Over the course of the past few weeks, we have seen the Chinese Dota 2 community in arms against Valve. Their demand of action and a public statement from the Game Developer met with stone-cold silence.
During this time, we have seen statements from multiple organisations, players and teams condemning the racist comments. At the same time, the nature of such comments has seeped down into the pub games and matchmaking is no longer a pleasant experience.
Statements from NoTail, resolution and PPD.
In the statement we see the players commenting on the issue of racism. They sympathize with the Chinese community which was at the receiving end of the recent controversy. Players like Notail, Resolution and PPD have come out with statements deploring any racial comments. They urge other players to have respect for people of all races throughout the world. They want to become a positive force in the community and lead by example.
Earlier Chinese professional Burning received an email from Valve regarding the issue. They assured him that they will put forth punishments in case a player’s organisation does not do the same.
Perfect World’s stance.
Perfect World also stepped in and have reprimanded any racial slurs from professional players. They also established their stance that they will disqualify any team/player who uses inappropriate [ racial ] language when it comes to Perfect World Games.
Complexity and Skem apologize for the incident.
The player who started the controversy, Skemm is a part of Complexity Gaming. Since the incident gained traction, both the players and the organisation have issued public apologies for the same.
We have been made aware of an inappropriate comment by one of our players in today’s #coLDota #DreamLeague match. Complexity Gaming does not condone intolerance of any kind and the player will receive a formal reprimand, as well as a maximum fine.
— Complexity Gaming (@Complexity) November 1, 2018
I'd like to apologize for the language I used today during the dreamleague match. I understand that words have consequences and I have learned from my mistake. I am very sorry to anyone that was offended.
— Andrei (@skemdota2) November 1, 2018
Valve’s Statement
Recently Valve released a public statement regarding their stance on this issue. At the same time, Valve has issued broad guidelines and urged professional players to control what they speak publicly. It is a grave matter since these players are a huge influence for their fans and Dota 2 players. The recent incident with the Chinese racial slur, saw many pub matches also filled with racist comments and the likes. It was a traumatizing experience for Chinese players as well as people of Chinese origin. It is important for Valve to establish these guidelines and at the same time punish those who flout the rules.
The International has always been about bringing fans from diverse cultures all around the world together to celebrate the game we love with one another. Professional players compete year-round, hoping for a chance to prove themselves on the grand stage. They have strong competitive spirits, with high emotions and drive to perform. That’s why we love watching them compete. We’ve always had an approach of letting the players be themselves, and to express themselves freely. That’s how it’s always been for a long time. However, we also expect pro players to understand that they represent the Dota community regardless of where they are. Words carry a lot of meaning. Some people may not agree or understand why certain words are harmful, but it doesn’t make it any less so to those on the receiving end. The language used by multiple players over the last week has caused many of our fans a lot of pain and is not behavior that we condone.
We’ve been spending the past few days talking to various pro players and community leaders about this. From all the interactions we’ve seen over the years, we know that deep down professional players respect each other immensely. However, we want to be very clear that Valve will not tolerate racist language between pro players in any form. We think it is really damaging to the entire Dota community whenever even a single professional player uses discriminatory language. It pits fans against each other, belittles and demeans entire groups and makes them feel like they are not as important. Going forward, we expect all teams who participate our tournaments to hold its players accountable, and be prepared to follow up with strong punishments when players represent Dota and its community poorly.
You can read Valve’s full public Statement here.