Tina 🎇 · @shadowmisstep
24th Jun 2020 from TwitLonger
It happens in Hearthstone esports too.
I went to one LAN in my time in Hearthstone. I got sexually assaulted at the only LAN I’ve ever been.
In December 2018, I went to the WESG qualifier in Toronto. I was very emotionally vulnerable due to a variety of personal problems - I was breaking down and crying a lot throughout the event. Purple was the one who sat and talked with me through my worries as I was sobbing between matches.
After the final, most of the group went out to dinner where he tried to buy me a drink multiple times, which I consistently declined. He was most definitely drunk. I left early to return to my hotel room. Purple DMed me later, asking for my hotel room number, which I gave.
I don't know how long he was there. I remember being in his lap, still crying. I remember a hand up my shirt, him trying to kiss me and trying to get me onto the bed. I remember being terrifyingly aware of what was happening but too scared to ask him to stop.
I finally worked up the courage to ask him to leave, but he didn't the first time I asked. I had to insist multiple times and move away from him before he listened. He eventually left.
Morning after, he treated me to breakfast and took me to the airport.
We never talked about it. I never confronted him. The last time we talked was two weeks after the event, where he commissioned me for some graphics. I didn’t bring it up then, either.
For over a year and a half, I watched him play in Grandmasters, sign onto a prestigious organisation, and continue to grow his reputation as I stayed quiet out of fear of repercussion and the reactions I expected to receive in “calling out” someone of that caliber.
But this is what I know: I was an emotionally vulnerable 20 year old, and he took advantage of me when I needed support, not sex. He did it while he was drunk, and he had to be told to leave more than once before he actually did.
No matter how much fault you want to put in my hands, he took advantage of that.
If you experienced something similar - I hope it helps to know you aren’t alone.
To Courtney - I’m sorry this is the way you find out. I was scared. You should’ve known earlier.