Combo Breaker 2026 was one of many greatest non-EVO combating recreation tournaments of the yr, with totally different nationalities flying in to expertise the occasion. However behind its huge success, there lies an issue locally 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 scorching matter 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 circumstances. Whereas lots of them have already been handled post-COVID, due to the ladies who had the braveness to speak about their expertise, it doesn’t imply that the entire thing is gone.
Circumstances 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 relating to 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 offender struck.
Fortunately, she had a pal along with her who stepped in the best way, primarily blocking the man, who then proceeded to run away. Sadly, neither she nor her pal had any concept who the offender was.
Miranda “Super_Yan” Pakozdi, one other lady who attended the occasion, additionally skilled harassment, however this time, from the workers. Based on a tweet she posted, she was handed a spectator badge as a result of she’s a girl, despite the fact that she stated 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 put up as a result of it was so frequent. Whereas she understands that a few of 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.
Based on her: “Years of this and each time it’s a message that I don’t appear like a combating recreation participant, or I don’t belong right here, or I’m to not be taken severely. It doesn’t really feel good!”
FGC and Sexual Harassment within the Pre-COVID Period
Throughout our interview relating to 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 an excellent time to be a girl within the scene pre-2020.
She stated it was again when she performed Tremendous Smash Bros. Final, and guys would “by chance” kick her chair as they walked previous her when their pal 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 afraid of some male rivals’ reactions if she had truly gained.
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 attributable to 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 ought to be some sort of tradition that has clung to the group’s roots and has been normalized to the purpose that folks 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 combating 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 combating recreation group.
Throughout a Cross Assault occasion, a actuality show-style competitors the place two groups combat one another in Avenue Fighter x Tekken matches, Bakhtanians made inappropriate remarks relating to Pakozdi’s bra measurement and even stated that he had a need to spy on her within the girls’s rest room, ultimately resulting in her being creeped out concerning the interplay.
Pakozdi confronted him about his conduct, however she stated it was apparent that the Bakhtanians didn’t actually care.
When requested about his inappropriate feedback, Bakhtanians talked about that “these are jokes and if you happen to have been actually a member of the combating recreation group, you’ll know that,” and that “it is a group that’s, you recognize, 15 or 20 years outdated, and the sexual harassment is a part of a tradition, and if you happen to take away that from the combating recreation group, it’s not the combating 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 an announcement he offered to Ars Technica, he apologized for what he stated: “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.”
Regardless that Bahktanians ultimately apologized, this was a big 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 combating recreation event after listening to the viewers hurl misogynistic or homophobic feedback contained in the event corridor.
Jax additionally weighed in on this once 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 outdated 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 stated that as an alternative of reflecting and rising from their actions, some males merely channel their anger into disliking the ladies who’ve entered their “membership.”
“As a substitute of acknowledging that girls becoming a member of the scene has enabled progress and accountability and safeguards which are inherently good issues for the gaming group/trade as a complete, they only assume ‘Properly, 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) locally agrees with me that no lady ought to be harassed, whether or not bodily or sexually, within the FGC. Nevertheless, it nonetheless occurs. Certain, individuals can say that these have been freak accidents or remoted incidents, however that’s simply washing your palms of the truth that they nonetheless occurred. We, as a group, ought to be ashamed when issues like these happen at our occasions.
With that being stated, what wants to vary? Pakozdi talked about in her tweets that security ought to be the precedence. She provides that folks ought to cease assuming that girls solely attend combating recreation tournaments as an extension of their companions or males normally. Issues like that may go a good distance and make them really feel like they belong.
Jax, however, went after those that enabled the harassment within the first place. She stated that males ought to maintain their pals accountable for sh*tty conduct and get rid of the “boy’s membership mentality.”
She stated: “No extra ‘it’s only a joke, no extra ‘that’s simply how he’s’ or ‘effectively, he’s my boy.’ Don’t excuse or allow poor conduct simply because it’s your pal or somebody who occurs to be good at a recreation.”
Ladies Ought to Nonetheless Attend FGC Tourneys, However Be Protected
With all of this stated, I nonetheless requested Jax if she thinks girls ought to attend combating recreation tournaments, and her reply is a powerful sure. She stated 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 assist, you get invaluable information and follow at video games, you’ll be able to strive so many new video games. I may go on for therefore lengthy about all of the fantastic issues about FGC majors, each I’ve personally attended has been an overwhelmingly optimistic expertise.”
Nevertheless, she additionally stated that girls ought to go together with pals and folks they belief.
“It’s no totally different from being at a con or live performance or some other large-scale occasion in that regard,” Jax advised Esports Insider. “So many conditions that completely may have gone worse have been subtle by having pals round to step in or have my again or work by means of after the very fact.”
Lastly, I requested Jax if she had one thing to say to her fellow girls who’ve been harassed within the combating recreation group: Right here’s what she stated:
“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 maintain talking up about harassment and discrimination. It’s the one approach 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 when it comes to security and inclusivity. It will probably and can proceed to get higher and higher.
“Even with my unlucky expertise at Combo Breaker this yr, the outpouring of concern and assist and love, I don’t assume 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 pals, understanding that there was somebody being creepy. Yeah, it shouldn’t have occurred within the first place, however contemplating how vocal everybody was condemning that conduct, I really feel way more assured that it’ll be much less prone to occur once more sooner or later.”
We Have The Duty to Cease This
We ought to be vigilant to make sure the ladies round us are snug. There’s no excuse for sexual harassment or any of this type to exist locally, and we ought to 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 locally to simply play video games, however that’s the factor. They additionally wish to play video games. What’s stopping the FGC from making it an fulfilling atmosphere for them, too?
On the finish of the day, all of us simply love combating video games, and what higher strategy to get pleasure from combating video games than to share them with the individuals round us?
