Magic Cosplayer Quits; Now, Wizards of the Coast Reveals What They're Doing Against Harassment

Image: Facebook/CSprankleCosplay

Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro subsidiary behind Magic: The Gathering, has finally addressed the harassment and bullying in the Magic community and revealed what it's doing against it. While the company didn't specifically drop any names, this is obviously a response to the news about a Magic cosplayer quitting due to alleged harassment.

Last weekend, cosplayer Christine Sprankle announced she was quitting due to persistent harassment in the Magic: The Gathering community. The /r/MagicTCG was on temporary lockdown after the post discussing Sprankle's departure quickly made it to the front page of Reddit.

Sprankle pointed the blame to the YouTube channel UnsleevedMedia. On Instagram, the cosplayer announced that she was canceling her upcoming appearance at Grand Prix Portland and deleting her private Facebook account because she was "super tired of the harassment and would love to have some peace and quiet."

Related posts on the subreddit were locked as other prominent Magic community members showed their support of Sprankle and shared their own stories of harassment from UnsleevedMedia.

When the news was shared on Reddit, things quickly went out-of-control, causing /r/MagicTCG moderators to temporarily lock down threads and related threads that discuss Sprankle's decision. One of the locked threads shared a screenshot of the tweet from Sprankle, blaming UnsleevedMedia for making her want to quit.

It has been a rough year. And I have blocked and not said anything about him because I wanted it to die but without a doubt MtGHeadquarters/UnsleevedMedia has made my life hell this whole year with his unnecessary videos/tweets about me and other members of Magic.

— . (@cspranklerun) November 25, 2017

A few months ago, Jeremy of UnsleevedMedia (formerly MTGHeadquarters), a YouTube channel with over 143,000 subscribers, posted a video sharing his thoughts about Sprankle, claiming that all she wants is to solicit "Patreon dollars" from "losers". That video has recently been deleted for "violating YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying," but on Saturday, Jeremy uploaded another video addressing Sprankle's decision and the response of the Magic community.

Wizards of the Coast addressed the issue in a tweet:

UnsleevedMedia responded on Twitter, claiming people should "dig deeper and look for the truth":

Magic YouTuber, The Professor from the Tolarian Community College channel, posted a video detailing various instances of UnsleevedMedia's harassment:

"My phone suddenly rings, as you well know how scary that is, and I say 'Oh, death threat," The Professor says. "I guess Jeremy made another video or series of tweets about me.'"

The Professor highlights clips from UnsleevedMedia's videos, one of which accuses a Magic pro of pedophilia after a Twitter disagreement.

UnsleevedMedia responded on Twitter, calling the video "unsubstantiated lies":

Now, Wizards of the Coast finally stated what actions they're taking on harassment and bullying:

We are investigating reports we've received as quickly as possible. We know you'd like us to act faster and to share more information with you about this process, but we simply can't. What we can tell you is that we take violations of our Code of Conduct very seriously, and violations can result in removal from organized play, the Wizards Play Network, and all Wizards accounts.

We are reviewing and updating our policies and reporting processes for Code of Conduct violations. We recognize that it is time to carefully reconsider how we work with retailers, tournament organizers, players, and community members to deal with harassment and bullying—online and offline. We have been working on this, but we will work faster. Expect announcements and explanations over the next few months about policies that we hope are clearer and processes that are easier to access and resolve issues more quickly.

We are going to be more proactive about setting expectations for behavior at Magic events and in all Magic spaces. Some of you may have taken a survey recently about what makes you feel comfortable and included at Magic events and what doesn't. That is part of a project we've been working on that will clearly express how players, retailers, tournament organizers, and us here at Wizards expect each other to behave anywhere people are enjoying Magic. Think language and visuals at premier events, stores, and wherever you play Magic that are clear reminders of the respect we expect all players to be treated with. We're shooting to get that out there by the time you're playing Rivals of Ixalan.

The company went on to list what members of the Magic community can do when they encounter abusive behavior in person or online, such as reporting to social media platforms and contacting local authorities.

Let's do our best to keep the Magic community positive, people!

For now, let's appreciate Christine Sprankle's cosplay in this Enter the Battlefield video:

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