Valve Claims Zero Tolerance for Racism from DOTA 2 Pros

When it comes to “MOBAs who are in trouble with their fans and the law”, Riot Games, with its League of Legends, is still the champ by a wide margin thanks to their horrible treatment of women and their apparently rampant discrimination. By comparison, DOTA 2’s racism problem seems particularly mild, but it’s a problem nonetheless, and one that Valve is apparently very committed to solving.

So here’s the story: over the past month, there have been two instances of overt racism displayed by professional DOTA 2 players. Both Carlo “Kuku” Palad of TNC Pro Team and Andrei "skem" Ong of compLexity Gaming were caught using a very offensive word when referencing their Chinese opponents. And while both of them got “punished” by way of fines and “reprimands”, both are still on their respective teams and prompted a wave of backlash from fans who proceeded to review bomb the game on steam for failing to hold them accountable for their actions.

Valve has since responded to these claims of racism with the following blog post:
 

“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...

…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 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.”

 
That’s… pretty much what you’d expect. But it’s better than saying nothing, so, we’ll chalk that up as a win, I suppose.