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Cross The Line - Sexual Assault... ok, maybe just Sexual Harassment!

http://penny-arcade.com/report/edit...al-imperative-the-ugly-side-of-fighting-games

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/when-passions-flare-lines-are-crossed/4006/

http://www.destructoid.com/sexual-harassment-and-fightin-drama-together-at-last--222877.phtml



i blame Capcom. female fighters having lower health? the blatant sexism starts in the very design of the games themselves!!!



don't worry FGC, the story will blow over like the XBL hacks and everything else game journalists get balls on for a few hours.
 

zlatko

Banned
eUUo1.gif


Cjd2p.gif


I'd add more too, like the here...we...go, and the "dis gonna be gud" gifs, but I'll leave the popcorn ones here for now.

Seriously, if everything up to now from what I've read from countless people wasn't already ridiculous, then adding in full on GAF that isn't just FGC is gonna be a shit storm.
 

V_Ben

Banned
Probably best to leave this quarantined in the mega thread

It is a valid issue, and the giant bomb article especially is wonderfully written and an excellent examination of the issues at hand. People should know about it, and should be able to read about it without scanning through a mega thread.
 

Row

Banned
It is a valid issue, and the giant bomb article especially is wonderfully written and an excellent examination of the issues at hand. People should know about it, and should be able to read about it without scanning through a mega thread.

fair enough
 
Probably best to leave this quarantined in the mega thread

Really?

Seems like something that should be discussed separately. The little I listened to that vid on Penny Arcade made me feel bad for the girl. Apparently that wasn't even the worst of it.
 

Forkball

Member
Rea: When I go to SoCal regionals and I see a Phoenix [from Marvel vs. Capcom 3] on main stage getting blown up and there’s some dude in the audience just yelling “Bitch! Bitch!” every time she gets hit and then she killed and goes “Yeah, rape that bitch!” Yeah, that’s totally acceptable! Really? Really? You’re going to tell me that’s acceptable?

Bakhtanians: Look, man. What is unacceptable about that? There’s nothing unacceptable about that. These are people, we’re in America, man, this isn’t North Korea. We can say what we want. People get emotional.

This kinda shit wouldn't happen in the Smash Bros. fighting community.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
I don't get why this hasn't been a thread yet (well until now, duh)

I'm also fascinated that people are blasting sites that are posting articles about it, which I don't really understand
 
My favorite part is Aris equates sexism in the FGC to a basketball in a game of basketball.

I mean, I'm all for shit-talking and having a potty mouth in general, but there's a point where it starts becoming cruel, directed, and just not ok.
 
So, in case everyone in here isn't following the megathread, it should probably should be noted that Aris is still involved in the competition despite all of this.

Make of that what you wish.
 
I'm also fascinated that people are blasting sites that are posting articles about it, which I don't really understand

Because some of the articles were hashed out in a hurry to stay on top of the story, and get some of the details wrong or conflated with one another. At least, that's what I've read from the people that don't agree with the articles.
 
Because some of the articles were hashed out in a hurry to stay on top of the story, and get some of the details wrong or conflated with one another. At least, that's what I've read from the people that don't agree with the articles.

Some of it did read like 'they're just bad at fighting games', though.
 

LiK

Member
a lil update is that MarkMan is already in touch with Kuchera and Patrick about this. He is gonna work with them on a follow-up possibly with Aris to clear up everything. so yea, once the show is over and they get back, we can expect an update.
 
Because some of the articles were hashed out in a hurry to stay on top of the story, and get some of the details wrong or conflated with one another. At least, that's what I've read from the people that don't agree with the articles.

Some of them may have been rushed, but there was also a huge lack of cooperation in terms of the people involved, which is why any statements from the other side aren't there aside from Capcom.

Good Guy Markman is going to be speaking with both Kuchera and Klepek on behalf of the folks in the community though.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Rea: When I go to SoCal regionals and I see a Phoenix [from Marvel vs. Capcom 3] on main stage getting blown up and there’s some dude in the audience just yelling “Bitch! Bitch!” every time she gets hit and then she killed and goes “Yeah, rape that bitch!” Yeah, that’s totally acceptable! Really? Really? You’re going to tell me that’s acceptable?

Bakhtanians: Look, man. What is unacceptable about that? There’s nothing unacceptable about that. These are people, we’re in America, man, this isn’t North Korea. We can say what we want. People get emotional.

This quote really bothers me. Cool to see sites picking up and writing about this issue. We need more games journalists to write stuff like this surrounding the industry and it's cultures if we ever want it to improve.
 

vg260

Member
a lil update is that MarkMan is already in touch with Kuchera and Patrick about this. He is gonna work with them on a follow-up possibly with Aris to clear up everything. so yea, once the show is over and they get back, we can expect an update.

So the old be a disgusting creep, apologize and get your supporters behind you and it's all good thing. Classic.
People's true colors show when the spotlight isn't on them, not after the fact. Dude needs to admit his mindset is harmful and actually change, not just justify and apologize it off.
 
This quote really bothers me. Cool to see sites picking up and writing about this issue. We need more games journalists to write stuff like this surrounding the industry and it's cultures if we ever want it to improve.

ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU GET OFFENDED AT RAPE JOKES.


but seriously, Aris comes off as a total asshole who has no idea how to act in public.
 

TheOGB

Banned
Because some of the articles were hashed out in a hurry to stay on top of the story, and get some of the details wrong or conflated with one another. At least, that's what I've read from the people that don't agree with the articles.
I know it wasn't you saying it, but...

even if some facts are wrong, aren't the facts that are right still disturbing? Does one wrong tidbit discredit the whole thing?
 

MNC

Member
Man, the 12 minute mark is fucking creepy. "You're gonna get smelled, you're gonna get smelled".

Jesus christ...
 

Zeliard

Member
Aris said:
You can’t go to the NBA and say “hey, I like basketball, but I don’t want them to play with a basketball, I want them to play with a football.” It just doesn’t...it doesn’t make sense to have that attitude, you know? These things are established for years.

That would be like someone from the fighting game community going over to StarCraft and trying to say “hey, StarCraft, you guys are too soft, let’s start making sexual harassment jokes to each other on StarCraft.” That’s not cool, people wouldn’t like that. StarCraft isn’t like that. People would get defensive, and that’s what you’re trying to do the fighting game community, and it’s not right. It’s ethically wrong.

lmao, what a series of sentences.
 

Row

Banned
I really doubt this exposure into the fgc culture, which while being exaggerated isn't really all that inaccurate, will change anything

next time I watch a stream for a major event I'll still hear all the same immaturity, homophobia, and misogyny from the crowd/commentators/etc., and worse yet will still be entertained by it for some reason just like how a right minded individual can find entertainment value in an episode of maury or jerry springer
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
a lil update is that MarkMan is already in touch with Kuchera and Patrick about this. He is gonna work with them on a follow-up possibly with Aris to clear up everything. so yea, once the show is over and they get back, we can expect an update.

I can't imagine anything Aria could say that would smooth this over. His comments were clear as day.
 

Boney

Banned
During a week long reality show about fighting games, contestants took part in sexual harassment and in fact argued that sexual harassment is an important part of the fighting game community that needs to continue. This happened on camera, across multiple days.

:/

“I bet money that Miranda wouldn’t have been so offended if Aris was better looking, that is the sad part

:////
 
They didn't even get into the stuff that goes on in the streams. Such as the "creeper cam", where the person controlling the camera scans around the crowd to find women walking around the event.
 

fernoca

Member
Reminds me of what Harada said about the Tekken community.
I think it was on the Iwata Asks abotu Tekken Prime Edition, and how he would watch the Tekken players which were mostly around a similar age group a, mostly guys and usually talked the same way.

While the Smash Bros. community was more friendly and cooperative, and would like something like that for his games.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
What the fuck. Actual, no shit, games journalism.

That PA piece is atrociously written, but that Giant Bomb article is fantastic. Wow. Great stuff, and that Aris guy is about to enter a new world of embarrassment and shame.

GB said:
Rea: Can I get my Street Fighter without sexual harassment?

Aris Bakhtanians: You can’t. You can’t because they’re one and the same thing.
 

Giolon

Member
First, I'm not condoning their behavior in this situation at all. However, I can see how the argument that, "This is our place to hang out, relax, blow off some steam and not worry about the PC police," holds some weight. It's the same way many people behave and act stupid with their friends, calling them horrible things, maybe even doing horrible things to each other, but nobody actually means any harm by it. I don't think that makes anyone participating in such bad people, or necessarily racist, sexist, or whatever you want to call them.

But, and this is the HUGE BUT, it's not fun and games anymore when you're making someone uncomfortable or intimidating them. There's also a difference between messing around with friends in a private setting, and broadcasting your antics to the world while trying to invite more people in and grow the community.

At some point though, you have to realize what you're doing is juvenile shit, and you need to grow up a bit and act like a responsible person. Or you don't, and then this happens.
 

duckroll

Member
This Aris guy is amazing. A disgusting sample of a human being who represents everything which is wrong with being empowered by a closely knitted community of douchebags who are now resisting the fact that their hobby has grown beyond their fratboy clubhouse, and tries to justify his pigheaded behavior as something which is normal and acceptable.

Choice quotes:

"The beauty of the fighting game community, and you should know this - it’s based around not being welcome. That’s the beauty of it. That’s the key essence of it. When you walk into an arcade for the first time, nobody likes you."

"And then there are people who are racist but they have tons of friends of all colors and they have deep love for those friends."

"This is a community that’s, you know, 15 or 20 years old, and the sexual harassment is part of a culture, and if you remove that from the fighting game community, it’s not the fighting game community--it’s StarCraft."
 
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