UK Game Stores Band Together To Ban Alleged Bully [Updated]

Below is an open letter published by a number of UK game stores which have banded together to ban an individual who they say bullies disabled gamers. If that's true - good for them! We don't need or want bullies in our hobby. Note: I removed the name of the guy.

It has come to our attention that at a recent tournament held by Groovy Frog, Yugioh player XXXX caused distress and harassment to an opponent who had learning difficulties, and had a confrontation with both his opponent’s parent and the store owners which has resulted in him being banned from the store.

Subsequently a video was made which showed XXXX and his mates joking about playing against someone with Downs Syndrome, something which was likely to cause further harassment, alarm and distress.

Under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986:

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he:
(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,
within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby."

This offence has the following statutory defences:

(a) The defendant had no reason to believe that there was any person within hearing or sight who was likely to be alarmed or distressed by his action.
(b) The defendant was in a dwelling and had no reason to believe that his behaviour would be seen or heard by any person outside any dwelling.
(c) The conduct was reasonable.

Because this was committed against a vulnerable person, we understand that under the law these actions are considered aggravated.

It is sometimes hard for Yugioh players to understand that the real world is not the playground. Our stores and clubs should be a refuge against bullying and discrimination in all its forms. Most players – and some store owners – will have experienced bullying at school to a lesser or greater extent. Traumatising a vulnerable player with learning difficulties, mocking him in person and then mocking him subsequently (albeit I suspect unintentionally) by talking about the incident on You Tube is the sort of behaviour we cannot countenance or condone.

It is because of this that we have decided, unilaterally to take action and ban XXXX Lennard from our stores and tournaments forthwith.

Under the law, the maximum penalty for an offence of this type against a vulnerable victim would be six months in jail. The following stores have signed up to ban XXXX for six months beginning today the 20th of August and lasting until the 20th of February, at which point we will review his conduct.

If during those six months it comes to our attention that XXXX has learned nothing from this experience, then we shall extend that ban until such time as he does. This ban and its condition should indicate how seriously we believe behaviour like this is totally unacceptable, and will run concurrent with whatever penalty Konami subsequently impose.

Yours sincerely

Acme Games
Area 51
Chimera Beeston/Cardslinger Events
Comics & Collectibles
Eclectic Games
Fan Boy Three
Gamers Nexus
Groovy Frog
Guys That Game
Highlander Games
Kids Dreams
Leisure Games
Orcs Nest
Patriot Games Sheffield
Patriot Games Leeds
Rules of Play
Scythe & Teacup
The Gamers’ Emporium
The Games Shop
The Games Store
Wayland’s Forge
Zone Out

[h=3]Update[/h]
The individual has posted the following video covering his side of the issue.

[video=youtube_share;iPGv78g7IbU]http://youtu.be/iPGv78g7IbU[/video]​

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

No it isn't. Public exposure of bad behavior (or any behavior for that matter) and ostracism isn't bullying. It may be somewhat daunting when you realize you've become internationally notorious, but that isn't bullying either. There's no use of force or coercion, there's no harassment, there's no assault. It may put public pressure on the target, but not all public pressure is bullying.

Sure, assuming that the accuser is completely correct. What if they were not? There's a lot of finger pointing and some stores jumped on board but it seems like a pretty large reaction for something that might not be as cut and dried as the headline.

That's what news is. Or are you suggesting that news should only ever be local to you? I hear about news, big and small, from other countries all the time.

If this was a YuGiOh focused site you might have a better point here. For those of us who come here for "RPG News and Reviews" this is of limited relevance at best.

and just to get it all in at once:

The following stores have signed up to ban Luke Lennard for six months beginning today the 20th of August and lasting until the 20th of February, at which point we will review his conduct.

So if he's banned for six months, how will they review his conduct? Ask a store that didn't ban him? Check his police file for new entries?

 

[Morrus]

Sure, assuming that the accuser is completely correct. What if they were not?

Fortunately, he was kind enough to provide us all with a public YouTube video (which has now been removed). We are discussing that video, and the above letter was a reaction to it. The notion that one cannot discuss publicly shared YouTube videos is contrary to the purpose of YouTube.

If this was a YuGiOh focused site you might have a better point here. For those of us who come here for "RPG News and Reviews" this is of limited relevance at best.

People come here for different things. We've been covering various tabletop games other than RPGs for quite some time here; indeed we have columnists and reviewers who focus on exactly that. You're welcome to enjoy whichever parts of the site interest you - and there's plenty of RPG content for you to enjoy!

and just to get it all in at once:

The following stores have signed up to ban Luke Lennard for six months beginning today the 20th of August and lasting until the 20th of February, at which point we will review his conduct.

So if he's banned for six months, how will they review his conduct? Ask a store that didn't ban him? Check his police file for new entries?

However they want to, I suppose; as long as they're not discriminating against a protected class of people. They haven't specified how they're doing that. It would be an interesting question to ask - I'd be interested in the answer, too.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I think the OP using the word 'alleged' somewhat exempts them from a lot of this criticism.

Is it newsworthy that anybody gets banned from all game shops in the UK? Yes it is.

Video apologies notwithstanding, the accusations are pretty serious and the shops are entitled to make their choices about who they serve or not. I suspect there may be more to the story that goes beyond the accused account of events, and I doubt anybody not privy to these things will ever know the full picture beyond the outcome.

 

[Fanboythree]

We sought this course of action because banning someone from a local store - even 22 stores - really has no effect. He would have laughed at us (and in fact did). Regardless of his actions on the day, because of the nature of the nature of the internet, his 'crime' was repeated every time somebody clicked on his Youtube video.

We were seeking two things. A public apology, not just to that one player he insulted offhandedly but to everyone that was appalled by his language in that video. And the removal of said video from the public domain. As of this morning the offending video has finally been made private.

Because our game stores contain lots of people who were bullied at one point or other in their lives and our hobby has always been a welcome safe haven for players with Aspergers. Because to do nothing is simply unacceptable.

I have maintained a dialogue with Luke throughout the process. Once we've achieved our twin goals - public apology and removal of the video - I will contact all the site owners who posted or reposted the original notification and ask them to delete these threads and replace them with his apology. As of this morning, we’ve achieved one of our two goals and I expect to be able to confirm we we have achieved the second goal later today.

None of us should be forced to live with the consequences of our actions when we were 18.

 

[Fanboythree]

I'd just like to address a couple of your points, although I won't be around to subsequently take further questions.

It's pretty easy to review his conduct - he's all over the internet.

Because the person in question is a vulnerable adult, the offence is aggravated.

Yes, the internet is a village. The reason businesses use verbatim recitation of the law is that they want to remind you how far outside the walls of the village you are going. You may think your behavior is fine and acceptable. Your friends may think it is fine and acceptable. People on like minded special interest groups may think it is fine and acceptable, but there will be people out there in that wider society who don't.

 

[Nytmare]

I think that there is a HUGE difference between righting a wrong, and creating a public spectacle to attempt to crush someone under a weight of public disapproval. There are laws that handle Luke's behavior for a reason.

To me, it feels like the stores involved need to reassess their own, possibly hypocritical behavior.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I have to admit, the manner in which this was done, even though it does seem some action ought to have been taken if someone was being bullied, makes me quite uncomfortable. I do think it is important for store owners to stand up for customers who are the target of harrassment or bullying. Here in the states I've seen that from time to time, when people are insensitive to a person who has something like autism. But this seems to go too far. I am looking at it from a distance, and it is possible I am missing some key details. It just doesn't feel right to me, on a gut level.

 

[Fanboythree]

The offending video has now been taken down and here is the text of Luke's apology, posted on a well known UK Yugioh FB page:


"Hey guys despite everything thats gone on these last few days I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone, not just the boy effected.


"I would like to apologise to all the hard working TOs this put under stress and above all to anyone with learning difficulties who feel victimised, its not ok to make fun of people even if it isnt meant in a bad way."


I now consider this matter closed and dealt with, and I'd appreciate it if, in the spirit of what we've attempted to achieve here, admins on the pages I am posting this would delete the original post with immediate effect.


Every single one of us has been eighteen once (or will be). The things we do, the things we say, the things we post are not the people we will grow up to be. It is grossly unfair to expect todays teenagers to live in a world where they cannot make mistakes and learn from them as we once did.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

It looks like this is being resolved but the whole episode raises some questions in my mind.

First there is this:

It has come to our attention that at a recent tournament held by Groovy Frog, Yugioh player Luke Lennard caused distress and harassment to an opponent who had learning difficulties, and had a confrontation with both his opponent’s parent and the store owners which has resulted in him being banned from the store.

One teenager is a jerk to another teenager. Sounds like it was handled appropriately on the scene. Then it escalates to this:

Subsequently a video was made which showed Luke and his mates joking about playing against someone with Downs Syndrome, something which was likely to cause further harassment, alarm and distress.

And things are escalated to adults calling out teenagers by name on the internet for bad behavior. Not physical assault, not theft, not cheating, but name-calling, and it was not because of another incident in the store but because he was being stupid in a video online. Now that we have decided to take this step against this one kid, will this policy be continued?

- If I'm a tournament player I would be interested in seeing an online "ban list" of people who have been caught cheating in local tournaments. This seems at least as reasonable as the above as it's a threat to the integrity of the tournament in particular and the competitive play scene in general.

- If I'm part of a network of store owners I'd like to have a group list online of people caught shoplifting in other local stores, with pictures to make it easier to identify them when they walk into my shop. These are threats to my business and to other businesses and seem at least as justifiable as what happened here.

Additionally, a local store tournament might pull in anywhere from 10-50 players, plus some friends, plus some family. A number of those people will be currently accused of or will have been convicted of, criminal behavior from assault to far worse things than anything that was done here. Should tournament organizers and/or tournament players be screened with some kind of background or criminal history check? Should those with certain criminal histories be posted up on the store website and banned? Clearly we have decided that this kind of thing is not restricted to just in-store behavior so is anything fair game now?

Finally, we have news from Oklahoma about 3 teenagers who killed a college baseball player because they were bored.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/justice/australia-student-killed-oklahoma

1) Is this news here? I'd guess similar numbers of EN Worlders have played baseball at some point in their lives as have played Yu-Gi-Oh. There's not a game store involved but the incident was far more severe.

2) These 3 guys get out on bail, walk into your store, and enter your Magic tournament. Do they get thrown out and called out by name in an open letter on the internet?

 

[billd91]

Finally, we have news from Oklahoma about 3 teenagers who killed a college baseball player because they were bored.

[/COLOR]http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/justice/australia-student-killed-oklahoma

1) Is this news here? I'd guess similar numbers of EN Worlders have played baseball at some point in their lives as have played Yu-Gi-Oh. There's not a game store involved but the incident was far more severe.

2) These 3 guys get out on bail, walk into your store, and enter your Magic tournament. Do they get thrown out and called out by name in an open letter on the internet?

Their names and faces are already out there on CNN with them called out as alleged murderers and that will have a much wider effect than banning them from certain stores and posting that news on a variety of niche hobby sites. Booting them from a Magic tournament is small potatoes by comparison.