Smash Ultimate players demand Nintendo take action against offensive usernames
Nintendo Smash Bros players are calling for Nintendo to take action as specific groups of players have been targeted online with racially offensive slurs.
Offensive and hateful remarks often seep into the confines of online gaming culture.
Examples can be found on Twitch, where racist hate raids plagued the site during the summer of 2021 as Black creators were subjected to copious offensive slurs and rhetoric.
The latest example has come in Smash Bros Ultimate‘s online community, where an offensive slur was used.
Nintendo Smash players want action against offensive names
Brought to the attention of the Smash community Reddit user Ianishere12, the player posted a screenshot of a Smash Bros Ultimate online arena that contained an offensive slur with a player using a racist name.
Ianishere12 expressed their disdain for the player’s actions, captioning their post: “Why is there no report button? This kind of name and arena is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.”
The post garnered 609 upvotes and 94 comments, with members of the Smash Bros community condemning the racially charged rhetoric used for both the arena and the host of the said arena.
Nintendo One person noted Nintendo’s online censorship attempts and how they failed to protect some of their players: “That is the worst censorship job I have ever seen. Also ironic is that they have no reporting feature for all of Nintendo’s paranoia about online interactions.”
In response to one comment that read, ” you could just…scroll past it?” another person responded with the issue in ignoring hatred: “Yep. Cuz just ignoring racism is working well for this country… Also, I hate to be that person, but this game and the console itself are marketed to children.”
Unfortunately, this type of hatred isn’t new. Still, with a new incident occurring on a Nintendo console and one of their most popular games currently on the market, this could be a way for Nintendo to heed the call of their Smash Bros fan base and make an attempt to answer their concerns.