Vro  🌃

If your adult friend is joking about dating a 16 y.o. tell them to cut it out or just cut ties with them. We have children in our community who just want to play the game and be accepted. There's no room for people you know in our community to be sexually interested in children

It's important to be INCLUSIVE to all smashers so they know that they are not alone & that the community as a whole is there to safeguard against outliers. The community has to keep checks on itself and at the very least maintain moral decency.

Peer pressure, coming of age developments, exploration of sexuality and drugs/alcohol... these things are extremely prevalent in our community. Victims in our community are made to believe they are alone in their circumstance, when really it is more common than we all know.

I started going to tournaments when I was 16. While I didn't have any friends in the scene, I was still lucky that I fit in & was independent. Young smashers & marginalized smashers aren't always as lucky as we are. It's hard to fit in & it's hard to be yourself.

While it seems overwhelming to see a new story every time we open our TLs, it's been years of pain for those who've kept silent. Many victims have no way to adequately deal with their pain & so they do nothing. Progress is only made when someone else shares their story.

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That is why friendship is so important. A solid foundation of friendship can counter a lot of negativity and friendly community of players can positively impact developing teens. These kids have enough problems to deal with. Let them enjoy the smash journey we have so enjoyed.

Even in our niche community, power dynamics & abuse do exist. Young players often develop their adolescent identity within this community and struggle to maintain/mature on what they have made. Instead of worrying about the game, they worry about their fragile social status.

People naturally have differences but we’re all here as fans of this unique game. The stronger & wider a foundation of friends is, the more socially connected & cemented a player will be. Befriending marginalized players & humbling the spotlight is necessary to maintain balance

Point players in the right direction and work on making every direction in your community a welcoming and safe one.

Welcome players new & old, ask your friends to welcome them, and help new players make friends. I like to ask new players who their main is, what matchups they wanna work on, what area they’re from, who they look up to in the community, etc.

It shouldn’t be hard for us to remember events we couldn’t get to by ourselves, strangers who didn’t welcome us, and how it felt to finally make our first friends in smash. It’s important to be a good example for new & old players. It’s just as important to be a friend.

This community is about the game first. A lot of young players develop their identity within Smash and that’s all they have — they’re still so young. As long as we have youth in our community, we have to protect them. Many veteran & star players began in this community as a teen.