United States
Dear all,
I would love to write about strategy, balance, Relic's shortcomings, tournaments and all the stuff this community loves to talk about. I am not doing that today.
This post is about a very serious matter that cannot be ignored. As a community, I like to think we have a responsibility to take care of our fellow community members. As individuals, we have rights and obligations. Some of our rights, like freedom of speech and having fun, meet their boundary when they get in the way of other's rights. It is unfair and unreasonable for me to exercise my rights to the detriment of others. It is plainly wrong to voluntarily inflict psychological distress to others through cyberbullying (for a definition of the term, please see: https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/).
This post is about BartonPL and particularly, but not exclusively, his constant abuse to Shadowwada.
I started following Shadow for some months now because his streams are not only very educational, but also very fun to watch. The guy has a talent for stand-up comedy and will answer any question put to him regarding better strategies, counter strategies and game-related stuff. In the past two or three weeks, I have noticed BartonPL continuously harassing Shadowwada for some reason that is unknown to me. A non-comprehensive list of BartonPL's actions include having stream-sniped Shadow's stream, abused Shadowwada by constantly following him on Twitch while Shadow is playing (i.e. I counted 8 follows in one 10-minute game), and has also used very offensive fake names (i.e. shadowwadapoosyloser, waddacrybaby, waddapronoob or similar - I didn't write them down). There was one particular stream where Shadowwada was so stressed from the constant harassment that he stated he was quitting the community altogether. He did so with a broken voice and teary eyes because he was obviously under a lot of emotional distress caused by BartonPL and his deliberate actions (and fueled by idiots in Wadda's stream that seemed to find the ongoing harassment very funny). Even tonight while I was watching VonIvan's game against Hans, I saw that "someone" under the name of Waddapoosywhinner started following VonIvan. I am positive, but not 100% certain, that this was BartonPL because Shadowwada said in passing during one of his streams this week that he had complained to Relic about BartonPL, and Relic was looking into suspending BartonPl.
Enough is enough.
I am inviting members of this community to publicly denounce BartonPL's antics. I am specially inviting Shadowadda and any victims of BartonPL to provide evidence of the effect that BartonPL's abuse has had on them. BartonPL is obviously part of the invitation in case he wishes to comment on anything said here. The purpose behind this invitation is twofold:
First, we need to raise awareness regarding cyberbulluing in our community. Cyberbullying has had very dramatic consequences for its victims, including suicide. I know as I write this that some of you might dismiss this post, but cyberbullying needs to be stopped at the outset. Who knows how certain individuals feel or will act when being confronted to heavy and relentlessness bullying? In denouncing BartonPl and any other bullies, we are keeping our community and fellow gamers safe.
Second, I wish to publicly warn BartonPL and any bullies out there that there are laws in each of your jurisdictions against cyberbullying. Specifically Poland passed a law in 2011 that provides for jail in case of persistent online harassment. See, for instance, http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1877042813050489/1-s2.0-S1877042813050489-main.pdf?_tid=81a0ab6c-6be5-11e6-a3a1-00000aacb360&acdnat=1472254594_d67e13ebeba7f8f05fb68a2a64e51b60. I'm not making empty statements. There are legal consequences to what BartonPl is doing and people should be made aware of this to discourage similar behavior.
I hope my post will not be misrepresented as a call against occasional jokes, exceptional angry outbursts, or some well-intended but short-lived trolling. All of these things happen as long as they are spontaneous. BartonPL is, however, no ordinary "troll". He persistently targets Shadowwada, humiliates him online and constantly offends Shadow in Shadow's own stream. There is no reasonable justification to such behavior, that is self-evidently publicly displayed to inflict more damage to Shadow (for instance, one thing would be to criticize Shadow in the forums, and another to call him poosy in his own stream).
Lastly, query whether it makes sense for Relic, Steam and/or SEGA to keep ignoring bullies like BartonPL. From a legal perspective, they profit from a product and an online platform that allows players to interact. Can they turn a blind eye to cyberbullying while making revenue off the product? What if something were to happen to a cyberbullying victim? Would a judge in any respectable jurisdiction be sympathetic to Relic, Steam or SEGA if they acknowledge they were aware of the bullying, but did nothing to prevent or stop it?
Kind regards,
Napito
Sorry for people who get their feelings hurt. Feelsbadman
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Relic Entertainment
