The article is actually well reasoned compared to the absurd replies I’ve been getting in this thread. It’s literally about black people and here I am - a black gamer who follows competitive gaming with no ideological presuppositions - and they’re gonna talk middle class-splain to me about “some people can’t afford to…

What you call influence is likely one if those amorphous concepts where an un-quantifiable thing is used to determine a value. Like ‘unconscious bigotry’ being cause of actual discrimination.

None.

Lack of money and/time to get into competitive gaming is not a concern of the gamer community.

On what planet is taking agency in your interaction a matter of influence? What?

Lol wut

“You don’t make it, you were disenfranchised. You do make it, you were lucky.” I don’t entertain catch 22s like this, it’s not even a debate at that point - you want their to be a problem.

Do not care. This is gaming and esports. Get a PC or console. Buy the game. “Git gud”. And go pro. Nothing is stopping you from doing all of these things but you.

The basic price of entry, for everyone, is a ‘problem’ to you? Newsflash; we all have buy the console and games at their standard price (barring some lucky deal). What are you even advocating for? Free gaming gear? Socialized gaming benefits? Lol no, that’s not how it works. Merely having to buy gaming products is not…

A level playing field has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is nothing more than highlighting the best of any given thing. Circumstances before the fact are irrelavent. If you’re doing poor in pools at a tournament cause you have to work while others have the luxury of training all week; that’s not the tournament’s…

Why would saying a racial slur get you in trouble in a racist gaming culture?

It literally means those trappings don’t exist if we weren’t singled out for our race and ‘chased’ off. Nobody can stop us from being gamers. It’s impossible.

We are not openly sexist and racist.

Well as a black gamer since before it was cool, there has never been a ‘cultural’ concern in gaming related to racism. Nothing stopped me from doing my thing.

Even if I give you that, and I don’t, it has no bearing in a meritocracy like professional esports. Get in, win, get sponsored, win somemore. That’s it.

Cause it tends to be true these days. Unless you’re gonna demostrate how it isn’t, and how examples to the contrary just happen to exist.

“You have a different opinion so clearly you’re a bigot.”

I am suggesting that. No, I’m not racist or dumb.

By all means, stay out if you think gaming has an issue with racism.

This is a preposterous and completely Irrelavent question to ask of top tier competitive leagues largely based on merit. The answer to this is the same as the ‘problem’ of too few women in esports; people of certain demographics simply aren’t choosing to get to that level. No class issue, no glass ceilings, no…