@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)

@Grondoth said:

The FGC needs to grow the fuck up already. There's nothing acceptable or funny about casual misogyny, and sexual harassment shouldn't be tolerated at all. They need to self police and make it clear that this sort of bullshit isn't allowed. If rpe jokes and harassment define your scene, you have a shit scene.

Shave that beard, Aris. You don't deserve it.

My thoughts exactly. Beard one included.

@wrathofconn said:

I really love what Jared is doing over there, and the fighting game community just consistently sounds like somebody's racist uncle talking about how they never should have desegregated schools.

this is perfect lol

@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?

They should kick Aris off the show

esports

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.

That dude is creepy. That audio from the video is just horribly creepy the way they team up on her. You can tell she is so uncomfortable by it. What a douchebag.

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

To be fair, being a child and an asshole seems to be a pre-requisite for almost all gaming communities. Starcraft may have changed with 2 but I know from experience that the SC1 community was large assholish. League of Legends? Largely full of assholes. I play lots of fighters but I am by no means in a community, outside the 10-20 friends I know. Some of them go to EVO and other tournaments while I do not. I do however think any community that tolerates this, especially from high "ranking" members, needs to be completely retooled or just ignored. Every community has a fringe but something about hardcore video game communities makes them the worst.

Also, look at Bakhtanians. Does it really look like he gives a shit about even getting a job, let alone respecting someone?

@Hagane: it's not a matter of "handling" his comments. They shouldn't happen in the first place

So what this basically boils down to is:

I thought this guy was a pretty good commentator at EVO, but if the fighting game community is going to defend these comments then I've lost a lot of respect for it. I want to see video games treated with the same respect as sports, but not if a bunch of guys are going to act like children and call it "being emotional."

@Bestostero said:

esports

No no no. The FGC don't want it to be called that. Also fuck you :)

That guy is an ignorant buffoon.

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.

HAW! Trash-talking is absolutely one thing but these aren't two jagoffs of XBLA (or in my case: roommate's room), these are professionals doing their jobs. If he'd said trash-talking was part of the experience, I'd say he was absolutely right. But to say that sexual harassment is inexorably married to Street Fighter and fighting games in general? That's the kind of shit that will ensure fighting games never grow in terms of audience and as a result as development.

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.

@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.

Yup. his comment "esports" is right on the money, FGC isn't Starcraft, it's not a bunch of people being fake and acting friendly, they speak their mind and talk shit.

Man, can you imagine the fighting game scene without sexual harassment? Impossible, right?

I mean if you can't insult women....what's left? Right?

What?

Great article, Patrick. I love that Jared calling out the community for being just the worst example of fans of video games. Keep doing the good work, Jared. Everything Aris said made me cringe.

I'm not sure I'm interested in any community where sexual harassment is seen as inseparable part of it, and that removing it would ruin it. That really sounds like a terrible place to be, and I would really dislike everyone involved.

There really is no excuse for that, besides immaturity. It brings the entire fighting game community down, and casts a big shadow on gaming as a whole. The gaming community already has a problem with sexual harassment. We don't need anyone endorsing the idea that women are immediately inferior and should be raped. That's just gross.

@Bassman2112 said:

Patrick, thank you so much for writing this article. As a 20something who basically refuses to play online because of all the idiots on mics who think casual racism, misogyny and the like are totally fine, it's nice to finally see something about it on a public article. I have lots of female gamer friends who like to play online, but won't use a mic because the moment guys hear a girl's voice on the other end they start harassing them with brash, sexual and offensive comments. I don't think it's a matter of it being "esports versus a fun time," it's just common decency towards other people...

Well, just mute them. When I play online I NEVER talk to or want to hear other people, unless I'm playing with friends. That has been a rule for me since I began playing online. There's a lot of stupid people out there, but that shouldn't stop you from playing online if you like doing that.

@Happenstance said:

This is why I tend to avoid online gaming and just play local (the other being that im just not as good as everyone else!). Online gaming just seems to be filled with idiots who think its fine to be abusive, sexist and racist because nobody knows who they really are. A lot of the time they will just claim its online "banter" but there shouldnt be any difference in what you would say to someone in real life compared to online.

What's funny about that is that Aris is an avid hater of online play. He also prefers to play local, usually in an arcade. He tries to promote arcade culture any way he can, including the mentality that it's okay for everyone to be an asshole. It's not right, but he's set in his ways.

@darkdragonmage99 said:

honestly I don't see the big deal then again I've never been one for political correctness and don't think there should ever be rules about what you can and can not say .

Then why the fuck are you posting on this site? That's exactly how this site and it's mods operates. I've learned that the hard way.

@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.

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.

@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.

@Grondoth

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

@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.

@Targie: Being passionate is not a good excuse

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

@SpunkyHePanda said:

Sexual harassment = onions.

Aw man, I hate onions.

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

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

@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.

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.

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.

@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.

@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".

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.