[Saka]

Hey! I originally posted it in the Nordic forums, but I think it deserves to be discussed in here too, as it concerns women and the theme of this month is women in gaming. Of course, harassment is bad for everyone and efforts should be made to reduce if not eliminate it for everyone, regardless of their gender.

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.

[LilMonsterTii]

Hey Saka. I have seen this trending online of late and could be because it being women's month. It's scary how many face these challenges and can't just enjoy the gaming world. I can't say I have faced this as when I game it's either codm with my friends and hubby or on the community. My squad and hubby will quickly defend me if anyone tried. I think when I was younger I had one altercation in Warframe where I was still low-level and then ended up saying those two guys the time anyways but again had a really good friend on the mission soo if it got out of hand he would help me. It's sad to see others face this however and I truly wish it wasn't a thing. It doesn't need to be a guy or girl thing. This is one of those places where everyone can just enjoy the game for the game and it doesn't matter who you are as it's an even field. Its nothing to do with physical attributes but rather brain power and there we all have the same matter to work with some just have greater skill and others can improve if they want to. This week my squad hasn't done so well in codm and I remember telling them that you can't always win every game and we are here for the love of it not to dominate the whole time. Yes, winning is great but loss teaches as well. I think a lot of the time because guys are perceived as being the stronger gender losing in a game to a girl may have a negative impact on their ego and that's a reason they will attack her. I'm just spitballing I could be wrong.

[Saka]

Indeed, playing with friends will mostly mitigate the issue of meeting hostile players online. There's still a chance of getting flak from the opposing team though.

People should be able to play the games on their own too, not just in the comfort zone of a friendly circle. There should be more careful moderation online, people should be taking the consequences of their words. Getting restricted access to the game and bans for repeated offenses. Gender based harassment in games is pointless, because women can be extremely skilled players, too.

There needs to be more talk condemning verbal abuse online. So many people think they are anonymous in the Internet - when, in fact, that's not the case, more like pseudonymous - and assume they will never have to bear the consequences of their actions online. This is not okay.