Wizards of the Coast has started banning bullies from Magic: The Gathering completely. So the big question is: should Games Workshop be next?
Alright ladies and gentlemen, recent events have got me worked up again, and I think it’s sad that this even has to be talked about again.
Anyone that read my previous article on hobby bullying knows that this is a subject that I’m passionate about, and I personally think these people should be dealt with. We’ve all seen some form of bullying going on at our friendly local game stores (FLGS), during tournaments, and especially online. Recent events have caused Wizards of the Coast to start banning players from Magic: The Gathering for just that reason.
Wizards of the Coast has taken what they describe as their first step in bettering the Magiccommunity, issuing a lifetime ban to Jeremy Hambly, owner of UnsleevedMedia, for his harassment and bullying.
In an article today titled “The First Step“, Wizards of the Coast announced that they taken “action against a number of players for violations of the Magic Code of Conduct“.
“This is a first step. Tackling harassment and bullying is a larger initiative for Wizards of the Coast, and we feel it is important to address the issues in the ways we can.”
Christine Sprankle, a former Magic cosplayer, cited harassment UnsleevedMedia as one of the reasons she quit cosplay. Unsleeved Media is owned and operated solely by Hambly.
There are currently 169 people on the Suspended DCI Members list and Jeremy Hambly has been added to that list for bullying members of the Magic community. Now, I’m not going to sit here and dive too deep on his actions, but the banning was warranted, and I applaud Wizards of the Coast for taking actions against him and creating a hobby safe place. At no point in time should anyone be pushed to the point by a bully that they completely quit playing or doing what they enjoy.
So after reading this, it made me ask myself if this was something we could expect to see Games Workshop doing in the future? Warhammer can be extremely competitive, and emotions can rise when certain topics are brought up. *cough* Proper Female Hobby Representation *cough* But, will we ever see Games Workshop taking the necessary steps to help put the stop to bullies in our hobby?
Hobby bullying is a major concern, and it’s progressively getting worse, especially in the online world. A lot of events and tournaments have things in place to take care of people that act out during the events, and your serious tournament players all know a couple names of people you can almost guarantee is going to blow up at some point in time. But is damage control the solution? Why not just completely prohibit these players from attending? How hard would it be for GW to reach out to the tournament organizers, ask who the serious problematic players are, compose a ban list, and make it easily accessible for people to find? And if GW won’t do it, then why don’t the tournament organizers step up to the plate and take the initiative to create something themselves.
Our moderators on Spikey Bits Facebook and Spikey Bits Hobbies always have their hands full banning people for bullying, bashing, badgering, and saying or posting things that just make you cringe sometimes. The part that gets me the most is if these people didn’t have a keyboard to hide behind they wouldn’t have the guts to say half of the stuff they do to other people. Next time you see a keyboard tough guy go check out their profile, you’ll understand what I’m talking about!
When I wrote the editorial on less revealing models and treating the ladies in our hobby with more respect people lost their minds. Over what?! Because I said treat women with respect? I would like to see less overly revealing models? I have an 8 year old daughter who loves to paint, but there’s very few girl models out there that I would even think about letting her touch! But the comments that followed were just plain hateful, people were going at each other’s throats! I read some of the most hateful things I’ve seen in awhile. We eventually turned off commenting on that one post because of how out of control it got. But there’s no reason it should have ever gotten to that point. This is a hobby we all enjoy, why bash someone because they have a different opinion than yours? If you find yourself getting mad at someone’s opinion I have a really simple solution for you before you decide to start typing… You ready? CLOSE FACEBOOK!
Even though we do everything we can to make sure these people are taken care of on our site doesn’t mean everyone else is. Will Games Workshop ever step up to the plate and help put a stop to bullying in our community the way Wizards of the Coast did? How far is too far when it comes to bullying?
The Long War and Spikey Bits team are all about creating a hobby safe place, and if you experience, or see, anything on any of our pages that you feel should be addressed reach out to us. It will be taken care of in a timely manner, if we haven’t already taken care it already.
