The New York Times published a story about Miranda Pakozdi, who forfeited the Capcom Cross-Assault reality show / video game competition after her trainer, Aris Bakhtanians, told her to take her shirt off, asked about her bra size, smelled her and then said that sexual harassment is a part of the gaming community (he said it later, not while he was smelling her. That would’ve been even creepier). The article brings to light the bigger problem of the environment of harassment and general sexism in gaming.
Wait a second. There’s sexism in Gaming? You’ve
got
to
be
kidding
me
must be chilly in Scrooge McDuck’s vault
This problem has been around for a long time but is just now gaining mainstream attention as gaming becomes more mainstream. The problem is that the gaming community is full of awful, horrible people. Don’t believe me? Go buy an Xbox, play Call of Duty, throw on a headset and find out how a bunch of 14 year olds think you’re a nigger faggot.
Women gamers have it particularly bad, though. Just check out this blog called Fat, Ugly or Slutty which post screencaps from women either getting insulted, clumsily hit on or outright threatened.
The article also asks “how do you stop this?” Microsoft says they’re working on a way to better police online chatter but that doesn’t really get to the root of the problem. The article links a great piece by Erin Kissane called how to kill a troll but there’s an easier way to do this.
You gamers need to stop being so fucking gross.
Yes, you. If you’re an avid gamer and you’ve ever done any of this gross shit to a girl online, just stop. Seriously.
I get it. Why you’re like this. You started playing games obsessively because you had a hard time with social interaction. You played so much that you got really good and found some friends with the same interests. With just you and your like minded buddies you could just let the misogynistic slurs fly and you got comfortable talking like that. Now more girls are gaming and you’re supposed to change just because video games are commercially viable?
Yes. They’re people. They paid money to play a game and they deserve to play it without being harrassed. Stop asking to see their tits. It’s fucking gross.
Seriously.