Okay a few points here which will probably whip a lot of people on these forums into a frenzy given their political leanings, but I feel need to be said:
#1: A big question about the conduct of Mr. "Stephano" is where this act allegedly took place. During a quick search it appears he's from France, and the age of consent there is 15. The age of consent falls as low as 13 in Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe
I've checked that before due to some of my research on various political and social topics, and to say it gets complicated through the EU is an understatement. What he did might not even be illegal (if he did it), and is really right on the edge even if it was.
Speaking for my personal morality I don't care for ages of consent that young, though I'm fairly accepting of teen on teen relationships, and believe in distributing condoms in schools and such rather than trying to encourage or force abstinance. I don't agree with countries setting ages of consent as low as many european countries do (and have in the past commented on a need for UN regulation), but I also think a line needs to be drawn between adults having sex with kids, and teens having sex with each other.
All of that said, I think his team is out of line to ban him for such comments.
#2: Continueing from the last part of point #1, I'd like to say that I don't think athletes (including cyber-athletes) are under any paticular obligation to be great role-models. It's about accomplishment in the field of endeavor (which can involve "freak" talents) not about being an ideal human being. Once you start bringing morality into these kinds of things you diminish the competitive nature of the event, and it ceases to be about who is the best, and rather who is the best that is willing to conform to specific moral guidelines, something which I feel has ruined a LOT of organized sports when they have gotten big, and this has included the Olympics.
I'd like to see cyber-sports manage to remain untainted by concerns outside of the games and competition itself. On some levels I don't care if they get seriel killers out of jail on limited weekend passes and plan events around it, the idea of seeing a "world championship"
is to see the best compete, not to preach morality.
I think there has been a lot of problems behind the whole idea of competitors as role models (outside of their accomplishments in their competitive fields), and for all arguements about how it happens, it should be a non-factor. Half the problem is the desire to turn athletes into marketable commodities outside of their specific fields. In my mind a lot of them are ruined by trying to turn them into a product, as opposed to companies simply using them as they are, the good with the bad, or settling for those who aren't nessicarly the best if "image" is really that important.
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See, I hate pedophilles, I might even argue that "Stefano" should be in jail, or in another rant that the UN should force a country to change it's laws if what he did was legal. I do not however feel this has anything to do with his abillities as a gamer.
IMO he should probably sue "Evil Geniuses" out of existance to make a point, especially if what he said wasn't criminal where and when it happened.
I'd also think that whatever groups organize these competitions should seriously consider looking at the behavior of member teams, and keep things entirely about the games and compeittion even if it becomes a moral "wild west". If things are allowed to continue we're probably never going to see the REAL best players go at it, and there will be even more questions about who shoiuld have been there.
Feel free to boo Stefano, he's definatly a "heel", but he should be allowed to play.
