Pro Gamer Suspended For Saying He Had Sex With a 14-Year-Old

[superspartan004]

1. Anyone who knows Stephano shouldn't be surprised

2. I love how the Escapist will only post E-sports stories if they're negative. The only two E-sports stories I have EVER seen on this site were this, and the agreement between the two LOL finals teams at MLG Raleigh 2012 to share the prize money and how they were both DQ'd. That's it. I'm starting to think the Escapist hates Competitive gaming.

 

[GoaThief]

I feel as though the actual headline should be a mix between your own and the above. Your current headline seems pretty damn unfair, as if it's a 25-year old and not a 19-year old who had sex with a 14 year old

What?

As if that makes a difference. I'd call a 19 year old an adult and a 14 year old a child... I would say in your example both are pretty much equally reprehensible. 5 years is a lot of difference around that age.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I abused a 14 year old once.

My army of marines absolutely destroyed his base thanks to my strategic genius.

Problem?

 

[Treblaine]

Bakhtanains later argued that "sexual harassment is a part of [the] culture," a statement he later retracted and apologized for.

I don't think it's so easy to retract, the problem is not what he says is misrepresentative, but how for so many members of the community that IS an accurate assessment.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Maybe he meant in dog years.

 

[LorienvArden]

Wait, when did we have a performance-enhancing drug scandal in gaming?

One is given right there in the article - the 30k fine for cheating.
I also remember a bit of a controversy around a korean pro gamer using maphacks or something like that...

Hacks equal drugs in esports i suppose.

 

[vun]

At no point does STEPHANO confirm what Bling (The other person involved in the convo) said about having sex with a 14 year old. He said he 'abused' a 14 year old, which depending on the context could mean he destroyed them on ladder or something. That was my stance pretty much before, and still is. It's hilarious, and I guess EG was right in suspending him, but some people completely overreact when they don't have complete info. Bling was the one who mentioned that Stephano 'fucked a 14 year old', and while he doesn't deny it, he certainly doesn't confirm it.

This seems to have gone over the heads of most people reading this.
So yeah, until someone does a proper look into what actually happened I'm not really going to care all that much about this.

I usually don't post captchas, but this one was nearly perfect;
I'm sorry

 

[loa]

Maybe he just said some shocking shit to distract his opponent?
You know, trash talk. This was during a match after all.

How anyone here can even consider he has actually done it is beyond me.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm so glad all the comments here are talking about how ridiculous it is. I wish the Escapist would take a higher ground here, this is one of the better writers but for a site that claims to take 'gaming as lifestyle' it's news is utter crud. I feel bad for giving page views sometimes. It's telling when they were explaining the stages of reporting here that they literally didn't actually have a 'check facts' stage.

I mean in broad terms this article was actually really good. But what it suffers from is the way the article exists along with the fact that the Escapist never reports on e-sports news. This is the same thing (although hopefully not deliberate) that Fox does, where they report the controversy on Global Warming, and although they cover their backs and the actual articles explain the complaints could be (is) crud, but the fact that they are only reporting controversy means that the controversy registers in peoples brains and gets given way more significance then it should be.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I don't really give a shit about the drama, but now I won't see Stephano play in tournaments for ages. That's pretty terrible news, as he's a fantastic player, easily one of the best in the world. Korea included.

Same. I don't really watch him all that much, but everytime I do watch him he's only winning. I never saw him lose a game. I remember he bought a new SC2 account and he was in top-masters in an evening.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I think his claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. I mean, a Starcraft player having sex? Ludicrous!

 

[IronMit]

Is this not a good day for gaming?

The gaming community/area dealing with inappropriate 'jokes/claims' instead of waiting for it to get picked up by a major news outlet first.

The guy has his freedom of speech to make crap jokes but organisations have the right to suspend/ ban.

For the record it was clearly a joke, using 'rape', 'abuse' as a metaphor but they need to try to make the environment as non-threatening as possible. It's bad for business if their game space is littered with abusive language as innocent as the intention may of been.

The title should really say 'Gamer suspended for making a public rape joke'

or Gamer suspended for using slang.. cos that is slang now

 

[Best of the 3]

I suppose by "abused" he meant "I owned the fuck out of him in SC".

If that's the case, I believe I've abused a few 14 year olds in my time too.

That's exactly what I thought too from that screen shot. Then again I don't know where the rest of the conversation would be so I can't really confirm what he means.

Personally this is just stupid. I don't really care all that much to be honest. If he's done what it looks like (had sex / abused a 14yo girl) then yes it's bad. If he hasn't or he's exaggerating or if he just means he whooped the kids ass in some Starcraft then everyone really just needs to chill there beans.

 

[cidbahamut]

All I'm getting out of this is a severe lack of context and someone projecting pretty hard.

Without more information that screenshot could just as easily be referring to the guy decimating someone in-game. The Engrish makes it difficult to decipher.

 

[Seanchaidh]

Why does the article say that this took place "during a live match"? It didn't. That's not what the battle.net interface looks like during any kind of match. That's what the battle.net 2.0 UI looks like when you aren't playing. Bling streaming the battle.net UI on twitch or wherever is not "a live match".

Fix it.

 

[Olliesama]

In Spain or Japan, this would be considered fine, maybe.
Besides like others are speculating it doesn't look like he even meant it in a sexual way. He could have meant it in saying that he destroyed the brat at SC2, or another game. Of course it's all just speculation. Plus isn't the french age of consent 15? 1 Year really doesn't seem worth all this news.

 

[PirateRose]

Here's the rest of the convo in a screenshot apparently taken right before the guy involved in recording this proceeded to delete the archive of this game session.

Spoiler

Stephano didn't know he was streaming.

Stephano says he will stick with MILFs and kids now, then he says I hope you're not showing anyone this.

I get the feeling the guy recording was thinking it was a joke too until Stephano said F*** I just noticed you were streaming. It doesn't sound like Stephano meant for the public to know about his sex life.

He probably didn't actually abuse/rape a 14yr old, but it certainly sounds like he was bragging about banging one. If it is legal wherever it may have taken place and the teenager was fully willing, then that's not the real problem. The problem is he was bragging with such language about sex with a 14yr old with viewers who may be in locations where it is illegal and they will be offended. If it took place where legal consent is 15+, then he's got a big problem besides offending viewers. It sounds like it's being investigated further, which leads me to believe he did something not so legal:

"The full extent of the ramifications for Stephano's comments is yet to be determined. The decision to suspend him, without pay, for the rest of October is final, but the situation is still being reviewed internally at EG, and we do not consider the matter closed as of yet." [http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/11e2ld/stephano_suspended_by_eg_for_the_month_of_october/]