Some minor drama in a Grand Theft Auto role playing server became serious when it spilled over onto Twitter, as former Call of Duty pro and current OpTic member Marcus "MBoZe" Blanks Jr threatened to have GTA RP star PENTA assaulted.
The threat, made on Twitter and subsequently deleted by MBoZe, came after PENTA was involved in a minor argument with Thomas "ZooMaa" Paparatto, another former pro-turned content creator, who is working with FaZe Clan.
The argument began when Zoomaa took offence to being arrested in a role playing server, and attempted to circumvent the normal operation of the server repeatedly. When he was then jailed, Zoomaa allegedly quit out of the game, before spending some time watching PENTA’s stream. The mess then spilled onto Twitter, where a number of other Call of Duty pros and OpTic members waded in.
Zoomaa’s anger apparently stemmed from a joke made at the expense of his mother, who PENTA has never met or had any contact with, leading to the former esports pro making some comments regarding PENTA’s appearance. However, the more problematic issue came when BoZe jumped into the situation and introduced the idea they could pay a CoD fan to physically assault PENTA in real life in retaliation for the on-stream banter that had occurred.
Prominent members of CoD scene pile on toxicity
The tweet, since deleted, was also backed by a number of other members of the Call of Duty community, including the notoriously capricious pro player Ian "Crimsix" Porter and OpTic's creative director Davis "Hitch" Edwards, who took it upon themselves to add on to the abuse PENTA received on Twitter.
This in turn led to a swathe of abuse from fans of those who were attacking PENTA, as is often the case when Call of Duty’s notoriously young and volatile fanbase is riled up.
OpTic themselves are yet to comment on the situation, and MBoZe has now deleted his tweet, as previously mentioned. Hitch, OpTic’s current creative director, even thought the matter was so funny that he corrected the grammar in PENTA’s attempt to bring the matter to the attention of the org, which is currently being run by Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez.
With many organizations in esports making positive attempts to stamp out the kind of toxicity and violence that has plagued some gaming scenes, this behavior from BoZe and the support he received from his peers for threatening real world violence is a disappointing, but not overly surprising, turn of events. OpTic themselves have a huge online following of young, impressionable fans, many of whom look up to members of the organisation as role models.
Inven has reached out to the Call of Duty League and OpTic's ownership group, as well as MBoZe for comment on the situation, and will update the article accordingly.
