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Female Smash player was sexually molested at EVO: Offender banned from comp play 1 yr
- Thread starter CO_Andy
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Agreed, lifetime ban.
Yeah, that letter went the opposite way from how I expected. It sounds more like "Don't worry, it doesn't even have to be a year!"
Yeah, like what the fuck...
It's like they're trying to appease people in their community who seem to be outraged at the fact.
Yeah, sadly so.
VibratingDonkey
Member
This group's management arrived at a one year ban because that's what Capcom did in regards to Noel Brown's buttgrab. They consider these incidents to effectively be the same, and sexual assault to be the same as sexual harassment. How severe or how many times it happened is seemingly deemed irrelevant. Wonder where they draw the line for what constitutes a "similar incident?" And now with this update they're essentially saying they're not going to enforce the ban.
This group doesn't seem to know what the hell it's doing. Hopefully other groups and organizations will provide education.
This group doesn't seem to know what the hell it's doing. Hopefully other groups and organizations will provide education.
Yeah, in all honesty it's not really thier place, it's not an organization it's a discussion group. Having said that I hope that tournament organizers do the right thing as they are really the ones that matter.
I don't think there was any question of whether or not the guy did it and no one is asking for his head. It's a community issue and people in the community are discussing what sort of punishment is appropriate.
Fuck this shit.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
AFAIK, Noel Brown hasn't been seen at an event since the Combo Breaker incident. His Twitter, which had been very active up until then, abruptly stops at June 2. For the time being at least, he's basically fallen off the face of the Earth.
20 million, jesus. It's hard to fathom that amount of suffering.
Yeah I had a feeling that was how the arrived at that, which is part of why I was comparing it earlier.
The incidents and circumstances are both completely different, it seems kind of tone deaf they'd think it'd be a good baseline. Brown's situation was less severe, had some level of question as to whether or not it was welcome before it occurred and wasn't repeated. It's almost like they don't understand how different the situations are and just copied the decision as a recommendation because at first glance they sound sort of similar.
(And when it really came down to it I still think Brown's punishment was a bit light, hopefully he takes it seriously though)
mentallyinept
Banned
God dammit. Really?
A placation message to those who thought the 1 year ban was too harsh?
You idiots. You god damned idiots.
Another aspect of this story that's sad is from the perspective of DJ Jack.
I'm not assigning one scintilla of blame to him, but I feel like its going to be hard for him not do exactly that. I know quite a few women who have been molested (or worse) and a common theme I hear is the desire/need to feel safe.
In addition to possibly scarring Vikky for life, Hyuuga might have also destroyed a very important part of relationship with her bf.
I'm not assigning one scintilla of blame to him, but I feel like its going to be hard for him not do exactly that. I know quite a few women who have been molested (or worse) and a common theme I hear is the desire/need to feel safe.
In addition to possibly scarring Vikky for life, Hyuuga might have also destroyed a very important part of relationship with her bf.
capylikesgames
Banned
Gotta second everyone else, the decisions that resulted from this are just sad. One year for sexual assault feels like they want to slide it under the rug for his sake. It's so sad that people have to worry for their safety when getting involved in competitive games, and I really hope we can get past it one of these days.
It's a shame how true this is. That anonymous email she posted is enough proof of it. Some are acting like she's causing a ruckus, but maybe people should stop trying to get away with this filth in the first place?
ShockingAlberto
Member
I, what
He had his hand up her skirt MULTIPLE TIMES
Guh. This is a really bad look for the Smash community. I get that they're concerned about the community's reputation, but this was the worst way to attempt to salvage it. I like Smash and I want to see Smash 4 grow because I enjoy watching it, but "We're not really going to punish sex offenders" seems like the wrong direction to take condemnation.
br0ken_shad0w
Member
Sadly, rape and sexual assault get downplayed if it affects their precious hobby. See College Sports
PsychoSoldier
Banned
Prioritizing the community's reputation as a whole over the safety of individuals seems to be all too common in these cases. When similar things have happened, there are far too many people that were more mad that word of the incident got out than they were that the incident happened.
Unfortunately it mirrors some of the reason this stuff gets papered over and covered up in other contexts---if it puts the family or the community or just an important individual in a bad light, far too many people will prioritize saving face for the individual or group over serving justice or protecting the innocent.
"Official statements" via Twitlonger and signed with bear look very off for such an issue. All around amateurhour.
If it eases your pain, I think i heard my braincells dropping, reading your post. Noone is judge, jury and executioner. Do you expect a decision by a real judge or something? A trial in the courtroom?
radioactivez0r
Member
I've been lurking the thread and don't have much to add except that it's embarrassing that the official statement referred to it as "sexual harassment" instead of the assault it actually was. Way to downplay it.
Right now the community has a terrible rep.
I think Evo should drop smash and other big tourneys should do the same thing.
Hmmm...is she not pressing charges? I'd imagine being a sex offender trying to attend events frequented by minors would eliminate him from showing up to another U.S. tourney...never mind being a felon.
Really tone deaf decision here. This isn't a butt grab, it's a serious crime/trauma that may put this woman in therapy for life.
Really tone deaf decision here. This isn't a butt grab, it's a serious crime/trauma that may put this woman in therapy for life.
schaft0620
Member
But he got arrested right?
17 Seconds
Banned
i saw this story on kotaku and was kind of shocked at the general tone in the comments. fucking heinous losers
All of it is very sad. I hope the reaction from some of this people don't lead her to change her mind about pressing charges.
How can some people have more sympathy towards the aggressor than the victim. It's sickening.
piratethingy
Self professed bad raider
I got real drunk once and tried to go swim at the rec center at 3am. Opened an unlocked window which is a felony B&E, if a janitor had been in the building at the time I would have definitely gone to jail for Burglary.
Still lost a job, fine, year of probabtion, spent a fun day in jail scared out of my mind, counseling, drug testing, and community service.
So I'm just saying this doesn't seem super fair to me.
Still lost a job, fine, year of probabtion, spent a fun day in jail scared out of my mind, counseling, drug testing, and community service.
So I'm just saying this doesn't seem super fair to me.
I see why Nintendo tried to have Smash removed from evo a few years ago. Not exactly the kind of story they would want their IP attached to. Why doesn't Nintendo get involved with the community or running the event? We saw devs for the other evo games show up and get involved, making announcements, adding to the prize pools, etc.
I think it should be Nintendo's responsibility to run this community and create a safe environment around their game. If they don't step up, then we get this community run by a group of people that seem to care more about the game and the competitive image of their game than their actual player-base or fans.
I think it should be Nintendo's responsibility to run this community and create a safe environment around their game. If they don't step up, then we get this community run by a group of people that seem to care more about the game and the competitive image of their game than their actual player-base or fans.
Ninja Scooter
Member
What? You can't stop them from playing your game but if I'm Nintendo I want nothing to do with being formally or officially associated with fuckwits like this in any way. It's not like Nintendo could somehow stop this kind of thing from happening.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Nintendo is not interested in competitive Smash other than to expose the game to more people.
There should be no witch hunt because Hyuga shouldn't be fucking relevant. End of. He's done. His career is over. Period.
Here in FL we had a guy who would throw controllers and get mad when he lost. He later got arrested for some other thing - we banned him. He's out. Doesn't matter when he gets bail, doesn't matter if he's back in town and wants to play, doesn't matter if he discovers fucking wavedashing in Smash 4. He's done and the same attitude should be taken towards Hyuga.
FUCK this one year bullshit. The repercussions of what happened are going to follow her for years if not for the rest of her life. That isn't fucking right. You can't just hurt someone like that and be okay in a year. I hope top players ostracize him if that shit comes to pass.
Here in FL we had a guy who would throw controllers and get mad when he lost. He later got arrested for some other thing - we banned him. He's out. Doesn't matter when he gets bail, doesn't matter if he's back in town and wants to play, doesn't matter if he discovers fucking wavedashing in Smash 4. He's done and the same attitude should be taken towards Hyuga.
FUCK this one year bullshit. The repercussions of what happened are going to follow her for years if not for the rest of her life. That isn't fucking right. You can't just hurt someone like that and be okay in a year. I hope top players ostracize him if that shit comes to pass.
ShockingAlberto
Member
That's why everyone's interested in their game being played competitively.
Exploratory
Banned
Ugh this is gross. Absolutely disgusting.
They can and were going to stop people from playing their game at evo. If Nintendo got involved with running these smash tournaments, then they can make up and enforce their own rules. They could host tournaments out of their own stores, have standings on their website, and control who can and cannot participate.
Or they could ban their game from being officially part of evo entirely if they really want to distance themselves from this community.
PadWarrior
Member
Unbelievable. I hope she changes her mind and presses charges.
petran79
Banned
The fact he tried it twice while her friend was present, makes me think that he considered it is OK to grope a girl, as long as her boyfriend is lax and allows it or does not react as he should.
Instead of considering the girl herself not be someone's property.
Which makes it worse.
It's not about whether or not the victim will press charges, it's about sending a zero tolerance message and a clear deterrent for recurrence.
ShockingAlberto
Member
I get sad by almost everything about this case, but I think the part that somehow hit me hardest was that she didn't want to press charges because her parents would find out and not let her go to tournaments anymore.
Just...fuck, man.
Just...fuck, man.
Ninja Scooter
Member
The problem is that once you start running the tourneys you claim responsibility and association with whatever goes on there and whatever the participants do. It's a potential liability nightmare and I can understand why Nintendo would want no parts of it. They are probably fine being associated from a distance. I doubt anybody sticks anything from this story directly on Nintendo just because the game this guy plays just happens to be one of theirs. The story here is that a drunk asshole acted inappropriately at a public event, not that said drunk asshole was a Smash 4 player.
If someone isn't scared about going to prison for several years, why would a ban from EVO provide any deterrent?
Because people are stupid and have fucked up priorities? The message this sends is very important for a community already notorious for this kind of shit.
the guy asked for them not to call the cops...because then he wouldn't be able to come to the US and enter smash tournaments. clearly some people in this scene care about smash more than anything else, as indicated by the amount of people excusing sexual assault because he plays a great toon link.
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