[Saka]

I've seen a fairly detailed presentation from Australia about disruptive behaviour targeting female & LGBTQIA+ gamers. Harassment is like a plague in online gaming, it can affect everybody, but people who are female or belong to minorities are victims to it so much more often.

Some key points:

• 92%of LGBTQIA+ gamers, 83%of females, 72%of males haveexperienced or observed harassment or offensive behaviour while online gaming
• Most women think it is something that must be addressed
• 38% of women have been the direct target of harassment
• Nine women in ten modify their behaviour in games for fear of safety
• More than half of female players struggle with mental health, self-esteem and self-confidence as a result of harassment
• Victims feel abandoned, the abusers are enabled by the society accepting online harassment as an unavoidable part of gaming
• When subject to harassment, almost two thirds of female or LGBTQIA+ gamers will leave the game, almost nine in ten will at least limit interaction with other players
• Sometimes they might never come back to the game after those experiences
• Most female or LGBTQIA+ gamers don't feel safe being themselves in games

Here's a video where guys tried to play team games with voice filters to make them sound female. They were devastated by how the experiment went.

[GoLLuM13]

The toxicity online (which harassment is part of) I've known it since years now. I've insulted, people wished my death in an atrocious pain. I got TeamKilled, for no reason, because I had his favorite agent and I had to guess it or because I took a black agent (man or woman) or even a trans agent most of the time I got insults because of these choices too.
People can be really toxic, right was the one who said "Homo homini lupus est" which translates to "man is a wolf to man".

[DracoTarot]

@Saka People are really toxic online. A few online gamers threatened me with death and told me they would hack my computer and ruin my life.

PUBG is one of those games. When I do play a match or two I disable chat. I'm not too fond of the screaming and insults.

It's sickening how some people act.

[GoLLuM13]

@DracoTarot I haven't played PUBG, but I can assure you it's in almost every online game, the problem is never the game, but the people, and unfortunately it's not always easy to report them, let alone see a real reaction of the game team in charge of any kind of sanction.

I saw those toxic in Rainbow Six, all sorts of Call of Duty, CSGO, even in Overwatch 2.

You know what I do some days when I can't tolerate any toxicity ? I just "throw" the game, I know I can do it, I know I can win, I'm the only one alive, but I sanction all the team by going the opposite direction, playing like a fool (while I'm the first on the team) I report them and write them on team chat "Next time, don't insult people, be polite and stop yelling" or something like "If I play like a trash, and I'm the first of the team what does this make you ?"🤣 and there I feel so satisfied to hear/read them be enraged, they taste their own medicine 🤣 I don't care about stats, winning or losing, I just play to chill

[DracoTarot]

@GoLLuM13 PUBG mobile is one of the most toxic games I've ever played and second in line would be Call of Duty.

I always seem to find matches where people either have cheats enabled or they are just toxic. I usually notice when players cheat and then call them out in chat just like you do.😁 Obviously they don't like the fact they have been caught and they'll become reality rude and offensive.

Reporting them is an issue sometimes and flagging a player will be ignored. Some do get banned depending on how many report the "self entitled" player.

Playing games should be fun. I really don't care if I win or lose. I'm not playing online games for rankings and to be the best. It's not a competition for me.

I know there are certain matches or events that are important when you are part of a clan or team. Some do involve winning money or prizes.

Just do things legitimately. Do not cheat and do not revert to calling people names and attach their character or even threaten them with something awful like death.

Those player do not deserve to be online. They need some professional help in my opinion.

So I'm basically the same, I just like playing for fun and to chill. 😃❄️

[GoLLuM13]

@DracoTarot You are right they need the help of a professional who wears a black suit, white shirt and red tie, he is bald with a barcode on his neck, I think his name is Agent 47 🤣 (I'm kidding)

[DracoTarot]

@GoLLuM13 He would be the perfect candidate!😂

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I'd rather think Agent 47 deserves a better caliber of villain, I mean, you do not want the legend to do that amount of dirty work.

Besides, I am a pacifist and for a non-violent approach. I'd rather prefer someone like Takayuki Yagami to deal with that.

But I did come across an interesting suggestion that the level of toxicity may depend partially on the game genre and some games have more of that than others. Of course, I don't mean to say that if someone is being rude in PUGB that they would suddenly be all polite and pleasant in Forza Horizon, personality is likely to still be a dominant factor, and pinning it on the genre is dangerously close to looking for an excuse, but still, maybe the genre should not be put entirely out of the equation, I am not sure.

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch I don't think the genre has something to do with this, it's a matter of education imho, I play mostly FPS games indeed, but I saw toxic people in almost every genre (I'm pretty sure we can find some in Animal Crossings 🤣) as soon as there is some kind of competition some people just don't like to lose or to be behind or not having what the other has ...

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I guess a non-violent approach would be better. There are many ways to put a bully in his or her place. Sometimes one cannot help to find ways to eliminate narcissistic behaviour.

Research has shown that toxic behaviour is contagious among players and exposure in previous games increases the likelihood that a player will commit toxic acts in future games. Also, more experienced and skilful players are more likely to engage in toxic and abusive behaviours than those who are new to gaming.

If a gamer can't acknowledge & accept reality and constantly live in a fantasy world it becomes problematic. They lose touch with humanity.

Female gamers and the LGBTQ community I do think suffer the most just like @Saka mentioned.