well, if I'm getting baited, then mission accomplished 
which fighting gamers are you talking about? there's very little in the way of ugly drama or mean-heartedness among fighting gamers who play the main games (SF4, MVC3, Tekken. Not sure about Soul Calibur, Blazblue, or MK9.) Talking about the actual people involved, nothing on internet forums or online play because everyone is a dick online. There's a hierarchy of respect based on skill that requires low level players to shut up and listen, but it's more of a sensei/student thing than "stfu noob u suk" thing. The people running the tourneys and the high level players are generally all about helping people learn, instead of bashing noobs, because they all want more competition. The commentators at tourneys always invite more people to come play, but they challenge people to learn the game and point it out when they suck (though that's not the end of the story, they'll be constructive after talking shit.)
I'm surprised you say that, since assholes are called out for being assholes by actual self-identifying competitive fighting game people. Shoryuken.com has a bunch of dudes who are up their own asses and the anonymous people in stream chats are dicks hiding behind anonymity, but the actual, real community is great and still very grass roots like the early 90s. If it's trash talk that bothers you, that's a personal problem...it can seem heavy sometimes, I guess.
trash talk is the least of my problems. if they're having fun, it's no skin off my nose.
however, speaking of personal problems, i certainly have a personal problem with "hierarchies of respect". always have, always will. another personal problem i have is when people take things that are meant to be fun extremely seriously. e-sports, like real sports, tends to have an abundance of both of these irritants.
the term "hierarchies of respect" probably seems bad at face value, but it's just people acknowledging that the games are complex if you really want to learn them, that some people know it better than other people, and that people should respect that. Just like you wouldn't go into an astro physics class on the first day and start acting like you know everything because you watched Cosmos, you can't just say "SF4 is cheap because X" or "I could kick the shit out of everyone" and not expect to get challenged on that...if you're correct, respect is yours, if not, go back home and practice more. It's not an irritating thing at all, it's what holds the community together and has since SF2. Otherwise you get a bunch of nobodies talking shit and causing a bunch of static noise and nobody knows who is who because it's all disorganized. But you have guys who have been around forever and guys who can win against top players consistently who are actually deserving of recognition among people who play these games. You can find people who play casually and for fun at the arcades, but of course, the top players get the attention.
as for fun, sure, nobody is going to doubt button mashing or just learning a few moves to play with buddies is fun. No
true fighting game player would
seriously discourage that or tell you to give up, because that's how everyone starts...though plenty of posers online will try and bash it because their egos need that. But fun is also sitting in training mode learning all the crazy shit the developers really put into the game for people to find, then going to find other people who practiced like that and seeing if you can beat them. Then losing to them and talking about how they play, so you can get better. There isn't much more to it then that. Some people 200 hours into skyrim, some people put 20000 hours into learning how to play as Ryu in SF4.
you're painting the fighting game community (esports in regards to fighting games is really an ironic catchphrase that has come up in the past few weeks) with a broad brush where fighting games are their own culture completely. even as someone who abhors and criticizes everything game-community related, I have to say you are way off here and talking before understanding, honestly (which is why I can't help but white knight.) Maybe COD's esports community is a bunch of dick waving undersexed meat heads and I know SC2's player community is secretive and xenophobic because the game relies on secrecy, but that's not the fighting game community at all, once you get past the surface shit talk and tourney bravado, which is just to make it more fun.
alright, i feel like ultradavid, 'nother whiskey sour for me!
