The fighting game scene has taken a lot of criticism this week due to the controversy surrounding one playerâs harassment of another player on Capcomâs internet reality show Cross Assault
As Kotaku has covered these stories, a number of readers in the comments and elsewhere online have questioned why it appears that only negative stories about the fighting game community appear on our pages, rather than the many positive stories they say exist.
This past week, for good or for ill, the events of Cross Assault have been in the air everywhere, because the show is going on now. The ongoing saga has cast a fresh spotlight onto a perennial problem that fighting game enthusiasts face: In the midst of heated competition, how can a community maintain baseline civility and respect for all its members?
But negative news is not the only news; itâs just the current story. Much of what we hear about the competitive fighting game scene â as well as many other areas â comes to us from our readers. And so weâre hoping our readers will bring us more affirming stories as well.
One reader asked us:
Another commenter replied with:
The reader is correct about coverage of the Fight for Relief event; a search reveals two short blurbs on mainstream sites, with other coverage coming from community-oriented pages.
Dr. Sub-Zeroâs act of graciousness seemed to be the perfect diamond to salvage from the pile of muck that the last weekâs events on Cross Assault stirred up. As Giant Bomb reported:
Per the rules of the show, [Miranda Pakozdi] would then have to face off against John âDr. Sub-Zeroâ Rockafeller, who was already eliminated. If he beat her in three out of five matches, he would be ârevived.â
Instead, she forfeited. Moments after she bowed out, Rockafeller looked over and handed his prizes over to her.
âI would like to donate everything to Super_Yan for being an angel,â he said.
Pakozdi publicly thanked Rockafeller on Twitter, saying âThank you for the stick and headphones @AskDrSubZero!! <3 you've been so nice to me the whole week i appreciate it much." he responded with, âEnjoy them, my dear. :)â
Rockafeller has indeed been capturing accolades on Twitter and around the web for his behavior on Cross Assault. Unfortunately, the other half of accolades aimed at him seem to come from readers who are thankful for the stream of pornographic nude images (all of women) he shared on his Tumblr account [NSFW] this week.
The road to gender equality and sterling behavior never did seem quite so rocky. While thereâs nothing inherently wrong with nude photos featuring or shared with consenting adults, filling a Tumblr with them immediately after condemning the treatment Pakozdi received on Cross Assault complicates the message.
So help us. We genuinely want to highlight the best behavior and the best allies in this community. Trash talk doesnât have to mean trashy behavior. We learned about the harassment issues in Cross Assault from readers to begin with⊠so now weâd like you, the readers, to leave us some good news about the fighting game community.
