Sexism In Fighting Game Culture Says Nothing About

Sexism In Fighting Game Culture Says Nothing About Gamers, But It Says Everything About Bullies


If you’ve been around any tech or gaming sites this week, you’ve already seen the big brouhaha surrounding Cross Assault, a fighting game reality show sponsored by Capcom. To sum up: The leader of the Tekken team, Aris Bakhtanians, made a number of rather jaw-dropping remarks concerning sexual harassment in the fighting game community, which he seems to view as a God-given right. Player Miranda Pakozdi later threw a match after Bakhtanians — her own teammate, mind you — continued to harass her (queries about her bra size were the just the tip of the iceberg).

The whole to-do has already been covered extensively elsewhere, and a significant portion of the fighting game community has loudly decried Bakhtanians’ actions, stating that his boorish behavior is not reflective of gaming culture as a whole. If you’re a gamer, you already know that. There are plenty of awesome gamer guys out there who would never even consider engaging in this kind of nonsense. The Cross Assault incident is yet another case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.

However, what I would like to address is the all-too-familiar sentiment behind Bakhtanians’ appalling comments. The argument I see popping up a lot around this issue — and indeed, around most discussions of sexism, racism, or homophobia — is one of censorship. It goes like this: Trash-talking is funny, comedy is inherently cruel, and toning it down every time someone gets offended flies in the face of free speech. If you don’t get the joke, then go somewhere else.

Okay, yes, but…no.

[DougieMom]

Originally Posted by EmptyTimCup

Sexism In Fighting Game Culture Says Nothing About Gamers, But It Says Everything About Bullies


However, what I would like to address is the all-too-familiar sentiment behind Bakhtanians’ appalling comments. The argument I see popping up a lot around this issue — and indeed, around most discussions of sexism, racism, or homophobia — is one of censorship. It goes like this: Trash-talking is funny, comedy is inherently cruel, and toning it down every time someone gets offended flies in the face of free speech. If you don’t get the joke, then go somewhere else.

Okay, yes, but…no.

Old thread, but I'll bump because it has not lost its relevance in the last few months!

As a female gamer who plays Call of Duty, i pretty much just mute my mic in public lobbies when i'm playing by myself because I don't want to listen to the sexist comments. I'm in an all female gaming clan, and while some guys are cool, others start getting an attitude when they hear a bunch of women in the lobby. And if we win, then it's because someone 'was modding' or 'camping'. Or the 'B' word gets tossed around for no reason.

As far as racisim and homophobia, that runs rampant too. I hear plenty of 'you f***ot or the 'N' word tossed out there. I think for an activity that is supposed to be fun, people act like they make their living on it, and waaaay too seriously.

Just my 2 cents!

[MrZ06]

Trash talking is what makes playing online video games fun. The idea is to get under their skin and through them off their game.

For example when I play halo I like to teabag people after I kill them. When I am in the process of teabaging them I vary my trash talking based on the person. I routinely make, racist, sexist, homophobic, exc remarks while playing the game.

I have even had little kids parents get on the mike and tell me to stop cussing so much and to watch my language.