Twitter Echo Chambers and the Depths of Despair
I am a part of the Super Smash Brothers community, which means I go to the local club here on campus and try to keep myself informed on what occurs with the rest of the community nationally. Unfortunately, if anyone reading this is also part of the community is reading this, chances are you know where this is going. To those of you who are not...let's just say that Smash has had its good and bad characters, and by bad we basically mean illegal.
Several top players throughout the past few years had apparently had relations with minors to some degree or another. These individuals have been properly called out and kicked from the community, but that seems to be the beginning of a problem. Don't get me wrong, kicking predators out of a child-heavy community is always a plus, but the problem arrives when the conversation moves to Twitter, the platform most commonly used in the community.
This phenomenon occurs in other communities (I'm sure) but as far as Smash is concerned once someone is called out for such wrongdoing every notable (and even unnotable) player calls for their removal and repeats their view over and over and over again. This drown out any positive occurrences happening within the community and creates a feeling of despair, at least in my experience. When this started to happen I kept coming back to 'how could this happen, this community is better than that', and while I still believe that to be true I'm also realizing the depth of all of this.
No one has all the facts. Whether it's the accuser or the accused, chances are there's something we're missing. What it is we obviously can't know, but that leads to the feeling I've had of not knowing what to believe and doubting anything anyone says on a topic like this. One of these individuals has recently posted a video to YouTube saying he's trying to improve himself and has acknowledged what he did was wrong, and to be honest I can't even remember the details of the original event completely because it's so diluted in everyone calling for his head.
Four paragraphs in and I'm still talking like there's nothing to be done. Classic cynic. Jokes aside, as much despair as there might be in the community there is always hope, there is always the truth, and there is always a belief that things can get better. To finally relate this to the class, this whole situation just seems like another example of people justifying their self-righteousness in whatever they do. No one is always right or wrong, so as long as the community can keep their minds open and try to accept blows as they come, then the community as a whole will be better off. I would like to ask if any of my classmates are part of a similar community. If so, how can it be improved? If not, is it simply perfect or is it more of an echo chamber that jettisons any baggage immediately?
I remember the big "ZeRo" thing that went down not too long ago. While I never really watched him stream Smash Bros myself, my younger bro loved tuning in to his stuff. It was a big blow to him when all the allegations came out about. Something that was interesting about ZeRo though, was that he voluntarily chose to ban himself from any future tournaments, despite being one of they best players out there. I don't know if the drama was even able to fully evolve on Twitter before ZeRo erased himself from the internet. It's a striking difference from so many others that try to ride the drama out.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I'm not really a part of any fandoms or communities that really go through this kind of stuff. They're all pretty small. But I've been a onlooker (like many) to major drama in other fandoms. I think there is definitely a point where accusations turn blind and sometimes loose sight of original offenses. Any instance of blind accusation or condemnation based on hearsay is dangerous no matter the situation. I think the big problem is that so many of the allegations which come up against people in such communities like Smash Bros are all based on the accused's word versus their accuser's. There seems to be little to go off of beyond someone's accusation and the response to it. It can be hard to figure out who to believe. This can very easily complicate matters. Also, when people become polarized or deeply believe in one side of a story, they tend to be much less likely to relent or seek understanding in the middle of a situation.
If there is one thing I have learned in my forays into various gaming communities it is this: competition breeds Toxtricity. Wait, I meant toxicity. Toxtricity is a pokemon.
ReplyDelete*ahem*
While SSB does have various single player and co-op modes, the defining feature of the community is its competitive PVP. While I’d like to go a bit into that, it seems what you are having trouble with is people constantly talking about the sexual misconduct and pedophelia cases instead of anything else. You mention one guy who seems repentant and the community response to that has been pretty negative. . . isn't that a good thing? There are plenty of reasons to not like the Smash community, but I don't think them expelling predators from their ranks is one of them. Unless you’re suggesting that people are projecting, but that's its own can of worms.
I guess I'm still having trouble identifying exactly what you think is wrong here. My understanding of the scandals involving many of the top smash players is that some people were proven to be predators, and then a whole bunch of others just admitted to it. In both cases, the community is well within its rights to demand those individuals removal. If you are upset that few people are talking about more positive things, just wait a bit. The storm will eventually pass.