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today is a real bad day to be MikeZ huh
Alright, so to chronicle the bullshit
Start of the month, MikeZ makes this really, really shitty "Can't breathe" joke. Everyone gets real pissed at him for it, but by and large it seems like he's let off with an implicit "don't do it again idiot" https://twitter.com/PandasAndVidya/status/1269079941557170177?s=20
Start of the month, MikeZ makes this really, really shitty "Can't breathe" joke. Everyone gets real pissed at him for it, but by and large it seems like he's let off with an implicit "don't do it again idiot" https://twitter.com/PandasAndVidya/status/1269079941557170177?s=20
Then a streamer by the name of Bunny puts him on blast for creepery in her DMs
https://twitter.com/BunnyAyu/status/1277667387677052929?s=20
https://twitter.com/BunnyAyu/status/1277667387677052929?s=20
Then Carbon, a cosplayer, hops in with "y'know, he's actually a creeper in REAL LIFE too, and in general all y'all in the FGC are pretty terrible at slapping down your asshole friends who keep making the community shitty for us" https://twitter.com/carbonbae/status/1277679448574181376?s=20
And now Beezul, someone who used to work for Lab Zero, came out with their own account of interacting with MikeZ, where he's just a racist sexist shitstain that the rest of the studio keeps playing cover for. https://twitter.com/MrBeezul/status/1277715314382237697?s=20
And this dude is not exactly a small figure. He's the face of Lab Zero, and the lead gameplay designer for one of the current flagship titles at EVO Online (Skullgirls). Them's Fightin' Herds, another flagship title, uses the Skullgirls engine.
And a large chunk of the community - names like Sonicfox and Sharpie - are runnin' around talking about how they're gonna "hold him accountable" and "protect the community from him", and I'm sure that's all genuine and good and well-intentioned
But
But
I do not see how the hell the Skullgirls community can possibly separate MikeZ from themselves and the game when he is more or less the only real game designer at Lab Zero. https://twitter.com/RagingSpaniard/status/1277743834131075072?s=20
Also full disclosure, I ain't in the Skullgirls community myself in any way shape or form. I'm pretty much an outsider looking in at all this mess, and I only know about half the people commenting here because I have moderate search skills and I read the replies.
Some people have TERRIBLE search skills and DON'T read the replies, which is probably why they think the only reason MikeZ is getting put on blast today is because of the DMs to Bunny.
But, you know, that's a WHOLE other conversation.
But, you know, that's a WHOLE other conversation.
In any case, I don't see how any consequences for MikeZ won't also entail consequences for Skullgirls and the community at large. I don't see a real path to separation there.
And no, just pointing at Alex Ahad as the creator of Skullgirls ain't gonna cut it. He created the world and he's the art director, sure, but so far as I can tell he didn't design the game mechanics or anything, which are kind of what make a fighting game a fighting game.
And this is realy shitty timing for @EVO in particular, cause just 3 days ago they changed the ruleset for Skullgirls from 2/3 sets to 3/5 sets for the whole tournament. The Skullgirls tourney is in 2 weeks, AND the whole event kicks off with Them's Fightin' Herds THIS WEEKEND.
They're probably having some REAL difficult conversations right about now on what to do. Given the short timeframe it'd be rough to find another game that has acceptable netcode in NA/Europe/Japan, so I wouldn't be surprised if they either just canceled Skullgirls or did nothing.
But whatever happens I doubt Skullgirls is ever gonna be at another EVO after MikeZ's Endless Shit Parade. And the community's probably gonna need to make peace with that.
Similarly, they're also probably gonna need to make peace with the fact that it might be really difficult to actually untangle MikeZ from their scene, given how intertwined he is with the development team both as a public face and as an actual developer.
So Sharpie tweeted out a collective statement from Skullgirls community reps (including the Event Director of Combobreaker). https://twitter.com/dapurplesharpie/status/1278119945977704448?s=20
This is probably as much as can be done regarding MikeZ's personal presence in the community - but again, there's probably not much they can do about his involvement with the game itself, given how embedded he is in the development studio itself. https://twitter.com/crumbedup/status/1277773920565891073?s=20
Also I'm seeing a whole bunch of gross bullshit replies like "tfw u get canceled for being awkward" and "this is what feminism has brought to the FGC".
The people making these statements are not very well-informed, and I refer back to my prior comments. https://twitter.com/crumbedup/status/1277776326167089152?s=20
The people making these statements are not very well-informed, and I refer back to my prior comments. https://twitter.com/crumbedup/status/1277776326167089152?s=20
Also, given how Skullgirls has the biggest registration numbers out of all the EVO Online tourneys across all territories, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that EVO's probably not going to pull the game.
https://twitter.com/MrWiz/status/1278148334637604865?s=20
https://twitter.com/MrWiz/status/1278148334637604865?s=20
Instead EVO's gonna go ahead and cancel itself I guess, cause MrWiz is a fuckin' pedophile! https://twitter.com/EVO/status/1278859734099963904?s=20
Necroing this thread to let y'all know that Lab Zero has now become a hollowed-out corpse because MikeZ is a sexist dipshit
