Sexism and abuse isn't only on Twitter: one woman's gaming experience

[All Along The Watchtower]

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More: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2013/jul/30/sexism-abuse-twitter-woman-gaming-experience

Pretty sickening, but I can't say I'm too surprised.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

There are disgusting people on the Internet. News at 11.

[All Along The Watchtower]

There are disgusting people on the Internet. News at 11.

Read the whole article, bro. Not only was this woman harassed and threatened multiple times, she was the one who was blamed for it. What's more, the people who tormented her were not held responsible for their behavior but rewarded, in one way or another.

There are many, many other stories similar to this, and not just on the Internet.

[Beet]

Sexism is still a very powerful force.

This has always been the case, but we're seeing more of it now as social media both reduced people's inhibitions and increased the variety of people who can interact with each other.

You don't see it very much "out in the open" for obvious reasons.

But when people think they can get away with it you see it come out.

[Kitteh]

The thing about this is, it's not [just] that people who hang out on the internet tend to be idiots. It's that people are much more uninhibited about saying what they really think from behind a computer screen than they are in real life. Which is even more scary if you think about it.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

There are disgusting people on the Internet. News at 11.

Read the whole article, bro. Not only was this woman harassed and threatened multiple times, she was the one who was blamed for it. What's more, the people who tormented her were not held responsible for their behavior but rewarded, in one way or another.

There are many, many other stories similar to this, and not just on the Internet.

I did; that she was blamed for being harassed and ultimately banned for it is absolutely despicable. It also doesn't surprise me in the slightest, which says something about our culture.

And Drj is also right.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Bullying and abuse on the internet is a pretty repulsive thing that isn't really getting any better, sadly. Games, social media, chatrooms; it's not treated as seriously as it should be just about anywhere.

[Хahar 🤔]

Bullying and abuse on the internet is a pretty repulsive thing that isn't really getting any better, sadly. Games, social media, chatrooms; it's not treated as seriously as it should be just about anywhere.

You might know something about that.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As Libertarian as I tend to be, I think this is one place where government could and should make a difference.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is utterly sickening. Not the harassment in itself as much as the the fact it was condoned and actually even encouraged by the game's staff. Rape culture is alive and well, even in so-called "modern" societies...

[dead0man]

I'm assuming it's WoW.  I just asked the wife as she played it for a few years and yes, she said that dudes could be dicks, but she never had the problems this lady had.  I've played many many hours with her on various First Person Shooters and those guys can be asshats too, thankfully there is less time to type on those and it's easy to ignore them.

[Leftbehind]

I'm assuming it's WoW.  I just asked the wife as she played it for a few years and yes, she said that dudes could be dicks, but she never had the problems this lady had.  I've played many many hours with her on various First Person Shooters and those guys can be asshats too, thankfully there is less time to type on those and it's easy to ignore them.

Well I've heard about the practice of "protecting" female gamers, thus ruining it for her and propagating chauvinism at the same time - that's the level of dickish I expected. Not the kind described in the article - a term like dickishness doesn't really do it justice.

[Cory]

Somebody got talked smack to on the internet. Whatever.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Somebody got talked smack to on the internet. Whatever.

Looks like you haven't read the article. Or else you are utterly incapable of basic human compassion. Considering your views on genetics and judicial issues, I can't exclude this possibility.

[traininthedistance]

Absolutely disgusting, horrifying, and completely 100% expected. 

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

As Libertarian as I tend to be, I think this is one place where government could and should make a difference.

by doing what?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As Libertarian as I tend to be, I think this is one place where government could and should make a difference.

by doing what?

Mainly by allowing suits against the service provider on a class action basis for permitting a hostile online environment to thrive.  Threatened rape, even if supposedly in jest, is not something that should generally be tolerated online.  About the only exception would be adult websites where people explicitly come to engage in rape fantasies.  (Why anyone would fantasize about being raped is beyond my comprehension, but there apparently are people who do.)  The same goes for threatened real life violence in general.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

I was actually talking to a friend of mine about this today. He mentioned that one of his issues with this is that people often see this as against only one gender. To an extent, he is correct -- this sort of douchebaggery happens to everyone -- women just get a bit more of the brunt.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

As Libertarian as I tend to be, I think this is one place where government could and should make a difference.

by doing what?

Mainly by allowing suits against the service provider on a class action basis for permitting a hostile online environment to thrive.  Threatened rape, even if supposedly in jest, is not something that should generally be tolerated online.  About the only exception would be adult websites where people explicitly come to engage in rape fantasies.  (Why anyone would fantasize about being raped is beyond my comprehension, but there apparently are people who do.)  The same goes for threatened real life violence in general.

that would probably shut down online interactive gaming. no service provider is going to want to risk hosting a game if they are constantly worried about class action suits.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Or they could actually take some steps to curb abusive players.  Right now it is in their economic interest to let them be abusive, especially if they are players willing to pay for premium items. This would change the equation and I fail to see how it would be any more problematic for them than sexual harassment lawsuits in the workplace.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Or they could actually take some steps to curb abusive players.  Right now it is in their economic interest to let them be abusive, especially if they are players willing to pay for premium items. This would change the equation and I fail to see how it would be any more problematic for them than sexual harassment lawsuits in the workplace.

If you are talking about suing ISPs I don't see how they'd be in a position to actively monitor and intervene in these situations. That would be hard enough for the company actually running the game. Do they have anything like moderators, or is that even possible?  Isn't so much of these interactions between players that others aren't in a position to witness? 

[Antonio the Sixth]

And it's not only on the internet, either. What a horrible world we live in.

[rejectamenta]

An anonymous commenter is abused in an unspecified game with millions of users that apparently requires your name, address, phone number and Facebook profile to register, and when she files a complaint she is personally banned by the CEO himself while her personal details are leaked to the public by disgruntled employees, some of which are players (perhaps even paying customers, we don't know) promoted to GM status in-house.  Oh, and the only testimony to this is a blog post on a news website.

Forgive my skepticism, but this sounds like a cautionary yarn.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Or they could actually take some steps to curb abusive players.  Right now it is in their economic interest to let them be abusive, especially if they are players willing to pay for premium items. This would change the equation and I fail to see how it would be any more problematic for them than sexual harassment lawsuits in the workplace.

If you are talking about suing ISPs I don't see how they'd be in a position to actively monitor and intervene in these situations. That would be hard enough for the company actually running the game. Do they have anything like moderators, or is that even possible?  Isn't so much of these interactions between players that others aren't in a position to witness? 

No, I'm talking about suing the game companies.  It would be fairly trivial software wise to log all chatroom chatter and look at it when there is an allegation of abuse.  Obviously, they aren't going to monitor all chat live.  It would be prohibitively expensive and it isn't needed.  Now if the chat took place via chat facilities not provided by the company, then obviously the responsibility would lie with the chat host.