I dunno. If you know more about this than me, I’m all ears. I’m just working off an article or two I read about esports players who would live together and ‘train’ for 60-70 hours/week. Maybe they’re not the norm? I think this was before Twitch too.
Gaming Sexual assault allegations on Twitch/YouTube and the gaming industry
- Thread starter christy87
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It’s like it’s gone full circle to a certain extent when it comes to the web. From super cautious, to super liberal, and I guess increasing awareness around exploitation etc will lead to cautiousness once again.
It’s a strange one. Online relationships are now almost seen as equal to real life relationships. I’m guessing that’s only going to be reinforced by social changes resulting from lockdown.
Definitely. I didn’t even trust FB when it came on the scene in the UK around 2007 as it basically went against everything I’d ever been told. There was an old pics thread on the caf, sticking your face on there even felt a bit risky back then.I think theres possibly a link between that and some of the less severe accusations. Growing up and being the nerdy kid to being in a position of power without having the same experience that other have during their teens.
No, they are professional video game players. A typical no overtime 9-5 work week is 40 hours a week of work. Many people work 60 hours. To excel in something you need to practice more than most. If someone lacks social skill it's not because the time spent playing video games but rather what they do with the time spent not playing video games. If you do nothing but play video games it would still not excuse or explain why you molest kids. That's something entirely different. Your neighbor has a prince who does that and being a prince is entirely the job of being social.
It's not like footballers don't rape. You know well that the vast majorities of rapes aren't reported and if the person is powerful it's less likely to get reported and athletes like footballers or basketball players are much more powerful than Smash Bros professionals. Good lawyers are expensive and you need that along with hard proof to take down the powerful. Not only that but going after a figure that has a fans means you'll get death threats.
Yeah, doesn't jive with me. I deliberately don't use my phone much and people are always asking why I don't message back quickly. Then when I ask them to meet up, they're flakey as hell.
People suck.
It’s interesting because on one hand you have avid gamers who turn out normal and on the other you have a large section, usually the types who never leave their house or have any kind of social life because they play 24/7 and go to such tournaments, who grow up to be weird, anti-social, extreme incel sexual deviant misogynistic school-shooter types who frequent forums such as 4Chan.
In fairness to Angry Joe, he pretty much smashed those allegations the right way and proved the accuser to be nothing but a bandwagon jumper.
I think its important to keep this in context 99% of people are good people. And sadly we live in a world where we are afraid to let our kids/teens live there lives because of the actions of a minority. most communities that aren't NAMBLA have a lot of good people, we just hear so much of the negative/horror stories.
There are dangers and of course "It'll never happen to me are famous last words" but the reality is its very unlikely to happen to anyone. Most people are good people, something that we are sadly forgetting in modern society.
That said as a parent, I'd lose my shit if my 14 year old son was like "Hey dad, goin to a Fortnite tournie and staying with strangers", even though the chances of anything nefarious happening him is incredibly slim.
Of course, it’s not just about sexual assault though in that type of situation but things like drinking/drugs etc. I don’t think we want our kids to be out drinking and taking drugs when underage but if that did happen I’d feel more safe if they were with people I knew would look out for them rather than a complete stranger where I don’t know if they’d ditch them or not.
It’s important to have the right balance and not bubble wrap too much but I don’t think letting your 14/15 year old staying at a hotel miles away with strangers is bubble wrapping really. In the case of the Smash community too it doesn’t seem like it was just 1% that was a bad egg but an alarmingly high number of them.
Glad those accusations were unfounded. I’ve always liked his review videos.
For sure, I wouldn't let my kid either. I wouldn't say its bubble wrapping, I'd actually say you are rightly being cautious as would I. I do think that I'm being overly protective, as I know the odds are slim. I just don't want to be part of that tiny percentage. Something I think is purely based around, reports of this kind of thing being more common because of how close the world is linked now as opposed to the crimes happening more often.
It's amazing these people are being strong enough to come out now, and the communities are rallying around them.
What isn't so great is there evidently are people who can't wait to blame games, even one archaic twat specifically Nintendo games, when it should be fecking obvious that it's not just the games industry these people operate. Movies, music, banking, business, you name it they are there. Difference is, with the twitch/social media side, people can come out and get instant help. Other industries, not so much. This isn't the time for the same old "games make people bad" argument, it's about mental health, education and people knowing right from wrong.
BTW, in gaming Smash isn't the only community this bad, mark my words there are others still to out members. Including the more "adult" games.
What isn't so great is there evidently are people who can't wait to blame games, even one archaic twat specifically Nintendo games, when it should be fecking obvious that it's not just the games industry these people operate. Movies, music, banking, business, you name it they are there. Difference is, with the twitch/social media side, people can come out and get instant help. Other industries, not so much. This isn't the time for the same old "games make people bad" argument, it's about mental health, education and people knowing right from wrong.
BTW, in gaming Smash isn't the only community this bad, mark my words there are others still to out members. Including the more "adult" games.
There's almost no overlap at all between these two groups. If by 24/7 and go to tournaments you basically just mean pro gamers. Weird and anti social they most certainly are though.
100%, man I've seen some completely fecked up reports on Roblox and Minecraft.
Its not one particular community or games that are responsible. Pieces of shit will always find ways to be pieces of shit.
Destiny 1+2, Fifa, Cod...they all have real big problems that people don't know a fraction of yet.
But as I said, that's just gaming. People are delusional if they think for a single second this is because kids play too many games...other industries just aren't as online and open right now, but we all know they have issues.
I used to be one of those people. There's nothing suspect about it, just players who are determined to reach the top of their game.
What do the 'well-known streamers' get out of this? Or is it just the usual deal where the well-known streamer is incorporated and they receive a cut of the promotee's earnings?
Wonder if this has been legislated for AKA child-protective services have some sort of jurisdiction. If not, yet another loose end floating in the massive tangle bobbing in the wake of the rise of the internet.
Read the story about MethodJosh last night, one of the most awful things I’ve ever read. I seen a couple of his streams before he was banned from Twitch and he always put on a I’m a complete psychopath “act”, but would hint at it actually being true. Now we know that it wasn’t an act.
And now the whole Method brand is falling apart because they stood by him when they knew what the allegations were, but believed him even when there were many other red flags including a Kotaku article last year about how he would openly admit to being a pedophile on Discord.
I’m a big gamer myself but I would be strongly opposing of any of my kids getting heavily involved in any gaming community when they’re older. It’s just a breeding ground for weirdos and predators and I can’t really say I’m surprised at the stories that are coming out. It’s just shocking how widespread it was.
And now the whole Method brand is falling apart because they stood by him when they knew what the allegations were, but believed him even when there were many other red flags including a Kotaku article last year about how he would openly admit to being a pedophile on Discord.
I’m a big gamer myself but I would be strongly opposing of any of my kids getting heavily involved in any gaming community when they’re older. It’s just a breeding ground for weirdos and predators and I can’t really say I’m surprised at the stories that are coming out. It’s just shocking how widespread it was.
I played with Reckful about a year ago when AutoChess was all the rage among the MTG and similar card dueling streamer. Knew he had issues but didn’t expect the suicide, that’s rough.
Last month there is also a wave of sexual assault allegations in the DotA2 community, some very big names got called out and already left the scene or blacklisted.
Last month there is also a wave of sexual assault allegations in the DotA2 community, some very big names got called out and already left the scene or blacklisted.
I don't know the ins and outs but I'm sure there's an element of that, and also streamers forming partnerships and teams with each other to pool their viewerships and grow a community in that way.
But there's also cases, like with Methodjosh, where you have a guy with a big following hosting girls on his channel and inviting girls over to his house to promote them. And the motivation is obviously the girls themselves.
It's disappointing to see tired cliches about gamers being socially awkward. I personally would consider people who go out socialising in bars and creeping on women there to be far more socially awkward than those who stay at home playing video games. There seems to be a misconception that gaming means you don't socialise, when in reality you're spending literally every moment of your gaming experience socialising with friends. Opening up to them, talking to them every day for hours on end, sharing and laughing together. But apparently they're more socially awkward than your average non gamer 18-21 year old hitting the bars with their wing men looking to get their dick wet and never text her again. Or the nations youth that grew up as chavs hanging around in their male circles drinking cider in parks and bragging/completely bullshitting about who lost their V card first or talking about how they just discovered porn and who they want to smash at their school prom and accusing each other of being gay casually as an insult. As somebody said further up, we are far past gaming being a geek thing now. It's completely mainstream.
Having and maintaining a healthy relationship is not something specific to gaming, it's something specific to human beings full stop in an era of unrealistic expectations due to porn, body positivity, increased activism on issues like sexual assault, meetoo, harrassment, LGBTQ+ rights, microaggressions and society generally becoming more tolerant and more inward looking of it's historical practices that we're revising over time. Gaming is simply an alternate way of passing time, to other activities like sport, house parties etc. None of those things have the first thing to do with making sure you grow up being better with women and so the fact that people are spending time gaming is irrelevant because the alternatives wouldn't teach them anything different and in some cases would even perpetuate the problem. People who have never touched a game in their life are still excessively consuming porn for instance. Kids who are great 'socially' and who are going out to parties and meeting people regularly are still getting drunk and leery with girls because of raging hormones, and a social circle that encouraged the 'banter' and the consumption of porn etc. It's an issue that applies to everybody no matter your hobby and should be an educational focus in your younger years.
Leave kids to their own devices growing up and no matter if they game, go out partying, hang about with their mates in the park, play football or practice a martial art and they'll use their social circle as sound boards for their ideas and objective morals. None of those things are going to teach them any different - that's where we need to come in and really make a difference by exposing them to the impact of the wrongs of the past.
Having and maintaining a healthy relationship is not something specific to gaming, it's something specific to human beings full stop in an era of unrealistic expectations due to porn, body positivity, increased activism on issues like sexual assault, meetoo, harrassment, LGBTQ+ rights, microaggressions and society generally becoming more tolerant and more inward looking of it's historical practices that we're revising over time. Gaming is simply an alternate way of passing time, to other activities like sport, house parties etc. None of those things have the first thing to do with making sure you grow up being better with women and so the fact that people are spending time gaming is irrelevant because the alternatives wouldn't teach them anything different and in some cases would even perpetuate the problem. People who have never touched a game in their life are still excessively consuming porn for instance. Kids who are great 'socially' and who are going out to parties and meeting people regularly are still getting drunk and leery with girls because of raging hormones, and a social circle that encouraged the 'banter' and the consumption of porn etc. It's an issue that applies to everybody no matter your hobby and should be an educational focus in your younger years.
Leave kids to their own devices growing up and no matter if they game, go out partying, hang about with their mates in the park, play football or practice a martial art and they'll use their social circle as sound boards for their ideas and objective morals. None of those things are going to teach them any different - that's where we need to come in and really make a difference by exposing them to the impact of the wrongs of the past.
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Holy shit. That list was only limited to smash players?!
What. The. Feck.
I definitely agree with the sentiment behind this. Bottom line is that everyone is socially awkward, it just manifests in different ways. What's more socially dysfunctional - spending hours chatting with friends online while gaming (sober), or having to lose yourself in alcohol and drugs so that you can cope with being around other people, be it in clubs bars or whatever, making a total fool of yourself? And which of those two groups is more likely to be creepy around women?
Obviously the other key thing is that, where there probably once was a line between those who stayed in gaming and those who socialised outside, now gaming is so mainstream that the line is long gone.
So it turns out that one of the biggest profiles that was cancelled(Nairo) may have been innocent all along. Not only that, but he claims to have been raped and then blackmailed by the same person who spread the rumors that eventually led to him being cancelled. Terrible stuff 
https://nairoby.medium.com/my-statement-9a091682fff3
https://nairoby.medium.com/my-statement-9a091682fff3
ZeRo, probably the biggest name among the cancelled(for grooming) in the gaming industry last summer, tried to commit suicide today. Grooming is bad and he's lucky that he just got cancelled and lost all his gaming-related income. That doesn't make this any less sad though, especially when you know the guy's backstory. I hope he can get back on his feet, get help and do literally anything that does not involve being a public figure or being around kids/teenagers.
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Looks like we didn’t even get into the Rooster Teeth stuff. It ruined Funhaus for me, you bastards.
Same for me. I was never really into AH and Funhaus's newer content but I always liked going back to their old ones. I just can't now.