It seems there’s always at least one streamer in hot water at any given time, and at the moment that honor falls to Gaules. His recent claims about Leaf, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitor, potentially cheating have resulted in the 16 year old American esports player being the target of harassment and even receiving threats.
Gaules is a Brazilian streamer who primarily covers Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. While covering the recent Counter Strike Summit event, Gaules claimed that certain clips of Leaf’s gameplay indicated that he was likely cheating. Though he urged his viewers not to confront Leaf about this, that didn’t stop the hate messages from coming in.
Since there was no concrete evidence of Leaf actually cheating, many called for Gaules to apologize for the effects of his words, and it seems that he has done that now. His apology is somewhat lengthy and was shared in both Portuguese and English.
While his apology certainly seems sincere, some pointed out that he never actually apologized for his part in the issue. Though condemning the hateful actions and words of others is certainly a step in the right direction, many wanted to see the CS:GO player take responsibility for what he said on stream that caused those actions. He does start off by saying he understands he has responsibilities as the head of a community, but doesn’t go much further into the issue. On the one hand, he can’t be held responsible for the actions of others, but on the other hand, a community leader such as he does have to watch what he says because of his increased influence.
Ultimately, this points out a major flaw in competitive gaming culture. Whether the result of blind loyalty or something else, people seem far too quick to bombard public figures in the gaming community with hateful messages. Whether Leaf actually cheated or not doesn’t really matter, in neither case is it okay to send hateful messages to a 16 year old online. Others have been harassed as well for recent events that they had no part in, and even Alinity was blamed for Dr. Disrespect’s ban.
There is an understanding among high profile people such as this that there will always be haters, but it is just as much the community’s responsibility to hold those haters responsible for their actions. It shouldn’t need to be said, but sending threats is not okay, even to those that cheat in CS:GO.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
