Wow, that's really unfortunate. Hope things will change for the better now.

Ugh, this guy...

Does he seriously think it's integral to the community?

I seriously doubt every fighter is an asshole who uses such derogatory terms, It's on an individual level. I mean, I don't get incredibly offended, but I can see why somebody would be.

The whole point of trash talk in general is to offend the other person. Would I ever say stuff like that in the heat of a match? No... But, there's no reason why the women fighters can't come up with something else to offend the other fighters.

Or they can choose to ignore it. I mean, I can see where the guy's coming from about free speech & all. This is a tournament with thousands of people attending. There's going to be people who say all different kinds of things, you have to decide for yourself who you want to associate with, and ignore all of the people you view as fuckheads. This is life, there's always going to be assholes in it.

However, speaking as a fighting game fan who's never even heard any of his friends talk like this during a fighting game match... this guy has no idea what he's talking about. Just cause his little group of asshole friends talk that way doesn't mean the whole fighting game community does. He needs to open his mind and think a bit more. Maybe a get a bit of empathy in there, see where other people are coming from.

I kinda like Aris when he was doing some hosting for EVO last year, but yeah, does not surprise me one bit that he would say something this idiotic. Seems like the kind of guy that doesn't think through anything he says.

@mbr2 said:

@Hagane said:

Aris talks shit to everyone all the time, and sometimes people who can't handle it get offended. It just happened to be a girl this time.

Are you implying that it's ok for this guy to be a dick just because that's all he got going for him in his life?

I think he's saying that no-one says shit when he is a dick in general, but they do when his dickishness impacts a female.

I could be wrong though.

First of all, everyone in the fighting game community, including Miranda until this event, love Aris. He's amusing and he treats everyone the same way. You failed to mention that during the same stream he requested player "Kor" to remove his shirt to show the "stream monsters" his abs. When Mike Ross was their for the top-player challenges he was sniffing over his shoulder telling him that he smelled good. Aris, also jokingly hit on EG Ricky Ortiz--a well known and accepted homosexual and top-player in the fighting game community. He is of course welcome to his opinions and the article itself was pretty well written, but I feel that the one-sightedness of the article is very disappointing as reader.

Shit like this is exactly why I don't watch eSports. The community around them apparently must not know social ethics very well because some of them act like neanderthals and insult another's race, creed, gender, sexuality, skill, etc. Hey, I am all for watching some high-level play from games that I enjoy but I cannot overlook the distinction between that high-level play and the fact that the people behind it act like immature kids throwing slurs at each other. If eSports really wants to take off, some rules that enforce manners would be a real fucking boon.

The participating players should show better attitudes, yeah... but did you ever go to an ice-hockey game and listen to the audience? I think this shit should not be taken seriously. It is part of the atmosphere of sports that people in the audience are cursing and screaming insults. As an athlete you have to deal with it and ignore the audience.

However, they should not point any microphone at these idiots and broadcast it over the internet. Nobody likes fat dudes screaming insults when they want to listen to the game/commentary.

Bottom line: Tell your "athletes" or whatever you call those esport dudes to shut the hell up and be more professional, but don´t try to teach your audience. Idiots will be idiots.

@Conceited said:

Great, now a bunch of people who have no idea what happened and have no perspective on this because they aren't involved in the FGC will blow this infinitely out of proportion and think the FGC is filled with scumbags. While I realize Aris is largely to blame for this, this article did not need to be written. Why not do a positive piece on how awesome the FGC is? How accepting they are of Ricky Ortiz (openly gay) and Kayopolice? (Trans-gendered)

I think both sides need to be examined. If I wanted to get involved in the fighting game community, I'd like to be forewarned that attitudes and comments like those of Aris would be present, so I wouldn't be taken aback and perhaps drop the whole thing. But I'd also like to learn about the rest of the community, because meeting like-minded, mature players is what allows people to tolerate the the less-than-great stuff.

This guy, simply, is a huge douche. I remember him from the EVO stream where he was making creepy comments towards that transgirl, i forget her name though :(

All I could think about while reading this was The South prior to the Civil War with rhetoric like "America wouldn't be America without slaves"

@Sergeant_Stubby said:

say what you wanna say... who gives a fuck.... if i offend someone then i really dont give a shit, im for free speech and if that means some of my comments hurt peoples feelings O fucking well.

you're adopted.

To all the "I can say whatever I want to anyone, try to stop me!" people in the comments here, I get you. You're totally free to do that, just don't be so surprised when it has negative ramifications for you or people you're representing.

This article is quite one sided. I thought Giantbomb was above this. Destructoid maybe, but I thought this site was better than this. As someone who has been watching all of Cross Assualt and watched all of this unfold, this story seems to leave out some things. This article makes Aris out to be some monster, which he's not. As a frame of reference for the environment these quotes were taken, right after these quotes were taken Miranda was talking about Korean penis size.

I can't decide if he looks more like Hagrid or Gimli...

Kind of weird to see games press jumping on this. Write about stuff like this but never mention fighting games elsewhere.

Go to Evo, GB... write about the highs of the FGC.... not a shitty show.

I love the argument of "it's already like this so we can't change it" for sexual harassment. It's logical, you know, because rules or behavior have never nor will ever change over time for any sport.

Makes sense to me.

@Targie said:

As a member of the fighting game community I need to chip in.

Aris acknowledged his statement was taken to an extreme, he's a passionate man and so he took things too far.

People do this in passionate moments. And this article does nothing to consider that. It needlessly vilifies both the Fighting Community and Aris

Jared has been recorded calling everyone in the FGC 'F**king retards' so he is hardly a paragon of political correctness.

Starcraft discriminates against class and race to a much more significant degree than the FGC, they're more welcoming of females, but not to a huge degree.

Super__Yan giving up was not only a bad knock at everyone who wanted to be on the show, but also to Kor who lost his opportunity to be in the running for the cash prize. That was out of order. It was a big cash prize.

When given an opportunity to speak about the issues on stream she instead chose to talk about Korean dicks... This doesn't make anything better but she did nothing to help herself.

I don't condone the sexual harassment in the community, however both Jared's and Super__Yan's approaches were wrong.

Ehm.. You take offense to Patrick shit talking the FGC and the out of nowhere you yourself make a broad, unfounded statement about the SC community. In the FGC, are there female coaches, managers, casters or players who live together with 20 boys all being paid salaries?

@LaserLambert said:

well fighting games are dead now.

I think you mean esports.

@WilliamHenry said:

@McQuinn said:

Aris is the captain because he is the biggest supporter of the 3D fighting game community. He is definitely an ass, but he does it jokingly and not insultingly although pretty blunt and childish. Making fun of people is a part of the fighting game community and it is there to build competition and hype. Everyone knew Aris was going to act like that. Sherry, the other female contestant, looked quite pissed that Miranda forfeited.

Why is being an intolerate asshole part of the FGC? Why can't people be respectful of others and treat everyone fairly? I'm not saying you can't rib each other, but you don't have to be an complete asshole when you do it. Your comments shouldn't make someone else feel uncomfortable. Giving the dude a pass because he's joking and does it to everyone isn't acceptable. Saying it as a joke does not automatically make it okay to say. If thats how the community operates, why would anyone ever want to become a part of it?

He does treat everyone fairly. he smacktalks to everyone equally. It's part of his scene.

This was eventually stopped by Capcom, and Super_Yan said on her twitter, last night, that Capcom had handled it fine.

That being said, Aris is holding onto the Arcade Rat mentality and the sooner his kind goes away, the sooner the Fighting Game Community can become at least a little bit better.

I've been watching the stream and it's full of REALLY immature and dumb people. It's not just the sexual harassment. As someone who takes fighting games serious I feel alienated just because I refuse sink to their prepubescent level.

I wish the fighting game community would grow up, for their own sake.

@McQuinn said:

Aris is the captain because he is the biggest supporter of the 3D fighting game community. He is definitely an ass, but he does it jokingly and not insultingly although pretty blunt and childish. Making fun of people is a part of the fighting game community and it is there to build competition and hype. Everyone knew Aris was going to act like that. Sherry, the other female contestant, looked quite pissed that Miranda forfeited.

Why is being an intolerate asshole part of the FGC? Why can't people be respectful of others and treat everyone fairly? I'm not saying you can't rib each other, but you don't have to be an complete asshole when you do it. Your comments shouldn't make someone else feel uncomfortable. Giving the dude a pass because he's joking and does it to everyone isn't acceptable. Saying it as a joke does not automatically make it okay to say. If thats how the community operates, why would anyone ever want to become a part of it?

well fighting games are dead now.

I don't know 'mon, Phoenix is a bitch.

I think this whole discussion is ridiculous. How can people take this guy seriously. His arguments don't provide anything that is remotely factual to back himself up.

Hes a sucker, and this story isn't really worth front page news.

@jasondesante said:

some homo virgin rips on girls because he is fat and hideous and half retarded. Just put him in a corner and let him have his tantrum. Girls that play fighting games are just as cool as guys that play fighting games. Trash talk in fighting games is a last resort for those who aren't comfortable playing the game.

He insults men just as much as girls.. just no one gives a shit about that. People have to white knight girls, which is sexist itself, because it's implying that women can't handle trash talk, which apparently this one couldn't. Pretty fucking ironic that you proceed to call this guy a "homo virgin" who can't get girls because he is fat, as if that is somehow any less sexist than anything he has ever said. it is in fact more sexist, because his "sexism" was merely gendered insults like "bitch".

@Noxville said:

Am I reading wrong or did Capcom actually not do shit about this?

You're not reading this wrong, Capcom actually did not do shit about this, and they need to be taken to task for it.

Bakhtanians comes across pretty poorly in that exchange. You don't have to be Mr. PC by any stretch, and I get it, these guys like their insular community the way it is just fine. But ugly rhetoric and sexual harassment are not the touchstones of any worthwhile social environment, let alone aspects of one that are worth defending. Fighting games don't become "Starcraft" if you stop acting like a misogynist and racist, even if you believe you aren't one outside of a match. Grow up.

Funny. I saw this happen last night and my first thought was "I guess Patrick is going to write about Cross Assault now."

Terrible that it happened, but Capcom knew what they were doing. Listen to Aris' podcasts. Any of them. He also said it was part of the FGC to call people F*gs. They picked the wrong kind of drama.

@OneManX said:

@Conceited said:

Great, now a bunch of people who have no idea what happened and have no perspective on this because they aren't involved in the FGC will blow this infinitely out of proportion and think the FGC is filled with scumbags. While I realize Aris is largely to blame for this, this article did not need to be written. Why not do a positive piece on how awesome the FGC is? How accepting they are of Ricky Ortiz (openly gay) and Kayopolice? (Trans-gendered)

Because as a fan of the FGC, you want some of the BS to be called out. Because it's not all the way positive, and while they do accept people like Kayo and Ortiz, there are still snide comments about them. If you want to grow, some of the dirty laundry is gonna get aired.

Gaming in general is filled with a bunch of racist/sexist/homophobic assholes. You could replace "FGC" with "First person shooter" or "sports gaming" community and it would fit.

Oh dear god, he compared sexual harassment to onions. I don't even know anything anymore.

Wow, really didn't expect that type of shit from Aris.

@SpunkyHePanda said:

Sexual harassment = onions.

Aw man, I hate onions.

This man is sullying the image of Bearded Marcus Fenix.

Stuff like "rape that bitch!" in gaming contexts is not particularly offensive to me. The group of buddies I play CoD or Battlefield with use the word "rape" interchangeably with "own", as in "I'm owning/raping these guys so hard right now!". I honestly don't believe there is anything sexist behind it. To imply that it is hateful specifically to women would in my opinion be to marginalize male rape victims.

As for things like "I want to know her bra size", that's entirely unacceptable. That is legitimate sexual harassment and has no place in any sort of organized event such as this. Oh, and I'm not defending this guy, he sounds like a total ass.

If you want esports taken seriously, then everyone involved should act professional, it doesn't matter who the audience is. You have someone like Aris' sexism and a wild abundance of bad manners from Starcraft grandmaster players, they will not be taken seriously, nor will they have any respect. They're not helping esports in any way.

Esports is already a joke. They're just making it funnier.

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

@BrianP said:

Edit: It's crazy to me that someone would believe sexism and sexual harassment is so integral to the way they interact with other human beings, that if you took it away it would fundamentally change the nature of the community (and even more crazy to think that it would make it WORSE as that dude seems to imply)

My thoughts exactly!

Yeah, that's what seemed crazy to me too. He basically says that the FGC wouldn't be the FGC without sexism. He seems terrified that his little club where he gets to do and say whatever he wants might get closed down, and simply doesn't want a bigger and better community because his bullshit will be called out.

Yeah, the FG community is slightly less horrible then the "MOBA" scene. Being a newb there and trying to learn is torture. However once you get decent, and get known in a local crew, its one of the best scenes I was ever involved it. This Aris shit-head needs to grow the fuck up. You can talk smack all day long without bringing up race/sex etc... What a fucking idiot.

EDIT: After listening to some of that stream, this dude seriously needs to GTFO. What a piece of shit.

I'm glad Jared Rea is a friend of the site.

"Backstains is a durger eating poop face." - J.K. Rowling

It all just comes down to acting like a decent (though possibly competitive) human being when playing against others, regardless of sex or race. The fact that Bakhtanians likens sexism and degradation in the vernacular of the fighting game community to a basketball in a game of basketball shows just how far he is from getting the point.

Stuff like this is why I rarely play any games online, and if I do, I just mute everyone.

say what you wanna say... who gives a fuck.... if i offend someone then i really dont give a shit, im for free speech and if that means some of my comments hurt peoples feelings O fucking well.

@Targie: Being passionate is not a good excuse

@jrsmaster411 said:

you guys really should get Aris' side of the story this whole thing was so blown out of proportion. He's a scumbag but one of the nicest people in the fighting game community if that makes sense. He treats everyone equally but does it in a joking way, some people are just more sensitive.

I asked for him to comment, he chose not to respond.

@Grondoth

I disagree about the beard. It's clearly doing its intended job of keeping women away from that misogynist turd.

@zoner said:

You guys shouldn't WANT to get in the fighting game community. It's full of incredibly paranoid people that take vidya gaems way too seriously. For the most part, Starcraft community is about a thousand times better

Have you ever looked at r/starcraft? Starcraft has the most narcissistic community ever.

Dunno what Capcom was thinking having Aris participate in this show, of course he's gonnna say a bunch of sexist shit, he's Aris.

@princess_zelda: Yeah I was thinking "What kind of fucking idiot would think this kind of attitude is acceptable anywhere?"

Then I saw his picture and it all made sense.