The GAMe PLACe
| “ | Chris would rarely ever shake anyones hand after a game, and when he did, he quickly followed up with hand sanitizer. | ” |
| Mimms | ||
The GAMe PLACe is a comic-book, game, card, toy, and hobby shop in Charlottesville. For several years, up until the summer of 2008, Chris hung out there on a regular basis, going there every Friday without fail to play the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! card games. The shop hosted the Pokémon TCG League where Chris served as volunteer gym leader.
After a long period of scaring off customers and being a confrontational douche, Chris was permanently kicked out of the store by one of the managers, Michael Snyder, on 28 August 2008.
People of note
Chris originally met Megan Schroeder at the Game Place in 2005, where they initially bonded over their shared interest in Yu-Gi-Oh! Megan continued to hang out at the shop even after her friendship with Chris collapsed in the spring of 2008, although their relationship by that point was strained to say the least. Once she broke off all contact with Chris, she did her best to ignore him entirely when they were at the store at the same time.
The other two best-known patrons of the shop, aside from Chris himself, are Daniel Mimms and Lucas. The two friends are the primary source of most of what is known about Chris's behavior at the Game Place (and most of the information in this article), which they revealed during a detailed Q&A session on the PVCC forums. They're also famous for having taken and uploaded the first photograph of Chris to reach the internet, which Mimms snapped and Lucas uploaded to 4chan in the fall of 2007.
Michael Snyder, one of the store's managers (he isn't the owner, though he's sometimes mistakenly described as such) would eventually become one of Chris's real-life nemeses when he kicked Chris out of the store in the summer of 2008.[1]
Chris's attitude at the Game Place
In his early days at the Game Place, Chris's behavior seems to have been more "childlike," for lack of a better word. According to Mimms, who was a regular at the store for the entire time Chris hung out there, Chris avoided using foul language when he first started gaming at the store.[2] He also never failed to show up for Pokemon games in his old Ash Ketchum costume.
The costume was eventually retired, however (by the time of the 2007 photo, Chris was showing up in his usual colorful clown shirts and proudly sporting the Sonichu medallion), and Chris's behavior gradually became more aggressive and vulgar over the years. According to Mimms and Lucas, Chris often became angry at his card-game opponents, even small children. An October 2007 e-mail from Megan mentions an incident where Chris was extremely threatening and insulting to a guy who he thought was putting the moves on his gal-pal.
Mimms recounted a few instances of Chris displaying his dislike and distrust of black people. He was openly suspicious of the young black kids he played Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh with, apparently because he thought they were going to make off with his cards.[3] Chris also nearly managed to earn himself a beating from an older black gamer by the name of TJ:
| “ | Chris yells at him, "I'm going to smack your effing face down!" and TJ stands up like hes going to beat his ass. Chris shrinks back and and says "I mean your face down monster..." | ” |
| Mimms, Mimms and Lucas Q&A | ||
Likewise, Chris's homophobia occasionally surfaced while he was hanging out at the shop. A gay regular at the shop by the name of Eric was apparently the target of mockery and threats from Chris (although Mimms noted that, for obvious reasons, Chris wasn't likely to ever do him any great physical harm).[4] Chris also assumed that two of the shop's regulars were gay because they happened to exchange a few jokingly romantic remarks — his literal mind took that as proof that they were a couple.[5]
Chris the TCG gamer
Chris used ridiculous themed decks that never worked in Pokémon and he never used any strategy at all in Yu-Gi-Oh[citation needed]. In tournaments, Chris rarely made it past the first round[citation needed]. In a rare moment when he won, Chris shouted "I'm the level up king!" since that was the theme of his deck[citation needed]. Chris was helped in the tournament by the fact that most of the good players were out of town that week.
Chris was not a regular gym leader; the store owners realized that giving him any authority at all would end in disaster and allowed Chris to sub in only when the regular gym leaders couldn't make it. (Gym leaders are not employees, just people, generally parents, who keep track of the games.) Once, while acting as a gym leader, Chris went to the back room to get something without permission. This caused his first ban from the store for a month. Chris claimed that this incident was the final straw that got him banned forever, but Mimms reported that his final ban was for getting into a shouting match with one of the black kids.
Emails regarding The Game Place
From: CWCSonichu@aol.com To: forgotwhatiknew@gmail.com Sent: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 2:21:23 PM Eastern Standard Time Subject: Hey, Anna
I have been recovering from the worst weekend of my life. In a nutshell, explicit fan art freaked me out, then someone else put a copyright symbol on their fan art (giving the impression of Sonichu being theirs), I responded to both offenses appropriately, then I Googled "Sonichu", and I found a page that deficated on my person and character. And the second photo-jpg on there was actually taken at The Game Place last Friday, with me thinkin' the dude was taking a pic of the child I was playing Pokémon TCG with. I had asked the guys at The Game Place to check their servaliance camera footage of the timeframe, so I could possibly learn the identity of the person who took that photo. But the guys could not get it to work; they have to talk to their boss-type person. One of them put things in perspective for me, I calmed down for a while. Then my mother comes in during my peace with a lecture of doing more things around the house; I waited for her to finish, then I bursted out the events in a mouth-running-faster-than-my-brain fashion. Now, she is possibly on a warpath against this dude. A hacking terrorist group, Anonymous, and 4Chan are somehow involved in that page as well.
Chris-chan - Encyclopedia Dramatica
*sigh*
I'm sorry; I'm still recovering from the worst weekend of my life. I'll get back to you with more positive information soon.
Take care; Chris Chan.
−−−−−Original Message−−−−− From: CWCSonichu@aol.com To: yoshimitsuharakiri@yahoo.com Sent: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 1:23:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time Subject: Follow up
I have been investigating, in addition to out-of-spite "adding fire to the flame", since I've first found it randomly in that fateful day, November 2, 2007. Please allow me to fill you in. My first major clues of a matching duo were the original date of the document creation, Wednesday, Ocotber 31, 2007, and this .jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan, which was obviously taken on the previous Friday, October 26, 2007. For the week, my family and I were pondering the major suspect; the dude who took that pic, which I distinctly remember seeing the camera flash while I playing a young gentleman in Pokémon TCG. Thus, my family came in and we found that Mimms had the camera in question, but he did not take the picture. Then we've suspected Lucas, but we did not question him at the time. But a more obvious expression reply was found by myself, when Saturday March 8, 2008, at the Gamestop in Forest Lakes, the Midnight release event of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mimms and I were watching a pair of tournament players brawling; one was playing Donkey Kong. So it brought up to mind my first word being "Monkey", so I told Mimms that. And with a turn around towards the accompanying Lucas, I said in his direction, "Well, that's something new you didn't know about "be-4" about this "Chan". I noticed a look on his face like, "Wow, I can totally wail on that tidbit of information." He said nothing. And today, I looked up 4Chan on Wikipedia.com, http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:Chrischannov2007.jpg, apparently 4Chan is solely a web thing that people can go on and mess around for the attention, with examples of false bombings, hackers on MySpace, and more similar events listed on there. Upon the collected information on this case I've let set on the back-burner for a while, I can only suspect Lucas for being the culpret in putting that page up in the first place, because, seeing how close Mimms and Lucas were, he had as much access to the beforementioned pic from October 26 as Mimms did. Also, I photographically remember the person who took my pic that day being tall and wearing a long coat. I'd like to put Lucas under a spotlight and question him about this whole thing, then put him behind bars for descreation of someone else's character. I'd question him myself, but Mike of the Game Place said after my mother and father questioned Mimms that Friday night, if I were to bring up ANYTHING about that page again, he would kick me out of the Game Place for like a month. If you'd like to talk to Lucas discreetly about the subject, I'd appreciate it for the benefit of my investiga tion.
Megan, I am sorry about this whole mess, and having drawn that drawing, and raging the fire and hurting your feelings and emotions. If I can, not only will I get that drawing off that webpage, but I'll try to take down the whole thing. But I can't do it alone (my mother and father have been letting it set on the back-burner without giving it much thought).
I can only hope you'll forgive me, but no matter what, I still love you as my closest gal-pal.
I hope you feel better soon; Chris Chan.
−−−−−Original Message−−−−− From: cwcsonichu@aol.com To: theprimegamer@comcast.net Sent: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 3:16 am Subject: More words to add, since I was typing the earlier message on my PSP...
I've only had a few things to keep me sane, my video games (mostly Guitar Hero), my family, going to church, and the ocassional outtings with my family. Seriously, I really miss my fridays at the Pokémon League.
BTW, Ty, did you get your Playstation 3 yet? If you have, please send me a Friend Request through the PSN; my PSN ID is "Sonichu". How are you on Guitar Hero III's "Raining Blood", and the other songs in that final set? I tell you what, "Raining Blood" is so darn difficult on any difficulty. My Hammer-Ons/Pull-Offs are good, but it is really difficult for me when the notes are so close together in a tight H-O/P-O stream.
But I digress, please send my regards to everyone at the League, especially Megan and John.
Peace;
Christian Chandler.
P.S.
I've sent an apology letter to Michael at the Game Place; I hope that he will have an open heart, accept the apology and allow me back into The Place. Otherwise, if his heart was so dang sealed shut, he would really be showing himself off as the biggest Jerk and potential B-tard.
I'm sorry; I'm still recovering from the worst weekend of my life. I'll get back to you with more positive information soon.
Take care; Chris Chan.Unbanning attempts
Chris has repeatedly attempted to overcome his ban and gain readmission to the store. As mentioned in the e-mail to Ty, Chris sent a letter to Michael Snyder shortly after his initial ban. In March 2009 he attempted to apologise in the best way he knew how: posting a video to YouTube on the off-chance the individual addressed would see it. This was not the most sincere apology in the world, since Chris makes it clear in a later video that he doesn't really understand why he was thrown out in the first place.
Almost 2 years after his initial ban from The GAMe PLACe, Chris visited the store again; specifically, to talk to Michael Snyder in an attempt to have the ban removed. However, the visit did not turn out in Chris's favor, as the audio from the incident shows; Michael refused to revoke the ban (later noting on YouTube, that Chris was actually reading the apology from a pre-written script [6]), and Chris left the store in a huff. The police were called about the incident, according to Mimms, but Chris was already long gone by the time they arrived. Whether their involvement will continue remains to be seen.
Later that day, Chris uploaded the audio of the incident to Youtube, the description of which solicits harassing and "trolling" of Michael and his fellow employees; however, it was removed from the site in a matter of hours due to a "Terms of Use Violation". Considering Chris' anti-Semitic remark directed at Michael, his invitation for others to harass him, and the possible illegal nature of the recording, it's fairly easy to see why it was pulled.
With Chris's continued failure to overturn the ban, it is clear that his chances of winning entry to The GAMe PLACe are almost as remote as the chances his duck has of entering China.
Additional items
- At some point in The Game Place Pokémon League history, Chris loudly objected to being paired up with "novices". These are ten-year-olds who still managed to beat him frequently.
- There have been emails sent by the person who manages TGP events, probably finally looking for reasons to ditch CWC's high-maintenance HFA-ass.
- Chris reportedly brought in consoles and hogged the store's flat screen TV, angering the manager. Of course, Chris couldn't understand why a manager would be annoyed by a squealing man bogarting his TV for hours to play Animal Crossing on "da big screen." This was corroborated by Chris mentioning a "Wii incident" when he recorded himself confronting Michael Snyder.
- Chris has since been banned from the store for acting inappropriately (such as being a racist prick, personally insulting the manager and getting into arguments with children).