Why Esports Has Open Secrets
This post is part 1 in a series. This past week has had a huge MeToo movement in esports, gaming, and streaming. This post references events that occurred in the Dota 2 Community. You can read a summary of the Tobi situation here,
and a full list of the week’s MeToo in Dota 2 here.
Often when you first hear that someone in the industry might be a problem it is with a fleeting comment in passing.
“They’re not a great person.”
When you hear something like this, it is often given with the explicit understanding that you should not ask more. They can’t say more. Perhaps, and often, it is the case that it’s not their story to tell. You’re left with a lot of doubt and curiosity in your mind. What happened? Was there a personal disagreement? Are they just difficult to work with? Do they cheat on their spouse? Was it something serious?
Over years and months, you piece together more information about why someone might be bad. You see others do the same in their comments. You realize there are multiple victims. Everyone is hesitant to escalate or make any definitive accusations.
Sexual assault? I haven’t spoken personally to the victim.
There is a court case? I have no idea in what jurisdiction.
They were racist online? They’ve always been nice and professional. I heard they were joking. I heard they don’t anymore.
All you can say for sure is that the person they’re speaking about is visible, successful, and powerful in the industry. If they’re willing to do something horrible to another person… would they be willing to push someone out of the industry? And in your mind the answer is almost always yes, and it becomes more certain the more serious the accusations are.
Everyone is aware of how powerful “cancel culture” can be. On screen talent lay awake at night wondering if reddit will turn on them. They have their own careers to worry about. It’s much easier to keep your head down, do the work, and quietly warn people about the person. You don’t want to spread rumors about people, but you also don’t want to see people get hurt. Why should you be investigating rumors to begin with? That is the definition of gossiping.
Ultimately, there is a bystander effect. You assume someone with more information than you will say something. If someone had enough information to report something, they would report it, right? But who would they even report it to? The police? Esports events take place in a number of different countries. You’re likely not familiar with the legal system in most of them. And most have a history of not taking sexual assault claims seriously.
Will someone speak to the game developer? In Dota, people with a reliable contact at Valve are hesitant to use it. Valve doesn’t have a history of caring about these issues. With Valve’s flat structure, you would just be “creating work” for someone anyway. Will your contact resent you for it? Communication with Valve can be rare and precious. Is this an issue worth spending limited social capital on? Will you look difficult or less hireable at future events?
And that’s how open secrets live in esports. No one is accountable to the secrets, they only keep them. There is no responsible authority to speak of. As soon as Grant’s story came out, everyone wondered when Tobi would come up. It’s why you don’t see anyone surprised by it. Like Tobi, they’re surprised that so few stories came out.
Tobi was someone who was frequently whispered about. It was common knowledge that he would invite a large number of young women up to his room during events. Some people just thought he was a fuckboi (or wanted to be one). I never heard of anyone going up to his room and coming back with a positive story.
