First, I'm posting this in Melee because both players sponsored by companies associated with porn have both been predominately Melee players if I am not mistaken. This is not an Melee issue. It is a Smash issue. This must be kept in mind. Whether we like it or not, perception of different smash scenes indirectly or directly effects all the other smash scenes for better or for worse.







When I saw that Bizzaro Flame had been sponsored, I was of course incredibly happy. Bizarro Flame is one of my top five favorite smashers of all time, for obvious reasons, and he seems like a really great guy. When I heard he was sponsored by You Porn, I was not so excited. This is not an attack at Bizarro Flame at all, but it's time for us as smashers to decide who we are and who we want to be associated with. To put it in a super corny manner, we need to decide our destiny. We also need to look back at our roots.





Smash is a beautiful game. (My favorite smash game is easily Melee, by a long shot, but I understand that others have different preferences.) Every smash game brings something unique to the table whether new characters, crazy combos, or new rivalries. Every smash game allows the player to be creative and expressive, to be empowered. The games are intuitive while having a wealth of deep gameplay. Smash caters to a wide audience, it unites people. I've seen a group of smashers order pizza and the delivery guy join in and have a blast. Almost anyone can play smash, it's an extremely inclusive game. It's a game that deserves respect, played by people who deserve respect.



And the community worked like mad to gain this respect. We've been grassroots for 13 years people. Sm4sh has the respect it has because people were so freaking passionate about Melee that they put in countless unpaid hours to host tournaments, drive across the nation, and so much that will never be recognized. And all that was sparked by Smash 64, also grassroots, still thriving and wacky today. We literally made our own game we were so passionate, Project M. This community has worked this way because we are insane and we have a dream.



We've gotten to where we are because we always dreamed we could get here. Bigger tournaments, bigger prize pots, bigger audiences. We dreamed we could be esports and here we are.



But I think we, as a community, have always wanted more than just bigger tournaments and more money. We've wanted respect. We've wanted people to universally see how great the games we play really are. We've wanted people outside our limited circle of relations to understand the stuff we do and why it is so awesome. We've wanted normal people to recognize smash and associate it with games like chess or go- games of organic skill.



We are a community built on respect. Smash, as a series, respects everyone and caters to no one. That's what we are about.



Having players, having the community, associated with pornography is not the way to gain respect. Pornography, among tons of other stuff, is hurtful to women. It propagates a conception of women as objects. Pornography also caters almost exclusively to men, further alienating a huge portion of the casual fan base and a (sadly) smaller portion of the competitive fan base. Pornography also alienates children and, shocker, we are playing a children's game. 99% of people who play this game are children and what happens when those children (Probably because of parents) no longer come into the community because half the people are sponsored by shady companies. The reason smash has grown so much recently is because these children have entered the community as teenagers.



What it really comes down to is that pornography, beyond it's negative effects, is just not respectable. It alienates players, the antithesis of what smash is at it's very core: unifying people, of all ages, of all sexes, whatever.



So what if other esports have porn sponsors? WE ARE NOT OTHER ESPORTS. We are different from them and better than them. Our games are better than their games. Do we really have to go over a bandwagon argument?



These recent sponsorships have the potential to backfire on everything we have worked to achieve for the past, what, 16 years? Do we want to be respected or devolve back into a white male nerds drinking game?



If you are a important part of the community speak up. There is too much silence on this issue while a small vocal group of immature adolescents like every other post with an innuendo propagating an idea that this is the direction smashers want to go: back into the dark ages of sexism and just stupidity honestly.



This is not a joke. We need to decide who we are.