VALORANT professionals are speaking out about the pervasiveness of death threats.
Sentinels VALORANT star Michael “dapr” Gulino spoke on stream earlier this week about getting toxic messages and even death threats from members of the community. Dapr went into detail about the scathing messages he’s received as a pro player.
“I’ve been getting shit talked for such a long time now, I’m indifferent dude,” dapr explained. “If I showed you my DMs, I could show you like 20 screenshots of people saying they’ll fucking dismember my mother because I knifed Mixwell and shit. It’s nothing to me anymore because I’m so used to it.”
Dapr continued, “that’s just life on the internet, dude, they’re anonymous but it’s just a thing that happens,” referring to the unfortunate frequency of these toxic and threatening messages. Dapr mentioned a knife kill on a G2 player during a VCT Masters Berlin group stage match as an example of when he received threats.
The events at VCT Masters Berlin sparked a larger discussion about the prevalence of death threats in the VALORANT community. Several players from different areas and teams shared their experiences with attacks from viewers.
Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk, a 100 Thieves duelist, publicly condemned the act during the international competition. Asuna received a slew of death threats after his first game at Masters Berlin against Havan Liberty.
Both during and after Masters Berlin, media figures in the VALORANT esports scene have condemned the actions and frequency of death threats. It has long been argued that players bantering or trash-talking on stage or on social media is not an excuse for fans to retaliate or send dangerous messages.