Ahead of
VALORANT Champions 2026 held in Shanghai, the Riot Games rulebook has listed in-game conduct rules that prohibit players from shooting dead bodies, teabagging, and other inappropriate in-game conduct. A breach of this policy by any player will be subject to disciplinary action.
Champions Shanghai Rulebook. Credit: Riot Games
This update to the rulebook has got the community talking about it, as teabagging and shooting dead bodies is often simply seen as instances of banter, having light fun, or playing mental games with the opponents. The downright prohibition of these actions makes it interesting and can make some players force themselves to break this habit.
Not the first time
This is not the first instance of these rules being enforced in a strict manner. The VCT China League has always upheld these rules as a way to keep things disciplined and the focus to purely be on the gameplay.
In 2021, for example,
G2 Esports players teabagged and shot the bodies of Team Defuse’s players in a VCT EMEA circuit match despite being told not to by a host of the game lobby. While this rule was not strictly enforced and did not result in big consequences, these instances show that such disciplinary measures have already been observed in VCT and have not come out of the blue for
VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026.
A necessary rule to protect players?
While this may seem like an over-the-top rule to enforce at the most important
VALORANT event of the year, it could be quite beneficial for the players, as Chinese fans have been previously offended over similar actions by the likes of players such as FUT Esports’ Efe “s0pp” Tur when he played against EDward Gaming at Masters London.
While s0pp had no ill intentions behind his trash-talking and in-game actions, the Chinese VCT fans heavily criticised him to the point where he received death threats. Thus, these strict rule enforcements can keep players safe from potential social media abuse.
Other notable instances of players receiving criticism or negative reactions include Maximilian "Demon1" Mazanov during his run with Evil Geniuses at Masters Tokyo and Champions Los Angeles in 2023 and Sentinels’ Michael "dapr" Gulino during the team’s peak in the VCT 2021 season.
VALORANT Champions Shanghai is set to start on September 24th with Group C openers featuring Team Liquid vs Paper Rex and TYLOO vs G2 Esports. The champions of the event will be crowned on October 18th at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
