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

honestly im done with this whole situation. what Aris says doesn't diminish my love of fighting games any less, nor its community. And what other people think of you does matter, especially when they handle your paycheck or can get you connected. Its the part of my life I don't really take joy in, but it pays the bills so I can do other stuff that has no benefit other than being fun.

lol guys, it's just another fat, neckbeard gamer being a sexist jerk. It's really nothing new. I feel bad for the girl though; she was obviously trying to rather awkwardly laugh it off. :/

I do agree with the Jhonen Vazquez quote that all it takes is context, context, context to make these kind of jokes "harmless".

But Aris wouldn't know context if it swaggered up and fingered him.

And as for Super Val, Yeah she shouldn't need to or have to stand up for herself.

... in an ideal world, anyway.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

The problem here is that this particular troglodyte has access to a wider audience than the rest of us do. Public perception of a group of people is largely determined by the loudest people in the group. Right now, Aris had a pretty wide audience to spread the stereotype that gamers are horrible people. It's only right that as much of the gaming community as possible shouts this guy down.

I'm fine with shouting Aris down; he deserves every bit of hate he gets. What I'm not all right with is blaming the entire fighting game community on one man's sexual harassment, or blaming competitive gaming in general.

That's what websites like Kotaku seem to be doing (hilarious, considering Kotaku's own cavalier attitude to sexism).

edited 2nd Mar '12 12:53:14 PM by Scardoll

Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.

Personally I've been playing fighting games since I was little and while I've participated in trash talk, I've never seriously disrespected somebody or verbal assualted/harrased them.

And if I'm playing aginst someone who does do those things, I just shut up and play to win. It's always nice to bruise the ego of a guy who thinks he's superior.

Seriously though, guys like Aris don't seem to realise there's a line between playful banter/friendly rivalry and serious insults. Unfortunately it seems like there's more and more people who can't tell the difference these days.

edited 2nd Mar '12 2:12:49 PM by PhoenixAct

Well, that's what I mean. It'd be best for the gaming community in general and the FGC in particular to repudiate everything this guy says. Unfortunately, it seems there's a decent-sized portion of the FGC that agrees with Aris.

I think you're missing a "never" before seriously. I'd assume that would be an important word.

You would be correct.

Fix'd.

...

Why?

Alt account of Angeldog 2437.

The point I'm saying overreaction is because its like getting extremely offended over an internet post.

There are idiots out there, why let them upset you? Its not like this guy has any importance.

edited 2nd Mar '12 3:13:46 PM by Thorn14

Oh but he does, considering he's involved with a lot of fighting game events, which includes setting them up.

And why are we reacting? Because this is something that just shouldn't happen. By not reacting, we're being passive about its existence. Does it apply to everyone? Hell no, but for those who do say these things, maybe we should show a bit of concern and say something about it.

Also, I'm totally not convinced of his "apology." It seems more like a move to save face than actual sincerity.

edited 2nd Mar '12 3:32:41 PM by hnd03

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

^^ It's a hell of a lot different than the internet, though. This happened in meat-space. Quite a difference, yes? We can kind of ignore or block or mute another poster or player on the Net, but it's a good deal more difficult to turn your ears and eyes off in meat-space, or ignore the physical posturing they're aiming your way.

As someone who has been physically confronted before, it's lightyears different and far more visceral than seeing some text pop up on a computer screen. Even if it's someone on the PS 3 network ranting and raving, there's always the mute button. Bam, no more problem.

Until Real Life has an "ignore this person" button you can toggle, then the two are worlds apart.

edited 2nd Mar '12 3:30:23 PM by pvtnum11

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

Wow. Just wow.

This isn't all that surprising, since I just did an 8 page essay on sexism in video games but this is just... Mindblowing.

And yet, no one mentioned the most (in my opinion) blatantly offensive comment in the entire discussion.

In what possible, disgusting world is it considered ethically unjust to stop sexist comments? I mean, it is bad enough that he justifies his actions but he full out claims that not being sexist is WRONG!!

This asshole deserves every bit of hatred he gets.

"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val

As others have said, sportsmanship and trying to have a simple good time are no longer the point of games anymore, it seems. It's SRS BSNS and SHFG's making it more serious than serious has a right to be, ever. Might be a side-effect of introducing video games as an E-Sport, complete with real money being won or lost.

Plus a tall side order of unbridled rampantly willful stupidity.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

Because this a real person who actually seems to think that it is his moral imperative to be a horrible person and keep his community full of horrible people.

It's perfectly okay to be extremely offended when real people are being hurt by assholes. Being offended by stuff like this is never an overreaction. In this case it's even more justifiable to be offended, because this concerns real people who are being bullied, and a community which from this guy's comments seems to have a fair amount of members who think this behaviour is A-OK.

FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC.

There has always been a serious "Time is Money" view of the world, and the meanest of the non-gamers have had a "Waste of time" view of us gamers. Until we can get the public to view video games as an art form (Which will take time) the only way to get them off our backs is to show that game playing can be profitable.

Unfortunately, the way that works is giving everyone a good show, which creates these (Insert appropriate epithet here). People like Aris don't just see the Fighting Game Culture as a gladiating culture, they actively intend to keep it that way. Giving them any attentional at all, especially the flaming we've been doing here, is what they NEED. Sure, you'll turn off the squeamish, but there is a serious bloody streak in Western culture. All this shit does is turn that on.

These people want to build video game super soldiers to keep themselves and the public entertained. It's the electronic equivalent of UFC. They're selling out the video game community to try to make it more acceptable in some ways. The wrong ways.

edited 2nd Mar '12 3:58:23 PM by Journeyman

You know... Before reading that article I thought it would be just over-sensationalizing about trash talk that someone happened to use on a woman.

After reading it, the only thing in my mind was a trope.

No regret shall pass over the threshold!

How does that follow? How is expressing rage towards an asshole who deserves it furthering his cause? You can't say it's a case of 'any attention is good attention' because he seemed to just be rambling about his terrible opinions, not trolling.

...please clarify. You can't mean what I think you mean?

FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC.

What pisses me off about this is not only the sexual harassment, but how the FGC is now hated even more because of this one jackass!

I'm part of the community, I'm always nice and take wins and losses with dignity. Sure, I do playful ribbing around friends now and then, but we never insult each other or do this CRAP! It helps that out of my circle of friends, the second best 2D Fighter of us is a girl. Hell, even ignoring the few trolls it has left, Game FA Qs's Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 community is more respectful that this. 3 of our best players are girls! ):<

These guys need to give a little more respect to the gamers whether male, female, black, white, Hispanic, autistic, WHATEVER! So long as they're there to bring on the (in-game, obviously) fight with their best shot, they deserve respect!

Guh, now I'm in three super-hated fandoms... this time because of a single, lard-assed, sexist bastard. If I could go back in time and just snap this idiot's neck, I totally would!

edited 2nd Mar '12 4:06:36 PM by SuperFrost

It's actually getting kinda like sports.

For example football (soccer) here in Britain. Rivalries between teams used to be good natured, now people beat each other up over them.

Any attention IS good attention. Because amongst the good people who are generally appalled by this will be people thrilled by it, thrilled by anything that gives them a chance to be angry. Such people exist. And there will be others who want to see the good side, rather than generalizing the entire fandom. Either way, this will bring attention to the fanbase, and people will see more of it.

But judging by this thread it's not the attention some people want.

I certainly don't want to be thought of as a massive misogynist.

-Points up to the last (admittedly edited in after the fact) couple of lines of his big post about time/money/fandoms- They really are selling out gaming and their fandom in the worst ways possible. We need to be showing we're just as enlightened as the rest of the world, not bloodthirsty idiots.

Of course, when you turn on the TV, see people doing angry rants for cash on there, and selling themselves out, it's hard to see how this will fail in the short term. If people are angry about this, it means they had been watching the show to begin with.

What's this? Sexism, in a genre that frequently features men beating barely-clothed women? I'm shocked!

Seriously though, I know some fighting game fans who are nice people and aren't sexist at all. I think this is one of the communities where the douchiest members are the loudest, and give a bad name to everyone else.