The Chongqing Major continues to be a festering wound in the Dota 2 2018/2019 Season. After a successfully concluded Kuala Lumpur Major, the controversy surrounding Kuku “KuKu” Palad and Andrei “Skem” Gabriel Ong continues.
Chongqing Major Says No to Players
The announcement that the upcoming Dota 2 Major, part of the Pro Circuit, was going to be held in China was well-received. However, shortly after the announcement problems arose. KuKu and Skem came into the crosshair of Chongqing’s local government, with KuKu receiving a warning not to attend the event.
In light of this, TNC has yet to decide whether we will continue playing in the event.
For now, we will be exploring all of our options.
We will update the community in the coming days about TNC's decision. Thank you.
— TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) December 2, 2018
Skem was caught using a racial slur against a fellow Chinese player during the DreamLeague Season 10, a qualifying event for the Kuala Lumpur Major. As to Kuku, he used derogatory language in a public game, which only added to the angst and defiance of Chinese players. Shortly after the news broke, the Chinese community demanded Valve to undertake measures and punish the players.
Valve took quite a bit of fire in the form of negative reviews left by the Chinese community, but the company didn’t buckle under the pressure, making an official statement that while it wouldn’t tolerate divisive language, it would leave it to the professional organizations representing the players to penalize the behavior.
After talking to the organizers of the Chongqing Major, it was confirmed to us that the following may happen if Kuku will attend the Major:
1. He might not be able to enter the country
2. The city government will possibly cancel the tournament should he attend— TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) December 2, 2018
Now, the official “ban” as such comes with a small wrinkle. Chongqing cannot stop KuKu from attending, but the city can potentially cancel the event altogether if he showed up, or just bar him from entering the city himself.
But even more shocking still, TNC Predator reported that the event organizers had shared with the organization that should KuKu attend, they would not be able to guarantee his safety. These developments are in themselves quite extreme. Threatening the safety of a player is what could be considered as going beyond the pale, to make no mention of sabotaging the competitive scene.
This is also a difficult time for Valve as the Chinese community is still unable to look past the remarks and the company is pushing ahead with launching its popular digital game marketplace, Steam, on the Chinese market.
If kuku isn’t allowed to play at the major I refuse to cast officially for the major , we all make mistakes and 1 mistake should not forbid you from playing at a tournament that potentially decides your whole career
— Grant Harris (@GranDGranT) December 2, 2018
At crossroads, the community outside China has also been reacting in rather firm terms to the case. Henrik Ahnberg, better known for his in-game moniker AdmiralBulldog, has said that should Chongqing deliver on any of the threats, he will boycott every Chinese event.
Grant Harris, who is scheduled to cast the event in China, also made it perfectly clear that he will have nothing to do with the event should any of the threats are carried out.
Politicizing the issue is clearly not going to do anyone any good. Understandably, Chongqing is holding a trump card, but would they really play it? Insults and poor player behavior are abundant in Dota on every level of the game, and they are hardly the only problem the esports community faces. This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be addressed.
Taking measures to curb this is the right course of action and it shouldn’t be done at the expense of the entire community. Petty revanchism is no better than using derogatory terms to depict your fellow gamers. Chongqing should know that and do better.
