Yuto “million” Ueno, a professional Japanese VALORANT player for Murash Gaming, has said on Twitter today that he’ll no longer shoot dead bodies in Japan Challengers Split Two because it goes against the rules of the event and apologized for his acts.
In western culture, shooting dead bodies is widely considered a form of taunting opponents across multiple shooters such as VALORANT, Call of Duty, and CS:GO. It arguably doesn’t have any other meaning in America or Europe than to just throw some banter at your opponents after you win a round, but apparently, it may have a different meaning in Japan.
There isn’t a single rule in the VALORANT Global Competition Policy rulebook that explicitly forbids players from shooting dead bodies in official Riot Games-sanctioned tournaments, however. The rulebook has not been updated since 2021.
What may have happened in VALORANT Japan Challengers, though, is that one particular admin framed the act of shooting dead bodies as an act that breaks VALORANT‘s code of conduct. Based on what is covered in the rulebook, an admin may have perceived what millions did as a violent act.
“Team members are expected to settle their differences in a respectful manner and without resort to violence, threats, or intimidation (physical or non-physical),” the Global Competition Policy rulebook reads.
One VALORANT fan argued on Reddit that Riot must have a clear stance on topics like this, because of all the different cultures that attend VALORANT events. “[It’s] kind of dumb [that] something isn’t tolerated in one region but accepted in another,” the fan said. Players often shoot dead bodies in America and EMEA VALORANT matches and the act goes pretty much unnoticed.
Dot Esports reached out to Riot but did not receive a comment at the time of writing.
