Minorities are still facing harassment in gaming spaces
As a “girl gamer,” I have seen my fair share of men harassing and terrorizing women on gaming platforms for entertainment. People play games for a variety of reasons: to blow off steam, play with friends online, or even as a career. Unfortunately for those who play for pleasure, others play simply to inflict verbal and emotional distress on their teammates and opponents.
There is no limit people will go to make sure they can ruin someone’s day. Whether you are on Fortnite or Wizard101, you’re taking a risk just by logging into your account. Competitive games like Overwatch 2, Valorant, and Counter-strike: Global Offensive are filled with adolescent boys and grown men with incredibly dated and offensive humor. These jokes are always the same, and I can hear them right before I even join the lobby: “Is that a woman?” or the most classic one, “Get back in the kitchen where you belong!” More offensive and horrifying “jokes” are spewed before they are, often, eventually reported.
The real issue with this is not just the anti-feminist rhetoric, but that there are young boys who are being inspired by the adult men they hear on these platforms. As they begin to challenge women in games, they might also soon challenge and harass the women in their own lives. This is by no means meant to demonize men as a whole, but to hold them accountable for poisoning the minds of young boys to not only believe women are lesser than, but then treat women like they are less than.
Young girls have even fallen victim to this belief that they are not worthy of being respected, and others have gone on to harass other girls in games to validate their position as “one of the boys.” These gaming communities are riddled with ‘edgelords’ whose main priority is not winning, but causing disturbance for their entertainment.
Women are not the only group who face bigotry and hostility in the gaming community, as LGBTQIA+ people and people of color also experience racist, homophobic, transphobic, and sexist comments. Threats to harm, kill, assault, cyberstalk, and/or dox are commonly used as methods of humor or retaliation. Since these players are protected under a gamer tag, they don’t believe that they can, or will, face any consequences for their actions. In a way, they’re kind of right. Gaming platforms like Riot Games or Blizzard Entertainment are not doing enough to protect members of their community, as it is rare for players to be penalized for their actions and they often receive a slap on the wrist instead.
Personally, I have faced harassment based on my race, gender, and sexuality, by all kinds of people in most of the co-op video games I play. Trust me when I say that these communities have two sides: welcoming and insightful or toxic cesspool; There is no inbetween. I’ve made a lot of good and bad memories that I won’t soon forget. I've learned a lot about the people I surrounded myself with during my mid-to-late teens, but at some point realized that several of these people will never grow.
Female gamers are being harassed for simply existing, and that alone is disgusting. These offensive remarks are affecting the gaming experience for women and other minorities alike, and there are times when I considered quitting competitive games, even though I enjoyed them and looked forward to my daily matches. Women who experience harassment through these platforms may also consider quitting playing games they enjoy due to the amount of hate and toxicity they receive from non-female players.