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[invisiblemoose]

That awkward moment when you're being such a misogynistic gamer that Jim Sterling calls you on it.

Edit: The post has gone down now, but if it comes back then I'll put up a trigger warning for discussion about rape/dickwolves in the comments.
There is also this article from Susan Arendt on the topic, which is kinda problematic in and of itself.

Comments

[arctowardthesun]

Meanwhile, other members of the community (especially at NeoGAF) have criticized Aris' behavior, and it's heartening to see that Super Yan received a fair bit of support from the fighting game community. While some members of the FGC believe that their hobby is about singling out women for abuse and making them feel uncomfortable, it would appear that an encouraging amount of them actually stand against that kind of shit. Hopefully it goes some way toward disproving the myth that the FGC is full of entitled manbabies ... a myth that folk like Aris and Watson have unfortunately propagated in several situations.

Seriously, kudos to what seems to be the majority of the fighting game community for actually being reasonable and cool. It's something that should be stressed, given how people like Aris clearly see the community as a place where they're allowed to be assholes, and it would appear that people like Aris are wrong about that.

Speaking of being wrong, it's rather concerning that, according to Yan, Capcom knew about Aris' behavior and didn't step up sooner. Watching the stream where this whole thing blew up, the whole affair looks like a disorganized public shit-show at best, and the fallout only serves to make it worse. What, exactly, was the company in charge of this show doing while crap got out of hand?

Super Yan has since stated that the issue was cleared up and that she's finished with it, but the debate over what is acceptable banter and what isn't marches on.

Ultimately, it's all about what an individual person is comfortable with. If a woman is fine with jokes about her looks, then maybe there's room to debate, but it's the fact that Pakozdi brought up her issues and was ignored that makes this a shitty situation. The fact that you can watch the above video and anybody with common sense can tell that she's uncomfortable seals the deal. That cuts off any wiggle-room for discussion, right there. I used to subscribe to the, "jokes are jokes and offended people should stop being offended" mentality myself, but it's not a fair way of thinking, really. People have their personal boundaries, and if they're just trying to get on with business, it's not right to keep crossing them just because you don't agree with them.

I'm all for bawdy, tasteless humor -- on an impersonal level -- but not when someone in the room is unhappy about it. Humor isn't supposed to make people unhappy. I've made jokes or called people things without knowing how problematic and stupid they were, only to be told after the fact. When you're told, you reevaluate your jokes and recalibrate your word choices for the people around you. It's called being polite. I sexually harass Jonathan Holmes on a podcast every week, and the moment he stops finding it funny is the moment I'll stop doing it. Y'know, because it's basic etiquette to stop harassing a person when asked.

Some are trying to pass off what Aris did as harmless joking, yet it's only a joke if everybody is laughing, otherwise it becomes victimization. Doesn't matter how mild one thinks it is, and it doesn't even matter what the intent is. It's all fun and games until it's clear that someone in the room isn't having fun.

Then you gotta pack that shit in.

[invisiblemoose]

Thanks for doing this!

It's also worth noting that when Jim refers to not knowing how problematic or stupid they were, it links to a wikipedia entry on the term feminazi.