In the tactical shooter Valorant an official game administrator requested players to refrain from “teabagging.” It is a humiliating gesture. However, the head of the largest European team, G2 Esports, says: “Fuck this rule” and instructs his players to do it extra.
What is teabagging? Teabagging is a symbolic gesture in video games: One presses the genitalia of one’s character into the face of a defeated opponent lying on the ground by standing over their face and repeatedly crouching. It is called “teabagging” because the motion of the genitalia resembles putting a teabag into a cup of hot water.
“Teabagging” is generally considered rude and frowned upon.
After a player teabagged an opponent in Valorant in December 2020, he even received death threats.
This is the reason for the discussion: A player of G2 Esports, Patryk “PaTiTek” Fabrowski, shared a screenshot on Twitter. The admin of an official Valorant tournament game told him: They do not want teabagging in the broadcasts. This is considered rude (via twitter).
“Fuck the rule – teabag them and shoot their corpses!”
This is how G2 Esports reacts: Apparently, this has been interpreted as a “new rule” by Riot, not to teabag. When an admin says this, it is seen as coming directly from Riot Games.
The head of G2 Esports, former LoL professional Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez, subsequently instructed his players on Twitter to “teabag everyone and shoot at the corpses.” Regarding the new rule from Riot Games, he said “Fuck this rule.”
In a further tweet, he called the rule “stupid,” saying it has no place in Valorant. They apparently want to make Europe as boring as it was before G2 existed. That won’t happen.
Many think “teabagging is part of it”
This is the discussion: If you read the comments on Twitter, most players are clearly “pro-teabagging”. They consider it
- “freedom of expression”
- “psychological warfare”
- and something that “simply belongs in a first-person shooter”
People seem genuinely appalled that Riot Games would actually suggest something as absurd as refraining from teabagging. They now want a clear statement from Riot Games on whether it is banned or not.
G2 teabags and loses
This is how it went on: The players of G2 Esports extensively used teabagging “at the command of their boss.” They participated in the tournament VCT 2021: EU Challengers 3, where 8 teams competed for nearly 42,000€.
When G2 Esports took a 9-0 lead against Dfuse on the first map, they teabagged. However, G2 lost the match significantly after the lead. Thus, they fail to qualify for the first VCT Masters, as dotesports knows.
It turned out poorly. Perhaps they should have focused on other things. In the comments, it is noted: “Bad T-Bag karma.”
This is what it’s about: This fits with G2 Esports and the brand “G2.” They often appear in LoL so confidently that it borders on disrespect towards the opponent. G2 is known for memes and stunts – they celebrate openly, boast big, post a lot on social media, mock opponents and each other. There is a lot of irony and sarcasm involved: They revel in gaming and themselves, drawing energy from the jokes.
It is all well and good, as long as G2 Esports dominates and things are going well. However, once they lose, these antics seem exaggerated and one thinks: “Maybe it would have gone better if you had focused on the match.”
Even if one can see this behavior as “unsportsmanlike”, G2 Esports has been very successful with this attitude: They excite their fans and are generally entertaining. Additionally, they are fair losers. When things go wrong, the teams also own up to it. And apparently, none of this is meant too seriously – it’s just a game.
Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez is the founder and mastermind behind G2. He started as a mid-laner for SK Gaming in 2011 at the beginning of LoL but recognized the enormous potential in esports by his mid-20s and founded G2 Esports in 2013 based in Berlin. He apparently still has a bit of a fiery temperament:
Twitch streamer picks a fight with the wrong, crazy boss of a LoL team
