The wave of Controversies in the Gaming Community, Esports, Twitch and other Streaming Platforms
A new wave of allegations has hit the esports industry as more than 70 cases arrived in the past week only. Most of the allegations came from the female members of the industry. Streamers and gamers say that this is the time to make a change in the community as most of the giant esports companies have started taking actions against the offenders. The victims are sharing their stories through most of the streaming platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and others. The allegations like sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and verbal abuse took down the industry’s most important personalities.
What is going on?
In the past month, a new trend started including more than 70 people, sharing their stories about harassment and abuse in the gaming industry. The trend got hyped when the community started giving responses to the offenders. The first action was taken against GrandGrant or Grant from Evil Geniuses, who was involved in sexual harassment. A woman raised her voice against him telling her story about how Grant sexually harassed her. As soon as Grant lost the case in the court, Evil Geniuses cut ties with him immediately. Also, he was removed from the Esports scene by Valve and also got fired from the current tournament he was in contract with.
https://twitter.com/evilgeniuses/status/1275211882199085057
The action by EG and the esports industry provided the lacking confidence in many other victims to raise their voices. Moreover, one of the most important and famous commentators and also the Managing Director of Code Red, Redeye also resigned from his post and said he won’t be coming back to the esports scene. Redeye faced many allegations from a male member of the community who accused him of distressing him at his job. The victim said that Redeye would not let him go for mental health leaves and would ask him to work extra hours. He also said that because of Redeye he got under anxiety and faced trouble at his job. Although Redeye won the case and denied all the allegations, he still resigned from his position immediately as he said that his family was being dragged into this.
Worst Situation
The situation became worse when one of the most famous hosts and commentators, TobiWan got accused of sexual harassment. Tobi was a very strong asset to the community as he hosted a lot of major events of different games. His major popularity was the way he used to host the show and Valve even added his punch lines into Dota 2. As soon as he faced the allegations by a woman, Valve removed him from all the scenes. Not just this, Valve also removed his punch lines from the game, and the gamers who bought those voice lines got refunded by Valve. Tobi even released his statement where he denied all the charges against him.
https://twitter.com/TobiWanDOTA/status/1276192426114383882
What happens next?
As the wave is going on and taking all the bad faces the esports community had, this might keep ongoing for some time. As the community has given a vital response to the victims, a lot of pressed voices are now coming out. More than 70 allegations surfaced within one week and numerous more are coming each day.
Valve to Take Actions
All the streamers and important personalities are now on high alert as Valve has been taking strict actions against all the offenders. Currently, Valve has suspended a lot of famous personalities regardless of their fame and importance in the community. Moreover, women are now feeling safer in the industry as their rights are now being served.
Women Community to Get Stronger in Esports
Due to the excessive actions taken by Valve against most of the offenders, women are now more confident to move in the gaming scene. Famous personalities like Grant used to say that Dota is a boys club and that is why he used to harass the female staff who worked with him. Most of the females shared their stories about how difficult it was for them to move in an all-men community. However, with Valve becoming more strict against such cases, women are now relieved that they can easily take part in the esports scene and harassment and abuse towards women would be eradicated. This step will strengthen the female force in the esports industry and will make the gaming environment less toxic.
What should be done?
It is a very vast question to be asked about what should be done to stop sexual harassment and abuse in the esports industry. As the community has already started taking actions against the players who were involved in such acts and Valve is imposing permanent bans to the offenders, the situation is already improving.
Reporting should be done Promptly
To get over the harassment and abuse issues in the gaming community, members should report any crime or violation immediately to the authorities. This way, harassers will be removed immediately and wouldn’t get any other chance to repeat their acts on anyone else. Instead of pressing your voice against abuse or harassment, the community should know speaking out is a better option.
Permanent Bans
There should not be any kind of relaxation to the members of the community who get involved in any kind of sexual act or harass the other colleague. As of last month, a lot of people raised their voices against some of the important personalities. This should be made very normal to the community that violation of conduct will not be tolerated even if the most important personality was involved in it. Also, permanent bans should be introduced towards the members who get involved in such acts. Not just Valve, other gaming authorities like Riot Games, Epic Games, and many others should join their heads and come out with strict permanent ban criteria for such acts.
The gaming industry is improving and becoming safer every day. The community can further be purified with few actions as gaming authorities are right onto them.
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