Riot Games banned two Valorant players from Game Changers  for their behavior in the Galorants server.

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Galorants' Teabagging Controversy: Players React to Riot Games' Ruling

Sadakshi Kalyan Ramun
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Highlights
Riot Games banned two Valorant players from the Game Changers scene for three and nine months respectively for their behavior with another member of the Galorants server.
The community has called out Riot Games for its double standards in issuing these rulings and compared it to its treatment of Sinatraa.

Volunteer-run Valorant group Galorants shut down its server temporarily at the end of June to address some issues. One of the major controversies was a heated debate on the extremity of teabagging which was initiated by one of the members of Galorants and later seeped into social media. Following this, Riot Games issued a competitive ruling on 25th July banning two other members of Galorants and Valorant Game Changers communities. However, several members of the community is not happy with the decision made by Riot Games and called out the company for its “double standards.


Who got banned from Valorant Game Changers?

Riot Games stated that two Valorant Game Changers players – Dawn and Risorah (full names withheld) – violated the Global Competition Policy of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT). It said Dawn employed vulgar language against another member of the Galorants community and that Risorah harassed them. As a result, Riot banned them from any association or affiliation with teams in a Riot-sanctioned competition starting from the date of the latest violation. While Dawn’s ban is for three months ending on 27th September, Risorah was banned for nine months and the ban ends on 27th March 2023.


Why were the two Galorant Players penalized?

In June, social media was flooded with countless debates on teabagging in Valorant and other games. This started with a conversation in the Galorants Discord server where one of the members talked about teabagging and its extremity in one of the text channels meant for serious issues. During this discussion, they compared teabagging to sexual assault, a topic that is reportedly banned in the text channel and on the server due to its sensitivity.

Following this, Galorants wrote, “While Galorants moderators eventually stepped in to diffuse the situation [the ‘teabagging debate’], this did not happen as soon as it should have. This unfortunately allowed the hostility to escalate within our server and towards the conversation’s initiator. This individual has since been issued punishment within the server for bringing a banned topic into discourse. We apologize for not taking action to protect our members sooner.

Riot Games identified that both Dawn and Risorah targeted the member who initially started the discussion on the server. “Dawn’s responses included a vulgar and targeted remark at Player A.

On June 27, Risorah created multiple Twitter posts specifically targeted at Player A, in which Risorah pasted GALORANTS Discord conversations between themselves and Player A. Risorah proceeded to post a video they edited, in which they amplified and personally added vulgar commentary around Player A. On June 28, Risorah directly tagged and targeted Player A as the subject of a vulgar post,” it noted.

The company also revealed that during the investigation it reviewed all the evidence and also conducted interviews with involved parties, including Dawn and Risorah.


Banned players respond to the ruling

Risorah took full responsibility for their actions in a Twitlonger and said, “While I'm still having a ton of emotions right now, it's worth noting that I will be taking this punishment with the responsibility of my actions that led to my situation.

Meanwhile, in her Twitlonger, Dawn disputed the ruling and wrote, “I have watched SA [sexual assault] happen in broad daylight. It is not something you can compare to crouching in a video game. I was visibly upset by this, as were hundreds of thousands of people, and replied under her thread expressing my frustrations and concerns. I don't think I need to say much more. I s**tposted on Twitter and apparently, it's vulgar language.

She also added links to some of her comments and the video she made in response to Player A and expressed disbelief since she was “literally told by Riot staff” that she “was not vulgar.

Additionally, both players expressed concerns about their full names being disclosed by Riot Games.

Risorah wrote, “Keep in mind, I had meant to wake up to grabbing some Shroud Madrinas Coffee, or wake up to a breakfast, but instead, I had [woken up] to my full government name being posted on the VCT NA twitter.

Players in the Valorant community called out Riot Games for its double standards in issuing these competitive bans. They pointed out how former Overwatch pro and current Valorant player Jay “sinatraa” Won was only issued a six-month ban for violating the Valorant Global Competition Policy by failing to fully cooperate with the Tournament Operator’s investigation. It also penalized him for misinterpreting certain facts and making false statements during the course of the investigation.

As a result, he was mandated to undergo professional conduct training and the community, via an email shared by Sinatraa, found that one of the Rioters told him the training was not necessary. Following the backlash, Riot Games issued an apology and reinstated the training.



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Sadakshi has been a gamer throughout her life and has followed League of Legends since Season 3, immediately falling in love with the esports scene. Bringing in her print journalism experience, she focuses on content that is both informative and innovative. While her heart still remains with League, her love for competition has pushed her to explore other titles such as Valorant and Apex Legends.

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