Fighting Game Community’s Leading Voice Calls For Accountability In Sexual Harassment Fallout


Shoryuken, one of the most respected voices in the fighting games community, has called upon its readers and followers to deal honestly with questions of misogyny and sexual harassment, following sexist match commentary on a controversy that has roiled the fighting games community for a second day.

“If we continue to let the worst elements in the scene speak for us or excuse their bad behaviour, we deserve whatever criticism we get,” Shoryuken‘s Inkblot wrote today. “It’s everyone’s responsibility: the players, the content producers, the tournament organisers, and the fans. We need to be just as serious about the way we treat each other and how we reach out to others online as we are about the game.”

The writer was addressing the fallout from a recent episode of “Wednesday Night Fights,” which Shoryuken sponsors. Commentators Christian “ETR” Cain and Martin “Marn” Phan both disparaged the coverage of remarks and conduct by competitive gamer Aris Bakhtanians, in which he proclaimed that sexual harassment was a part of the fighting games culture, and took control of a camera at competitive event as if to prove the point, zooming it in on a female competitor’s bust and buttocks.

Cain and Phan both apologised for their remarks and show producer Level | Up said neither would be welcomed back to comment in the future.

“A live video stream is the worst possible medium for this kind of hateful talk,” Inkblot wrote today. “A few hundred people attended WNF, but over 14,000 tuned in online. Our online presence is the face of the community. It is our recruiting tool.”

In a column yesterday, Inkblot allowed that “there is a grain of truth to what Aris is saying, because frankly a lot of players use the scene as a cocoon where they can shed the usual social decencies and behave badly.

However, Inkblot immediately added that, “I do believe that the scene can be an unwelcoming environment for women. Some of this is due to the game’s natural, high-strung competitive vibe, but a lot of it is just crass behaviour that you would not get away with outside of our male-dominated boy’s club.”

Today, as the controversy crested a second time with the Wednesday Night Fights commentary, Inkblot called the matter a moral imperative for fighting games enthusiasts.

“We cannot continue to let ignorant, hateful speech slide. The nasty undercurrent in the scene isn’t a joke or a meme,” Inkblot continued. “It’s something we need to fix if we expect to continue to grow, but more importantly it’s a moral imperative. I don’t want to be a part of a group where it’s ok to bully or make fun of others, and I hope you don’t either.”

Back to Basics, Getting Beyond the Drama [Shoryuken]
Hurtful Speech: Time to Take a Good Look in the Mirror [Shoryuken]


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


17 responses to “Fighting Game Community’s Leading Voice Calls For Accountability In Sexual Harassment Fallout”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *