Galorants Temporarily Shuts Down Discord Server Due to Community Issues

Galorants, a volunteer-run Valorant group created to nurture and grow women and nonbinary people in gaming, has shut down its server temporarily to implement vital changes after several issues in quick succession. The volunteer group posted an announcement on its social media channels and stated that it has identified a few problems that need rectification. Galorants also posted a link to a lengthy Google Document talking about some of these key issues. According to its announcement, the server will be back up and running on 6th July.

On 29th June, Galorants wrote on Twitter, “A lot has happened the past few days. We apologize for our public silence while these events transpired. We wanted to give these issues the attention they deserve. We’d like to take a moment to discuss, clarify, and share our plans for moving forward.”

Game Changers Academy player Taffs warned and suspended

During one of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Game Changers Academy tournaments, Galorants issued Valorant player Taffs a warning as the player reportedly displayed transphobia and unsportsmanlike conduct during a match. On 25th June, Galorants posted a statement on social media apologizing for “not doing better.”

The issue was later escalated to Riot Games which then issued a three-month suspension to Taffs. The statement by Galorants read, “Due to transphobia and extreme unsportsmanlike conduct displayed during VCT Game Changers Academy, Taffs will receive a three-month suspension from VCT Game Changers Academy and all Galorants-related events. Taffs will also be removed from the Galorants community during this time. This ruling is effective immediately.”

It also stated that it was dedicated to providing safe spaces for women and nonbinary individuals to compete, connect, and grow, and issued an apology. “We apologize to Dart Monkeys and all individuals for the unacceptable behavior witnessed during today's event. We hope to move forward alongside our community members and continue our work uplifting marginalized genders in gaming and esports.”

Debate on the extremity of teabagging in video games in Galorants Discord server

If you are active in the Valorant community on social media channels, you must have come across discourse and 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 that is meant for serious issues. During this discussion, they compared teabagging to sexual assault, a topic that is reportedly banned in the text channel as well as on the server due to its sensitivity.

Galorants addressed this in the Google Doc and wrote, “While Galorants moderators eventually stepped in to diffuse the situation, 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.”

During its downtime, Galorants has vouched to address and work on some of the key issues including bridging the gap between Galorants moderators and the community and taking decisive action among others.