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Dozens of Women in Gaming Speak Out About Sexism and Harassment (nytimes.com) 262

More than 70 people in the gaming industry, most of them women, have come forward with allegations of gender-based discrimination, harassment and sexual assault since Friday. They have shared their stories in statements posted to Twitter, YouTube, Twitch and the blogging platform TwitLonger. From a report: The outpouring of stories from competitive gamers and streamers, who broadcast their gameplay on platforms like Twitch for money, led to the resignation of the C.E.O. of a prominent talent management company for streamers and a moment of reflection for an industry that has often contended with sexism, bullying and allegations of abuse. Already, the response has been a far cry from Gamergate in 2014, when women faced threats of death and sexual assault for critiquing the industry's male-dominated, sexist culture. Now, some are optimistic that real change could come.

Gamers began sharing their stories after a Twitter user who posts as Hollowtide tweeted about an unnamed "top" player of the online game Destiny on Friday night, referring to the person as a "scum lord." Three female streamers, JewelsVerne, SheSnaps and SchviftyFive, saw the post and decided to come forward about their experiences with the gamer in question, who is known online both as Lono and SayNoToRage. The women posted their allegations, including nonconsensual touching, propositioning for sex and harassment, on Twitter using their streamer handles.

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Dozens of Women in Gaming Speak Out About Sexism and Harassment

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  • I predict (Score:2, Insightful)

    The comments will be a total shit show.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    The developer of A Night in the Woods committed suicide when certain parties made unsubstantiated accusations against him. His accuser was a woman. All his friends and coworkers distanced themselves from him. Whether the accusation or sudden isolation caused it, he took his own life.

    The media needs to be more careful when handling this sorts of stories.
    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Pluvius ( 734915 )

      Not just a woman, but the woman whose affair with a journalist sparked Gamergate. Which should make you question the media narrative (as illustrated in the summary above) surrounding that whole event.

      Rob

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      These allegations are made in the media _exactly_ because the media is not careful. If there was enough substance and proof to the allegations, going to the police would work fine. But there is not. It is difficult to say how many of the allegations are true, how many are vastly inflated and how many are straight lies. But the media does not care. They will happily destroy the alleged evildoers whether they are guilty or not. The court system is a lot more careful and even has penalties for false accusation

  • Good luck. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pascoea ( 968200 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @02:43PM (#60218538)

    Now, some are optimistic that real change could come.

    I guess we can hope, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm a male and I can't even stand the way people are treated online, especially online gaming. Being continuously raged at by some shit-eating teenager doesn't do it for me, I avoid mutli-player gaming because of it. I'm not trying to downplay these women's issues, I'm saying I get it. I choose to not participate, they are choosing to fight back. Good on them.

    • by laxguy ( 1179231 )
      why not just mute and ignore? thats what most people do. i literally havent heard anyone yell anything at me in the last 10 years of online gaming.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      This is far more serious than just some random foul mouthed kid in an online game. This is the people in charge, the bosses, the people supposed to be helping streamers develop, abusing their power.

      • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
        I certainly don't disagree with you, those issues go right along side of the toxic online culture. Again, good on them for pushing back. (And when I say those issues "go right along", I mean they need to be fixed as well.)
    • No matter where you go in life, there will always be someone there trying to shout you down and push you out. Avoiding certain spaces (eg. online games) is fine, but eventually not building strength to stand up to that will lead you to a life of ruin. Every single identity group protesting now, ho point their fingers at another group and say "they need to change!", is in for a nasty surprise.
    • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      Online PvP gaming, where the P stands for purse, as gamers by publisher supplied cheats, not to win but to make all the people they beat miserable, trying to fuck up their gaming with pay to win advantges. Personally I found that environment to be quite toxic by it's nature and avoid it, it does attract large numbers of psychopaths and narciccists and makes for quite a bad experience.

      I have found over the decades, the greater the PvP element in a co-op game the worse the gamers it attracts. Nothing but PvP

  • From MsMash? (Score:2, Interesting)

    I'm shocked, I tell you! Shocked! That comment aside, I'm a plenty liberal guy who knows Trump is a narcissistic lunatic and plan to hold my nose and vote for Biden after going third party in 2016, but even this feels like a bit much for me. You know who gets death threats and hostile comments in online games? GAMERS. You get cursed if you're good, you get belittled if you're bad, you get griefed, and then ridiculed for camping, and all manner of online anger, and it has nothing to do with your sex. I
  • Right after midsummer, as usual.

  • by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @03:09PM (#60218684)

    I looked at the article thinking that this was a legitimate complaint from women employed by game studios or private industry where such behavior is inexcusable and it may be possible to make a change. No. We're talking about streamers and "competitive gamers" (whatever the fuck that is) who are out amongst the unwashed masses.

    Sorry, but you're on your own. Welcome to one of the most toxic communities on Earth, forged in the firey pits of raging hormones, hammered by the unassailable wall of great distances and pseudo-anonymity, and set by the inherent insecurities of heavy competition and limited rewards. And you think it's just because you're a woman that you're put down. You really haven't been paying attention.

    Sorry girls, you're on your own. That's not a safe space for literally anyone at all, and you're deluding yourself if you think you're changing it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      I don't really see why that matters. They're not signing up to the 'rape threat and sexual assault' competitive gaming scene, they're just trying to play video games for money.

      The problem is exactly that we think that this is somehow an acceptable space for bad behaviour towards women. It's not. Why are those somehow a part of the culture? Why should it be? What value does it bring?

      Maybe we can just...not? I've been a competitive swimmer and cyclist for decades now, and cycling especially can get heated bec

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      eSports are a thing now, welcome to the 21st century. It's a multi billion dollar industry, as is streaming. People do it as a career and make decent money from it.

      It's highly organised, it's not just individuals on their own.

      • Video games are a multibillion dollar industry (~$11B), competitive gaming is well under $1B, about $700M assuming you include all of the streaming that isn't actually competitive gaming, just streaming about gaming (competitive or otherwise, including how to beat angry birds).

        Regardless, if it's organized and contracts are signed, these women can hire lawyers. Otherwise they are limited by the much lower bar of criminal law, and for the record you can get the police to hunt down rape texts, I've helped my

    • Competitive is different from abusive. Harassment in the the online world is not that different from harassment in the physical world. There is no reason to tolerate female competitors being treated any differently from male competitors.

      Aggressive play *in the game* is fine, but that is different from out of game harassment.

      What excuse is there for harassing women in games? How does their gender change how they play?

    • and "competitive gamers" (whatever the fuck that is)

      I think we've figured out all we need to know about your grasp of the online gaming world.

      Sorry, but you're on your own. Welcome to one of the most toxic communities on Earth

      I'm curious where you draw the line. I mean you seem to acknowledge there's a real problem but couldn't be fucked even giving verbal support to resolving it. What next, walk past someone being raped in the street because it was their fault for coming out in a skit? Where's your moral threshold for giving a shit and wanting to improve the world?

      Or have you simply been ground down into weakness over the years, powerless

  • by MysteriousPreacher ( 702266 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @03:11PM (#60218688) Journal

    With so many reports we will surely see police reports, followed by prosecutions. Maybe some civil suits filed?

    Any day now...

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Right because those things have had good results in the past.

    • With so many reports we will surely see police reports, followed by prosecutions. Maybe some civil suits filed?

      Any day now...

      If you read TFA you'd understand why people would feel sharing their stories would achieve more than filing a police report or attempting a civil suit with a body that doesn't give a fuck and is powerless to stop it.

      No seriously read TFA and then come back and tell us what you think a police report would achieve in any of the situations mentioned.

      • Reports of assault in the document can be reported. That doesnâ(TM)t mean all will result in prosecutions or convictions, but itâ(TM)s better than this public kangaroo court.

        Some of those stories certainly couldnâ(TM)t be brought to the police on account of the claimant being a joke. Consider this: âoe The exec prod would get me wasted weekly to take advantage with sexual interactions. As far as I know no intercourse, but he has told others we did.â

        Heâ(TM)d get her wasted each

  • If you play on public servers anything you do that gives any information about you will be used and twisted by people to try to get a rise out of you. They will use your particular sex, race, nationality as a basis for harassment. It does not matter what it is, they will find a way to use it against you. They will use the most crass language you've ever read and they know how to tweak it to get around language filters but the meaning is still clear. You either find a server or a game that works for you or y
  • by eepok ( 545733 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @05:20PM (#60219400) Homepage

    I have lost much of my patience for people who claim to be wronged/harmed by others online and then take to the media/social media to find a solution.

    If you have been wronged or harmed, file a police report and alert the offender of the report being filed. Provide a case number. Tell the person that if they continue with the harassment, you will follow up on the report. And then do so.

    Nothing changes without taking ACTUAL action. "Calling out" is not actual action. It's a PR attack that can be defended with appropriate counter-PR.

    Report the criminal. Prosecute the criminal. Punish the criminal. Advertise that the laws regarding this crime is being enforced.

    • If you have been wronged or harmed, file a police report and alert the offender of the report being filed. Provide a case number. Tell the person that if they continue with the harassment, you will follow up on the report. And then do so.

      I have a better idea. Why not just shout at a wall. No seriously in what fucking country anywhere in the entire world do you think a police report would achieve anything. No let me go one better, in what fucking country anywhere in the world would an officer of any police force even take you seriously enough to file this complaint.

      Nothing changes without taking ACTUAL action.

      That I agree with. Now maybe if you came up with actual action these people could take we could work towards solving the problem. Right now you've proposed not only a solution tha

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