Parasocial behavior and death threats: VALORANT esports fans are going too far

VALORANT Masters London’s second Playoffs day kicked off last week with a three-map thriller between VCT EMEA darkhorse FUT Esports and VCT China legend Champions EDward Gaming (EDG). Tension was brewing throughout the series, with FUT Esports delivering banter on stage and receiving boos from the audience in return.

What followed after the series, though, was far more problematic. FUT Esports player Efe “s0pp” Tur became a target of online harassment and death threats due to racism allegations. A clip where s0pp yelled ‘’ZmjjKK, you can’t hold sh**!’’on stage was misunderstood as a racist remark by some VCT China fans.

S0pp’s case is not the only one of its kind. In recent months, there have been numerous incidents of parasocial behavior, online toxicity, and boundary crossing from VALORANT community members impacting players, staff, and their loved ones.

VALORANT esports fans have been going too far, and perhaps it’s on Riot Games to take a stance.

‘’It affected me because of all the hate. This morning I got really supportive messages from players and my friends, they know I did nothing wrong,’’ s0pp shared with media outlet Hotspawn after his second Playoffs match. “I don’t think it really affected me for this match. It helped me know who I am & how I want to act.” 

While s0pp thankfully seemed to have recovered from the wave of harassment, this shouldn’t have to be the norm for esports players. I think most players would agree that banter is welcome from all sides, including opposing teams and fandoms.

The same should also apply to critical feedback. If a player or team said or did something harmful, they should be held accountable by the community.

Not only did s0pp’s racism allegations turn out unfounded, but the language and behavior displayed by his ‘’critics’’ clearly crossed a line. Death threats can cause tangible harm to a person’s mental health. Words can hurt, especially when they are shouted by a wave of thousands of voices flooding a single social media account.

It is not soft to be affected by those words. It is simply human.

With all the media coverage, imposing event trailers, and incredible achievements, we easily fall into the habit of idolizing professional players. To a certain extent, that might be inevitable. Players will always be the face of their respective esports titles and are therefore held to higher standards of public behavior and professionalism.

However, before their careers as players, they were always human first. 

Whenever you make public comments on a player, please remember that. Remember that there is a human on the other side reading your words, not a soulless performance machine. In an era where most issues are taken to the extreme through escalating online discourse, be the one who intentionally practices compassion.

The compassion I previously spoke of – the understanding that players are humans first and deserving of productive feedback – that applies to everyone involved in these incidents. Responding to hate with more hate will only further escalate the discourse, causing harm to all sides, including your own.

As an X (formerly Twitter) user highlighted: ‘’Chinese fans acting out does NOT warrant any racism towards them like at all. Yes, they should be admonished (thank you, Edg, for speaking up), but there is no situation whatsoever where you can ‘retaliate’ with racism.’’

Furthermore, one group that is easily overlooked but often highly affected by online hate towards players is their loved ones. Following FULL SENSE’s loss to FUT Esports in the Masters London Swiss Stage, the mother of the team’s Head Coach Thanaphat “THEE” Limpaphan suffered a panic attack and irregular heartbeat due to negative comments directed at the team. The incident prompted both FULL SENSE and THEE to speak out.

‘’She is now feeling better and is able to live normally at home again,’’ emphasized THEE in his statement. ‘’And this is my fault, because I did not stop her. I could not stop her in time. As her son, my heart is completely broken right now.’’

VALORANT on-air talent Yinsu “Yinsu” Collins also dove into this topic on her Substack. She detailed her personal experience as the partner of Fnatic player Jake “Boaster” Howlett and shared the experiences of other players’ spouses and loved ones.

I recommend everyone read the entire piece. What stood out to me was the helplessness described by many as they are forced to witness their loved ones deal with online toxicity from the sidelines.

‘’I can’t just go online and start explaining the reasons behind certain comps, specific strats, roster moves, etc., so having to sit here and ‘take it’ while people say negative things about not only Ethan but also people I’m good friends with and care about is pretty messed up,’’ explained NRG Ethan “Ethan” Arnold’s partner Kelly in the article.

Like many professional players, Kelly has gained extensive experience managing her emotions in response to online negativity. And according to her, positive comments from fans make a big difference, too.

Riot Games usually takes charge of penalizing problematic players or in-game behavior, but not so much when it comes to policing community toxicity directed at players. But this passivity was questioned when the official Masters London broadcast showed a distasteful fan graphic featuring Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang and s0pp, who had already faced online death threats at the time. 

Although Leo Faria, Riot Games’ Head of VALORANT Esports, apologized for the mistake, some community members wanted the developer to take further accountability and ‘’protect their own franchised player.”

I do understand that sentiment and agree the graphic should have never been shown on the broadcast. However, I’m unsure how much Riot can realistically achieve in this regard. The company can forbid certain signs or remove misbehaving fans from their on-site events.

What’s near impossible to control is any online discourse. A public statement in response to s0pp’s case could have been an option. Ultimately, though, Riot cannot fine or make an example of fans as it does with professional players in such instances.

Online hate is a problem connected to so many factors outside of Riot’s domain. Therefore, I believe that the most promising course of action for the publisher would be education and awareness campaigns that specifically center on the human side of their star players.

In our increasingly online gamer world, some of us need a reminder that we all deserve boundaries and a baseline of respect.