Riot Games has released the rules for Valorant Champions Shanghai, revealing one major change to in-game conduct.
The publisher has prohibited teabagging, shooting bodies, and shooting player pucks at the tournament.
Players caught participating in any of these acts will face disciplinary action.
This has led to more debates over whether esports should prioritise behaviour or personalities, after Riot suspended a League of Legends player for approaching an opponent after a game.
Why Has Riot Added the Rule Change Now?
Teabaggin has long been controversial in gaming, and in Valorant esports itself, this isn’t the first time Riot has taken action.
Back in 2021, then G2 player Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski shared a message from admins asking players not to teabag or shoot dead enemies.
The admins claimed this was “undesired during the broadcast” and the decision was not taken well by former G2 ceo Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodríguez Santiago.
However, it’s possible that this rule change was made specifically because the event is in China.
Valorant content creator Khorée theorised that teabaggin is more offensive to the host nation:
“Teabagging resembles a Chinese phrase/saying (biān shī 鞭尸) meaning digging up a grave, a highly humiliating practice.
“To Westerners it’s not offensive, but we can all understand that, if this word and act is offensive to the country and its people hosting the event, then it’s natural to show some respect.”
Just earlier this year at Masters London, an incident with FUT Esports’ Efe ‘s0pp’ Tur showed that Chinese fans don’t take kindly to taunting.
During the upper bracket quarterfinal against EDward Gaming, s0pp shot the bodies of fallen opponents and shouted at an opponent on stage.
A clip of the verbal trash talk was mistaken by some as a racial slur, to which s0pp claimed he had said “KangKang, you can’t hold s***.”
Consequently, s0pp received online harassment, death threats, and even remarks about his late mother from some Chinese VCT fans.
Do you think these rule changes by Riot are fair or over the top? Share your opinions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Valorant organisation KRÜ Esports has denied drug trafficking allegations against its founder, Sergio Agüero. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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