Sexist opinions turn up from the fighting game community...

Hmpf. Idiot. This is one of the reasons I don't play games online with other people anymore. I prefer to play alone.

This situation reminds me of the time I played World of Warcraft for a year, before I got tired of it. I once met a guy there, who, the moment he found out I was a girl, started following me around and asking me about... well, I don't want to repeat it. Luckily, the admin got him banned from the server.

This Aris guy doesn't seem much different. And he's actually trying to justify this behavior? Well, how are we, as gamers, going to ever be respected by non-gamers if this is the way we behave? I have enough trouble trying to convince people that gaming isn't bad, gamers aren't immature and violent addicts, and games are a form of art, just as other forms of entertainment are.

edited 2nd Mar '12 6:43:36 AM by whataboutme

Please don't feed the trolls!

@ Vertigo: I know for a fact that there are kind, down-to-earth people who play fighting games, but I tend to see a fair share of scorn towards the fighting game community as a whole because of how rude and dickish players can be in general.

Perhaps Accentuate the Negative is in effect here, and while I know that such nature has existed in the fighting game scene for some time, albeit in less extreme cases (David Sirlin comes to mind), you can't say it hasn't worsened somewhat over time. GIFT is certainly a factor. When you have pre-teens and adolescents cursing you out and sending you trolling, even downright hateful messages, you know something is wrong.

edited 2nd Mar '12 6:52:20 AM by X2X

"Oh no, Sanji's Chronic Simprosis!" - Kou The Mad

I can't believe what a terrible excuse for a person that Aris guy is. He's like the purest essence of Internet Tough Guy mixed with concentrated extract of Small Name, Big Ego.

Not sure how awful the smack talk was, since I don't have audio right now. Could someone lay down some examples?

edited 2nd Mar '12 8:44:06 AM by RTaco

I know little about this and what little I've read gives me the same disturbed and depressed impression as the rest of you.

Was that a Simpsons reference?

I think the guy didn't realize that fighting game community =/= fight club

Isn't this the same guy we saw interviewed before the show started, and concluded was a douche? Can't say I'm surprised he showed this side.

He just wouldn't talk about it, then.

edited 2nd Mar '12 8:57:38 AM by VutherA

Holy crap, what a douchebag. I'm surprised NO ONE spoke out against him. And seriously, that's his idea of a FGC? NO! That's complete and utter BULLSHIT!

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

oh stop using so much hyperbole. it isn't the end of the world just cause one douchebag acted like he always has. And the fighting game community heavily varies from place to place, with the online community being the worst of them all. The tournaments have always been pretty fun to go to, and the ever-present threat of one of the players punching you keeps from saying anything worse. At the end of the day, this is pretty much the same situation in any male-dominated medium, which is a terrible shame. And if I want respect from non gamers, I don't tell them I'm a gamer, because that isn't something you should take that much pride in.

That sounds like a problem to me. You don't need to take pride in it, but I see no good reason why you feel you should certainly avoid mentioning it. It's just a hobby.

Sexist comments are common terms in video games. Flying Clit and Fat Pink Whore are common terms for characters I play as. I think that kind of thing is understandable but what does a player's braw size have to do with how they push buttons with their thumbs? Rarely is the trash talk personal and it is almost alway limited to the gameplay. I think people just assume that's regular because when they say something someone else tells them off and they get some warped idea that everyone in the fighting game community is as "anti political correct" as them.

I don't know if I'd be too shocked to talk back but I'd definitely would have been out to beat him, forget backing down from a gamer.

Take a look at the way a lot of gamers act. This is why we tend not to mention it to people.

"Roll for whores."

I don't mention it because its a hobby. Unless someone specifically asks what my hobbies are, I don't really feel a need to mention it to them. Why should I tell them, they're not my friends. It's rare that me being a gamer has ever been relevant to anyone whom I didn't consider a friend. And even then, my friends barely care, so its hardly ever brought up unless they need someone who knows what games not to buy for their kid cousin or niece/nephew.

Yeah that's another reason why I don't mention it to people and prefer for them to find out after they get to know me a little better. I already have a reputation for being the kind of a guy who's about as sensitive to people as a rock to the face.

Also, David Wong was right. 21st century people really are terrible at handling how to deal with douchebags. Back in the arcade era someone would have knocked Aris out and that would've been the end of this story.

edited 2nd Mar '12 9:46:19 AM by shadowryu

The stupid part is when someone else (ie: the victim of the harassment) steps forward to say that they think its hurting the community and then gets told that they're wrong. So it's not so much that he's a douche, he's a douche who thinks he's speaking for a community when he's clearly not.

As for sexist comments in general, I've long since made peace with the sort of generic "trash talk" that exists in games. My guild in World Of Warcraft is made up of about 40% women and there are constant male v. female jokes being thrown back and forth. At the end of the day though, I'm pretty sure we consider each other friends. And, well, some of them are married to each other. The comments themselves aren't necessarily as important as the tone. I think "rape that bitch" seems unlikely to be particularly friendly in tone.

Question: Is everyone here freaking out over the comments of one idiot?

I mean isn't that an overreaction?

No, it isn't, because Sexist Comments are not tolerable in any shape or form.

Watch Symphogear

I'm really not, but that still doesn't mean I don't find this all extremely offensive and distasteful.

"Oh no, Sanji's Chronic Simprosis!" - Kou The Mad

@shadowryu, Thing is, the people who'd cheerfully knock him out can't, cause it's somewhat difficult to punch people through the Internet.

edited 2nd Mar '12 10:41:29 AM by CorrTerek

I have lamented this failure of Internet Tech for years now.

Seriously, I don't know why he thinks it's okay to say that about people. Joking and trash talk or not, there's no excuse for that.

edited 2nd Mar '12 10:44:13 AM by hnd03

So. Let's all pause for a moment to smell what the Rock was, is, and forever will be... cooking.—Cave Johnson

He's looking for attention?

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer

Being extremely offended over sexist comments is far from an overreaction. An overreaction would be attacking him directly(verbal or physical-wise), same with, say, making his system(s) unplayable.

Our reaction is more than normal for this kind of crap.

Quest 64 thread

At the end of the day, this is pretty much the same situation in any male-dominated medium, which is a terrible shame.

This part of the line is ironic given the subject that people are condemning. Seriously?! What you just implied there was that a female dominated meduim is less sexist than a male one... hm.

And if I want respect from non gamers, I don't tell them I'm a gamer, because that isn't something you should take that much pride in.

Honestly, anyone who is willing to judge anyone in anyway, shape or form as a lesser human being(morally or otherwise) just because one openly enjoy video games(hypothetically speaking) doesn't deserve to have their opinion taken into account.

This takes "Stop Having Fun" Guys to a new extreme. It's downright disgusting, especially when they take Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory behavior and extend it to Real Life face-to-face interaction.

Worse off, we have posts like this on SRK. Yes, people actually DISCOURAGING sportsmanship and ENCOURAGING acting like total fuckwads. I'm starting to think that Shoryuken.com is just as bad as No Mutants Allowed and some other gaming-related forums floating about.

Of course, this isn't just the fighting game community we have to worry about. FPS, MMOG, and MOBA communities are also major offenders.

I'm also hearing that the woman who's supposedly victimized isn't entirely blame-free, though, such as apparently encouraging Aris to insult her more, so there's a chance we don't know the whole story.

But what we do know...ugh. You have to wonder how these people don't keep their fighting in-game with that sort of behavior, because someone's going to have their teeth knocked out in the best case, or outright killed in the worst case.

Trash talk = acceptable.

Sexist trash talk = less acceptable, depends entirely on the crowd of people you're around. The second someone says "That's really offensive," you should probably shut up. However, if the one you're making sexist comments to is understanding enough and doesn't take offense, you know, people understand it's all in jest, then I mean, no harm no foul. It's not like your opponent can't come up with some sexist remark against you, but do understand that the fighting community is male-prevalent, so you have to respect the minority and understand where they're coming from.

Sexism is part of the fighting game community = true. Sexism is a healthy or positive part of the fighting game community = false. False. False. False. False...

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

Wow. Its always interesting to see a viewpoint that takes a near polar opposite approach to my own.

I've always seen the fighting world as fairly inviting. I know that when I'm playing Street Fighter, or whatever the game of the day is, I want to fight everyone in the room. I don't care if they've played and beaten me black and blue a hundred times or if they've never played once before. That's the whole fun of the genre. Pulling other people in, challenging them and over time being challenged in return.

On the trash talk side... well I have a fairly unique view on that, too. I find it hilarious when people try to trash talk against me. I don't play online very often (satellite internet doesn't lend itself to any kind of online anything), but, when I go over to my friend's house and we play Halo, I revel in the inanity. Its so ridiculous. The slurs, the insults, the threats. Its like Comedy Central, only I get to shoot the comedians I don't like! I can see how it would offend people though, and really the idiots on the interwebs should back off if asked to. Not everyone finds it as comedic as I do.

Now I'm not trying to say sexism is funny or anything. Well, not really.
In the context of a joke (which i find most of LIVE interactions to be) it can be funny. In the context of actual sexism, its not funny at all.
To quote Jhonen Vasquez:
"EVERYTHING is funny. So long as you know it's a joke nothing is offensive. YOU try to protect people from wising up and getting beyond the idiotic shock and into a place where they can see how ridiculous things are. Do I think rape and abortion is funny? FUCK NO!! Jeezus! But Aborto and Rape-bo? HELL YES!"

OK.
So I've probably shoved my foot in my mouth at some point of this, but I hope somebody comes away with something positive.