It was recently discovered that some tight restrictions in the Esports World Cup’s rulebook could spell danger for Call of Duty players entering Saudi Arabia to compete in just a couple of weeks. In the rulebook, there are rigorous rules around sportsmanship, trash-talking, and generally being obscene or offensive to other players.
In the last few months, the Call of Duty League has blown up in terms of trash-talking, particularly between the likes of Atlanta FaZe’s Drazah and Toronto Ultra’s Scrap. Could these hot-headed players already be in danger of breaking the rules in Riyadh?
Contain It
Since entering the Call of Duty League, Thomas ‘Scrap’ Ernst has proven to be a wildfire competitor, always launching into a tirade against other players without batting an eye. He has got into the heads of his opponents with ease, even learning other languages to taunt them on stage. His failure to deliver at the most important moments has often left him vulnerable, but he never drops that facade of being the ultimate bad guy in the CDL.
He’s matched by other competitors, though. It’s no big secret that Call of Duty is an energetic game, and that translates so easily into trash-talking and insulting other players, particularly in a LAN setting, which is how players will compete at the Esports World Cup.
Per the rulebook, which was dug up by CDL Intel on Twitter:
Participants are required to behave in a professional and sportsmanlike manner in their interactions with other Participants.
Participants are expected to settle their differences in a respectful manner and without resort to violence, threats, or intimidation.
Participants shall not use obscene or offensive gestures or profanity.
Those rules seem borderline impossible for some Call of Duty players to follow, unfortunately. However, there’s a stack of cash on the line, so maybe that’s incentive enough for the likes of Scrap and Drazah to keep a lid on their animosity for a few days.
For more Insider Gaming Esports, check out the news that the Global Head of Esports at Riot Games has left the company
