Sexual harassment in the world of video gaming

[Empusa]

Article here

"The world of video gaming has a problem with sexual harassment. The number of women gamers is growing fast - in the US they now make up 42% of the total - but it remains a macho environment, where women are often exposed to abusive language."

Some of the comments are beyond vile!

Though I do have to say, IME it tends to be limited to certain types of games, and is much more prevalent on one particular platform. And in both those cases it tends to be the norm to hear/read discriminatory comments, particularly sexist and racist.

What I do find disturbing is the fact that users can send messages like "You are a dumb slut, you stupid whore, I would rape you..", be reported, and still be allowed to play with no consequences.

I'm really glad to hear that more women are gaming now, hopefully the more women there are, the more seriously game companies will have to take the comments like above.

[HerRoyaleHoighnessDirona]

Half this problem starts with video games at home.

I have a ds who plays video games at home, never online.

The console is in the livingroom, I often play the games as well.

Some games I refuse to have in my home.

I've also taken a lot back to the shop after seeing violence towards women. I'm the same with films.

I don't know much about feminism so I'm learning apologies but as a dv/rape survivor I automatically feel strongly about these issues.

IME the whole industry needs to change.

[Empusa]

The types of games played definitely makes a difference, I'd noticed before that fans of certain games are much more likely to be misogynistic. Although there's no real way of knowing that the games cause the misogyny, it can't help, and I wish the industry was less tolerant of it.

[HerRoyaleHoighnessDirona]

I think some of the games are openly misogynistic. Which not only gives a platform for mysogynists but a platform to encourage the next generation and could influence young players into thinking that is normal and acceptable.

The game "fallout" depicts women survivng in the apocolypse as prostitutes because it's the only survival skill they have

[ecclesvet]

"The game "fallout" depicts women survivng in the apocolypse as prostitutes because it's the only survival skill they have"

Women and men, Dirona. And most women in the games aren't prostitutes.

[MashedPoetaytoe]

nc' was Dirona.

We didn't see any men depicted as prostitutes in it.

I've played it.

I also don't think it's suitable to have graphic scenes of violence against women played by my ds.

Young peoples dv is on the rise, I'd rather get antsy cats bum face about it than have my ds think it's "fine".

There are plenty of other games available.

[SardineQueen]

I haven't found too much of this when playing WoW, although I am very aware it can happen.

i am aware of highly mysoginistic games out there but they aren't really my thing and I haven't played them or even seen them.

What did really piss me off was the new star wars online game. It is really good IMO but the bloody bars that you have to go and hang around in to pick up missions and stuff have scantily clad gyrating females all over them.

I just thought - this game will appeal to men and women older as well as teens - they know that - and yet the default setting is to write for teenage male fantasy. I was really annoyed. And I know it's all a bit sad, but still, there you go

[SardineQueen]

The OP seemed to me to be talking about males abusing females in the game - the players in online games, rather than games that you play at home solo which have dodgy content.

Both are problematical IMO although when you playing a MMORPG you are open to random people sending you messages for no apparent reason or if you are in a guild the conversations there and even the general feeds that you get about trade and so on often have homophobic / sexist language. In my experience with WoW the homophobic stuff is simply everywhere, it's the norm in conversation so it seems.

[EclecticShock]

From what I can gather, my brother plays them... The chat is highly abusive to everyone, I wonder if women just getthe sexist comments as what comes to mind first. The blokes are very abusive verbally towards each other, it's part of the competive nature of the games apparently. Not my cup of tea.

[HmmThinkingAboutIt]

There is a culture of bullying and abuse throughout online gaming. I think thats the real issue rather than this particular aspect of it. If you are good or an aggressive player you will get unsolicited abuse regardless of your gender. Game administrators on the whole are pretty weak about policing it, as they are more concerned about profit there and then, rather than a potential profit from encouraging a safer environment that would attract a wider range of players.

The whole thing is a way of attacking and undermining your enemy by any means - its deemed acceptable as its "war" and the teaching of Sun Tzu is always thrown out as a defence. Its the norm rather than the exception.

Its can be a way of "getting revenge" for someone "destroying your game" (beating you). Its pretty pathetic. I've had numerous death threats in the past, and know it was common for others to get them (that was playing as a non identifiable gender). So I certainly don't think male players are exempt - it just is the nature of the abuse you get that can be slightly different and has sexual elements to it.

I also think though, that if you are playing team games, that male team mates can conversely, be more protective and stick up for female teammates than male teammates. Male egos seem to be less threatened by the competition and are more willing to help. And not for sexual reward or attention. The worst exchanges I've seen between gamers have definitely been male on male. And all too frequently between team mates who have 'betrayed' each other in some way.

To be perfectly honest, and to maintain a cliche and stereotype there is a disproportionate number of players all round who for whatever reason do seem to struggle with social interactions and acceptable boundaries all round. Whether it be in real life or online. Gaming is too often used by people as a way to escape problems in real life and to 'inflict' that on others. The number of people I've encountered who end up obsessed to the point that nothing else in life matters is very worrying.

Don't get me wrong, I've met some very nice people. But I've unfortunately met some utter nutjobs too, who clearly have a whole bunch of issues that they clearly need to resolve.

[EatsBrainsAndLeaves]

HerRoyale - Please don't apologise for not knowing much about feminism. We all start somewhere in our learning curve. And hope you keep posting in feminism.

[MashedPoetaytoe]

Are the "nutters" safer taking it out on a screen than in rl?

[HmmThinkingAboutIt]

MashedPoetaytoe, I do believe they can cause a hell of a lot of damage behind a screen. The difference between rl and not rl kind of blurs to a lot of people playing because of the value they place on the game in their life.

I have heard of an attempted suicide due to gaming.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Sometimes it spills over into RL

[EclecticShock]

Agree with hmm

[EclecticShock]

To be fair, anyone thinking of suicide due to gaming has a life lacking in other areas surely?

[HmmThinkingAboutIt]

Yeah they do. Definitely. But thats half the problem. Gaming BECOMES their life. Networks of friends end up being all online and when it goes tits up, they don't have anywhere else to turn.

I know plenty of people playing upwards of 16hrs a day, to explain just how far the obsession can all to regularly go.

• My brother flunked his first degree in his third year due to online gaming.
  

• I know several people who have lost jobs. And then never bothered to try and get another one, as it would stop them playing.
  
• I know one girl who showed nude pictures of herself to at least 10 different guys and then wondered why it all kicked off when they found out they weren't 'the special one'. (That one was nasty - she had disturbing messages sent to her friends and family on FB). Nice girl, who I still have time for, but really a bit of an idiot.
  
• I know of people trying to take things to police over harassment and abuse (that was one guy against another guys - and both were equally bad as each other).
  
• I know of at least three marriages that have split up over online gaming relationships.
  

The whole culture is really destructive and really scary. Very much an addiction - and addictions tend to take over lives.

[MashedPoetaytoe]

Sardine, most of the teenage boys I know avoid those overtly sexist games like the plague. It's the insipid drip drip drip of the undercurrent of sexism that they don't notice.

Just been over to WoW, crazy difficult to find sexism on the surface but a lot of complaints about wanting positive members from the female groups.

To be a part of a guild you need to give some personal details and fill out an application so it is quite "real"

It does seem to be a lifestyle choice, very scary.

[thechairmanmeow]

i heard the radio 4 programme about this, there is certianly plenty of sexist abuse knocking about cyberspace!

the only game i play is second life, and thats not really a game, it's social interaction, and my OH calls me a sad bastard for being such an addict.
i have heard some sexism but not much, in SL you get greifers, these are just people who get there kicks by disrupting others role play or interaction, they will use gender based insults if they can but they will just as likely use age weight, inteligence, ability to spell( had that a few times) in short they just want to hurt people and dick about.

the vast majority of people in SL and freindly and fun to be with, it's just there is a very noisy minority.

at 'dirtytalksexlouge' ( no i'm not making it up ) people sit around talking about sex, but it works because they have people who act as sercurity avatars and any greifers get ejected straight away.

[LittleWhiteWolf]

My BIL, who is 14, is developing into a horrible young man and a bully, not to mention a racist. All of which was helped along by his parents buying him 18 rated games for years where he was exposed to hideous language over the chat function.

I'm a gamer, as is my DH, but neither of us use the online gaming functions (Xbox). That article has just made me feel all the more sad for BIL and pleased that we ignore the online community.

[MashedPoetaytoe]

Yes, my ds's peer group started with the online games about 14yrs which is when I cracked down on them.

Wasn't secondlife in the news for having pedophile areas?

[thechairmanmeow]

possibly, anyone can create any avatar so some people make child avatars, it's very much frownd upon though, and most sims would eject anyone walking around looking less than 18

[thechairmanmeow]

just to be clear, SL isnt all about sex. allthough people do use it for that.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

I was on SL for a couple of years. There's a great arts scene there (or there was - I left in 2010 so don't know what it's like now). I was actually earning RL money for a while, building and scripting. I left because it was too addictive and, because I was logging in for 'work' a lot of the time, it ceased to be fun.

I have to say though, huge parts of it are incredibly sleazy and extremely woman-hating. I have no idea how you have managed to not come across much sexism, chairman, especially if you're hanging out in places like 'dirtytalksexlouge'. Also, while the thing in the news was a set-up (two journalists created child avatars and had sex with them) there is a definite paedophilic vibe to some of the child avatar stuff. Not all of it though and many sims welcome child avatars. In fact, unless it's changed massively, it was only the 'Adult' sims where child avatars were a problem.

[thechairmanmeow]

hello pubes
well, what sort of sexism? i would be really interested to know. i have come across plenty of people doing and saying stupid stuff, but you move on and find some nice people to hang out with. 'dirtytalk' would eject anyone being abusive wether it's sexist, racist or just plain old stupid.
as for child avatars i have only twice in all that time (since 2007) come across them once it was a greifer, he/she ( you never know if they dont use voice) was ejected and reported, and another time someone i hardly knew teleported me to a sim that was absolutly full of them...and i mean loads , mabye 50 or more, all dancing , i looked around in disbelif and promtly ported out. but, there is clearly a scene going on.
the fact is SL is huge, if you click on the world map and scroll out it's like the size of holland, it would be easy so hide some sleaze in a dark corner.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

what sort of sexism?

Oh you know - stuff like gor, dolcett, caRP, slave auctions (I'm not providing links because this is triggering shit), all the way down to the ubiquitous strippers, poledancers, escorts, women on leashes, men pretending to be lesbians, freebie boxes full of torture implements ... that sort of thing.

But what bothers you is some kids dancing