Study – 63% of women polled report being harassed while gaming online

@50 “In other words, it has no real significance”

I’m gonna follow Steph’s lead then.

Not suprising. The online enviroment is full of behavior typical of childern. If you stoop to their level, they will treat you as if you too are another kid.

Online Experience May Vary And Is Not Rated By The ERSB.

There just isn’t any concept of maturaty. Hell, some of those players acting out prolly think doing so makes actualy makes them mature.

I do not play online on a console much at all anymore. I will not use a headset/mic unless I am in pvt chat with friends/family. And the online interaction of the comunity is the primary reason.

Beit sexual, gender, racial, national or otherwise, harrassment is harrassment. I do not like being harrassed. No one does. That is not why people play games. And I believe, esp when a services is a paid service(not to mention the investment of hardware/software, a person has the right to play the games without harrassment of any kind.

If I was a women, I wouldn’t ever plug a mic in. Ever. Because of course they are going to be the subject of sexual harrassment. It isn’t right. It shouldn’t be that way. But it is, and it isn’t going to change.

Again the online console game space is a kids playground. It is their world. I don’t enjoy playing games with them anymore then I would enjoy hanging out in an actual play ground.

Oh and DSB, seriously, shame on you.

Steph should know better than to run an article based on a random internet survey. And you should know better than to take it seriously.

I’m sure Steph has a lot of interesting things to say about this, but using a blatantly unscientific poll as the basis for the argument, just robs the article of credibility.

I know where DSB is coming from, and to a degree he’s right. You have to have thick skin. Everybody rips the piss out of everybody on the internet, it’s lovely really.

As women we don’t have the right to be “more” offended than anyone else. And if we’re being genuinely harassed, we should report it through normal channels like anybody else would.

However, one important thing to note here. An average white male gamer has very little about him that would encourage random harassment, whereas an average female gamer has her gender, which appears to encourage harassment and abuse on a far more regular basis.

So I think the real issue is that being female is something to pick on in the first place.

I’m not saying it’s right to pick on age or race either. But those are typically invisible on the internet, whereas being female on the internet is not so easy to hide, not if you are in a game with comms. Also bear in mind most profiles have a publicly visible gender field, but not so much for age or race.

Being female is a far more public “flaw” than any other, and so it’s easy to isolate and “bully”. I know you don’t like that word DSB, but it’s apt. It’s not unique to females, I’m sure lots of bullying goes on in general. But again, as a female, we can’t very easily hide the fact we are girls, unless we literally make fake profiles with male avatars and use a voice masking app (which would get you banned on xbox live for modding, hah!)

The only way you can really understand is to try to imagine what it’d be like to think twice before speaking in a game, because you would know it would immediately open the floodgates for random insults and weird sexytime messages. Imagine it happening every single time, more or less.

So perhaps it’s more to do with the fact it’s so frequent for women, and less easy to escape.

DSB no one is actualy taking the survey seriously. The subject matter, yes. The scientificly prudent process of the survey? The validity or importance of the actual survey? Hell no.

But the topic?

That is serious. And it is real. You know it is real, and that is why I am disapointed in you here, man your better then that. We know it is real. I have encountered if and seen it first hand. Obviously the ladies that frequent the site, including the staffers, have also felt it.

@Talkar: You are clearly thick-skinned, though it seems to be particularly thick around your skull.

Being called a cunt or a faggot is harassment, and it shouldn’t just be ignored simply because it’s online. If someone texted a similar insult to your cell phone, posted it in a note on your door, or spray painted it on your car, you probably wouldn’t care for that. None of those are face-to-face, but they’re still harassment, and should not be tolerated.

Why should anonymous internet assholes get a free pass? They shouldn’t. There should be some accountability. The point I think the article was making was that steps need to be taken to clean up the online gaming community. Just because you can ignore it, doesn’t mean that everyone else can or should ignore it too.

The types of insults mentioned in the article are cheap, vulgar and unsportsmanlike low blows. They are not trash talk, just trash.

Of course, many gamers want to have their own cyber romance while playing. nothing new.

@55 Honestly, I think the subject matter is partly a result of a games press that apparently doesn’t find games interesting enough to write about, on their own.

I think it’s turning molehills into mountains by force of sheer public exposure.

I don’t claim to see the world through the eyes of a woman, but like the academic clusterfuck that is “gender neutrality” (which I feel this whole issue springs from) I think it’s way out of proportion, and low on context.

Fact is a lot of people have problems listening to the stuff that gets thrown around online. The fact that someone uses the words “Tits” and “Slut” instead of “Cock” and “Fag” somehow becomes a defining difference.

When guys get attacked, it’s boys being boys. When women get attacked, we should all rally around them and protect them. Where’s the logic?

@54 I guess there’s bullying, and then there’s “bullying”. Trash talking is always going to be an attempt to dominate another person on some level or other, but when I think of the word bullying, I think of a person who puts a lot more effort into ruining someone elses day than that.

It’s really not easy for a lot of ethnicities to hide their race on a voice channel either. Some have dialects or accents, and they get slammed for it too.

I know I have it easy in that department, I’m a relatively common demographic, but I honestly didn’t like playing online at first either. People are vicious, but you have to know the difference between a dog’s bark and a dog’s bite.

I have to disagree with you DSB, I think the issue this article raises is important to the games industry, as it is apparently deciding if and how some people play certain games.

And it’s not limited to women. Harassment towards men is mentioned in the article as well, and you mentioned harassment based on race yourself. These are no more acceptable.

Anyone should be allowed to game online without being harassed. What I find slightly disturbing is that some gamers seem to think that trash talk means they can say whatever they like, that anything is fair game. It isn’t.

I think there is an appreciable difference between some insults and others, and those that don’t know the difference should be banned from communicating over the internet. How that would ever be enforced, I don’t know. But the last thing we should do is sit back and accept it as the norm.

I don’t think online “harassment” in games is harassment. It’s anonymous, nobody know who I am, it’s different than someone writing something on my door, on my car or even on Facebook.

Also it’s not the same thing like someone following me and screaming shit in my ear. Online you can just block, mute, quit or ignore it. In real life it’s much tougher to ignore someone that is physically near you or sending messages to your home.

I’ve also worked in retail, I was responsible for returns and I’ve told a couple of people to fuck off. It was almost funny to see their faces because they would never think I would say something like that. My boss was always on my side, just warned me to not threat to harm them. Thank god I don’t work at retail anymore.

My XBL inbox is full of abusive messages, and almost always has been.

To be honest, if it wasn’t, I might feel slightly disappointed.

Pretty much all of these sort of messages that I get are from people who I’ve beaten in a game, so I just take it a sign of how much better than them I am. If they’d have beaten me, they almost certainly wouldn’t have taken the time to go to my profile and then send me a ‘you stupid c**t’ or a ‘f**k you’ message.

All I send back is a simple ‘Learn to play’, which I can only imagine makes them even more frustrated.

Voice chat can be hilarious sometimes…

Once I was in a Gears of War lobby, and some American heard me speaking and said something about “n*gger lips” just before the game started. Of course, my character was Cole, and as the game went on, it eventually managed to come down me vs him as the last two people alive in the final round. I was out of ammo, so I picked up a sniper rifle, spotted him across the map and downed him with one shot. If you’ve ever played Gears online, you’ll know exactly what happens to players who are downed, just before the final execution.

Obviously, I took full advantage of his bodily position!

After the game, I asked him in a not so polite way just how much he enjoyed ‘the big black experience’. All he could do was laugh before leaving the lobby with nothing else to say.

This is how I personally deal with these people.

They’re there to win, so beating them and seeing them rage quit just makes my gaming session seem that much sweeter.

Obviously, not everyone is good enough to do that, but that’s how I deal with it.

With the amount of hours that I play online, learning to deal with it is a must.

@DSB, Er, I’m not female. Though the assumptions you leap too are telling. As Silk pointed out, guys do not really get ‘sexually harassed’. I know I’ve never been given shit online simply because I have penis.

And I doubt any of the guys here have either.

Another comment section overrun with three page long essays on ‘sexual harassment’ from people who want to convince themselves any difference between males and females beyond sexual organs is non existing and sexist.

Of course it must be that it’s more prevalent on consoles.

Beyond sexual organs, the hormones our different physiology’s produce and outside social influences, what are the differences between men and women?

And why would they warrant a different treatment than to someone your own sex?

Aside from those deciding ones, basically none. I’m just amazed at the race, let alone nationality analogies. Too much videogames feat sci-fi females I suppose.

I didn’t say there should be different ‘treatments’, you obviously can’t make fun of males in the same way though.

So many replies that handily explain the 63% (which is lower than I’d have expected).

There is zero doubt if you’re female you’re singled out for an additional level of harassment online which is over and above the simple name calling between or directed at males.

Of course, plenty of those online gaming males won’t want to admit that.

Whether the study is accurate or not is irrelevant. The issue is known and definite and you only have to play online for a few hours in games that feature some female voices to see it in action.

This topic has evolved quite a bit since my last comment. Can’t say I’m too surprised.

Anyway,

Steph so someone asks a picture of your tits so.. So what? What is the problem? If anything you should feel awesome because you are appreciated. Granted it’s only a physical appreciation but it still is appreciation. I wish girls would ask for photos of my penis. I wouldn’t send any but I would still feel awesome. Not that I’m not.. feeling awesome that is. But I’m just saying.. it wouldn’t hurt. Enjoy your weekend! I mean that. And remember! Ignorance is bliss!!

@20 Oh Michaela! What has he done!? The horror!!.. douchebag!

@33 About saying that “text can’t be considered sexual harrassment”. That was me. I said that. Oh and don’t bother with Michaela. She’s always like this. But hurt that is. Also, well said in 35!

@37 Word!

^”I wish girls would ask for photos of my penis”.

Forever alone

“If anything you should feel awesome because you are appreciated.”

I fucking love you roadkill.

@59 That would be an interesting subject to tackle. However, general harassment was never the focus of the online poll, or the subsequent article. It was about sexism levelled at women.

Emily Matthew quite obviously had her conclusion ready before she ever launched the poll, and predictably enough it supported the argument she was trying to make.

It’s bad methodology, and by extension it’s bad journalism.

It would be interesting to demand that the industry provide a response to this sort of thing, but that’s not what the article, or Stephs follow-up was about.

@62 Like a lot of the others you have a pretty easy time claiming that it’s different, but you don’t actually offer a reason why it’s different.

Guys get sexually, physically and racially harassed too.

“Of course it must be that it’s more prevalent on consoles.”

It isn’t some sort of PC elitest stuff DM. It has to do with the types of game experiences being played and the average age of the user playing them. Plus the system on which they are being played.

I played Diablo III yesterday, it doesn’t even have a voice chat. I also spent some time on GW2, samething. Not only do PC games not all have voice, but you can even send a direct msg to the GMs(many times) about abusive behavior. When playing WoW, I can click spam, or harrassment, and that whille perma block that player and report them. If someone continues to do harrass other players as they play, they will be flaged and consiquences will be had. And for the player being harrassed, the reactions are fast and imidiate. There is also a text log to fall back on. To see someone being harrassed in wow, Blizz simply looks at the text log. Plus on a PC game, your gender isn’t obvious to anyone. Neither is your race, sexuality or nationality.

What needs to happen is that this issue needs to be taken far more seriosly. Games needs to be monitored. And actions need to be taken. I would love to be a fly on the wall when some 12 yr kid tells his mom that he was banned from XB LIVE for harrassment.

Before you, DM, or DSB or whom ever tries to ignore the message I am saying, while looking for holes in the words to exploit, let me fill in a few things that should be obvious. First harrassment happens to BOTH genders. It is wrong in BOTH cases. Trash talk is no disguise or excuse for harrashment. Online chat is a public forum, no different then going to a movie theater or an arcade. Of course harrashment happens on PC games as well as console games. Of course it happens on PS3 as well as XB360. Of course you can report harrashment on LIVE. Of course gamers of all ages play both consoles and PCs(but don’t kid yourself on this one, what are mommy and daddy more likly to buy little johnny for xmass: a xbox with CoD or a PC with GW2?) And of course adults, as well as kids, are part of the problem at hand.

So did I just drasticly counterdict myself? No. While many things in life can be spoken about in generalities, every rule has an exception. It has been my observation that most of the time people are arguring over the expections to a situation when someone else talks about the generalness of the subject at hand. Either people are ignorant(some are), or they just wanna troll a subject(some do, perhaps they are bored or just want to argue).

I’m not denying that sexism is a problem.

I’m saying that it doesn’t qualify as a crisis to anyone but the media, and academics who bring home the bacon by using hyperbole.

It seems to me that people agree that women aren’t the only ones who get slammed online, so how can it possibly be good and proper that they get singled out through articles like these?

It takes attention away from the actual issue. What is a general problem with peoples attitude towards eachother, is portrayed as a specific problem with peoples attitude towards women. I reckon it just makes for a better headline.

“I’m saying that it doesn’t qualify as a crisis to anyone but the media, and academics who bring home the bacon by using hyperbole.”

Lets say you have a 14 year old daughter that wants to play a bit if Halo online DSB, does that change your perception?

No one was saying that Only females get harrassed or that harrassment of females was a more important problem that non gender based harrassment. The only agruement that even distinguishes one gender from the other is that in voice chat you can’t hide the fact that your female.

And that fact alone brings on harrassment. It isn’t that one form of harrassment is less or worse then the other. But if you are female, and you’re playing online, you are going to almost always and instantly be a target. That fact alone DOES warrent distinction between male and female gender based harrassment.

@73 And you feel that’s helpful, how?

You could choose to look at one race too, if you wanted to. Or men. All that would accomplish would be to railroad the actual issue, which is that people get slammed online, no matter who they are, or what they have between their legs.

The fact that blacks get slammed, doesn’t mean hispanics or asians don’t. The fact that women get slammed, doesn’t mean that men don’t.

How far do you want to derail the discussion by singling out groups for no reason, before you write an article about the actual issue, which is that anonymity + audience = fuckwad?

“Lets say you have a 14 year old daughterl that wants to play a bit if Halo online DSB, does that change your perception?”

That’s the kind of emotion baiting cheap shot I’d like to see people stand up against, especially through the media.

Like I said, running with “women” instead of “people” makes for a better headline, precisely due to that sort of innately programmed sentimentality. We feel sorry for our girls, while we expect our boys to get over it.

You’re saying that my daughter needs my protection more than my son? So even though my son is perfectly capable of playing Halo and taking what comes his way, my daughters honor needs to be protected like the holy grail?

That’s not gender equality, that’s gender favoritism.

@70, I’m not sure I see what your getting at? Are you suggesting that Men suffer from sexual harassment from Women, to the same extent Women get harassed by Men?

I think Roadkills desire for Women to actually ask him for pictures of his penis, reveal just how much attention the male gamer receives online.

“You’re saying that my daughter needs my protection more than my son”

No. But I am saying that your daughter would be a target more then your son.

“That’s not gender equality, that’s gender favoritism”

No it isn’t. It is understanding the scope and nature of the problem.

I don’t think anyone is saying that female based harrassment is worse then other forms. Not sure why you keep going there.

Oh well, you’re 90 percent right old man. Aside from that PC having an inferior online service =p.

Dsb being a Google based conscious butthurt brain as usual I see.

“Lets say you have a 14 year old daughterl that wants to play a bit if Halo online DSB, does that change your perception?”

Put her voice chat and profile on friends only!

Remember our conversation on this topic in the forum, OG?

I’ve no idea why you keep insisting that it’s impossible to avoid abuse on a console, when you keep getting told just how easy it is over and over again…

There’s no way you can harass even a black guy as easy as you can a female, in contrast to males.

Oh you, hungarian twat.. Yeah, that’s very insulting. No you, brazilian nerd.

But what your doing G1GA is limiting the way she can play. Your in a sense saying that she can’t fully use the service. Lets say your name is Silk or Steph, an adult, paying for the service, you can’t use the same level of features, safely, w/o harrassment, in the same manor as a male.

She can’t discuss in game strategy. For example.

So, what, G1GA, you don’t think there is a problem then? Just a bunch of women belly aching and blowing hot smoke about nothing, then? Well they are just over sensitive and emotional anyways, amirite?

Besides, after all, they could just not talk.

G1GA when it comes to civil rights, esp gender equality, you sure have some strange(to me) views.

I am done in this subject, a lot like Steph, I am just going to get pissed. You can’t fight ignorance. There is nothing to debate. Either people get it or they don’t. And, sadly, many don’t.

I am going to go see if I can set my NFL Fantasy roster, the seaons is about to ramp up, and my wife beat me(badly) last year. I need to at least make it respectable this year lol.

As a proud, black, American, man I have been called every variation of every typical racist word in existence (pretty often). While I surely don’t like it, it hasn’t stopped me from playing online mp, nor has it stopped me from using my mic. I’ll be damned if some punk ass kid is going to stop me from doing something I thoroughly enjoy. I used to crack jokes at them and argue. Now I’ve begun to tell them that I love them as a brother, no matter what they say. Usually they leave, frustrated with their own ridiculousness. That, or I just MUTE them. This type of behavior is deplorable, but there are numerous ways to filter it if you like.

@79 ” There’s no way you can harass even a black guy as easy as you can a female, in contrast to males.” You are so wrong. You have no experience, and no clue.

Well, I’m not into starting a debate featuring the best examples of both worlds..

@83, Yes that would be best left to another quiet Sunday I think

“So, what, G1GA, you don’t think there is a problem then? Just a bunch of women belly aching and blowing hot smoke about nothing, then? Well they are just over sensitive and emotional anyways, amirite?”

Wow. Why don’t you try actually reading what I wrote, OG?

Let’s try again, shall we…?

“Put her voice chat and profile on friends only!”

Notice the last two words there?

FRIENDS ONLY!

I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth, and you should apologise for that, actually. I never said anything about not talking, and you’ve just made that up completely.

At the end of the day, online gaming requires the internet. So a 14yo girl requires protecting from the evils of online gaming, just like she would from the evils of the any open web browser.

Or are you telling me that you just let your kids go to any website that they want, and talk to any paedophile that may be lurking around?

So if you “limit” how they play the game, you’re doing what’s actually your job, and being a good parent.

When she’s old enough, if you’ve done your job properly, she should be intelligent enough to make the right choices herself.

It’s not about restriction, it’s about responsibility.

“FRIENDS ONLY!

I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth, and you should apologise for that, actually. I never said anything about not talking, and you’ve just made that up completely.”

And you only play CoD with friends G1GA?

“When she’s old enough, if you’ve done your job properly, she should be intelligent enough to make the right choices herself.

It’s not about restriction, it’s about responsibility.”

So what your saying is that because Steph, Silk, and other female incur harrassment and abuse online – they are what:

“not intelligent enough”

and/or

didn’t “make the right choices herself”

or, perhaps:

“its about responsibility”?

And that is what I mean about not argueing the points/message. Your zeroing in on just one example instead of looking at the big picture. Sure as a parent, sure you are watchfull. But adult women gamers are not childeren and do not need looking after.

Your placing the blame everywhere else, except where it belongs. Female gamers don’t bring the abuse on themself. They didn’t do a darn thing wrong because they are female and want to use the voice chat feature online. The blame is clearly on the people that are doing the harrassment.

It’s pretty fucking sad that this is even being argued.

Laughable are the people who think women need to just suck it up and deal with it, but it comes as no surprise that the boys (because using the term men to describe them is an insult to my gender) in this thread with such attitudes are people with severe bullying tendencies.

You either have respect for women, or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re a pig.

“And you only play CoD with friends G1GA?”

Maybe I do. For all you know, I only ever play CoD in a party, so I never interact with other players. What does it matter?

What does it have to do with your ridiculous example?

Ok, fair enough. If you’re going to go into hard headed mode, I’m going to talk to you like a hard headed person should be spoken to. You brought it on yourself.

You brought the example of a 14yo girl taking abuse in Halo.

A FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL.

No one’s talking about about Steph, silky or any other adult woman. The subject at issue in this point is a young girl.

YOU weren’t talking about about adults, YOU were talking SPECIFICALLY about a 14yo girl.

You’re OBSESSED with “OMPFPSs” (only on console, though) being some kind of evil cancer eating away at gaming, so you brought this completely stupid example of a 14yo girl not being able to play a game without taking abuse.

You can’t get it into your head that all you anyone needs to do to avoid interacting with scum is to change a few simple settings, and you keep repeating the same idiotic gibberish over, and over, and over again, like some sort of goldfish. You get told repeatedly that all you need to do is change a setting. Then you even ADMIT that this is the case, then two days later, you’re at it again!

What is wrong with you? Are you ok? Do you need help?

Stop talking utter nonsense! If you can’t handle abuse, change the setting or jog on.

For your information, I mostly play Free For All, and yes, I play with my mic plugged out. 90% of the time, as soon as I hear anyone speak, I mute them, no matter what they may have said, because I want to concentrate on the game. For MW3, I’ve played about 200 hours online, with the vast majority of that being FFA, where I didn’t chat with anyone.

So what are you going to say now?

I’m not enjoying the game??

Just you think about that before you respond.

“Female gamers don’t bring the abuse on themself.”

blah,blah, blah… Quote me in this entire thread where I’ve even mentioned anything about adult female gamers.

If you can’t, and if you continue to accuse me of sexism, without me even coming close to stating my opinion on this matter, then I’m going to accuse you of Islamophbia and racism, because I’m black and a Muslim.

Let’s see how you like stupidly unfounded accusations being thrown at you.

I haven’t said anything about women taking abuse online. I saw your stupid attempt to bring the same old “OMPFPSs are teh baad cuz of teh sxeizm and racializmz dat dey don’t like me.” argument, so I responded.

That reminds me, I’ve been playing in the PS2 beta for awhile now and I may just be lucky or the time I’ve been playing or whatever, but I haven’t gotten any grief yet, so hopefully that’ll last.

If you don’t like being harassed in an online game, you mute them, if they are sending you messages that frankly go too far, you block & report them. I’ve heard the harassment that goes on towards a girl in games like Halo & frankly, they should be saluted for simply putting that mic on, sexual harassment is inevitable. If the harassment goes too far, again you report them. You can’t control how ‘tards act & complaining to anyone but the service provider is pointless. We already get that people are stupid but telling everyone that time & time again won’t stop anything.

Guys always get so reactionary to these kinds of stories though, don’t we? Just ignore them, it’s only text. Get some thick skin and calm down.

Geez.

“Online you can just block, mute, quit or ignore it.”

I believe it was your own son (comment #60) who wrote this, OG.

Strange that he seems more savvy on this subject than you do…

@89 Braindead games tend to attract more braindead people.

@93 You really are an elitist cunt.

You can prove anything with statistics…

Vg247 seem to be doing a lot of ‘gender’ articles recently, helps with clicks I suppose…

This ‘so-called’ survey sounds like an absolute load of shite to me.

The horrible fact is… EVERYONE gets abuse online from 11 year old children who shouldn’t be allowed to play 18 rated games.

It’s not exclusive, and attaching percentages onto this is a joke.

@94

He is the ‘people’s poet’…

This is bullshit. If you’re too emotional and get offended playing online with strangers then just play with friends you know. If you’re minor you shouldn’t even play online with strangers. End of story.

Also there’s too much pussies in this world. I hope you “men” like Ireland Micheal never go to war because now you’ll have 10000 reasons to be offended, real reasons.

Remember the tag line of Ogrish? “Can you handle life?”. Yeah, that’s real life. So stop crying because someone said you’re a faggot or ask you to show your tits. Just ignore them, you’ll live. Think that at the same time somewhere someone is getting is throat cut.

@97, Your such a dick.

@97 If you thought like that it would eat away at you, about people staving, homeless or getting killed by one another you’d never be happy.

That’s not even thinking about living in some parts of the world I would have far less rights just for being a woman, and killed if they learnt of my sexuality.

Things being worse in other places of the world, doesn’t mean we should just give a free pass to these people and their unacceptable behavior online, the whole “you’re not dead in a gutter so suck it up” doesn’t fly as much as you wish it would.

But what is the problem with ignoring, blocking, reporting or muting other players? That is what it’s there for after all. Seems like a pretty easy fix to separate those abusive people from yourself.

I have never really had a problem with abuse online but then I don’t use my mic in random online games. On the times I do I’m happy to mute people for just talking or playing music over their mic.

It’s also not a console-only problem. To say that people can’t be dicks on other platforms, such as the PC, is just ridiculous.