Over the previous weekend of July 17 2016, the gaming event EVO was held. For those of you who don't know, the Evolution Championship Series or EVO for short, represents the largest and longest running fighting video game tournaments in the world. It's an event held annually in Los Vegas, featuring some of the most popular fighting games currently available. From Street Fighter to Smash Bros, EVO offers a wide variety of tournaments which are streamed live throughout the weekend. For those who attend, and those who watch the tournaments live each year; we know what makes these tournaments great. They're opportunities for experienced players from around the world to get together and have fun competing while awestruck fans watch from the sidelines cheering on their favorites. It's a place where you can meet people from foreign and exotic places who share a common interest. It creates a sense of community that branches beyond traditional boundaries of sex, race, or nationality, creating what feels like a giant family.
However, over this past weekend this community didn't feel completely safe for everyone. More specifically it didn't feel safe for competitive Smash Bros commentator Vikki Kitty. Over the weekend, Vikki was molested by a foreign pro Smash Bros player who goes by the tag Hyuga. Vikki and her friends allowed Hyuga to sleep in their hotel room with them because they didn't want to let him wander the streets of Vegas alone and drunk in the middle of the night. However, during his night with Vikki and Co. he attempted to perform unwanted sexual acts on her not once, but twice before they kicked him out and filed a police report. Vikki detailed the entire event on twitter as seen below.
After coming out with what had happened, there were a few individuals who attempted to defend Hyuga's actions. These people claimed that he shouldn't be held accountable for his actions because he was drunk, or that she was overreacting. However, for each of these individuals there were twenty more from the community rallying behind Vikki. People who know the long term effects that sexual harassment can have on someone. People who understand that being drunk isn't a get out of jail free card. People who want to maintain a community where people can have fun and feel safe playing games with friends whether they're a man or a woman. Due to the support behind Vikki during this time, Hyuga has lost his sponsors and been dropped from VGbootcamp, the competitive team that most recently picked him up. Also, he's no longer welcome at any future EVO or VGbootcamp sponsored events. Beyond VGbootcamp, many other tournament operators have banned him from their tournaments and offered their condolences for what happened over the weekend. Hyuga has released an apology to Vikki as seen below, citing that he doesn't remember a thing that happened, but fully accepts the consequences of his actions while he was drunk.
With Hyuga facing consequences for his actions many people are looking forward to the future and forgetting this terrible incident. However, Vikki (@VikkiKitty_) on twitter, is currently working to use this experience to help spread awareness about the risks and consequences of sexual harassment. Throughout this whole ordeal she's interacted with fans letting them know her well being as well as giving them advice on how to deal with sexual harassment. She's gained a plethora of new followers, and with the competitive gaming community rallying behind her for her cause, we're looking ahead to a brighter future at EVO 2017.
