In traditional sports, racism and discrimination usually result in significant punishment, a suspension, or even a ban by the overarching sports association. Esports is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and is also rapidly gaining acceptance by local governing sports bodies. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region alone, China, Korea, and Japan have all recognized esports to some extent. According to the Chinese General Administration of Sport’s announcement in 2003, esports was named China’s 99th official sport, and the 78th official sports in 2008.

In this article, The Esports Observer will look at a racism controversy concerning the China Dota 2 community, and discuss not only how this problem was addressed, but how the lack of governing bodies with real authority can affect the brand equity of sponsors, tournament organizers, and teams..

Case Background

On Nov. 2 Valve’s first official Dota 2 Minor tournament of the season was held as part of DreamLeague, hosted by Swedish esports organization DreamHack. During a professional match between North American team compLexity Gaming (COL) and Chinese team Royal Never Give-Up (RNG), Complexity pro player Andrei “skem” Ong posted a comment in the in-game chat: “Ching chong.” After the match, the Chinese streaming platform for DreamLeague, ImbaTV, submitted complaints to both DreamHack and Valve Corporation.

COL posted a statement on Twitter stating that Ong would “receive a formal reprimand, as well as a maximum fine.” The player later published an apology on Twitter.

A few days later, Filipino TNC player Carlo “Kuku” Palad made the same comment during a pub game [a public server game]. This action resulted in a significant backlash from the Chinese esports community. In what some considered a move to avoid responsibility, “Kuku”claimed that the comment was in reference to a player’s nickname on the opposing team. It was later found that the player only changed his name after the incident occurred.

TNC issued a statement on both the Chinese social media site Weibo and Facebook that it had given “Kuku” the “maximum penalty and appropriate sanction.”

Following the backlash, Chinese organization LGD Gaming announced that it would cancel its training matches with TNC until Valve addressed the controversy in an official statement. Team Aster also announced that it would add “[RESPECT]” to its player’s gamertags during future professional esports tournaments as a form of protest, until Valve made an official response and issued a punishment.

The Chinese community has criticized Valve and its failure to protect its players from ongoing racism. On Nov. 7, several major Chinese esports organizations issued statements that they would not tolerate racism and discrimination in esports, whilst urging Valve to make a definitive statement about this ongoing issue. These organizations included Chinese teams Newbee, Aster, LGD Gaming, and EHOME; North America’s Team Liquid; Europe’s Fnatic; and Chinese streaming platform ImbaTV.

On Nov. 8, Dota 2’s exclusive distributor, Perfect World, announced that any player who makes racially disparaging comments in any of its hosted events would be disqualified, along with the player’s entire team. Interestingly, despite being the exclusive distributor of Dota 2 in China, Perfect World has no authority outside of its own tournaments.

Should Valve Take Responsibility?

In traditional sports, the tournament organizer (a.k.a the sports governing body) has total control in the sports’ ecosystem. Most notably in soccer and basketball, racism and discrimination—and the resulting negative media attention—can lead to punishments by the relevant athletic associations, such as FIFA or the NBA.

In soccer, Italian FA president Carlo Tavecchio was banned by FIFA for six months over a racist comment he made in August 2014. In basketball, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life with a $2.5M USD fine, and forced him to sell the team for racist comments made in 2014. After these punishments, plenty of team executives have realized the consequences of racism. In 2018, Germany soccer player Mesut Ozil quit the team after the World Cup, due to what he described as “racism and disrespect.”

However, in esports, unlike traditional sports, game publishers have more power than those in charge of running the tournaments—that is, when they aren’t running the tournaments themselves. As the top of the organization in the esports ecosystem, game publishers own the intellectual property and hold all the power.

Racially motivated bad behavior by a pro player can negatively affect the image of the game, regardless of whether it happened in a public match or within the community on social media, etc. Once racist behavior goes viral on social media this can have several commercial consequences for the game publisher, such as players quitting the game in protest, or choosing not to purchase in-game items. This was the exact reaction of plenty of Chinese players on Weibo.

For the game publisher, this kind of behavior can directly damage the game’s revenue, and potential viewership for international competitions. In 2019, The International Dota 2 tournament will be hosted in Shanghai, the first time the event has come to China.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Valve will not tolerate racist language between pro players in any form.“[/perfectpullquote]

These unchecked racial comments can force brands into difficult situations and damage or permanently destroy their relationships with teams. After Kuku’s announcement on Chinese social media, some of Chinese audiences left negative messages under the Weibo page of JJB, a betting website and major sponsor of TNC Predator. JJB eventually posted an official announcement, claiming that ‘TNC can not represent JJB.”

Valve’s Announcement on Nov. 10

Eight days after the first incident, Dota 2 publisher Valve posted an announcement on its Dota 2 blog:

“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 in our tournaments to hold its players accountable, and be prepared to follow up with strong punishments when players represent Dota and its community poorly.”

Compared with traditional sports, where a statement usually lists the facts of the case and issues a strong punishment, Valve’s announcement did not include any repercussions for the players or teams involved. In fact, it didn’t reference the teams or players at all.

Valve does not work with any PR agencies, and does not issue statements through a single social media account. The Dota 2 blog, the developer’s main method of communication, is usually reserved for game or tournament announcements, and is rarely used to make public statements such as the one issued on Nov. 10.

How Do Other Publishers Deal With Racist Behavior?

When faced with similar incidents of bad behavior, other game publishers have taken decisive actions.

In 2014, Riot banned SK Gaming’s League of Legends player Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen for three professional games, and issued a $2.5K USD fine after he used the racist nickname “TaipeiChingChong” on Taiwanese game servers. Back then, Riot described Johnsen’s behavior as “severe misconduct,” based on the publisher’s anti-discrimination and denigration rules.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“We’re extremely disappointed by the hateful, offensive language used by some of the online viewers during the DreamHack Austin event the weekend before last.“[/perfectpullquote]

Blizzard Entertainment also dealt with several incidents of racism in its esports scenes. In 2016 at a Hearthstone Dreamhack Austin event, pro player Terrence “TerrenceM” Miller was performing well at the tournament, but the Twitch comments during the games were filled with racially disparaging language targeted at Terrence, an African American. During the event, the tournament organizer DreamHack showed that it lacked the capability to control the situation. After the event, Blizzard Entertainment’s former CEO Mike Morhaime claimed:

“We’re extremely disappointed by the hateful, offensive language used by some of the online viewers during the DreamHack Austin event the weekend before last. We feel there’s no place for racism, sexism, harassment, or other discriminatory behavior, in or outside of the gaming community.”

During this year’s inaugural Overwatch League season, Blizzard was forced to issue multiple fines and suspensions for racially disparaging behavior. The most notable of these was Dallas Fuel player Félix “xQc” Lengyel, who was suspended and fined multiple times for offensive behavior, including one instance where he repeatedly used an emote in a racially disparaging manner. Another player, Tae-yeong “TaiRong” Kim, posted an offensive meme on social media, and was let go with a formal warning after issuing an unprompted apology and making a charitable donation.

Looking back on Valve’s announcement, the publisher is significantly lacking when it comes to front-facing PR, compared to Blizzard Entertainment and Riot Games. As a private company, Valve is not subject to the general consequences of bad press.

As recently reported by Forbes, Activision Blizzard’s shares fell 10% ($3.06B USD) following the poor public reception to the Diablo: Immortals mobile game at Blizzcon. This is similar to EA’s share price drop last year, following the negative reception to Star Wars Battlefront II. There are several other examples from the video game industry like these, where a multi-billion dollar publisher’s actions, announcements, or lack of action, negatively influence its stock value. However, Valve Corporation is a privately owned company and still has no plan for an IPO.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“In 2016, Riot Games banned the popular Twitch League of Legends streamer Tyler “Tyler 1” Steinkamp for 631 days.“[/perfectpullquote]

Discrimination, toxic behavior, and anger are extremely common in public esports matches. In plenty of esports games, including Dota 2, League of Legends or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, there are systems that players can use to report negative behavior. Normally, toxic player behavior will be punished by the game publisher. For example, In Dota 2, the player will receive low priority in matchmaking or be banned for a limited time when they receive a number of reports. In 2016, Riot banned the popular Twitch League of Legends streamer Tyler “Tyler 1” Steinkamp for 631 days related to toxic behavior during his streams.

Today, professional players are representing professional teams, and more increasingly, their home countries. With more sponsorship and partnership value at stake, players already have a certain influence on a team or game’s marketing potential. Their behavior during a match, whether it is professional or just on a public server, can heavily influence fans, casual players, and aspiring professionals. In addition, it can also reflect poorly on the reputation of teams and sponsors.

To conclude, esports should imitate traditional sports regulations. Societal problems like racism and discrimination have been a hidden secret in the industry, and are affecting esports on many levels. This China Dota 2 racism case illustrates esports’ lack of institutions and structures.

Just as the actions of players become part of the game, the actions of professionals become part of esports.