Indeed, being one of the famous games, Dota 2 is certainly filled with various players from every country. All players are present from regional and certainly various kinds of races in various words, one of them is China. But this time we did not discuss the competition or Dota 2 players, but the issue of racism from the use of words that were considered inappropriate.
Yes, all the issues began with one of the compLexity Gaming players, Rolen Andrei Gabriel “Skemberlu” Ong. The filipino player wrote “Gl chingchong” against Chinese representatives, RNG in DreamLeague Minor Season 10. However, Skemberlu personally gets blasphemous and is forced to apologize. As a result, Skemberlu was charged a fine by his team, namely compLexity Gaming. Apparently after improving after a short amount of time, this issue was echoed by another Southeast Asian player.
This time offlaner and former TNC Predator captain, Kuku “KUKU” Palad who plays in the public must get the reward. This was done after the player also said the words “Ching Chong”, but this was because the enemy from KUKU did use that name. Just like Skemberlu, TNC Predator gives sanctions and fines to KUKU. However, the Chinese Dota 2 community is very serious about this issue of racism.
How not, some teams have announced their stand to reject all forms of racism. The use of the word “ching chong” itself is considered as something similar to the words “N-word” for the black race. In return, according to recognition of BurNIng, PSG.LGD rejected TNC Predator’s request to do scrim. This invited many reactions from the Dota 2 China community, including the professional team.
PSG.LGD / LGD Gaming
The TI8 runner-up team also spoke about racism that often occurs. On their Weibo Page, the team shared their opinions.
“The spirit of esports is not only limited to nationalism, but racism is also an issue that must get attention! In various events, racist opinions about China do not have to appear in the professional realm. We hope that Valve is able to take the role and concrete actions related to the incidence of racial discrimination. Regardless of where and when that happens, nationalism is the basis of our organization.”
Vici Gaming
The team that is trying to develop also shares their opinions. Unlike LGD, Vici Gaming prefers a Twitter account in response to this issue of racism.
“After a variety of negative actions lately, from coL Skemberlu and TNC Kuku, to Chongqing Major who received a similar action. Vici Gaming wants to make a statement. Vici Gaming is very strongly criticized this action. We believe that youth and indifference are not the reason for the presence of these mistakes. We hope Valve will take steps, hoping to maintain a good competitive environment.”
Team Aster
Being one of the hardest teams to respond to this, the team ridden by BurNIng is very hard on the issue of racism. In their Weibo account, Aster also gave a statement regarding this matter.
“Some time ago, two racist incidents against China have taken place. One from the compLexity team in a minor match and another from TNC in a public match. Some parties have reported this.
Unfortunately, in the end there was no reaction taken by Valve. We are very disappointed with how this happened and the ignorance of Valve! Respect is good for both parties. Therefore, Team Aster promised that, if there were racist statements that happened again from our players or staff, they would be punished directly and announced in the public sphere. And we welcome suggestions from everyone. In the upcoming tournament, we will campaign for the #RESPECT from UEFA action and add RESPECT writing to each of our player IDs, until all players from all over the world understand the importance of this problem and until something like this doesn’t happen again.
With Valve’s indifferent response to date, we hope and support issues such as fair competition and racial equality ready to be discussed as quickly as possible with the community movement.”
Aside from the Chinese side, one of the panelists from the Valve title, Paul “Redeye” Chaloner also gave his views. At the same time asking all Dota 2 fans around the world to reduce emotions related to Skemberlu’s attitude as well as Kuku.
In addition, Redeye said that fighting racism with racism would not produce anything. The captain of the compLexity team, EternaLEnVy also gave his opinion and apologized on his Twitter account. He asked everyone to be cold-headed in responding to the issue. He also believed that Skemberlu did it without any intention of insulting and pure spontaneity. So, EternaLEnVy asks all player to be aware of the importance of mutual respect. As a team representative he also apologized for the incident.
In this action, BurNIng contacted Valve directly and asked for concrete steps from the company as the developer of Dota 2. BurNIng asked for clear rules and penalties related to the issue of racism. Erik Johnson, as Valve’s representative said that they will step up if the team does not provide penalties or sanctions. But as far as they can see, TNC Predator and compLexity Gaming have given clear penalties.
Valve also does not explicitly support this kind of racism and criticizes it. Then, Erik Johnson claimed that this would be further coordinated with the relevant teams. In addition, Dota 2 gets a lot of negative reviews after Valve, which is predicted to have no effect and deterrent steps. It was proven by thousand of members who reduced the quality of Dota 2 game review on Steam.
