(Observer Network) According to the Russian TV today (RT) report on the 30th, BTS and Valve Corporation (V ) announced on the 29th that the Outsiders team, namely the former Russian team Virtus.Pro team , will be cancelled this season's playoffs. The reason why
issued this severe punishment was that a player from the VP team, "Pure", drew a "Z" character on the minimap during a pause of the game. After being suspended, the VP team also cut off the seats with the player "Pure" and terminated his contract.
Today's Russian TV Station (RT) screenshot
According to RT, this incident occurred in the Eastern European Division DPC League on the 29th, when the teams were competing for tickets to the upcoming DOTA2 Stockholm MAJOR event.
Previously, affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Russian VP team was first forced to issue a statement on the situation in Ukraine by WePlay, the organizer of the DOTA2 Galaxy Cup, and was threatened to directly cancel the VP team's qualification on the grounds that the VP player was infected with new crown , although all VP team members were negative. At that time, the VP team responded that it did not support any war, but opposed the event operators' "political persecution" of the team, and the VP would not be intimidated by this kind of intimidation. After
, the European e-sports organization ESL E-sports Alliance directly notified the VP team to withdraw on March 2 because the team was related to the "sanctioned (Russian) government." However, soon after ESL also made a move, allowing VP team players to participate in the competition as a neutral status. Therefore, the Russian VP team, which is subject to disguised "sanctions", can only participate in the DPC Eastern European League as a neutral Outsiders team (hereinafter referred to as the VP team).
29, the VP team played against the Mind Games team composed of Russian, Belarus and Ukrainian players. During a pause in the first game between the two teams, VP team player "Pure" (lvan 'Pure' Moskalenko) drew a "Z" character on the game minimap.
reported that "Pure"'s move quickly attracted the attention of some members of the Eastern European DOTA2 community, especially from Ukrainian members. Ukrainian DOTA2 commentator "v1lat" (Vitalii 'v1lat' Volochai) posted on Twitter, demanding that the Russian player be banned "indefinitely".
It should be mentioned that in the Western world, "Z" is no longer just a letter, but also a symbol of "supporting Russia". The reason is that since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February this year, people have noticed that the white Latin letter "Z" has frequently appeared on Russian military equipment. Russian Ministry of Defense once published a message saying that Z represents "for victory" and comes from the Russian pronunciation of the first letter of за победу (victory). But in the eyes of the West, who allows sanctions to expand and spread to various fields outside of politics, "Z" becomes "pro-Russia", and boycotting the character "Z" is "natural".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kureba also posted on Twitter on March 29, calling on all countries to "criminal" the use of the "Z' character to support Russia. He also defined the meaning of the "Z' character, claiming that it means "Russia's war crimes."
Therefore, the behavior of "Pure" drawing "Z" characters later attracted BTS, the organizer of the competition, and V, which owns the Dota franchise, to investigate the incident.
It is reported that later on the 29th, BTS and V Club decided to cancel the Russian VP team's qualification. BTS announced on Twitter that "Outsiders (i.e. VP) has been disqualified from participating in the second season of the DPC Eastern European League playoffs." They were also sentenced to lose the game they had already won against Mind Games on the 29th. In the future, all Outsiders teams will participate in will also be cancelled, and BTS will soon share the updated schedule.
30, the club to which the VP team issued a statement on its website in response to this matter. The VP Club said that after the "Pure" incident occurred in the first game, they immediately contacted Van and BTS and launched an internal investigation. After the game, the "Pure" player immediately explained the matter publicly. According to RT, "Pure" apologized for this, saying he "inadvertently" drew the "Z" character and never intended to "harm anyone."In addition, BTS also contacted other players from the VP team to listen to their statements. Finally, the VP club was told that the final decision was in the hands of the V Club.
Regarding the final ban on V Club, the VP club said, "The severity of the punishment is shocking." VP Club said that although V Club has a history of implementing disciplinary measures, it has "set a new precedent" to disqualify the entire team from participating in the DPC league because a player draws something on a small map.
. Regarding the player "Pure", the VP club said that any behavior has consequences. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they have always opposed making hate speech and inciting hatred in e-sports . The VP club terminated its contract with the "Pure" player due to the ban on the VP team and caused great damage to their relationship with the global esports circle.
According to RT, in addition to this incident, Russia's gaming industry has been affected since the beginning of the special military operation. Many major Western game companies have suspended game sales in Russia and Belarus, and companies that have taken this measure include Microsoft , Nintendo , Sony , CD Projekt Red, Ubisoft , EA and Take-Two.
This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.
