Editorial: Let’s Talk About Nightmare

Editorial Disclaimer: The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Smashboards. Smashboards makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.

“So what happened, he ****ed a 15-year-old, they had consensual sex, yes, that’s what happened,” William “Trulliam” Truong stated, rather matter-of-factly on his stream. “Okay, that’s the story. Is it not good? It is against the law, yes, and that’s what sexual interference was.”

On September 24th, Trulliam ranted on his Twitch stream about charges that Vikram “Nightmare” Bassi, a fellow Canadian and Super Smash Bros. Melee player, had been convicted of. Nightmare’s proclivity for minors was something of an open secret amongst Canadian smashers. It was talked about, joked about and defended by friends of the player. To make matters worse, when the rest of the community started to catch wind of this, we still let it pass and fester for months before any bans were put into place.

So how did we get here? How did we, as a community, let this happen?

On July 12th, 2018, Josh “Roboticphish” Kassel, a member of the Harassment Task Force, made a public post about potential legal threats to their mission. These threats came from a player who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor. At the time of posting, there were some rumblings that this may be referring to the Canadian Marth player Nightmare, but there wasn’t much evidence to support the claims. This changed drastically on July 16th, when Nightmare posted a “legal document” on his Twitter. This document identified Nightmare as the accused party and attempted to dismiss the charges, but it did so in an oddly specific manner that led many to question both its validity and the underlying message.

Between July 16th and September 24th, when Trulliam let it slip on stream that the allegations were true, Nightmare continued to compete at local tournaments in Ontario. He was even allowed to play at Dreamhack Montreal, under the condition that none of his games would be played on stream. Organizations like Even Matchup Gaming and Player5, Nightmare’s current sponsor, continued to support Nightmare while knowing full well that these allegations were out there.

This should have all been over on July 16th. This should have been the end of the discussion, and a ban should have been handed out, but it wasn’t. This is largely because of people like Trulliam. Trulliam knew the truth; he knew that Nightmare was convicted of sexual interference. (Sexual interference is a legal term exclusive to Canada that describes a person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years.) But rather than admit the truth, he actively enabled and supported a convicted pedophile.

It goes beyond just Trulliam and other Ontario players like Ryan Ford though. Even Matchup Gaming finally released a statement indefinitely banning Nightmare from future events, but where were they through July and August? Are we really supposed to applaud an action that came two months late, an action that only came because it was going to hurt business if they didn’t do something? Even Alex Jebailey’s agreement for Dreamhack Montreal was a half-assed effort to find a middle ground that, frankly, doesn’t exist in this type of situation. This issue is bigger than just organizations and a few twisted players though. Are we, as a community, really so concerned with our grassroots origins and our ability to be “non-esports” that we’re willing to let literal pedophiles off the hook?

There’s no room for growth as a community if we continue to place the interests of people like Trulliam, Ryan Ford and Nightmare over the safety of all of our players. This community wants to talk about how we can make it friendlier to women, how we can attract new players from all over the globe and of all ages, but we can’t even come together and agree that being a convicted pedophile is a bannable offense. We shouldn’t be happy that Nightmare was banned. We should be disappointed in ourselves, and the community at large, for letting this go on for so long.

But hey, don’t let me get you down, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for retweeting that anti-pedophilia tweet your favorite top player posted two days after Trulliam slipped up. With the way the Melee community has shown itself to operate, I’m sure we’ll never find ourselves in a similar situation in the future. Just remember that while you and I may have the privilege of looking at this situation through screens from miles away, there are very real victims that will feel the lasting impact of Nightmare’s actions for the rest of their lives. Emily “emilywaves” Sun was kind enough to share a portion of the victim’s impact statement from Nightmare’s case on Twitter, and I think it’s worth reading, if only to serve as a reminder that this isn’t just about the competitive nature of a kid’s party game—it’s about real people and their effect on others around them.


We can learn and grow from this situation. We can be so much better than this. I know we can, because we have to be.

 

This needed to be said. Fantastic job.

 

Whether something affects money or not, something like this should have been addressed earlier. We as humans should always be quick to do the right thing rather than wing it because it will hurt 'business'. Glad its been talked about and is out in the open.

 

Whether something affects money or not, something like this should have been addressed earlier. We as humans should always be quick to do the right thing rather than wing it because it will hurt 'business'. Glad its been talked about and is out in the open.

The word you're searching for is Ethics and I couldn't agree more.

 

So he was charged, convicted, probably went to jail, and was released.

Justice has been served, shut up and move on.

Any actions (such as this article) against him at this point are vengeful and spiteful, not “justice.” And frankly speaks more about your character than it does Nightmare’s.

 

So he was charged, convicted, probably went to jail, and was released.

Justice has been served, shut up and move on.

If he hasnt learned from the experience then yes its a problem. Otherwise he has already been punished for his crime. You arent the legal/ justice system so shut up.

It's not just about "justice" it's about the community acting appropriately to disgusting situations like this and not covering them up. Without this discussion we'll become complacent, and more crimes of this nature will just be swept under the rug or not properly punished.

 

Being convicted and sent to jail is “not” being swept under the rug.

 

Man I thought this was about Soul Calibur’s Nightmare.

****ing hell, this is gross.

 

I guess the only way to go, is forward.

This was disgusting, but we can learn to overcome our mistakes.
After all, if we can't learn our mistakes, history is doomed to repeat

 

I don’t like mob mentality/knee jerk reactions in response to social problems and do think both sides tends to jump to conclusions without considering everything that’s on the table. Regardless though, I don’t have any sympathy for people pull this sort of **** and people who enable this - regardless if it’s in Smash, in schools, at work, or in the highest forms of government. I think that anyone who knowingly and purposefully commits such an act deserves any punishment that comes after. In addition, discussion on how to prevent such things occurring again is important in a community like this. Discussion that is constructive and isn’t a witch hunt is certainly needed into to improve our community. Sweeping it under the rug and ignoring, regardless of the crime or perpetrator, after all is said and done is not what should be happening.

And quite frankly, “boys will be boys”, “locker room talk”, “and “I like beer” is not a good message for our youth and teaches them how to make an excuse for such an inexcusable behavior.

 

So he was charged, convicted, probably went to jail, and was released.

Justice has been served, shut up and move on.

Any actions (such as this article) against him at this point are vengeful and spiteful, not “justice.” And frankly speaks more about your character than it does Nightmare’s.

I agree that in a lot of cases going through due process is enough, and in those cases adding additional consequences can be cruel and unusual.
In this case, he's on a registered sex offenders list, hasn't shown any growth or change in character, and wants to attend tournaments where a significant portion of the audience is younger kids. I respect your opinion, but I also disagree entirely in this situation.

 

I would also like to add, that the ban portion of this only affects Canadian TO’s.

Because he has a criminal record with a charge against a minor he cannot travel to the US or other commonwealth countries(britain, austrailia, etc.)

So essentially our justice system has already imposed that ban.

IMO that decision should be up to each induvidual canadian TO, And we should respect their decisions one way or the other.

 

If this Nightmare person was convicted, then that means he's gone through all that legal stuff. This is the problem I have with certain people who feel the need to make things like this their business. Was the victim part of the Smash community? No? Then move on. If you want to talk about how you can make the Smash community a friendly and safer place for women, I'm all for that. Make it happen and do something about it. Giving this Nightmare person a ban if this **** didn't occur in the Smash community is odd. There is an analogy I'd like to make just for illustrative purposes, but I suspect people in general might take issue for comparing apples with oranges.

 

If this Nightmare person was convicted, then that means he's gone through all that legal stuff. This is the problem I have with certain people who feel the need to make things like this their business. Was the victim part of the Smash community? No? Then move on. If you want to talk about how you can make the Smash community a friendly and safer place for women, I'm all for that. Make it happen and do something about it. Giving this Nightmare person a ban if this **** didn't occur in the Smash community is odd. There is an analogy I'd like to make just for illustrative purposes, but I suspect people in general might take issue for comparing apples with oranges.

I feel this idea of needing to do something about something the justice system already dealt with is a huge problem when it comes to mob mentality. It's why I still believe the internet does absolutely nothing good for actual justice and in fact seems to go out of its way to make things worse all for this nebulous idea of "righteousness" where it isn't needed.

And since this particular case is about a sex offender against a minor, of course people will call me a "pedo apologist" and other stuff to silence me because defending pedophiles (even when it's justified in this particular case where the deed is already dealt with) is considered being just as bad as them for some reason. I don't care honestly.

I'm not defending his behavior at all, but if any undue punishment comes towards him besides what he is due by law, then I'm going to know at least one place it comes from, and of course it involves the internet, the place where mob mentality and petty vengeance rules over actual rational mindsets. If you want to ban him from your tournaments, fine. It's your tournament to run. But once you try to accuse other TO's of "encouraging pedophilia" just because they didn't find a problem with letting in someone who has already went through the due process system and already paid the price for his actions, then at that point this isn't about protecting children but just about getting at Nightmare himself for petty reasons.

I probably should add more caveats against him because sexual offense towards a minor is hard to truly be complacent about, but all I can say to TO's that still want to invite him... just keep a close eye on him if you do invite him. That's about all I can advise without looking like a hypocrite and honestly is all that is needed in those cases.

 

Would you want a pedophile in your house? I know I wouldn't in mine, even if "justice has already been dealt", being charged and convinced doesn't make a person any less of a pedophile. Bottom line, I can choose if I want him in my house, and TOs can choose if they want him in their tournaments, whether he "payed" for what he did or not.

But I don't think an immediate reaction to an allegation is the right thing to do either, it is better to wait an investigation to see if the accusation has any ground before doing damage to the accused. So no, there was no late reaction from the community.

 

I feel this idea of needing to do something about something the justice system already dealt with is a huge problem when it comes to mob mentality. It's why I still believe the internet does absolutely nothing good for actual justice and in fact seems to go out of its way to make things worse all for this nebulous idea of "righteousness" where it isn't needed.

And since this particular case is about a sex offender against a minor, of course people will call me a "pedo apologist" and other stuff to silence me because defending pedophiles (even when it's justified in this particular case where the deed is already dealt with) is considered being just as bad as them for some reason. I don't care honestly.

I'm not defending his behavior at all, but if any undue punishment comes towards him besides what he is due by law, then I'm going to know at least one place it comes from, and of course it involves the internet, the place where mob mentality and petty vengeance rules over actual rational mindsets. If you want to ban him from your tournaments, fine. It's your tournament to run. But once you try to accuse other TO's of "encouraging pedophilia" just because they didn't find a problem with letting in someone who has already went through the due process system and already paid the price for his actions, then at that point this isn't about protecting children but just about getting at Nightmare himself for petty reasons.

I probably should add more caveats against him because sexual offense towards a minor is hard to truly be complacent about, but all I can say to TO's that still want to invite him... just keep a close eye on him if you do invite him. That's about all I can advise without looking like a hypocrite and honestly is all that is needed in those cases.

In some ways I agree, but I think it's information that should be given to TO's who can then make a decision accordingly. That's the whole reason things like a code of conduct for events exist, especially since there is the fact that a large amount of players and attendees are minors. What makes the Nightmare situation different from other "criminal record" situations we've had in the past, in my mind, is that Nightmare and his friends actively went out of their way to keep TO's from being able to inform themselves on the situation and Nightmare made vague legal threats against TO's and players that tried to bring the information to light or act as they felt necessary. (He blatantly threatened legal action against tournaments that wanted to keep him from attending)

If Nightmare was upfront about the situation from the start and accepted that his actions had consequences that extended further than a court room, then we would be having a completely different discussion. Instead, we're talking about some who hid events from TO's and players in an attempt to avoid consequences, rather than accepting responsibility and trying to move forward the correct way. The relationship between a player and a community works like any relationship. There's a level of trust and respect that needs to be earned. You can't do whatever you want and expect to get your way at all times. You need to take ownership of your actions.

Lastly, I just want to point out that the judicial system isn't the end of a crime's consequences. People get fired, lose friends and opportunities after their court ordered punishments are fulfilled all the time. I understand the mindset that thinks "the justice system already dealt with it", but I also think it's limited in view and doesn't consider the needs/interest of other people involved in these types of situations.

 

Would you want a pedophile in your house? I know I wouldn't in mine, even if "justice has already been dealt", being charged and convinced doesn't make a person any less of a pedophile. Bottom line, I can choose if I want him in my house, and TOs can choose if they want him in their tournaments, whether he "payed" for what he did or not.

But I don't think an immediate reaction to an allegation is the right thing to do either, it is better to wait an investigation to see if the accusation has any ground before doing damage to the accused. So no, there was no late reaction from the community.

That's your choice, like I said. However, too often I see people then telling others that if they don't mind that sort of thing and they choose the opposite, that that makes them morally reprehensible because guilt by association is very popular to do in times like this.

Lastly, I just want to point out that the judicial system isn't the end of a crime's consequences. People get fired, lose friends and opportunities after their court ordered punishments are fulfilled all the time. I understand the mindset that thinks "the justice system already dealt with it", but I also think it's limited in view and doesn't consider the needs/interest of other people involved in these types of situations.

Same for this. If those people feel it necessary to do that to Nightmare after the fact, I wouldn't mind it. I feel that you two have missed my point entirely if you believe I don't think there should be consequences outside the judicial system. I just don't want a witch hunt to start, because again, the internet LOVES guilt by association, and I already foresee TO's who may not mind him being in tournaments getting undue personal flak for that choice that far exceeds simply not going to tournaments with Nightmare present, I guarantee it. It always happens with bigger communities, and I honestly would rather it not, else it make us look worse.

 

That's your choice, like I said. However, too often I see people then telling others that if they don't mind that sort of thing and they choose the opposite, that that makes them morally reprehensible because guilt by association is very popular to do in times like this.



Same for this. If those people feel it necessary to do that to Nightmare after the fact, I wouldn't mind it. I feel that you two have missed my point entirely if you believe I don't think there should be consequences outside the judicial system. I just don't want a witch hunt to start, because again, the internet LOVES guilt by association, and I already foresee TO's who may not mind him being in tournaments getting undue personal flak for that choice that far exceeds simply not going to tournaments with Nightmare present, I guarantee it. It always happens with bigger communities, and I honestly would rather it not, else it make us look worse.

Fair enough.

Thanks for contributing to the discussions. I appreciate the input.

 

I know some people already notice this, but, for the people thinking this is about Nightmare: It's not. Nobody in here is asking for a witch hunt on anyone, for that matter. It's about the events surrounding it and how, if nobody is forced, or even pressured, to take responsibility for their actions, this same thing could very easily happen again. And again. And again. It won't be the same names, obviously, but it'll be similar positions.

The point of this article is to say that not taking action isn't enough. Why did Trulliam actively enable that? Why did his ban take so long? Heck, why did Jebailey, of all people, play this out as neutral and middle of the road? These are the real questions we need to be asking.

Many people, a good chunk of them being minors, play this game. I think we owe it to them to keep Smash as much of a safe place from these type of behaviors as much as we can. We can't stop everything, but, as long as we don't tolerate what comes to light, and create a safe environment for victim's to come forward, it's a good start.

It's not about Nightmare; it's about how to avoid/mitigate another Nightmare.

 

I know some people already notice this, but, for the people thinking this is about Nightmare: It's not. Nobody in here is asking for a witch hunt on anyone, for that matter. It's about the events surrounding it and how, if nobody is forced, or even pressured, to take responsibility for their actions, this same thing could very easily happen again. And again. And again. It won't be the same names, obviously, but it'll be similar positions.

The point of this article is to say that not taking action isn't enough. Why did Trulliam actively enable that? Why did his ban take so long? Heck, why did Jebailey, of all people, play this out as neutral and middle of the road? These are the real questions we need to be asking.

Many people, a good chunk of them being minors, play this game. I think we owe it to them to keep Smash as much of a safe place from these type of behaviors as much as we can. We can't stop everything, but, as long as we don't tolerate what comes to light, and create a safe environment for victim's to come forward, it's a good start.

It's not about Nightmare; it's about how to avoid/mitigate another Nightmare.

This is fair enough, but imagine if he was accused of this rather than it being outright factually stated at the time. Are we only talking about before they've been investigated or afterwards?

Because I'd rather what ends up happen is if someone accuses someone else of something egregious, AND they have evidence for it, then the accused and accuser BOTH end up disallowed from tourneys until the investigation is over, in order to give some semblance of impartiality (but in the right way, I think). If someone brings an accusation without evidence, they will have to prove it to the best that they can, but until then, I wouldn't ban or penalize either party until evidence comes, because at that point, it's just drama and rumors and hearsay, and I don't want us to waste our energy on stupid things like petty drama and because there is no evidence yet put forth, everyone just comes to their own conclusions about what should be done despite not knowing enough about the situation.

But all that's for after the fact. I'm not sure what preventative measures you can put in that the TO's would be explicitly in charge of. All I can think of is making sure the younger audience stays with people they know/don't follow people they don't know. To try for any further prevention would not only look draconian in some sense, but might give a perverted impression on the community by outsiders with them saying, "wait, they have to have rules specifically to prevent sexual offenses? Is this community just filled with sex offenders and harassers? I don't want my kids being with these people!" Doesn't seem like a good look on us.

 

This is just like the Hyuga case in smash 4.

 

It's so sad to hear that these kind of things happen. I really hope future Smash Bros. community members see this and remember that even if you have a friend or a clique that's willing to defend your horrible actions, the Smash community will never accept sexual interference. Being a top player gives you no permission to touch someone so young that way.

 

It's so sad to hear that these kind of things happen. I really hope future Smash Bros. community members see this and remember that even if you have a friend or a clique that's willing to defend your horrible actions, the Smash community will never accept sexual interference. Being a top player gives you no permission to touch someone so young that way.

I'd like to expand on the statement that it would be not just the Smash community that never accepts this sort of misconduct... but considering what the big story is in American politics as of my post now (a drastically different topic I'll not discuss further here), it'll be a very long time before we can ever end this discussion for good, and that's frustrating...

 

If you have a criminal record like that, you need to tell people about it.

If you want to come in and be a part of community with real change to not do it again, most people will work with you. Especially if you have the courage to talk to them.

If you hide it, then it speaks on another level that you got something to hide or really don’t want people to know. Sure maybe it is fear, but then people will ask if you really have changed or even want to at all. There are underage kids who play smash. That’s why I consider a more strict policy to be more valid than in other situations. He might have served his time but knowing he has that record still asks questions that are no different from other events and such.

 

I've touched on similar ideas on twitter but I think what a lot of people miss is that this isn't just an abstract philosophical issue - there are practical concerns regarding event safety here. We, as a community - especially those in positions of power within the community - have a duty to make sure people who attend our tournaments aren't put at risk. People talk about leaving it up to the legal system, but there are some things here that fall outside its purview, and to leave it entirely up to the legal system when those factors are in play is not just short-sighted, it's irresponsible. Yes, we aren't the justice system, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take responsibility for our own.

The question to ask here, the one whose answer we should base our decision on, is not "has Nightmare received sufficient punishment from his country's judicial system?" or "can Nightmare change his behavior?" The big question we need to be asking is "what risk does Nightmare present for other tourney-goers," and while that's a much harder one to answer, we can make some educated guesses. This is a matter of tournament safety, and answering either of those first two questions doesn't tell us anything helpful in that regard.

That said, those first two questions are in the same general ballpark of some good guiding questions - instead of "can Nightmare change for the better?" we should be asking "has he changed?" and "based on his behavior, how likely is it that he will change in the future?" Instead of "has he been sufficiently punished by the justice system?" we should ask "what can we glean from his case?"

And this extends to any case of known abuse with the community - we shouldn't be asking whether they've been punished enough or whether they can change. We should be asking whether they have changed, whether they're likely to change, and what risk they present to the community.

Also gonna say that not having any procedures in place for dealing with sexual abusers is, in the long run, a far worse look than having them in place. With a community this big, we're gonna have to deal with abusers in our ranks, and not doing anything about it is gonna be a far bigger liability in the grand scheme of things than visibly cracking down on and making an example of offenders.

 

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Editorial Disclaimer: The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Smashboards. Smashboards makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.

“So what happened, he ****ed a 15-year-old, they had consensual sex, yes, that’s what happened,” William “Trulliam” Truong stated, rather matter-of-factly on his stream. “Okay, that’s the story. Is it not good? It is against the law, yes, and that’s what sexual interference was.”

Okay what the utter ****............This was recent?

 

Being convicted and sent to jail is “not” being swept under the rug.

Fat lot of good it did, didn't it. Still seems like an utter scumbag.

 

Okay what the utter ****............This was recent?

Yeah. kinda. The incident happened quite some time ago but Trulliam just recently came out and admitted that Nightmare ****ed an underage girl.

Nightmare is believed to have been the one player who was threatening to sue any tournament that banned him from competing, which was one of the big things stopping the Harassment Task Force from releasing their code of conduct

 

I'll just start out with saying this: I don't like that the article has put a target on several heads here. I won't claim it's guilt by association, but the header itself implies 3 perpetrators of the crime, none who is specified to be a specific person.
As a guy who just now has heard of this incident, I don't know who above is more responsible than the others, which marks a clear communication problem. And communication should be clear when addressing allegations of pedophilia and other serious topics like this. Doing otherwise is completely irresponsible and only adds to the overall problem.

Speaking of the overall problem, I think it's pretty relevant to determine how exactly we would be able to prevent pedophiles from accessing tournaments around the world.

A tournament is usually what I'd assess as "private", ergo, the responsibility of the tournament is entirely on the shoulders of the people arranging it as well as the ones sponsoring it. Because of this, there is most likely no legal obligation for a group of tourney arrangers to check whether or not a tourney-goer is convicted of certain crimes or not.
I don't really know if it's legal or not to demand a criminal record from every attendant and competitor, but if it is, then not only is the obligation a moral one, but it's also the problem that, well, it seems kind of overkill to begin with. So when do we do it? When allegations arise against a person involved? Do we stalk their friends' twitch channels to troll the answers out of them? Do we just ban people from tournaments if a suspicion arises?

It's really up to the individual arrangers, but I can kind of see the community dying out fast if the criminal records of a new competitor is the first thing in our minds when we are introduced. Everyone being on edge and all of that.

I'm under the assumption that it is indeed legal for private tournaments to ban a person for whatever reason. Games Done Quick has banned several runners for many different reasons, for example, and I have seen no court case going their way ever since they started out. So I agree that Nightmare should be banned, period, but I also think that it should be up to the one tournament how they want to get a grip on the issue to begin with.

Past all of this, I would just kinda like less controversial news from this site overall and more focus on the games. And since we must go into these kind of issues now and again, why not focus on the overall problem with an example, instead of mainly an example of a perpetrator and putting the problem as a secondary point?
I don't care about Nightmare or his career, I care if we are able to have a proper discussion on what exactly our responsibility is as a community.

Just my 5 cents, I won't post any more on this thread.

 

It's not just about "justice" it's about the community acting appropriately to disgusting situations like this and not covering them up. Without this discussion we'll become complacent, and more crimes of this nature will just be swept under the rug or not properly punished.

What do you want to do witch hunt him until he moves or kills himself?

He ****ed a 15year gross, wrong, bad amounts other things you can call him and this whole situation all that. But if the first sentence is true the 15year old said yes. It’s much of her fault as it is his. (Yes he does carry more responsibility because of his age)

It if we continue making this head lines we might as well go investigate into other people and might risk giving the Smash community a bad name. But bring people to justice or dig up old **** what shouldn’t be brought up

I mean I may of miss when it happened though and his age at the time

 

He ****ed a 15year gross, wrong, bad amounts other things you can call him and this whole situation all that. But if the first sentence is true the 15year old said yes. It’s much of her fault as it is his.

If we go down that road, then we will end up putting the blame on 10yo and younger for "saying yes" too, and things will get really nasty. A 15yo has more maturity than a 10yo, but 15 is still not age of consent, for a good damn reason. Just, no, let's not put ourselves down that road.

 

So he was charged, convicted, probably went to jail, and was released.

Justice has been served, shut up and move on.

Any actions (such as this article) against him at this point are vengeful and spiteful, not “justice.” And frankly speaks more about your character than it does Nightmare’s.

I'm just gonna say it, there's no way that he was in jail for long enough. Just because he served Canada's sentence for their oddly loose law on ****** children, does not mean he's under any obligation to be forgiven by the community, especially when he has not made any effort to seek forgiveness. Not once has he publically mentioned what he did was wrong and continued to threaten people who tried to let this information out or ban him for such a horrific deed. If you think someone who does not regret ****** a 15 year old should be allowed in our community then I question your own reasoning on why what he did was okay.

 

What do you want to do witch hunt him until he moves or kills himself?

He ****ed a 15year gross, wrong, bad amounts other things you can call him and this whole situation all that. But if the first sentence is true the 15year old said yes. It’s much of her fault as it is his. (Yes he does carry more responsibility because of his age)

It if we continue making this head lines we might as well go investigate into other people and might risk giving the Smash community a bad name. But bring people to justice or dig up old **** what shouldn’t be brought up

I mean I may of miss when it happened though and his age at the time

What do you want to do witch hunt him until he moves or kills himself?

He ****ed a 15year gross, wrong, bad amounts other things you can call him and this whole situation all that. But if the first sentence is true the 15year old said yes. It’s much of her fault as it is his. (Yes he does carry more responsibility because of his age)

It if we continue making this head lines we might as well go investigate into other people and might risk giving the Smash community a bad name. But bring people to justice or dig up old **** what shouldn’t be brought up

I mean I may of miss when it happened though and his age at the time

he was 23, that's an 8 year difference. 15 year olds aren't even fully developed sexually.

 

If we go down that road, then we will end up putting the blame on 10yo and younger for "saying yes" too, and things will get really nasty. A 15yo has more maturity than a 10yo, but 15 is still not age of consent, for a good damn reason. Just, no, let's not put ourselves down that road.

I agree let the law deal with it. If they haven’t already

he was 23, that's an 8 year difference. 15 year olds aren't even fully developed sexually.

I’m not defending the guys actions. I just don’t see the point in the witch hunt on something what’s worded like it’s been dealt with

I don’t know if you live in Canada the age of consent is 16. Still not legal yes. Just thought I would bring that up and before that it was 14 in the 80s

 

I agree let the law deal with it. If they haven’t already


I’m not defending the guys actions. I just don’t see the point in the witch hunt on something what’s worded like it’s been dealt with

I don’t know if you live in Canada the age of consent is 16. Still not legal yes. Just thought I would bring that up and before that it was 14 in the 80s

Actions have consequences that extended further than the judicial system. Pretending they don't is either ignorant or purposefully short sighted. If players aren't comfortable having convicted pedophiles at their tournaments, which clearly a lot of people are uncomfortable with it, then TO's and organizations have a right to ban someone. That's why the code of conduct exists, to make sure that people know what kind of crowd to expect at tournaments so they can have some degree of confidence in the atmosphere and their safety. Also the code of conduct would have existed sooner if there weren't bogus legal threats being thrown around by people like Nightmare.

As for your second point, laws change as we learn more. Until 2003, homosexuality and sodomy were still criminalized in 13 US states. I don't think your inclusion of "before that it was 14 in the 80s" is relevant at all, and is honestly, pretty disingenuous considering the punishment for sex with a minor at the time literally included "whipping." But that's neither here, nor there, because judging by your comments about the victim and about not knowing whether or not the law dealt with it already, I'd venture to guess that you completely ignored most of the article and didn't read the victim impact statement and just decided to comment on a situation you know very little about because god forbid we have a moral standard for people attending public events.

Also you're throwing around this phrase "witch hunt" like we don't know for a fact that he was convicted, when we do. This article also isn't a call to action to do anything against these players, Nightmare is banned now and Trulliam legit dropped off the face of the earth after his Twitch got banned. The story is over. The whole idea is to talk about what happened and what we should take away from it moving forward.

 

We as a community absolutely should NOT be welcoming to kiddie diddlers. To do so is not only an insult to us as a whole, but a devastating insult to victims of what is a scourge upon society. The fact that anybody could argue otherwise is simply repulsive.

 

Actions have consequences that extended further than the judicial system. Pretending they don't is either ignorant or purposefully short sighted. If players aren't comfortable having convicted pedophiles at their tournaments, which clearly a lot of people are uncomfortable with it, then TO's and organizations have a right to ban someone. That's why the code of conduct exists, to make sure that people know what kind of crowd to expect at tournaments so they can have some degree of confidence in the atmosphere and their safety. Also the code of conduct would have existed sooner if there weren't bogus legal threats being thrown around by people like Nightmare.

As for your second point, laws change as we learn more. Until 2003, homosexuality and sodomy were still criminalized in 13 US states. I don't think your inclusion of "before that it was 14 in the 80s" is relevant at all, and is honestly, pretty disingenuous considering the punishment for sex with a minor at the time literally included "whipping." But that's neither here, nor there, because judging by your comments about the victim and about not knowing whether or not the law dealt with it already, I'd venture to guess that you completely ignored most of the article and didn't read the victim impact statement and just decided to comment on a situation you know very little about because god forbid we have a moral standard for people attending public events.

Also you're throwing around this phrase "witch hunt" like we don't know for a fact that he was convicted, when we do. This article also isn't a call to action to do anything against these players, Nightmare is banned now and Trulliam legit dropped off the face of the earth after his Twitch got banned. The story is over. The whole idea is to talk about what happened and what we should take away from it moving forward.

Hey if they want to ban him fine it said consist at the top of the article not **** so I could probably find it in me to play one game with him and hope to never see him again. Like I have met killers and people who have tried to kill people so I’m not phased by this

My second point was more of just disturbing “fun” fact I got backwards sorry 1892 it was 14.

But like you said the whole situation is done with and probably went with the best choice

 

Speaking as a non-melee player this seems like a touchy article for the front page. I have no personal feelings but it's good these issues are being addressed and not swept under the rug.

 

Well, now we can all see the influx of a mob mentality.

 

Live and learn from your mistakes its all I can say on such a subject.