Combo Breaker 2026 was one of many greatest non-EVO preventing recreation tournaments of the yr, with totally different nationalities flying in to expertise the occasion. However behind its huge success, there lies an issue in the neighborhood that, whereas decreased, persists within the darkest corners of the FGC.
Yup. I’m speaking about harassment of girls within the FGC.
This has been a sizzling subject within the FGC for fairly a while now, and for good purpose. What sort of group lets issues like this occur and turns a blind eye to it? The pandemic lockdown was the time when the group began cracking down on sexual harassment instances. Whereas numerous them have already been handled post-COVID, because of the ladies who had the braveness to speak about their expertise, it doesn’t imply that the entire thing is gone.
Instances like these nonetheless exist, and I consider it’s time the group begins cracking down on them once more.
Combo Breaker 2026’s Incidents Ought to Be The Final
In a tweet posted on Might twenty third, Jax shared her expertise with somebody who tried to take an upskirt image of her whereas cosplaying as Emilie De Rochefort, also called Lili, from Tekken.
I reached out to Jax to ask for extra particulars concerning the incident, and he or she talked about that it occurred whereas she was ready for her 2XKO set. Whereas standing there, she determined to repair her cosplay, and that’s when the perpetrator struck.
Fortunately, she had a good friend together with her who stepped in the best way, primarily blocking the man, who then proceeded to run away. Sadly, neither she nor her good friend had any thought who the perpetrator was.
Miranda “Super_Yan” Pakozdi, one other girl who attended the occasion, additionally skilled harassment, however this time, from the workers. In keeping with a tweet she posted, she was handed a spectator badge as a result of she’s a girl, regardless that she mentioned she’s a competitor and has been one for nearly twenty years.
In a subsequent tweet, she talked about that this had occurred to her a number of instances and that she made the publish as a result of it was so frequent. Whereas she understands that among the individuals working in tournaments, particularly in main ones, are volunteers, it doesn’t change the truth that these sorts of conditions made her uncomfortable.
In keeping with her: “Years of this and each time it’s a message that I don’t appear like a preventing recreation participant, or I don’t belong right here, or I’m to not be taken critically. It doesn’t really feel good!”
FGC and Sexual Harassment within the Pre-COVID Period
Throughout our interview concerning the Combo Breaker 2026 incident, I requested Jax whether or not she had skilled harassment prior to now 5 years at locals or tournaments. She talked about that there hasn’t been any blatant harassment post-COVID. She added that nothing outwardly loopy or dangerous had occurred to her just lately till the Combo Breaker 2026.
I additionally requested her concerning the worst case of gender discrimination she skilled/noticed, and that’s the place she talked about that it wasn’t a very good time to be a girl within the scene pre-2020.
She mentioned it was again when she performed Tremendous Smash Bros. Final, and guys would “by accident” kick her chair as they walked previous her when their good friend was down a inventory. She additionally talked about that there have been instances when she needed to purposefully lose her units as a result of she was genuinely petrified of some male rivals’ reactions if she had truly received.
Sadly, throughout that point, her expertise wasn’t an remoted one. In 2020, the Tremendous Smash Bros. group skilled a #MeToo motion during which victims of abuse stepped ahead to show the unhealthy apples. Jax was one of many girls who stepped up and uncovered her abuser. Outdoors of the Tremendous Smash Bros. group, the larger FGC additionally suffered an enormous blow when Evo 2020 was canceled as a result of sexual misconduct allegations towards its co-founder, Joey “MrWizard” Cuellar, surfacing.
Discrimination within the FGC Is Ingrained within the Tradition
Discrimination like this doesn’t seem out of nowhere. There must be some form of tradition that has clung to the group’s roots and has been normalized to the purpose that individuals simply don’t consider it as offensive, particularly to newcomers to the scene.
An article by Ars Technica printed in 2012, named “Is pervasive sexism holding the skilled preventing recreation group again?” offers us a peek at what the tradition was like again then. The article discusses Aris Bakhtanians, a competitor-turned-commentator-turned-streamer within the preventing recreation group.
Throughout a Cross Assault occasion, a actuality show-style competitors the place two groups struggle one another in Road Fighter x Tekken matches, Bakhtanians made inappropriate remarks concerning Pakozdi’s bra dimension and even mentioned that he had a want to spy on her within the girls’s toilet, ultimately resulting in her being creeped out concerning the interplay.
Pakozdi confronted him about his habits, however she mentioned it was apparent that the Bakhtanians didn’t actually care.
When requested about his inappropriate feedback, Bakhtanians talked about that “these are jokes and for those who have been actually a member of the preventing recreation group, you’d know that,” and that “this can be a group that’s, , 15 or 20 years previous, and the sexual harassment is a part of a tradition, and for those who take away that from the preventing recreation group, it’s not the preventing recreation group — it’s StarCraft.”
[Editor’s Note: I’m not surprised to hear rhetoric like this. The FGC prides itself on being raw, authentic, rough around the edges, and real. It’s not a polished scene with over-the-top productions. It comes from dudes grinding in grungy arcades, not caring they are ‘nerds.’ But let’s not bring the sexism aspect of that nostalgia with us.]
Nevertheless, Bakhtanians’ tone modified following the backlash. In a press release he supplied to Ars Technica, he apologized for what he mentioned: “I sadly used excessive examples within the warmth of the second and really feel that my statements don’t truly talk how I really feel.”
Though Bahktanians ultimately apologized, this was a enormous inform concerning the tradition again then. The Ars Technica article even talked a couple of girlfriend of Jared Rea, a Twitch Neighborhood Supervisor on the time, leaving the venue of a preventing recreation event after listening to the viewers hurl misogynistic or homophobic feedback contained in the event corridor.
Jax additionally weighed in on this after I requested her why she thinks discrimination towards girls remains to be a factor within the FGC. She talked about that she believes it’s from older males who miss the “good previous days” when gaming was nonetheless a boy’s membership. She additionally provides that youthful males additionally fall for that poisonous nostalgia, which solely provides to the issue.
Jax additionally mentioned that as a substitute of reflecting and rising from their actions, some males merely channel their anger into disliking the ladies who’ve entered their “membership.”
“As an alternative of acknowledging that girls becoming a member of the scene has enabled development and accountability and safeguards which can be inherently good issues for the gaming group/business as an entire, they only suppose ‘Nicely, again in my day none of this existed and wouldn’t be related if issues had simply stayed the identical.’” Jax added.
What Wants To Change?
I believe everybody (regular) in the neighborhood agrees with me that no girl must be harassed, whether or not bodily or sexually, within the FGC. Nevertheless, it nonetheless occurs. Positive, individuals can say that these have been freak accidents or remoted incidents, however that’s simply washing your fingers of the truth that they nonetheless occurred. We, as a group, must be ashamed when issues like these happen at our occasions.
With that being mentioned, what wants to vary? Pakozdi talked about in her tweets that security must be the precedence. She provides that individuals ought to cease assuming that girls solely attend preventing recreation tournaments as an extension of their companions or males basically. Issues like that may go a great distance and make them really feel like they belong.
Jax, alternatively, went after those that enabled the harassment within the first place. She mentioned that males ought to maintain their buddies accountable for sh*tty habits and eradicate the “boy’s membership mentality.”
She mentioned: “No extra ‘it’s only a joke, no extra ‘that’s simply how he’s’ or ‘nicely, he’s my boy.’ Don’t excuse or allow poor habits simply because it’s your good friend or somebody who occurs to be good at a recreation.”
Ladies Ought to Nonetheless Attend FGC Tourneys, However Be Protected
With all of this mentioned, I nonetheless requested Jax if she thinks girls ought to attend preventing recreation tournaments, and her reply is a convincing sure. She mentioned that these are such enjoyable experiences that she solely discovered within the FGC, and that “the nice closely outweighs the unhealthy in my view.”
She additionally added: “You meet new individuals from throughout, you will discover artists and small companies to help, you get invaluable data and apply at video games, you possibly can strive so many new video games. I might go on for thus lengthy about all of the fantastic issues about FGC majors, every one I’ve personally attended has been an overwhelmingly optimistic expertise.”
Nevertheless, she additionally mentioned that girls ought to go along with buddies and other people they belief.
“It’s no totally different from being at a con or live performance or every other large-scale occasion in that regard,” Jax informed Esports Insider. “So many conditions that completely might have gone worse have been subtle by having buddies round to step in or have my again or work by way of after the actual fact.”
Lastly, I requested Jax if she had one thing to say to her fellow girls who’ve been harassed within the preventing recreation group: Right here’s what she mentioned:
“I’m so sorry, and please know that you simply’re not alone. There are such a lot of fantastic, variety, supportive, and caring individuals within the FGC who’re right here to assist.
“Please preserve talking up about harassment and discrimination. It’s the one manner we will get the phrase out about it and get it addressed and hopefully corrected. Even in simply the final 5 years, it’s unimaginable to see how a lot the scene and occasions have improved by way of security and inclusivity. It could actually and can proceed to get higher and higher.
“Even with my unlucky expertise at Combo Breaker this yr, the outpouring of concern and help and love, I don’t suppose I can put into phrases how heartwarming it was that so many individuals cared. Folks I’d by no means met or solely knew in passing got here to test on me, which by no means would have occurred if I hadn’t spoken up.
“And it additionally inspired others to be extra vigilant — individuals have been on the alert to look out for themselves and their buddies, realizing that there was somebody being creepy. Yeah, it shouldn’t have occurred within the first place, however contemplating how vocal everybody was condemning that habits, I really feel way more assured that it’ll be much less more likely to occur once more sooner or later.”
We Have The Duty to Cease This
We must be vigilant to make sure the ladies round us are comfy. There’s no excuse for sexual harassment or any of this kind to exist in the neighborhood, and we must be ashamed that it has existed longer than it already has.
I do know, some individuals will say that they’re not right here to do feminism or politics and that they’re in the neighborhood to simply play video games, however that’s the factor. They additionally need to play video games. What’s stopping the FGC from making it an satisfying setting for them, too?
On the finish of the day, all of us simply love preventing video games, and what higher option to take pleasure in preventing video games than to share them with the individuals round us?
