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Eventually, he went to the event organizers and asked them to step in. That’s when he started recording the above video. For Zero, this isn’t a unique experience but a regular occurrence at large events. Sharing the above video when all eyes in the Smash community were on the Abadango Saga tournament was about more than just that particular incident.

Instead, it was about an ongoing debate within the fighting games community about the issues surrounding how tournaments are organized and the lack of quiet spaces at many venues where pro players can prepare for their upcoming bouts without constant attention from fans, or harassment by detractors.

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“I wanted people to know that these types of things actually happen. Every tournament there’s something like this going on. A lot of the time I just don’t say anything about it,” said Zero.

In part, this has to do with the growing pains of a competitive gaming community that’s relatively young, and still not taken as seriously as some other esports.

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“It’s important to understand that this is a standard in most esports. In League of Legends, CS:GO, Halo, Call of Duty, it’s the standard,” said Zero. “Maybe in fighting games it’s not, but every where else it’s been the standard for years. People don’t even question it anymore, so it’s not like it’s a privilege.”

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He also feels like people spread a lot of misinformation about the topic when it surfaced originally in an effort to get views and gain followers. “It was blown out of proportion,” he explained. “It started as something simple and then people were like, no, let’s make it the drama of the week.”

ZeRo says that the Abadango Saga tournament did have a preparation room, and the event staff was well organized and addressed his particular situation quickly. Part of the struggle with any Smash event is the number of entrants. Unlike other esports, where most teams are invited and brackets are decided ahead of time, fighting games have a more open, grass-roots legacy.

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As a single day event with over 500 competitors, the Abadango Saga tournament was particularly challenging. “You don’t have the luxury of having people check in the day before or going over training volunteers and staff until the day of. Everything feels on the fly even when it’s not,” said Champ Tangwongkitsiri, the event’s organizer.

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Many of these types of negative interactions are the kind of thing that’s prevalent within any large fandom. Justin Bieber is not going to show up to a concert at the front door, for obvious reasons. But ZeRo also thinks it’s a consequence of how young the Smash community is relative to other competitive gaming scenes.

“If you’re between the 20-25 age bracket, you’re not really in a point of your life where you’re looking for a role model, you’re looking to pay the bills, you know,” he said. On the other hand, younger players are looking for role models and idolizing the players ahead of them, which can sometimes manifest itself in inapporpriate ways. “Your mind is just in a different spot [when you’re young].” explained ZeRo.

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At the end of the night, ZeRo ran into the kid who had called him out again. This time the interaction was different, however. “Just a little before midnight he came up to me. He didn’t apologize but he was a lot more calm and a lot more respectful and he asked me fore a picture.”

ZeRo agreed. According to him, the other player eventually said “O.k I’ll control myself better,” in reference to future events.

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When I asked D’Ron “D1" Maingrette, the Development Manager at Twitch who co-casted the event, what he thought about the way fans and pros interact at tournaments, he said he knew there were sometimes issues, but hoped top players could find a balance.

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“Thanks to our favorite personality giving us the time of day, some of us are now dedicated members of the community, assisting in helping spread the positive influence of Smash worldwide,” he explained. “This was the case for me. If people like DA Wes and PC Chris didn’t make me feel welcome to the Smash community, I don’t think I would still be here today.

As for the development of Smash as an esport going forward, D1 said he likes what he saw at the Shine 2016 tournament in Boston. “I like Shine 2016's approach, if you’re going to be on stream soon, invite the players along with a training partner to warm up the player before getting on stream, regardless of their skill level.”