A fierce debate has sprung up in the CS:GO community about how far casters should be able to go in criticizing players on live broadcasts, with players, casters and fans all weighing in. On one side, personalities like Richard Lewis and Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen have argued that on-air talent has an obligation to criticize bad play, and players like Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, and Damian "daps" Steele and Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas calling for more respect.

I love to watch good games, and good casting,analyst, we have plenty of it,people are doing great job,but now more than often cross the line — VP TAZ (@g5taz) November 14, 2016

The debate started Sunday night after the Northern Arena Grand Final between G2 Esports and OpTic Gaming, when SK Gaming's FalleN tweeted that he thought the casters had been disrespectful to G2's Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux.

@FalleNCS What people are doing to @G2SmithZz is UNREAL. Criticizing is fine but mocking him live? Disrespectful in so many levels. — Gabriel FalleN T. (@FalleNCS) November 14, 2016

Northern Arena's casters and desk analysts made a running joke of criticizing SmitthZz's AWP play throughout the event, leaning on several important missed shots and referring to an angry French-language post SmithZz made several weeks earlier on vakarm.net, which began with the phrase, "Yo les noobs."

Desk analyst Dustin "dusT" Mouret was particularly harsh about SmithZz's missed shots, saying before the Grand Final, "I've done a lot of ridicule throughout this event, but I just wanna say, from the bottom of my heart — that I apologize for absolutely nothing. SmithZz, you got to step up and play a good game!" Though he said afterwards that he was "just kidding" and SmithZz was a "really good player," he held up a giant cardboard Kappa face to suggest sarcasm.

@iAMkVIN_S @Vansilli @RLewisReports only made 1 joke on Smithzz all event. Rest was just standard criticism but not attacks — dusT @ NorthernArena (@dustmouret) November 14, 2016

But perhaps the most poignant jab of the night came from caster Alexandre "Vansilli" Nguyen during the final round of the second finals map. G2 were trailing four rounds behind OpTic, who were on match point. SmithZz got a key opportunity to score multiple SCAR-20 kills on OpTic, but whiffed six shots before dying to Keith "NAF" Markovic's AK-47. Vansilli called out a shocked "Yo les noobs!" shortly before G2 lost the round.

@G2SmithZz btw sry for the "yo les noobs" comment following your match on d2. Was just in the spur of the moment and nothing against you! <3 — Vansilli (@Vansilli) November 14, 2016

After FalleN tweeted about the casting, the floodgates opened. Players and casters watching the game got into it about whether the ragging on SmithZz had crossed a line, arguing about how negative commentary affects players and whether it's acceptable in mainstream sports broadcasting.

He definitely is wrong. Find me a sport where performing badly doesn't lead to commentators mocking that performance. @daps — Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) November 14, 2016

@FalleNCS @g5taz If you can't shrug it off then you simply don't use social media or read any news sites. Same applies to traditional sports — Joona Leppänen (@natuCSGO) November 14, 2016

@g5taz @natuCSGO boring and dangerous. It can literally destroy someone's career. — Gabriel FalleN T. (@FalleNCS) November 14, 2016

@g5taz @natuCSGO @FalleNCS Not true TaZ. I see hundreds of pieces on "horrible defending", "biggest drop", "hilarious own goal" each week. — Phillip Rasmussen (@PHedemark) November 14, 2016

Don't like criticism? Play better. Simple as that. — DeKay (@NWDeKay) November 14, 2016

If anything, unfounded 'bullying' by fans is the fault of the fans, not the analysts. Which player ever truly cared what I thought of them? — lurppis (@lurppis_) November 14, 2016

The debate continued on Monday, broadening to a discussion about the direction of broadcast coverage in esports in general, and whether on-air talent have a responsibility for the way fans tend to pile on players they don't like.

Professional commentators in any sport or esport have the right to criticise poor plays or poor form. They don't have the right to mock. — ReDeYe (@PaulChaloner) November 14, 2016

The problem is generally not the edgy banter about players, the problem is when everyone does it and thinks it is the way to get popular. — Scott Smith (@SirScoots) November 14, 2016

But for that exact reason, you cant blanket the whole talent industry in esports as disrespectful because one guy went too far — Joe Miller (@Joe_Miller) November 14, 2016

Commentators also tend to over speak in the definitive "He sucks." vs "I think he sucks and here is why." Back up the negative with facts. — Scott Smith (@SirScoots) November 14, 2016

If the issue is young fans copying analysts and casters, perhaps we then need an age limit. Who is ready to lose all sub-18 y.o. viewers? — lurppis (@lurppis_) November 14, 2016

SmithZz, who is likely still processing the loss, hasn't yet weighed into the debate himself. His teammates on G2 haven't gotten involved either.

Thanks for the words everyone , it means a lot to me. — SmithZz (@G2SmithZz) November 14, 2016

Annabelle "Abelle" Fischer is a writer for theScore esports with a love for Dota 2, birds and cheese. You can follow her on Twitter.

Jeff Fraser is a supervising editor for theScore esports.