting his players teabag enemies and shoot them as much as they wanted to. Ocelote told his team, "F**k this rule lol boys, teabag everybody and shoot their corpses freely". There's also a clip of paTiTek teabagging a downed member of Dfuse. The clip quickly went viral, with some calling it "cringe". It was especially awkward considering Dfuse scored victory over G2 and saw Ocelote's team get kicked out of the VALORANT Champions Tour. Was it really worth it for the gram?
Will there be any backlash from the VALORANT teabag scandal?
So, what's next for the great teabagging of 2021? It's unclear whether paTiTek and the others will face any punishment, but given that it looks like a polite request from the moderator rather than a direct rule, probably not. It's clear VALORANT is trying to move away from the teabagging tradition, but with some seeing it as a rite of passage, it'll take more than someone asking nicely to get rid of teabagging in the shooter scene.
Weirdly, teabagging has become a controversial point of contention in recent months. In December, Michael "dapr" Gulino was given death threats after he tebagged 100 Thieves' Joshua "steel" Nissan during the First Strike tournament. His teammate, Shahzeeb "ShahZaM" Khan, also felt the wrath of anti-baggers and told the Twitterverse, "Same people seem happy my Dad died because we're hitting a key on our keyboard. Don't even think I did it more than once the whole series LMAO". Whether you think teabagging is just a bit of harmless fun or a childish show of arrogance, VALORANT is making it clear that it doesn't want you dunking your bags on rivals.
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