I know you're just summarizing but I find it hard to believe that Riot would make a statement that clearly implies cheating if it was just ban evasion. I don't see why 1) why or how anti-cheat is detecting ban evasion, and 2) if Riot has info, and has to come to the decision that it's ban evasion, why word it in a way that would imply it would be something else?

Yeah, I'd agree with you that there are clearly verification issues (especially given the Noot noot situation). I wasn't commenting on what you individually are saying, but the majority of threads that are on this topic.

I'd be more sympathetic if these posts weren't just "I don't think trans people should compete in GC because they aren't women." It's very rare that you see someone who has an actually well-thought-out principled position on the issue.

I don't disagree with this, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. I think even if parents and society stopped pressuring people, I think you would more or less see a similar distribution. I think people need to start seeing people that are like them competing in this. Which is why I think someone like meL playing in T2/T1 would be really good. Having a role model for girls to believe that they can actually break into a male-dominated scene.

I think it's a really tough discussion. I don't think at the present time, trans people demonstrate an advantage that I would consider unfair. The top trans competitors seem to benefit from things that a biological woman could also benefit from, i.e., experience in T2 or starting to play fps from a young age. However, if in the future the league became like 80% trans, then it would most likely be too late to make any reform to prevent trans people from being as prevalent as they would be. I think the real key is that Riot needs to seriously monitor the issue. I don't think it's in anybody's best interest to just write off any criticism as transphobia or to ban trans people entirely. I also think Riot needs to decide what they want GC to be, they've stated they want it to be a developmental league for people who are marginalized, but I worry about how much they'll stick to that, or if GC will just be a place where some people spend their entire career.

Hopefully, he can regain some of his former glory. Not going to keep my expectations too high considering we're going into a meta where the agents he's known for are not great, but it would be great to see him do well.

I think crow to coach is a great move. I believe I saw some interviews where the newer players respected him a lot as a leader figure in the team. Let's him maintain that leader role, while making space for someone who might bring more firepower.

be careful guys, avoid playing val for more than 10 hours a day if you guys date

fixed it for you

If they have an anime pfp, there's a non-zero chance they're either a pedo or a nazi.

Jason, stop posting on your alt

Mistic easily, bro's flash single-handedly won a major.

In my opinion, you need to say that a word causes harm to prevent someone from using it. What you've given me is a perfectly valid reason for not using a hard R, something I agree with. The issue with this is that -a doesn't carry that same meaning with it. To say that a black person could use the word, and it has a positive connotation, but someone who isn't black using it automatically gives it a negative intention doesn't make sense to me. If we assume that the reason it's harmful is that it brings back memories of that oppression, why would hearing it from another black person not also bring up those memories, especially given the case that some black people can be racist against black people?

It seems a much more plausible answer to me that the intention behind the use of the word is the most important factor. I doubt anyone saying that a white person rapping along to a song that uses the n-word is racist, but that wouldn't make sense with your reasoning. If she was sending the message to a black person, with the intent of belittling their opinion with the word, I'd agree that she was being racist, but it seems much more likely that she is using it in a similar way to what you described in your 2nd paragraph.

Also a little bit of a separate topic, I don't know why the fact that she's Asian is an important distinction. My history isn't great, but there isn't a history of Asian oppression against black people. Wouldn't that make her use of the word neutral, since the race she's from doesn't have a history of oppression against black people?

tl;dr: The important factor isn't the history of the word, but the context and intention behind it's use. There are many situations in which I believe a majority of people would find the use of the word acceptable, so clearly, it's not intrinsically bad but requires a certain state of mind to be bad. People who aren't black using the world is cringy, but not inherently racist.

Fair about the first part mb, but why should it not be said in a context like that? I think it's fine to be in favor of banning the word entirely, but it doesn't make sense to me to say that it's okay in some contexts (unless that was like an academic-only context), but that's she's being a little racist by using it (even though not 100%) in that way? Her SS, based on the context would be nearly identical to hearing it in a song, except for the race.

How could you deduce a negative connotation from that SS of the word? It's 5 months before the first image, doesn't use hard R, and there's no surrounding messages that give a hateful context.

Did Riot suspend Sinatraa for committing SA, or did they suspend him for not complying with an investigation? From what has been made public, Sinatraa is allowed to compete now, it's just that no one wants to pick up a player with the allegations lingering around them, who if we're being honest, isn't an upgrade for any teams. The only difference is that The Union decided that they would pick up a player with a bad history because it might give them a chance of winning (Which I disagree with btw).

I mean, in the Sinatraa situation, Riot did their own investigation and punished him for not complying. They never punished him for being guilty. There's also no evidence that he's been blacklisted from the league, just speculation. The only thing stopping Sinatraa from competing right now is that no team wants to pick up a player, who is realistically not an upgrade for any team, with as much baggage as he does.

On the other hand, Pancc's situation happened while he was playing in CS, so Riot had no reason to investigate there. I think it's fair to say Riot shouldn't let a pedo into the league, and I'd definitely agree with you. However, there's really no inconsistency between the two situations, they were temporarily suspended (Pancc in his former game) and then allowed to compete. The Union just chose to pick up Pancc.

Create obvious bait clip
farm impressions
repeat

Shroud the GOAT

This fennel roster is very underrated.

I legitimately can't think of a take in VAL history worse than this.

Getting good feedback on VLR or ValComp seems like wading through a sea of shit baits just to find one good piece. As a player, I'd imagine it's much better for your mindset to just ignore the subreddit and forums entirely.

To be fair, a part of the reason why sports/esports salaries are so high is because no one really plays for their entire life. You normally sacrifice a lot, whether it be educational or professional connections, by dedicating the amount of time it takes to get to the top. People might only play Valorant for 5 years, but they usually forgo going to college or starting their careers. If you try to go to college after that, your savings from a lower salary are going to start going away pretty fast.

denial <---- You are Here
anger
bargaining
depression
acceptance

I feel like people have said this every year so far. Valorant has a huge viewer/player base all around the world. I don't think it's going anyway for a while.

his dreams

LOUD don't fall off that hard if no other changes happen.

I won't miss his opinions or his attitude, but I think I will miss his leaks. He was one of, if not the biggest, reporter in the early stages of Val.

Obligatory last Leorge Leddes tho.

We can only hope

What are BR fans opinion on Askia who played for The Union? Iirc, he played pretty well until their last game.

It is worth noting that he says he speaks English and Portuguese, so ZETA aspas hopium might be gone.

Asuna's reyna was really good in 2021

Oh cool, w org for that. T1 is still a little odd, guess they were one of the only teams willing to do it.

Was there any reason for this? Obviously, any content in off season is welcomed, but this just kinda felt like it came out of nowhere.

mada's not bad, and considering he played more raze, it would make sense they keep him imo.

It was that or not play, no? Clearly, he wanted to play, and the team just wasn't very good.

hope you get well soon

Unless your internet is really bad, the download speeds not really going to be the issue, I'd be more worried about ping. As long as you're wired you should be fine.

They didn't fire him technically, but https://esportsinsider.com/2022/09/g2-esports-co-founder-carlos-rodriguez-resigns-as-ceo

Elden Ring >>>>

Inb4 this get's brought up again the next time Leorge shits on someone for getting a story wrong

I feel like I've got whiplash. For nearly the entirety of last year, people were relentlessly shitting on Shahzam, but now people are saying he should've never been dropped?

Little bit of a turn around

I mean, prime jhow was abusing bugs, so it's not really a fair fight.

After reading:

I can understand why people don't like him for the James_FF situation. Also, calling people on this forum, "basement dwellers," while you work for the website is a little ironic. But, it looks like he apologized eventually.

Second, I think it's a little crazy to say he used a thread about daveeys to victimize himself. I mean, he wasn't doing anything but paying respects to daveeyS and then got shit on, is it not fair for him to defend himself there? Feels a little pearl-clutchy to me.

Seems like he does have a 'little' bit of a problem taking criticism tho.

I'm ootl, can someone explain why everyone is shitting on him so much?

I'm pretty sure it's only 1 import for vct. https://www.dexerto.com/esports/vct-2023-roster-regulations-explained-minimum-salaries-import-rules-roster-sizes-1944581/

My GOAT

This would be nefarious, but it seems like KSE wanted to get out of esports entirely. They probably already had commitments to the guard roster, so they kept them on for as long as they had to. They saw the ability to not respond as a way out without having to maintain the roster, so they probably just chose to intentionally not agree. I have no source, but I just can't see a world in which KSE wanted to agree, and they just forgot the deadline.

Common L[REDACTED] L[REDACTED] L

I think it would be really cool if, among more 'hardcore' fans of VCT, we organized a boycott for some of the games to try to incentivize Riot to accept another org. Not like anyone´s gonna get anything done posting on vlr or signing a change.org petition.

Ironically, I think the most "fair" option would be to let the runner up, m80, buy the guard roster. But I have a feeling that not many people would like that.

That's the thing, they don't.