The legendary soccer player Ian Wright, of Arsenal fame, is celebrating as Electronic Arts metes out punishment for an out-of-control racially-charged incident that occurred in May of 2020. An eighteen-year-old male, Patrick O’Brien, lost a match of FIFA Ultimate Team using the celebrated player and decided that logging into Instagram and sending twenty extremely racist messages to the footballer would right the poor play.
The Irish Examiner reported on the court case of the eighteen-year-old, noting that among the radical and frankly disgusting language levied at the iconic player, using monkey emojis, and using a bevy of racist insults “beginning with N- and C-” said Sergeant Eoin Donovan during the proceeding. He also communicated the threat “If I see you I will put you on your death bed.” This offensive behavior was used as a bizarre form of reparations after O’Brien used the Icon Card of Ian Wright and lost a FIFA Ultimate Team match.
Now, Electronic Arts has decided that the behavior of Mr. O’Brien is worthy of a lifetime ban from the franchise to the celebration of Ian Wright. David Jackson, VP Brand EA Sports FIFA stated that “Ian Wright is part of our EA Sports family” and how EA Sports “hugely value his partnership and support.” Wright praised the action after he voiced displeasure on February 3 regarding the court system opting to not impose a criminal conviction for communicating death threats. The judge stated that he saw “nothing to be gained” from the sentencing.
Celebrations are understandable for Arsenal’s all-time top scorer after some iota of justice appears to have been offered, albeit from a video game company instead of a court system. However, the underlying issue is that the banning of a player that directed vile messages is celebrated whatsoever, instead of viewed as the norm. Were Ian Wright not a legendary FIFA footballer in a country where the sport is an icon, this justice could have been missing entirely. While Electronic Arts finds itself celebrating for protecting an arguable asset to their franchise, perhaps extending protections towards all consumers would mitigate this behavior entirely.
It’s hard to deny that there could be a future where these “heated gamer moments” would never occur as acceptable behavior to players if companies immediately delete accounts that showed an inability to play with others without spewing racist vitriol. If the expected norm for abusive chat was an immediate and permanent removal of privileges to play the title online, or an entire platform, then it would likely keep fans far safer online while mitigating further incidents.
Source: Irish Examiner, Eurogamer
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