Key Takeaway
The act of “teabagging” in video games is when a player repeatedly crouches on the face of another player after defeating them in a match.
Of all things the video game community has birthed, teabagging has to be one of the most bizarre. Today, teabagging has a very divisive reception. Some find it hilarious and harmless, while some find it outright offensive.
Table Of Contents
The History of Teabagging
The act of “teabagging” in video games is when a player crouches on the face of another player after defeating them in a match. Players often teabag enemies as a taunt or insult.
The term comes from the real-life act of the same name, which means, as defined by Dictionary.com, “putting one’s testicles in another’s mouth, raising and lowering it like a tea bag on a mug.”
Apologies if that generated unwelcome images.
The act was very popular in the multiplayer shooter community in the early 2000s. It’s unclear exactly which game it originally began. It was mostly very common in Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, and Halo. However, it became more prominent among Halo players.
The act became so popular and associated with Halo that the developers themselves incorporated it into their subsequent games. For example, In Halo 2, certain in-game enemies can teabag players after killing them.
Harmless or Offensive?
The act of teabagging became shrouded in infamy due to a recent controversy. In a Discord server discussion, someone expressed their disdain towards the act and likened it to an actual sexual assault. One even went as far as to say that the act should be criminalized. This generated widespread heated discussions.
A lot of people feel while it shouldn’t be likened to a real-world tragedy, teabagging in video games shouldn’t be encouraged either. Another camp believes the statement is outrageous because it diminishes the terrible impact of sexual assault in the real world, whereas teabagging in video games, while immature in nature, is overall harmless.
The act became even more infamous when Apex Legends and Valorant tournaments outright disqualified and banned players for teabagging.
It’s still debated to this day whether the act of teabagging should even still be practiced or tolerated. Some players will continue to view it as harmless fun, while some will continue to see it as offensive and inexcusable.
Despite this divide, a lot of players continue to do the act and it’s since branched out of FPS and onto other online games. Online players of games such as Smash Bros., Elden Ring, and Mortal Kombat see this act from time to time, and even commit it themselves.
