tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/gamergate-14779/articlesGamergate – The Conversation2023-07-25T18:53:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102572023-07-25T18:53:58Z2023-07-25T18:53:58ZWhat the ‘NPC streaming’ TikTok trend spells for the future of gaming and erotic work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538915/original/file-20230724-20-6acg1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1194%2C619&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Livestreaming represents an increasingly important part of social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54asYsgnRM">(KnowYourMeme)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/what-the-npc-streaming-tiktok-trend-spells-for-the-future-of-gaming-and-erotic-work" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>“Yes, yes… mmm, mmm ice cream so good,” coos a platinum-haired woman known on TikTok as Pinkydoll. Holding a hair straightener, she plays with popcorn kernels and audibly pops her lips. Your screen brightens with emojis of food, roses and stars purchased by her audience. What are we watching? Why?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tiktok-npc-livestream-pinkydoll-1.6916479">Pinkydoll</a> is a Montréal-based social media creator who has become the face of TikTok’s latest trend: NPC streaming. The trend draws its name from the non-playable characters (NPCs) of video games. Think of background characters that might perform a few preprogrammed lines or actions.</p>
<p>NPC streamers perform a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue, cartoonish stares and physical jolts for no purpose besides ambience in a virtual world. In July 2023, videos featuring creators like Pinkydoll — mostly thin, conventionally attractive women — went viral to the confusion of millions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/19/tiktok-npc-streaming-live-stream-pinkydoll">Top content creators can earn thousands of dollars a day</a> online. With this trend, more TikTokers have found incentive to become living game pieces for a digital public. <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">Pinkydoll credits the backgrounds citizens of the <em>Grand Theft Auto</em> video game as the inspiration for her performances</a>. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akvdw/npc-livestream-trend-pinkydoll-tiktok">Some touted NPC-ing as a triumph for “fetish videos</a>.” Others argue that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/21/pinkydoll-npc-tiktok-sex-work-not-fetish-content/">labelling NPC content as “fetish” expands digital surveillance and moral panic against sex workers</a>.</p>
<p>A number of popular NPC streamers also produce paywalled adult content on sites like OnlyFans. The rise of NPC streaming showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.</p>
<h2>Livestreamers as our ‘playthings’</h2>
<p>Livestreaming represents an increasingly vital part of the social media business models of companies like YouTube and Instagram. Their apps offer an easy interface between broadcasters and audiences, who interact with each other in real-time via voice and chat. </p>
<p>TikTok offers live video streaming to users with at least 1,000 followers. NPC streamers are thus already established creators familiar with commodifying our attention.</p>
<p>NPC streaming depends on the purchase and posting of “gifts.” Buying an NPC streamer a virtual gift triggers a chain reaction of the absurd: the gift will appear in a creator’s stream as emojis like ice cream cones, balloons, or even squids. NPC streamers then react accordingly to the specific image on their screen. Squeals, catchphrases, lip smacking and a myriad of gestures result. These broadcasts offer built-in incentives to keep engagement going.</p>
<p>Scholars have previously used “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415619474">gift economy</a>” to describe the <em>unpaid</em> rewards that prompt us to share with each other (for example, writing fan fiction without remuneration). In NPC streaming, not only is gifting tied to real-world currency; but gifts incite the streamer to <em>move</em>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The NPC streaming trend involves performing a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue and actions.</span></figcaption>
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<p>TikTok’s transactional approach to intimacy is not new. Amazon’s Twitch platform remains an exemplary case of a streaming platform that sells live interaction, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/746173/monthly-active-streamers-on-twitch/">with more than seven million active streamers</a>. Dominated by professional gamers, Twitch operates a similar model where viewers accrue Channel Points for as long as they are watching a stream. With Channel Points, users can buy special emojis to be used in chats. They can also be redeemed to purchase subscriptions, which put real money in streamers’ pockets.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607221103204">The parallels between livestreaming and webcam work have just begun to be academically recognized</a>. Like the NPCs of TikTok, Twitch gamers render their bodies as intimate interfaces. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/gszv8m/using_channel_points_to_workout_and_engage_with/">As reflected by one Twitch streamer’s advice for colleagues</a>, it is not uncommon for game streamers to set a “Bathroom Break” and “Hydration Break” as “achievements” (or commands) that viewers can purchase for their streamer to perform on demand.</p>
<p>Game streamers like Ludwig Ahgren have taken the sale of control further. In 2021, the Twitch creator broke records with <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">a 31-day continuous livestream from his home</a>. For every subscription received, Ahgren would extend the livestream by 10 seconds, <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">leading to over US$1.4 million from those who subscribed</a>. </p>
<p>In this context, NPC streamers are just the latest genre of creators who divide their bodies into marketplaces of intimacy.</p>
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<h2>What’s new is old in gamer patriarchy</h2>
<p>With their predilection for shocking wigs, filters and revealing outfits, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/welcome-to-planet-egirl/">NPC streamer aesthetics bear a stark familiarity to the archetypes of controversial gamer “e-girls”</a>: a once sexist slur from eSports that <a href="https://kotaku.com/young-women-are-reclaiming-the-word-egirl-1836738879">women gamers have reclaimed for themselves in recent years</a>. Like e-girls, NPC streamers have been received as anti-heroines who have gamed our eyeballs into profit. </p>
<p>When women gain our attention for money, we pay attention to the figures. The media fixation on Pinkydoll echoes back specifically to the scandalous reaction to e-girl creator Belle Delphine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080930">who made headlines in 2017 for selling her own “Gamer Girl” bathwater for US$30 a bottle</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, many commentators have quoted the US$7,000 per day Pinkydoll has earned from streaming. However, TikTok alone did not pay her bills. According to the creator, <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">the money is a collective sum from her streaming and adult content</a>. </p>
<p>The economics of online fame are closely tied to a more invisible economy of online sex work. This is happening as the internet becomes increasingly unkind to erotic content creators. Anti-sex work movements such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-online-safety-bill-could-allow-censorship-of-anyone-who-engages-with-sexual-content-on-the-internet-154739">FOSTA-SESTA</a> legislation in the U.S. and <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/instagram-removing-sex-positive-accounts-without-warning">Meta’s purges of kink accounts</a> are linked to growing online hostility toward those who sell intimacy, regardless of if they identify as sex workers. </p>
<p>In gamer cultures, a similar paranoia pervades against women seen to be “weaponizing” their sexuality. Twitch’s female game streamers operate in the shadow of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/20/20808875/gamergate-lessons-cultural-impact-changes-harassm">2014 GamerGate</a> harassment campaign.</p>
<p>NPC streaming gives creators a new avenue to earn money online. Understanding how different bodies, practices and agencies are received — and strategically surrendered — is essential to building safer play and work in social media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine H. Tran receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>There’s more to NPC streaming than strange gimmicks. The rise of the trend showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.Christine H. Tran, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900682022-09-09T14:35:45Z2022-09-09T14:35:45ZHow ‘GamerGate’ led the gaming industry to embrace more diverse and caring values<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482948/original/file-20220906-24-k6jhsl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C598%2C3135%2C2386&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Cosy gaming' is having its moment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/male-female-8-bit-pixels-people-2081647882">Two Pixel/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Video game developers have always sought to “find the fun” for their audiences and to provide players with exciting worlds to escape to. However, the cost of “finding the fun” was highlighted in 2014 when women in the games industry attempted to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q&ab_channel=FeministFrequency">expose the misogyny</a> in some games and in their communities.</p>
<p>In response, some members of the gamer community lashed out. In what became known as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/">GamerGate</a> controversy, predominantly male activists sought to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/12/with-gamergate-the-video-game-industrys-growing-pains-go-viral/">intimidate women</a> in the industry with death threats and rape threats. These gamers expressed a desire to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/76e384b2-c512-4f73-8b8e-2826206dbb0b">isolate the world of gaming</a> from broader social mores.</p>
<p>GamerGate was a low point for the gaming world, seemingly confirming yet another poor stereotype. But in the eight years since GamerGate, the games industry has transformed. As game developers have become more diverse, so too have the people who play their games. </p>
<p>The things developers and players care about have changed too, heralding a new era of “values-conscious games” which explore a variety of topics, such as empathy, diversity and wellbeing. These are proving increasingly popular with existing and newfound audiences.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Media critic Anita Sarkeesian was one of those targeted by GamerGate activists.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The gaming landscape has changed dramatically since 2014. Reports of violent video games causing real-world violent behaviour have been found to be <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/223284732/Scholar-s-Open-Letter-to-the-APA-Task-Force-On-Violent-Media-Opposing-APA-Policy-Statements-on-Violent-Media">greatly exaggerated</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, gaming showcases such as <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2022/6/11/23158733/how-to-watch-wholesome-direct-2022">Wholesome Direct</a> have grown rapidly, providing a platform for hundreds of “thoughtful, uplifting and compassionate” games that focus on “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-07-01/wholesome-games-movement-cozy-video-games-anti-violence">cosiness</a>” rather than competition.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-keep-having-debates-about-video-game-violence-121539">Why do we keep having debates about video-game violence?</a>
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<p>“<a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/11/11/a-brief-history-of-the-walking-simulator-gamings-most-detested-genre/">Walking simulators</a>” are a genre of game that focuses heavily on stories that unfold as characters walk around, with more emphasis on atmosphere and artistry than exciting gameplay. Games in the genre had previously been regarded as “<a href="https://www.theskinny.co.uk/tech/gaming/notgames-proteus-gone-home-dear-esther">notgames</a>”, or games that value creativity over conventional game design, but their critical and commercial success challenges the notion of what games can be and shows that what players want from their games may be changing. </p>
<p>The ongoing success of Fortnite and Call of Duty, which are fairly traditional shooter games, demonstrates that “fun” is still alive and well in video games and that old gameplay formulas still appeal to many gamers. But it was Animal Crossing, where players plant trees and build homes on an island, that became known as the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/nintendo-switch-animal-crossing-and-coronavirus-led-to-record-sales.html">game of the pandemic</a> by emphasising the importance of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/animal-crossing-covid-coronavirus-popularity-millennials.html">friendship and compassion</a>. </p>
<p>Many popular games now foster a similar message, even if they also feature weapons and combat. The Last of Us: Part II, a game about the aftermath of a zombie pandemic, highlighted gay and trans characters and storylines. It <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/the-last-of-us-part-2-has-sold-over-10-million-copies">sold 10 million copies</a>. </p>
<p>Death Stranding, in which players traverse a post-apocalyptic America, focuses on the <a href="https://time.com/5722226/hideo-kojima-death-stranding/">importance of connection</a>. Life is Strange: True Colours, the latest in a game series in which teenagers discover and harness supernatural abilities, has even made a superpower out of <a href="https://www.square-enix-games.com/en_GB/news/life-strange-true-colors-power">empathy</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Animal Crossing sold five million digital copies in March 2020 alone.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Values-conscious gaming</h2>
<p>The notion of games being used as vehicles for good is nothing new. <a href="http://gamesforgood.org/">Games For Good</a>, which aims to harness gaming’s popularity to achieve social good, was founded in 1998. However, in recent years, the ways in which games can achieve this have expanded significantly. </p>
<p>It’s not unusual to hear gamers state that a game <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/how-a-lack-of-control-fosters-empathy-in-i-bury-me-my-love-i-">fostered their empathy</a> for a cause, encouraged them to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2018/02/10/pokemon-go-science-health-benefits/">get more active</a>, or even <a href="https://venturebeat.com/business/how-hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-changed-lives-with-its-thoughtful-portrayal-of-mental-illness/">changed their lives</a> by approaching issues that they value in a uniquely immersive way. This is becoming even more important as the gaming community, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/">almost half of whom</a> are now women, continues to evolve.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/debunking-one-of-the-biggest-stereotypes-about-women-in-the-gaming-community-60033">Debunking one of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community</a>
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<p><a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4030/Values-at-Play-in-Digital-Games">Values-conscious game design</a> is a growing field in academia that aims to satisfy the demands of this evolving audience. The field suggests that a focus on values really could help enable games to both “do good” and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/25/video-games-empathy/">do well</a>.</p>
<p>Values-conscious games aim to make people reflect on the content of the games they play, ask questions about their own lives, and examine their biases. Players have claimed that The Walking Dead, a zombie game based around moral decision-making such as whether to save a character or escape, <a href="https://eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/view/vol9no1-2">was more engaging</a> because it encouraged them to reflect on their choices and actions. </p>
<p>Some players expressly seek to challenge their own values through “<a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315637532-24/transgressive-role-play-jaakko-stenros-sarah-lynne-bowman">dark play</a>”, replaying a decision-making game in order to make different choices that explore difficult topics such as sexuality, power dynamics and societal taboos.</p>
<p>Changing values affects game developers too. As the average age of male game developers has increased, more games have come to explore the <a href="https://killscreen.com/previously/articles/dadification-videogames-round-two/">father-child</a> relationship. Many developers also take part in “<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3316287.3316297">game jams</a>”, which encourage them to tell their personal stories through games. </p>
<p>More importantly, developers from different backgrounds and with different perspectives now have a seat at the table. More women, nonbinary, genderqueer and transgender people are making games, with surveys finding that these made up <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/453634/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide/">38% of developers</a> in 2021 compared to 24% in 2014. </p>
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<img alt="A girl playing a video game" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482951/original/file-20220906-14-pfskjt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Women and girls make up nearly half of the gaming community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gamer-streamer-girl-home-dark-room-1174048102">Anton27/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This increased diversity has led to game-based retellings of developers’ personal experiences, such as Nina Freeman’s Cibele, which details her <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/cibele-game-falling-in-love-in-an-mmo/">first sexual relationship</a>, or Zoe Quinn’s <a href="https://levelskip.com/community/A-Depressed-Persons-Review-Depression-Quest">Depression Quest</a>, a game inspired by her own lived experience of mental health issues. </p>
<h2>Games for good</h2>
<p>While <a href="http://ourglasslake.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ruberg-Empathy-and-Its-Alternatives-2020.pdf">some developers</a> bristle when their work is classified as just another “empathy game”, it is nevertheless heartening to see how values-conscious games are meaningfully affecting the lives of their players. Players of Depression Quest, for example, cite the game as the reason they <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/08/what-depression-quest-taught-me-about-dealing-with-mental-illness/">sought help</a> for their struggles. </p>
<p>Positive outcomes can also come from the most unexpected of sources: Tetris has been shown to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tetris-shown-to-lessen-ptsd-and-flashbacks/">reduce flashbacks</a> of traumatic memories, Bejewelled may <a href="https://news.ecu.edu/2011/02/16/study-casual-video-games-demonstrate-ability-to-reduce-depression-and-anxiety/">reduce depressive symptoms and stress</a>, and Pac-Man can <a href="https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/pac-man-maze-leads-children-with-autism-to-good-smiles/">help autistic children</a> build social skills.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-digital-games-to-help-your-childs-development-183483">Five digital games to help your child’s development</a>
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<p>It’s clear that values-conscious gaming is not here to take the “fun” out of video games or to fan the flames of GamerGate. Instead, by presenting games as a medium for exploring the important things in our lives, value-conscious games provide a valuable opportunity for new demographics of developers to start making games, and new demographics of players to start playing them. </p>
<p>In 2022, games don’t just have to value fun. They can value empathy, mental health and an array of diverse and inclusive stories, among other things. The trend since GamerGate suggests a hunger for games that challenge players in fresh, new ways and speak to things that players care about. I, for one, can’t wait to play what’s coming next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Jerrett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The games industry is evolving with the changing values of its players.Adam Jerrett, Lecturer, Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652932021-07-30T12:20:53Z2021-07-30T12:20:53ZThe Activision Blizzard lawsuit shows gamer culture still has a long way to go: 5 essential reads about sexual harassment and discrimination in gaming and tech<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413846/original/file-20210729-17-16buhii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5184%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's nothing inherently male about playing video games. Videogame culture, on the other hand, is decidedly anti-female.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gamers-play-the-video-game-call-of-duty-wwii-developed-by-news-photo/868750534">Chesnot/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on Jan. 18, 2022. <a href="https://theconversation.com/microsoft-purchase-of-activision-blizzard-wont-clean-up-gamer-culture-overnight-5-essential-reads-about-sexual-harassment-and-discrimination-in-gaming-and-tech-175202">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p>Sexual harassment in gamer culture burst back into the spotlight on July 21, 2021, with news of California’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/22/1019293032/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-unequal-pay-sexual-harassment-video-games">lawsuit against Activision Blizzard</a>, publisher of top-selling video games Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, and a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/activision-blizzard-workers-walk-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-rcna1525">walkout by company employees</a>. The lawsuit alleges a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ culture” at the company and discrimination against women in pay and promotion.</p>
<p>The turmoil is an echo of the infamous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/15/opinion/what-is-gamergate.html">Gamergate</a> episode of 2014 that featured an organized online campaign of harassment against female gamers, game developers and gaming journalists. The allegations are also of a piece with a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/19/women-built-tech-industry-then-they-were-pushed-out/">decadeslong history of gender discrimination</a> in the technology field.</p>
<p>We’ve been covering sexual harassment and gender discrimination in gaming – and technology generally – and picked five articles from our archive to help you understand the news.</p>
<h2>1. Gaming culture is toxic – but community norms can change it</h2>
<p>Things have not been getting steadily better. The shift to online activities caused by the pandemic was accompanied by an increase in online harassment and a decrease in the number of women and girls playing video games.</p>
<p>More than a third of female gamers have experienced harassment, and female players have developed coping strategies like hiding their gender, playing only with friends and shutting down harassers by outplaying them, according to University of Oregon professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7IEXEiwAAAAJ&hl=en">Amanda Cote</a>. These strategies take time and energy, and they avoid rather than challenge the harassment. Challenging harassment is also fraught, because it typically sparks a backlash and puts the burden on the victim.</p>
<p>Shutting down harassment comes down to creating and supporting community norms that reject rather than allow or encourage harassment. Gaming companies can adopt practices beyond banning harassers that discourage the behavior before it happens, including reducing opportunities for conflict outside of gameplay, adding in-game recognition of good behavior, and responding quickly to complaints.</p>
<p>“If esports continue to expand without game companies addressing the toxic environments in their games, abusive and exclusionary behaviors are likely to become entrenched,” she writes. “To avoid this, players, coaches, teams, leagues, game companies and live-streaming services should invest in better community management efforts.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-itll-take-to-clean-up-esports-toxic-culture-143520">Here's what it'll take to clean up esports' toxic culture</a>
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<h2>2. It’s not just players – fans are part of the problem</h2>
<p>Go to any sports stadium and you’ll see that the atmosphere that energizes players and fans alike comes from the fans. For esports the venues are streaming services, where fan reaction comes not from cheers and chants but in the form of online chat.</p>
<p>University of South Florida professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ay9uGpcAAAAJ&hl=en">Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia</a> and colleagues analyzed chats on Twitch, one of the largest streaming services that carries live esports. They found <a href="https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14885">a sharp distinction</a> in the language fans use when commenting on players, called streamers, depending on gender.</p>
<p>“When watching a man stream, viewers typically talk about the game and try to engage with the streamer; game jargon (words like ‘points,’ ‘winner’ and ‘star’) and user nicknames are among the most important terms,” he writes. “But when watching a woman stream, the tone changes: Game jargon drops, and objectification language increases (words like ‘cute,’ ‘fat’ and ‘boobs’). The difference is particularly striking when the streamer is popular, and less so when looking at comments on less-popular streamers’ activity.”</p>
<p>As with the games themselves, combating harassment and discrimination on streaming services comes down to community standards, he writes. The streaming services “need to examine their cultural norms to drive out toxic standards that effectively silence entire groups.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-online-gaming-ditch-its-sexist-ways-74493">Can online gaming ditch its sexist ways?</a>
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<h2>3. Collegiate esports leagues don’t reflect the population of videogame players</h2>
<p>Esports is becoming a big business, with <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/esports-business-esports-growth-idUSFLM4K2cJ7">over $1 billion in revenues</a>, and collegiate leagues are an important component of the field. Just over 8% of college esports players and 4% of coaches are female. The low rates of participation are not a reflection of interest: <a href="https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/gaming-gender-how-inclusive-are-esports/">57% of women ages 18-29</a> play video games that are in the esports category.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young woman wearing a face mask stares intently at a large computer screen while a man wearing a face mask stands behind her looking over her shoulder" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413860/original/file-20210729-25-1kf5al0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Boise State esports coach Doc Haskell watches scholarship graduate student Artie ‘N3rdybird’ Rainn compete in a match.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/EsportsScholarshipInequality/226671c6c6fb412a985dbad4cfe71eed/photo">AP Photo/Otto Kitsinger</a></span>
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<p>Female players face overt hostility and harassment, which discourages participation, according to SUNY Cortland professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dYfhb9sAAAAJ&hl=en">Lindsey Darvin</a>. College teams often engage in tokenism by bringing on a single female player, and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/esports-gender-inequality-scholarships-men-1823321276db40fea37dc8d9e5410643">vast majority of scholarships go to male players</a>. </p>
<p>Professional esports organizations are <a href="https://www.teamliquid.com/news/2021/01/13/aerial-powers-joins-team-liquid-as-streamer-and-diversity-ambassador">beginning to address the gender gap</a>. Colleges and universities need to follow suit.</p>
<p>“Colleges and universities that receive U.S. federal aid have an obligation to improve opportunity and access to participation based on Title IX policy, which prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,” she writes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-colleges-nationwide-esports-teams-dominated-by-men-154793">At colleges nationwide, esports teams dominated by men</a>
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<h2>4. Lessons from the tech field: Diversity and equity require women with power</h2>
<p>The roots of esports’ toxic culture lie in decades of gender discrimination in the technology field as a whole. That discrimination has proved stubborn.</p>
<p>“In 1995, pioneering computer scientist Anita Borg challenged the tech community to a moonshot: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nImg8vPUe4">equal representation of women in tech by 2020</a>,” writes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HzqQ2wYAAAAJ&hl=en">Francine Berman</a>. “Twenty-five years later, we’re still far from that goal. In 2018, fewer than 30% of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/11/17225574/facebook-tech-diversity-women">employees in tech’s biggest companies</a> and 20% of <a href="https://research.swe.org/2016/08/tenure-tenure-track-faculty-levels/">faculty in university computer science departments</a> were women.”</p>
<p>Reversing discrimination is a matter of changing cultures within organizations. “Diverse leadership is a critical part of creating diverse cultures,” she writes. “Women are more likely to thrive in environments where they have not only stature, but responsibility, resources, influence, opportunity and power.”</p>
<p>“Culture change is a marathon, not a sprint, requiring constant vigilance, many small decisions, and often changes in who holds power,” she writes. “My experience as supercomputer center head, and with the Research Data Alliance, the Sloan Foundation and other groups has shown me that organizations can create positive and more diverse environments.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tech-field-failed-a-25-year-challenge-to-achieve-gender-equality-by-2020-culture-change-is-key-to-getting-on-track-144779">The tech field failed a 25-year challenge to achieve gender equality by 2020 – culture change is key to getting on track</a>
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<h2>5. The myth of meritocracy is an impediment to equality</h2>
<p>The myth of meritocracy is a large part of the longevity of gender discrimination in the tech field. That myth says that success is a result of skill and effort, and that women’s representation is a reflection of their abilities.</p>
<p>In the U.S., <a href="https://www.nawbo.org/resources/women-business-owner-statistics">women own 39%</a> of all privately owned businesses but receive only around 4% of venture capital funding, according to Brown University professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Vj4crUIAAAAJ&hl=en">Banu Ozkazanc-Pan</a>. </p>
<p>“Yet the meritocracy myth, which <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2982414">my research shows</a> has a stronghold in the world of entrepreneurship, means that women are constantly told that all they have to do to get more of that <a href="https://nvca.org/pressreleases/total-venture-capital-dollars-invested-2017-track-reach-decade-high/">$22 billion or so in venture capital funding</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258717728028">make better pitches</a> or be more assertive,” she writes.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>What the tech field calls meritocracy is in fact gender-biased and results in mostly white men gaining access to resources and funding. “By continuing to believe in meritocracy and maintaining practices associated with it, gender equality will remain a distant goal,” she writes. </p>
<p>Adopting <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/metoo-sexual-harassment-what-experts-say/">gender-aware approaches</a>, including setting concrete goals for gender balance, is key to correcting the imbalances caused by the meritocracy myth.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-in-tech-suffer-because-of-american-myth-of-meritocracy-94269">Women in tech suffer because of American myth of meritocracy</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Sexual harassment and discrimination in gaming and tech is not inevitable or permanent, write experts in the field. The solutions are positive community standards and women in power.Eric Smalley, Science + Technology EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1435202020-08-21T12:38:10Z2020-08-21T12:38:10ZHere’s what it’ll take to clean up esports’ toxic culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353939/original/file-20200820-18-1i1cwq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C29%2C4985%2C3787&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">College videogame team members practice League of Legends.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LeagueofLegendsEsports101/82e5316f00e046da906c96a16d9f07d7/photo?Query=League%20of%20legends&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=225&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/M. Spencer Green</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In day-to-day life, you probably haven’t had someone yell at you, “Get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich!” If you’re a woman who plays online video games, though, statements like this, and worse, are all too common. </p>
<p>As COVID-19 has driven much of life online and fueled a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/05/12/video-game-industry-coronavirus/">boom in online gaming</a>, harassment in these and other internet spaces <a href="https://webfoundation.org/2020/07/theres-a-pandemic-of-online-violence-against-women-and-girls/">has increased</a>. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/">Forty-one percent</a> of computer and videogame players are female, down from 46% in 2019.</p>
<p>Despite its digital nature, online harassment can have <a href="https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol108/iss3/3/">real-world consequences for victims</a>, including emotional and physical distress. This has left online gaming companies and players scrambling for better community management techniques to prevent harassment. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7IEXEiwAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher who studies gaming</a>, I’ve found that the right cultural norms can result in healthy online communities, even in the highly competitive world of esports.</p>
<p>The stakes are high. Competitive video gaming, or esports, now exceeds <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesayles/2019/12/03/global-esports-revenue-reaches-more-than-1-billion-as-audience-figures-exceed-433-million/#7c218d871329">US$1 billion</a> in yearly revenue. Professional, collegiate and high school leagues are expanding, especially as COVID-19 has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/11/esports-ride-crest-of-a-wave-as-figures-rocket-during-covid-19-crisis">decreased opportunities for traditional sports</a>. </p>
<h2>History of harassment</h2>
<p>Recent stories from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/style/women-gaming-streaming-harassment-sexism-twitch.html">The New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/twitch-streaming-metoo-reckoning-sexual-misconduct-allegations/">Wired</a>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/twitch-sexual-assault-misconduct-allegations-video-gaming-community-streamers-harassment-2020-7">Insider</a> and others have highlighted how pervasive sexism, racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination are in online spaces. However, these issues are hardly new. Similar problems arose in 2014’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/">GamerGate</a> Twitter-based campaign of harassment of female gamers, designers and journalists. </p>
<p>Sexism was also common before GamerGate. For example, professional gamer Miranda Pakozdi quit her team following <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/us/sexual-harassment-in-online-gaming-stirs-anger.html?_r=1">sexual harassment</a> from her coach in 2012; the coach, Aris Bakhtanians, famously stated that <a href="https://kotaku.com/competitive-gamers-inflammatory-comments-spark-sexual-h-5889066">“sexual harassment is part of [the fighting game] culture”</a> and that it could not be removed. </p>
<p>Others have suggested that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2006.09.001">anonymity</a> of online game spaces, combined with gamers’ <a href="https://syslab.cs.washington.edu/papers/lol-chi15.pdf">competitive natures</a>, increases the likelihood of toxic behavior. Survey data from the <a href="https://www.adl.org/media/14643/download">American Defamation League</a> suggests that at least 37% of female gamers have faced gender-based harassment.</p>
<p>However, positive online communities exist, and a study by lawyer and former Microsoft user experience designer <a href="https://www.osborneclarke.com/lawyers/rebecca-chui/">Rebecca Chui</a> found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v7i2.7073">anonymous online communities are not inherently toxic</a>. Rather, a culture of harassment requires community norms that allow for it. This suggests that online bad behavior can be addressed effectively. The question is how.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An arena full of people watching an international videogame tournament" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353945/original/file-20200820-20-1f601qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Online video gaming, or esports, has grown to have professional, collegiate and scholastic leagues, and international tournaments like this one in Paris in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FranceLeagueofLegendsFinals/6bf32ff641ad4aa1985d33b0b5eddec9/photo?Query=League%20of%20legends&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=225&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Thibault Camus</a></span>
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<h2>Players’ coping strategies</h2>
<p>In my interview-based research with female gamers, I’ve found that players have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1555412015587603">many strategies for avoiding or managing online harassment</a>. For instance, some play only with friends or avoid using voice chat to hide their gender. Other gamers get really good at their favorite games, to shut down harassment through skill. Research by other media scholars, such as <a href="https://adanewmedia.org/2013/06/issue2-gray/">Kishonna Gray</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0731121419837588">Stephanie Ortiz</a>, has found similar results across race and sexuality.</p>
<p>These strategies have significant downsides, however. For example, ignoring toxicity or brushing it off allows it to persist. Pushing back against harassers often results in further harassment. </p>
<p>They can also put the burden of challenging harassment on the victim, rather than on the perpetrator or community. This can drive victims out of online spaces. As my interviewees gained responsibilities in their jobs or families, for instance, they no longer had the time or energy to manage harassment and stopped gaming. My research suggests that game companies need to intervene in their communities to keep players from having to go it alone.</p>
<h2>How companies can intervene</h2>
<p>Game companies are becoming increasingly invested in community management strategies. Large publisher Electronic Arts held a <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/gaming-can-be-toxic-toward-women-and-minorities-electronic-arts-wants-to-help-fix-that/">community management summit</a> in 2019, and companies like <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/microsofts-xbox-team-has-a-plan-to-fight-toxic-gamers/">Microsoft</a> and <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/intel-levels-up-ai-to-battle-toxicity-in-online-games">Intel</a> are developing new tools for managing online spaces. A group of game development companies even recently formed the <a href="https://fairplayalliance.org/about/">Fair Play Alliance</a>, a coalition working to address harassment and discrimination in gaming.</p>
<p>It’s important that interventions be rooted in the experiences of players, however. Right now, many companies intervene though practices like banning or blocking harassers. For instance, the live-streaming platform Twitch recently banned several prominent streamers following allegations that they had committed sexual harassment. </p>
<p>This is a start, but harassers who are blocked or banned often create new accounts and return to their previous behaviors. Blocking also manages harassment after it occurs, rather than stopping it at the source. Thus blocking should be combined with other potential approaches.</p>
<p>First, companies should expand the tools they provide players to manage their online identities. Many participants avoided voice chat to limit gender harassment. This at times made it difficult to compete. Games like Fortnite, League of Legends and Apex Legends, however, have instituted <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/apex-legends-ping-system-is-a-tiny-miracle-for-fps-teamwork-and-communication/">“ping” systems</a>, where players can communicate essential game information rapidly, without requiring voice. Similar tools could be built into many other online games. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1110949804526452741"}"></div></p>
<p>Another option my interviewees suggested is to make it easy for players to group with friends, so they have someone on their side to guard against harassment. Grouping mechanisms work particularly well when matched to the needs of their specific game. For instance, in games like Overwatch and League of Legends, players need to take on different roles to balance their team. Abuse can occur when randomly assigned teammates all want to play the same character. </p>
<p>Overwatch recently introduced a <a href="https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/guide-how-to-use-the-looking-for-group-system/127114">new grouping system</a> that allows players to choose their characters, then be matched with players who have chosen different roles. This appears to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/17/tackling-toxicity-abuse-in-online-video-games-overwatch-rainbow-seige">reduce abusive in-game chat</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Screenshot of videogame League of Legends showing clasped hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351423/original/file-20200805-477-13giwws.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of in-game commendations for positive behavior in League of Legends.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15838163@N00/9375189766">Daniel Garrido/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Finally, companies should work to change their basic cultural norms. For example, League of Legends publisher Riot Games once instituted a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/7/7/11564110/doing-something-about-the-impossible-problem-of-abuse-in-online-games">Tribunal</a>” system where players could view incident reports and vote on whether the behavior was acceptable in the League community. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Although Riot Games unfortunately closed the Tribunal shortly after its release, including community members in any solution is a good idea. Companies should also develop clear community guidelines, encourage positive behavior through tools like in-game accolades, and respond to ongoing issues rapidly and decisively.</p>
<p>If esports continue to expand without game companies addressing the toxic environments in their games, abusive and exclusionary behaviors are likely to become entrenched. To avoid this, players, coaches, teams, leagues, game companies and live-streaming services should invest in better community management efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Cote does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Combating sexism and other forms of harassment in online videogames comes down to community standards.Amanda Cote, Assistant Professor of Media Studies/Game Studies, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1108482019-01-31T16:19:54Z2019-01-31T16:19:54ZLGBTQ teenagers are creating new online subcultures to combat oppression<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256663/original/file-20190131-42594-oew5e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C2991%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking pride.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-using-smart-phone-206199061?src=WYLX88cB5M62eGquo8MHQA-1-27">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The internet can be an ugly place, especially for young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer. Cyberbullying is difficult to combat, because the bullies are often anonymous. And toxic debates can fester on social media: the <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/news/stonewall-school-report-2017-anti-lgbt-bullying-down-lgbt-young-people-still-risk">2017 Stonewall school report</a> found that “two in five LGBT young people are bullied online”. </p>
<p>Then came Harry Brewis. The young YouTuber – also known by his handle, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClt01z1wHHT7c5lKcU8pxRQ">Hbomberguy</a> – raised £265,000 for the <a href="https://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/about-mermaids.html">UK charity Mermaids</a> to support gender diverse young people, by streaming his 57-hour Donkey Kong 64 marathon online. </p>
<p>Public figures including US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and activist Chelsea Manning <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jan/25/success-for-me-wouldve-been-three-grand-the-gamer-who-raised-340000-for-a-trans-charity-hbomberguy">reportedly attended</a> Brewis’ stream via online platform <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/">Twitch</a>, which allows viewers to chat and cheer on their favourite gamers while they play. </p>
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<p>Aside from blowing his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jan/25/success-for-me-wouldve-been-three-grand-the-gamer-who-raised-340000-for-a-trans-charity-hbomberguy">£3,000 funding goal</a> out of the water, Brewis’ actions have shone a light on how young people are breaking new political ground on the internet – and especially in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/?utm_term=.efb945130d20">male-dominated sphere</a> of online gaming – by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jan/22/how-a-57-hour-donkey-kong-twitch-stream-struck-a-blow-against-gamergate">carving out space</a> for the marginalised voices of LGBTQ young people. </p>
<h2>Measuring what matters</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1396204">own research</a> has uncovered a huge diversity and abundance of social media and online forums, where LGBTQ young people are creating new civic and community spaces from the privacy of their bedrooms. </p>
<p>There’s been very little investigation into these emerging forms of online activism, in part because researchers and journalists are fixated on mainstream social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and are all too often directed by the data generated by these sites’ own analytics tool.</p>
<p>In other words, they often assume that the most-clicked YouTube video or the most shared tweet is particularly meaningful to users. But if you talk to young people directly, a very different picture emerges. </p>
<p>The LGBTQ teenagers I spoke to in my research explained how they explored issues around trans identities and queer sexualities through subcultural online community websites. These included <a href="https://www.furaffinity.net/">Fur Affinity</a> (a fan forum with an interest in animal fantasy writing and art), trans community subreddits on Reddit, Sherlock fan fiction and online comics. These platforms are not widely recognised as online activist spaces, as such. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256635/original/file-20190131-108351-1fefujf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Screen shot of trans supportive artwork from Fur Affinity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.furaffinity.net/view/27717437/">Saikky/Fur Affinity.</a></span>
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<p>LGBTQ teenagers also made use of Facebook and YouTube, of course, but they were very aware of how the values, interests and opinions of straight, cis-gendered people prevail on these platforms, as in society at large. </p>
<p>They used a range of strategies to negotiate this, including turning to online counterpublics – alternative public spheres where challenges to dominant views can be expressed, shaped and shared (Tumblr would be the place to look for queer and trans counterpublics). </p>
<p>They also took a creative approach to overcoming the built-in constraints on sites such as Facebook – for example, the highly structured process of setting up and maintaining a user profile, which limits the way people can construct their online identity (for example, the rule that people must use their real name) – and creating their own content such as YouTube vlogs and humorous political memes, gifs and mashups. </p>
<h2>Calling out the haters</h2>
<p>In these ways and more, young LGBTQ people are pushing the frontiers of what’s recognised as activism and creating new strategies to combat oppression. One fascinating example of this is the way new categories are emerging in online social media culture. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the term “hater”. It’s used to describe those posting hyper critical or hurtful comments on Facebook posts, blogs or YouTube videos, typically involving homophobic, racist or sexist attacks or bullying. Labelling these people “haters” makes it possible to name them, talk about them and open up their behaviour to critical analysis. </p>
<p>As young people increasingly talk back to “the haters”, this creates opportunities for those targeted by hate speech to form alliances and develop new strategies for dealing with homo and transphobia. Indeed, addressing haters is emerging and evolving as a whole genre of social media activity in itself. </p>
<p>An example of this might be reading out haters’ comments and meeting them with your own experience, as teen vlogger Brendan Jordan does, using humour to call out the stupidity of the online hate. </p>
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<p>It’s important to recognise how young people negotiate – and sometimes subvert – the values and norms incorporated by online platforms, to explore issues around gender, sexuality and identities through activism and community formation. </p>
<p>They are aware that the very DNA of the social media and digital technologies at our disposal are coded straight and cis – and this hidden fact has real-life consequences. Imagine being young and gender questioning, and googling “trans” to explore alternative gender expressions - the image that the internet will reflect back at you is not a bright or positive one. </p>
<p>The Mermaids charity has been under attack lately, not only in the tabloid press but also online. So much so that the Big Lottery Fund announced it would review its decision to award a £500,000 grant, after Father Ted sitcom writer Graham Linehan <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-46961883">rallied opposition</a> to the charity on parenting website Mumsnet. But Brewis’ efforts offers significant funds and a much-needed counterbalance to transphobic rhetoric, and proves that online subcultures should not be underestimated as a space for social activism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olu Jenzen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New activist communities are fighting back against haters to make the world safer for LGBTQ teens.Olu Jenzen, Principal Lecturer in Media Studies, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/798432017-07-25T00:10:22Z2017-07-25T00:10:22ZMore women are becoming game developers, but there’s a long way to go<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178738/original/file-20170718-31776-k0zbyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C562&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women still only make up a small percentage of the Australian game development industry. What's being done to change this?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sacramento-april-15-esports-athlete-hiddenbyart-626635895?src=48SMx2pPKXPcj0hXNKCxzg-1-29">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a rise in the number of women working in the Australian games industry. In 2011-2012, only 8.7% of game developers identified as female, with that amount almost doubling to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/8679.0Main%20Features52015-16?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=8679.0&issue=2015-16&num=&view=">15% in 2015-2016</a>. Still, to put this in perspective, the ABS recorded just 734 people working in the industry as of June 2016. </p>
<p>I am one of them and while the figures are encouraging, I’d argue many challenges still remain. When 47% of video game players in Australia are female, we must consider why so few are employed to make them. </p>
<p>Attracting women to the industry can be a challenge. One reason for this is that STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in education institutions are still seen as male-dominated realms and therefore, so are the careers associated with them. And as <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/WIMDI_Toolkit_2013.pdf">the Australian Human Rights Commission</a> noted in a 2013 report, male-dominated industries create a culture that may have a “higher tolerance of behaviours that could be viewed as sexual harassment” and gender biases when it comes to hiring and promoting.</p>
<p>I have been asked by young women if I have experienced harassment or sexism working in the games industry. Underneath this question is another: will I be safe? I haven’t experienced harassment, but I have felt the effects of unconscious biases in the workplace. This has taken the form of being spoken over in meetings and sometimes feeling isolated. I am fortunate that I worked with people with whom I felt comfortable enough to voice my concerns and be heard.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Women-Game-Development-Jennifer-Brandes-Hepler-Edited-by/9781138947924">In more extreme accounts</a>, prominent women working in the industry overseas have spoken of being paid dramatically less than male peers and blocked from opportunities to grow. Lead artist Jane Ng writes in the 2016 book <a href="http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Women-Game-Development-Jennifer-Brandes-Hepler-Edited-by/9781138947924">Women in Game Development: Breaking the Glass Level-Cap</a>, that her years of experience were often overlooked and noted how “well meaning professionals could still perpetuate a sexist culture where women were continuously put through trials to prove their worth …” </p>
<p>In 2013, games studies academic Dan Golding called for the industry <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/Daniel-Golding/Who-makes-videogames-Australia-gender-130627/default.htm">to fix its diversity problems</a>. Last year, in a book co-authored with Leena van Deventer <a href="http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/game-changers/">Gamechangers: From Minecraft to Misogyny</a>, Golding wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It can be hard to break into the industry and stay there especially in an environment that ranges from ambivalent and unused to their [women’s] presence to outright hostility.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Game communities can be toxic from both an industry and a consumer perspective. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games">“Gamergate” in 2014 was a prime example</a>: women developers in the US and online were harassed and even threatened after speaking out about sexism in the industry and the objectification of female characters in games.</p>
<p>Still, Australia’s game industry has many amazing women. Recent examples of games released by Australian developers with women on their teams include <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_XGswdQKCQ">Putty Pals</a> (Harmonious Games), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sN8CPLsuk0">Ninja Pizza Girl</a> (Disparity Games), and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7QINFi8ZKM">The Sims Freeplay</a> (EA’s Firemonkeys).</p>
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<h2>What is being done?</h2>
<p>Initiatives such as <a href="http://widgetau.org/">WiDGET</a> provide resources and a community of support to encourage young women to study STEM subjects. Girl Geek Academy was also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/girl-geek-academy-scored-1-3-million-to-encourage-1000-women-to-establish-tech-startups-2017-1">recently funded</a> to continue initiatives like <a href="http://shehacks.com.au/">SheHacks</a> (which aims to recruit 1,000 women interested in establishing startups) and <a href="http://girlgeekacademy.com/shemakes_games/">She Makes Games</a>, which encourages women to learn code, design and business skills. Film Victoria offers a <a href="https://www.film.vic.gov.au/news/women-in-games-fellowship-launch">Women in Games Fellowship</a> and MCV Pacific, a games industry news outlet, actively showcases many outstanding <a href="http://www.mcvpacific.com/news/tag/mcv-pacific-women-in-games">women in games</a> each year.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">#SheHacks encourages women to make their own tech startup.</span></figcaption>
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<p>When it comes to recruiting, there are already some games companies improving their strategies to employ a more diverse range of people. Lisy Kane, co-founder of Girl Geek Academy and Producer at League of Geeks, an Australian games company, told me, “I was the first female hired in the team back in 2014, now in 2017, we have 35% women in our team.”</p>
<p>Diversity has always been on the agenda at League of Geeks. When hiring, Kane said, “Studios need to get better at recruiting and stop the Rolodex syndrome”, ie reaching beyond those they know personally. </p>
<p>Another example of diverse hiring in the industry is Lumi Consulting, a games marketing company co-founded by Lauren Clinnick and Katie Stegs. When I asked Clinnick about hiring practices, she said: “Diverse teams can help a company gain a competitive advantage.” Diversity also fosters <a href="https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/employ-people/equal-opportunity-and-diversity">a thriving culture and better return on investment</a>. Regarding Lumi’s workforce, Clinnick said: “Most of our team are openly queer and none of us have degrees in game design, art and programming”. Indeed, many don’t realise that technical proficiency is not a prerequisite for working in the industry. </p>
<p>Retaining women already in the industry is vital as a means of ensuring they can reach <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/lead">senior roles and positions of leadership</a>. Giselle Rosman, Director of the International Game Development Association Melbourne, told me <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/completed-australian-research/flexible-work-small-firms">flexible work arrangements</a> are crucial to longevity: “They make roles and company culture more appealing as women are often primary carers.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Armello is the debut game from Australian game studio, League of Geeks.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Into the Future</h2>
<p>I believe that companies, event organisers and education institutions should adopt quotas to ensure women are more evenly represented among their staff, speakers, teachers and students.</p>
<p>Golding, meanwhile, would like the industry to work with organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission “that have experience and accountability in terms of solving these problems in other industries”. </p>
<p>And on an individual level, we can support our colleagues by lending our voice when they are spoken over, checking our biases and asking about appropriate pronouns. All of this is vital for a safe, more inclusive industry. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>ACMI’s <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/events/code-breakers/">Codebreakers Exhibition</a> showcasing Australian and New Zealand Women in Games will run from 25 July – 5 November.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brooke is grateful to have received a Women in Games Fellowship from Film Victoria and a travel assist grant from the GDAA. This year she received the MCV Pacific Women in Games Creative Impact Award and she is featured in the ACMI Codebreaker's exhibition from July - November 2017.
She currently works in the Australian games industry as a writer, narrative designer and producer.
She has been on a panel for She Makes Games hosted by Girl Geek Academy.</span></em></p>Women are making inroads in the gaming industry but progress is slow. We need more flexible workplaces, and perhaps even hiring quotas, to fix the gender imbalance.Brooke Maggs, PhD Candidate in Writing and Literature, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/751322017-04-05T19:21:44Z2017-04-05T19:21:44ZDiversity and inclusion are the heroes in Overwatch, a runaway commercial gaming success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163779/original/image-20170404-21938-dyw5xn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gaming audiences are no longer predominantly white, male zones. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/94565827@N05/30228553755/in/photolist-e7d5Am-GLjkgY-KPBMr5-L9bkLK-LcZotb-MT3Rd1-N4chf2-M6vLSS-M2Fwny-MRMzLK-MRMyGa-MZgs9M-MWcFeS-N4ceTi-N4ccNM-MT3Q5Q-M2FtAb-MRMzf4-MVDoyB-MB1ZBd-MT3PxN-N4ccWT-MVDp4e-M6vCmU-N18bLo-MRMBRr">94565827@N05/flickr </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year saw the release of <a href="https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/">Overwatch</a>, a big budget title by Activision Blizzard, one of the world’s largest videogame developers and producers. A title whose “most basic goal” was: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] to be this bright, positive universe, where everybody feels like they could be a hero.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overwatch has gone on to great <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch/overwatch-sales-numbers">commercial success</a>, demonstrating the effectiveness of diversity as a core design strategy. </p>
<p>Their cast of playable heroes are straight and gay, men and women, robots, doctors, and criminals – and represent six of the seven continents (sorry, Antarctica).</p>
<p>So why haven’t game developers done this before? The answer may be that, before now, the industry just wasn’t ready.</p>
<h2>An historical problem</h2>
<p>The main audience for videogames has historically been young white men, and the game development industry itself has been – and still largely is – a very homogeneous environment. The industry’s most recent <a href="http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.igda.org/resource/resmgr/files__2016_dss/IGDA_DSS_2016_Summary_Report.pdf">survey</a> found that only 23% of developers were female, and that 81% were from a white Caucasian background.</p>
<p>This lack of diversity has long been a problem for the games industry. In the arcade era of the 1970s and 1980s, little attention was paid to female consumers. When they appeared at all, female and non-white characters were often props or one-dimensional stereotypes. Cultural critic Anita Sarkeesian analyses some of the recurring depictions of women — such as the “damsel in distress” — in her web series <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn4ob_5_ttEaA_vc8F3fjzE62esf9yP61">Tropes vs. Women</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Anita Sarkeesian explains that women are commonly depicted as ‘rewards’ in gaming.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Although games like Pac-man (1980) met some success in closing the gender gap, it would be many years before diversity was seriously addressed by the industry. Games like <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dead-or-alive-paradise-psp/">Dead or Alive Paradise</a> (2010) and <a href="http://www.dukenukemforever.com">Duke Nukem Forever</a> (2011) demonstrated just how far the industry had to go.</p>
<h2>A toxic culture</h2>
<p>The industry has been only one part of the problem. Players themselves have contributed greatly to hostile game environments. </p>
<p>In 2011 the website <a href="http://fatuglyorslutty.com/">fatuglyorslutty.com</a> started collecting user-submitted documentation of online abuse directed at female players. Their archives paint a bleak picture of a world in which female gamers’ bodies and sexuality are often the subject of deeply unsettling abuse.</p>
<p>Critics like Sarkeesian <a href="https://theconversation.com/vitriolic-abuse-of-anita-sarkeesian-why-the-games-industry-needs-her-31826">vocally challenged this toxic culture</a>, and in 2014 the culture war came to a head. Sarkeesian, along with many female developers, critics and scholars were targeted as part of the massive cultural backlash coined “<a href="http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080">Gamergate</a>” by actor Adam Baldwin. </p>
<p>While Gamergaters cited concerns over ethics in videogame journalism, the Gamergate movement was repeatedly linked to instances of online harassment including rape threats, death threats, bomb threats, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/doxxing-swatting-and-the-new-trends-in-online-harassment-40234">doxxing</a> (the public release of victims’ private information).</p>
<p>Most academics have since characterised Gamergate as a reaction to a shift in the videogames industry away from its traditional base to a more inclusive one.</p>
<h2>A bold decision</h2>
<p>Development on Overwatch began around the time Gamergate was exploding. The studio was undoubtedly following the fallout, and its decision to develop a title championing diversity was bold, given the cultural climate.</p>
<p>This is especially true given that although <a href="http://essentialfacts.theesa.com">latest figures</a> suggest that more than 40% of gamers are women, the gender division across genres is far from even. <a href="http://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/">A recent study</a> found for the two genres into which Overwatch most closely fits – First Person Shooter (FPS) and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) – the percentage of female gamers were only 7% and 10% respectively.</p>
<p>Blizzard Activision’s approach with Overwatch was both more nuanced and more substantial than most. Rather than giving a nod to diversity in the form of a single female character or plot element, they wove it into their world with every design decision. They also recognised that diversity isn’t just about the narrative elements, but can be enabled by the structure of the game. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164006/original/image-20170405-5715-eewqhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overwatch’s Sombra is a hacker reknowned for her stealth and debilitating attacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Overwatch">Activision Blizzard</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike most FPS games, Overwatch doesn’t rely solely on precision targeting or twitch reflexes. The distinct abilities of the various characters allow players to experiment with different styles of play, and the integrated roles of the characters emphasises the cooperative nature of the matches.</p>
<h2>A mature approach</h2>
<p>To say that Overwatch has solved the diversity problems in games would be an overstatement. Even before its final release, Blizzard Activision found itself <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/28/11321138/overwatch-tracer-pose-removal">criticised by fans</a> first for releasing, and then for retracting, a sexualised image of one of the game’s most popular characters — a female character named Tracer. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/25/14380716/overwatch-skinny-mei-bug-year-of-the-rooster">Similar controversy</a> erupted when another character, Mei, appeared to have inexplicably lost some of her waist circumference when donning a novelty Lunar New Year outfit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164008/original/image-20170405-24768-186zta2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overwatch’s Mei is a climatologist who is on her own adventure to preserve the environment and ecosystem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Overwatch">Activision Blizzard</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Blizzard Activision’s response to these controversies has neither been to shut down debate, nor to engage with it. Instead, they have maintained their creative vision for a game that celebrates diversity. </p>
<p>Responding to the Tracer controversy, for example, game director Jeff Kaplan said that they “weren’t entirely happy with the original pose,” and that an alternate pose “speaks more to the character”. He emphasised that they “wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice [their] creative vision”, asked that the discussion remain respectful, and left it at that. </p>
<p>Responding to the Mei controversy, an Overwatch community manager claimed it was a simple bug, it’d be fixed soon, and “…btw. Happy Lunar New Year”. </p>
<p>Blizzard Activision seems content to let Overwatch speak for itself, and the <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/26/14376436/overwatch-womens-march-dva">emerging narrative</a> suggests that they’ve achieved their “most basic goal” of diversity, and then some. </p>
<p>Overwatch has demonstrated that diversity and inclusion are no barrier to major commercial success. They have capitalised on a maturing gaming community by presenting their game’s diversity in terms of artistic integrity — rather than political point-scoring. </p>
<p>Whether this approach will be picked up by others in the industry remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The cast of Overwatch playable heroes are straight and gay, men and women, robots, doctors, and criminals – and represent six of the seven continents.Sam Hinton, Assistant Professor in Digital Media, University of CanberraDouglas Catling, PhD Student, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/679712016-11-10T01:19:05Z2016-11-10T01:19:05ZSexual assault enters virtual reality<p>Although various forms of online sexual harassment have been with us since the dawn of the internet, recent news suggests that it’s moving into another dimension – the third, to be precise. Gropers are now finding a way to target women through the fully immersive headsets of virtual reality. </p>
<p>Writer Jordan Belamire recently wrote of her experience of <a href="https://medium.com/athena-talks/my-first-virtual-reality-sexual-assault-2330410b62ee">virtual sexual assault</a>. The man’s disembodied hands, in the “QuiVr” virtual reality archery game, simulated constant groping of Belamire’s virtual body – specifically, rubbing at her avatar’s chest – and chased her through the game world, heedless to her cries of “Stop!” over the game’s voice chat.</p>
<p>Some of the response – <a href="http://uploadvr.com/dealing-with-harassment-in-vr/">not least from the game’s developers</a> – was encouraging. But the internet’s id manifested itself in the <a href="https://kotaku.com/vr-developers-add-personal-bubble-to-their-game-to-fi-1788237241">comments on stories</a> about the incident, heaping imprecations, slander and abuse against Belamire. If we analyze the content of these comments, we gain insight into why these assaults – and online harassment more broadly – are occurring, and what might be done to stop them.</p>
<p>We’ll have to grapple with some of the most toxic parts of our communities, and find new ways of creating and enforcing social norms in all the virtual worlds we’re creating. As a scholar of online harassment, I know that most fundamentally, we must address the <a href="http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/viewFile/140/170">false belief that online harm isn’t real</a>, because the internet itself isn’t real. When human beings are involved and interacting with each other, it’s very real indeed. And in VR, it’s even more so.</p>
<h2>Into the pit of online comments</h2>
<p>At the bottom of an <a href="http://uploadvr.com/dealing-with-harassment-in-vr/">emotional article written by QuiVR’s developers</a>, apologizing for what happened to Belamire and promising reform, is the following comment: “You weren’t a victim of anything. The VR community has just become a victim of the outrage brigade.”</p>
<p>Another commenter adds: “here’s some advice for you. TURN OFF THE F—ING GAME YOU STUPID B–CH!”</p>
<p>A third writes, “I gotta say, you don’t have a frigging clue what sexual assault is if THIS is what you consider sexual assault.”</p>
<p>Several others, meanwhile, noted that Belamire writes romance novels and suggested she should “be above” the abuse, or claimed that she’s just seeking publicity. “She writes an adult lesbian romance novel and feels harassed by digital gloves,” mocks one commenter. T’was ever thus: If a woman <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leora-tanenbaum/the-truth-about-slut-shaming_b_7054162.html">evinces any sexual sensibility whatsoever</a>, she must give blanket consent to any and all sexual contact.</p>
<h2>What’s virtual, and what’s reality?</h2>
<p>But by far the overriding theme of the angry comments is that they accused Belamire of making a mountain out of a molehill because it was an online experience. These were “floating hands” in a “virtual world” that she could easily turn off, or just “take off her headset” to escape from. </p>
<p>These outraged players never seem to ask why men do not worry about encountering hands-y people with boundary issues when they play games, or why such people should determine who plays and who doesn’t. Yes, Belamire chose to play the game, but that doesn’t mean she signed up to be sexually assaulted.</p>
<p>These notions illustrate the core mentality of both the abuser and their legions of apologists in the world’s comment sections: What happens online is not real, therefore it’s all okay.</p>
<h2>It’s not serious, except when it is</h2>
<p>In this abuser-apologist world, people who complain about harassment are at fault themselves, and at times demonized as the actual problem. It’s an inherently contradictory idea: The “games aren’t real” argument doesn’t seem to dissuade angry commenters from taking Belamire’s complaints personally.</p>
<p>“Games are supposed to be a place to mentally get entirely away from this world, these rules, with a character in another one,” laments one commenter, arguing that anti-harassment efforts will interfere with his escapism. “Feminists basically want it to be a crime for men to even approach a woman in the street, and now they want to do the same in virtual reality?” says another. </p>
<p>Often, in a single comment, someone yells at Belamire for complaining about an “unreal” groping and then caterwauls about some forthcoming Orwellian regime in gaming. One commenter actually tells Belamire to turn off the game, right before likening the idea of tracking repeat offenders to the Third Reich. (One wonders why he doesn’t turn off his computer for a while, if her story so offends him.) </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144284/original/image-20161102-27215-8oeuhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mobius strip: a piece of paper with only one side.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AM%C3%B6bius_strip.jpg">David Benbennick</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He’s articulating a Mobius strip of thought, folding two contradictory notions into a single idea: The offending action wasn’t real and should be ignored, but any remedy would be real enough that we have to worry about the impending Nazification of our games and get very, very angry about it.</p>
<h2>Online experiences are real ones</h2>
<p>Video games are not just unreal playthings. The mediating interface of a game does not make abusive behavior between two or more real people any less abusive. Slurs are still slurs; unwanted sexual advances are still both unwanted and sexual. The <a href="http://kotaku.com/5889415/this-is-what-a-gamers-sexual-harassment-looks-like">addition of computer graphics</a>, a game controller, or an unfashionable headset does not render <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/how-fantasy-becomes-reality-9780190239299?cc=us&lang=en&">human interaction unreal</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144285/original/image-20161102-27212-1b1pkkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This interaction experience is as real as friends sitting on an actual couch together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASecond_Life_11th_Birthday_Live_Drax_Files_Radio_Hour.jpg">HyacintheLuynes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In VR specifically we confront another contradiction. The entire selling point of VR is its unparalleled simulation of reality. It presents a physical, embodied experience that surrounds you, fills your senses, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036240">and is tactile in ways unlike any other video game</a>.</p>
<p>This has been a holy grail of game design since the dawn of the industry: <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/ripcoil-oculus-touch/">fooling a player’s body into feeling like it’s really in the game world</a>. We should not be surprised if a simulated sexual assault, then, feels real enough in all the ways that matter.</p>
<p>This point was addressed head-on in a discussion about designing safer VR games at the <a href="http://gcap.com.au/">Game Connect Asia Pacific conference</a> in Melbourne in late October. One VR developer, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinedesign">Justine Colla</a>, cofounder of the <a href="http://altavr.io/">Alta</a> VR studio, argued that the “visceral” nature of immersion in VR can give abusers more power. “<a href="http://mashable.com/2014/06/26/virtual-reality-memory/">Users retain memories in VR</a> as if they experienced them in real life,” she said.</p>
<p>This, she said, combines with an inability for players to physically push away offender to ensure that attackers have “all the power with none of the consequences.” Assaults feel real, and the target has no way to fight back.</p>
<p>We cannot have it both ways, touting VR’s realness while casting aspersions on people who complain of abuse in VR. Trying to do so would be laughable if the consequences weren’t so dire. Virtual reality is virtually real.</p>
<h2>Game developers respond</h2>
<p>Fortunately, QuiVr’s developers are modeling good behavior for the whole industry. They wrote a pointed article that explains why they not only believe Belamire but <a href="http://uploadvr.com/dealing-with-harassment-in-vr/">take personal responsibility for what happened to her</a>. They also explain what steps they’re taking to improve the experience. Foremost among them is a move they call a “power gesture:”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>putting your hands together, pulling both triggers, and pulling them apart as if you are creating a force field. No matter how you activate it, the effect is instantaneous and obvious – a ripple of force expands from you, dissolving any nearby player from view, at least from your perspective, and giving you a safety zone of personal space.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a bold step in the right direction. It not only provides an instant reprieve for harassment victims but allows them to actually embody their strength through a gesture that feels empowering. It’s an elegant solution, but this one solution may not work for every VR environment. We need something more: a change of mindset.</p>
<p>As games are being developed, quality assurance testers often try to “break” the game, finding ways that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-be-a-video-game-tester-2015-6">inventive players might unexpectedly use game systems</a> that the developers did not intend. Testers should include in this ongoing process efforts to identify ways players could harm each other. Developers should deal with them the same way they do other problems in the game’s design. It’s not “just a game” anymore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Cross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Underlying online harassment is the false idea that events that happen on internet aren’t real. But whenever people are interacting, it’s all real.Katherine Cross, Ph.D. Student in Sociology, City University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600332016-07-07T02:11:02Z2016-07-07T02:11:02ZDebunking one of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129478/original/image-20160706-795-1dk9ely.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C1%2C1112%2C735&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When girl gamers do well, men will often find ways to discredit the success.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?autocomplete_id=&language=en&lang=en&search_source=&safesearch=1&version=llv1&searchterm=woman%20video%20games&media_type=images&media_type2=images&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=262149974">'Gamer' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although women now make up <a href="http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/">almost half of all video game players</a>, the gaming community remains, in some ways, hostile toward women.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080">GamerGate controversy</a>, which began in 2014 and involved a harassment campaign against prominent female gamers, journalists and designers, reflected a longstanding undercurrent of misogyny and sexism in the community. In some cases, those who challenged the sexism found themselves <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/gamergate-women-video-game-threats-anita-sarkeesian.html">threatened with rape or death</a>. </p>
<p>There’s also the long-held stereotype that men are simply better gamers than women. Women gamers are often perceived as incompetent players who aren’t genuinely interested in the games but rather sign up to get attention. If a female gamer <em>does</em> play well, she’s often derided as a hacker – someone who cheats to gain an advantage – because “<a href="http://www.pcgamesn.com/counter-strike-global-offensive/how-the-deck-is-stacked-against-women-in-e-sports">there is no way a girl can be that good</a>.”</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12159/abstract">2016 study</a>, we set out to examine whether men really make better gamers than women and, if so, what drove the gender performance gap. Specifically, we wanted to compare how quickly men and women leveled up in Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, which are online worlds where thousands of players develop characters, make friends, join groups, complete quests and slay dragons together. </p>
<p>If men are actually better gamers than women, they should advance to higher levels within the same amount of play time. But if they don’t progress any faster, this finding would help refute one of the most pervasive stereotypes that continues to exist in the gaming community.</p>
<h2>Getting to the next level</h2>
<p>Our research used anonymous server data from over 10,000 men and women in two MMOs, “<a href="https://www.everquest2.com/home">EverQuest II</a>” in the United States and “<a href="http://jx3.xoyo.com/">Chevaliers’ Romance III</a>” in China. We knew each player’s actual gender through their account registration information. </p>
<p>When players finish quests and kill monsters in MMOs, they earn experience points. When experience points reach a threshold, the player ascends to the next “level,” which unlocks new abilities, skills and access to new content. As in most video games, levels indicate a player’s progress.</p>
<p>Naturally, players spending a lot of time in the game are likely to reach high levels. That is why the <em>speed</em> of leveling up, rather than the level itself, measures performance in our study. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A still from EverQuest II, one of the two MMO games analyzed in the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/p-m-m/7051161293/in/photolist-bK63Ar-57iJyg-BbAid-BbAie-8xS5TZ-AXRg-AXS1-PHHRW-PHFQm-btSzpM-2bTDdn-6AAEKF-6AENWj-bwbhUA-bwbhXf-2bTDhz-GH7R9-2bTDev-3kavfx-6ADsa2-6ADxDr-6AqeDv-6ADvwt-6AADTR-6AQbMY-3keX71-PHHnu-6AAAjz-6AHaXS-PHFQE-2bTDf2-6Aunmb-6AD25Z-6ACPLt-6AtZzw-6AHp1G-6AD9xK-6AquMg-6AqdkF-57nVGJ-PHHn5-6AuaBh-6Au7Qm-6AHogf-6ACW4H-PHHnj-PHHnE-PHHn3-6AEUU7-PHFPy">Phil... Just Phil/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before getting to our findings, we want to point out a couple of things we took into consideration. First, players who had reached the top level in the games were excluded in our analyses. Because top-level players couldn’t advance any further, their rate of leveling up was essentially zero. We removed these players to avoid confounding our analyses, but this also meant that we were not able to measure gender differences between the most advanced players. </p>
<p>Second, our analysis recognized that the rate of leveling up slows down as players progress. For example, it would take a lot more time and effort for a level 60 player to level up than a level 30 player. Therefore, our analysis compared apples to apples by evaluating players’ performance only against others who were at the same level.</p>
<p>Contrary to the stereotype, we found that player gender itself does not cause performance differences. Instead, the perception of women as poor gamers is fueled by other factors. For example, we found that women spent less time playing overall than men and chose more assistive character classes, such as Priests, who fare better healing group members than fighting on their own. When we took such factors into account by statistically controlling them in the analyses, the gender performance gap disappeared; women advanced at least as fast as men did in both games. </p>
<p>We also realized that different players are interested in different aspects of MMOs, and a few of those differences may correlate with gender. There’s some <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01453.x/abstract">empirical evidence</a> that men tend to focus more on achievement in video games – leveling up rapidly, gaining in-game status and competing against others – while women are drawn to social interactions, whether it’s helping other players or forming long-term relationships. </p>
<p>This suggests that men should advance faster than women. However, we found the opposite: Women advanced at least as fast as men did. So taking into account different play motivations (which we were unable to do in this study’s analysis) likely only strengthens our conclusions.</p>
<h2>Beyond video games</h2>
<p>The stereotype that women are inferior gamers is not only false, but could also make women more easily discouraged and less likely to play in the first place. Of course, this gender performance stereotype exists in a number of other contexts. In the software development community GitHub, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/12/women-considered-better-coders-hide-gender-github">women are perceived as worse coders than men</a>.</p>
<p>Our research has notable implications for this important social issue. Studies have shown that <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/18/10/850.abstract">video games can be an important gateway to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields</a>. If stereotypes about girls and women are preventing them from playing, then it could <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-parent/why-our-daughters-should-play-more-video-games_b_8044800.html">potentially contribute to preexisting gender inequality and stereotyping in these fields</a>. </p>
<p>One approach to dealing with this issue is to promote stereotype-free gaming experiences for women and girls through <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=OsRY-40AAAAJ&citation_for_view=OsRY-40AAAAJ:IjCSPb-OGe4C">female-supportive gaming communities</a>, such as the <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3021963/most-creative-people/the-girl-gamers-of-pms-clan-can-own-you-any-time-of-the-month">PMS Clan</a>, one of the oldest and most renowned female-oriented gaming communities in the world. Scholars such as <a href="http://gabrielarichard.com/">Gabriela Richard</a> at Pennsylvania State University have found that members of these communities are more confident and perceive themselves as better gamers. </p>
<p>Game designers can also help. They have the ability to construct the games to make them less hostile and more welcoming to female players. For example, Riot Games established the Tribunal, a system that <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/can-a-video-game-company-tame-toxic-behaviour-1.19647">allows the player community to review reported bad behaviors from fellow players</a>, and then vote on whether to punish the offender. Banned players also get a “reform card” with the details of the offense, as well as judgments from the Tribunal. So far, the Tribunal has significantly reduced online harassment. </p>
<p>While programs like Tribunal are a starting point in the larger battle to end gender stereotypes, our findings will hopefully allow female gamers to realize that, when it comes to inherent skill, they’re on a level playing field.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cuihua Shen receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rabindra Ratan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many think that men are simply better than women at video games. Researchers recently compared performances of male and female gamers to determine if there’s truth to this assumption.Cuihua Shen, Professor of Communication, University of California, DavisRabindra Ratan, Assistant Professor of Communication, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/450652015-07-24T05:22:51Z2015-07-24T05:22:51ZGrowth of conventions shows geeks have always wanted to meet up IRL<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89546/original/image-20150723-22814-p8orai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking a break from their screens to meet up in real life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quakecon/14498139488/">quakecon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the largest LAN party videogame conventions, <a href="http://www.quakecon.org/">Quakecon</a> returns for its 19th meet since 1996, with more than 9,000 people attending to “frag” each other playing the renowned first person shooter. Recently, an estimated 130,000 fans attended <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/">Comicon</a> in San Diego. For the month of October 2015 alone, there are <a href="http://news.ansible.uk/conlisti.html">22 conventions worldwide</a>, and this excludes commercial conventions.</p>
<p>Observers of fan conventions often express surprise that people who met online might want to meet IRL – “in real life”, or in person. This is often and entirely incorrectly held true of gamers, particularly, who are conceived of being unsociable, solitary creatures. This perception has been compounded by the <a href="http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/7/1/15715530/gamergatedrinktank.pdf">#gamergate controversy</a>, in which many prominent members of the gaming community were harassed – most notably <a href="http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080">women</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/17/brianna-wu-gamergate-human-cost">developers</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/in-praise-of-leigh-alexander-gamergate-video-games-sexism-bullying">journalists</a> and <a href="http://kotaku.com/terror-threat-targets-anita-sarkeesian-for-speaking-at-1646371245">commentators</a>. This might suggest that gamers are a closed, antagonistic and predominantly male-centred group. Fortunately, the reverse is often true.</p>
<p>Such socialisation and fan meet-ups have a long history – the first <a href="http://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/feature-articles/11452-history-worldcon">Worldcon was held in 1939</a>. Charities exist for sending fans with limited means or those from <a href="http://con-or-bust.org/about/">under-represented groups</a> to conventions around the world. There are even conventions for convention runners (but only if you are a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=SMOF">Secret Master of Fandom</a>. Behind the images of convention-goers dressed as cheerful-looking anime, television or film characters is an established community.</p>
<h2>Conventions, the industry and fans.</h2>
<p>There are two broad types of fan convention. The commercially run enterprise is run with profit in mind – these events tend to be large, well-publicised events such as <a href="http://www.comic-con.org">San Diego Comicon</a>, <a href="http://www.gencon.com">GenCon</a> and <a href="http://paxsite.com">PAX</a>. Subsidiary events often attract industry professionals, while large conventions are often used as a springboard to release new work or products.</p>
<p>For example, Comicon is now where companies like LucasArts showcase forthcoming work: this year they treated 6,000 fans to a free outdoor concert, new reveals about the forthcoming Star Wars film, and guest star appearances from the cast. Similarly, <a href="http://www.e3expo.com/">E3</a>, <a href="http://www.gdconf.com">GDC</a> and <a href="http://www.gamescom-cologne.com">Gamescom</a> bring together industry professionals, journalists and fans for a weekend of new games announcements, publicity and promotions. They are cheerful and noisy events, known for huge queues, freebies and panels featuring guest speakers and celebrities. The gender split of attendees at Comicon was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/07/07/comic-con-2015-and-gender-parity-heres-why-the-geek-stereotype-is-nearly-dead/">equal this year at 49% each</a> (the remaining 2% made up of non-binary attendees).</p>
<h2>It’s all about the fans</h2>
<p>Fan-run conventions such as <a href="http://www.worldcon.org/">Worldcon</a>, which hosts the science fiction Oscars each year in the form of the <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/">Hugo Awards</a>, are no less riotous, but on a rather different scale. Worldcon is typical of these conventions in that it is entirely run by volunteers. Unusually, the location of Worldcon changes each year, as voted for by attendees, so teams <a href="http://dublin2019.com/">bid in advance</a> to host subsequent events and run lengthy election campaigns. </p>
<p>Fan-run conventions focus more on showcasing a mixture of authors, creative experts and fans, with often extensive programmes where attendees can see everything from authors playing and recommending their favourite boardgames, to discussions on diversity and representation in fan fiction, to readings and signings by people at the top of their field. The lower attendance figures allow for a more intimate setting where guests, speakers and fans can mingle.</p>
<p>Conventions of all shapes and forms are an increasingly important element of fandom – after all, getting together with several thousand like-minded people with the added incentive of parties, meets, talks and discussions by respected and creative people seems like a recipe for enjoyment. </p>
<p>For gaming events such as Quakecon, it’s also the opportunity to play and compete against people who attendees may have known for years, but never met in person. Mainstream sports fans will also recognise the value of watching those at the very top of their game play competitively. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89463/original/image-20150723-22852-1i0w6mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Competitive gaming is a big part of gaming conventions, with big cash prizes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/viagallery/2037258538/">viagallery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Online and Real Worlds Collide</h2>
<p>The amount of convention-goers continues to grow as fans reach out to each other worldwide. This is partly driven by a feeling of deep reciprocity among fans: that attending is “giving back” to the community. And it’s for this same reason that ructions like #gamergate and others are so alarming for the community in question. </p>
<p>The Hugos are currently the subject of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/20/george-rr-martin-hugo-awards-vote-game-of-thrones-science-fiction">huge controversy</a> after two groups of right-wing authors managed to influence the nominations by releasing a recommended reading list, and having supporters block vote for these authors. Destablising such niche and esoteric groups causes great alarm, as fans realise that despite their shared experiences and interests, their cultural values and perceptions of the world may differ wildly.</p>
<p>It’s comforting to regard fandom as one large, happy, geeky family, but the growing care and attention given by conference runners to their Codes of Conduct also speaks of a group very much aware of the need to make no assumptions about others, and to provide clear guidelines for behaviour within the convention. While conventions continue to grow and provide exciting places for fans to meet and share experiences, it’s unwise to regard them are utopian spaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esther MacCallum-Stewart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You might think gamers are a closed, antagonistic and predominantly male-centred group. Fortunately, the reverse is often true.Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Research Fellow, University of the West of EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/371632015-02-05T19:37:26Z2015-02-05T19:37:26ZGamergate and the bodice-ripper have little in common, with respect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71027/original/image-20150204-25531-w51taz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do men feel about the way they are depicted on the covers of romance novels?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Book Thingo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Buttons open to the waist, skin gleaming with sweat, hair tousled, intriguing flashes of curves … men on the covers of classic romance novels, or “bodice rippers”, are objectified in many of the same ways that women are in gaming. Men are painted as brutal, sex-obsessed and not averse to a little (or a lot) of rape and pillage. Women are often portrayed as willing participants even as they pant “No”.</p>
<p>Recently Christian Fonnesbech, director of the critically acclaimed game, <a href="http://cloudchambermystery.com/">Cloud Chamber</a>, posed a question on Twitter: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are realistic women in fantasy games and realistic men in romance novels two sides of the same coin? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The tweet was accompanied with an illustration of the kind of book cover to which he was referring.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71146/original/image-20150205-28605-1batzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Twitter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The question feeds into <a href="http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080">Gamergate</a>, which – for those who don’t know – is ostensibly a movement about gamer identity and journalism ethics which has morphed into an examination of the way women in the gaming industry are treated by other gamers. </p>
<p>Given the person asking the question is a serious player in the independent gaming industry I felt I had to consider his question seriously rather than simply snort inelegantly in disdain. So here I go.</p>
<p>My initial response as a media scholar is that the way we portray the “other”, whether it is gender or race or social identity does matter. But it matters more when a power imbalance exists between the content creator and image or words, or the portrayer and portrayee. And it matters even more when the portrayal is linked to real life social behaviour. </p>
<p>It is all about who is allocated authority to describe the other and what they do with that. Even a kindly depiction of the other can be offensive if it is a colonising view. It becomes the person with power describing their subjects or handing down judgments about permissable portrayals and behaviours. </p>
<p>You have to ask how men feel too about the way they are depicted on the covers of romance novels. Do they find them alienating or offensive? Who selects and creates these book covers? Are they selected and created by men with a largely female audience in mind? Or are they created by women for women? And does this make a difference?</p>
<p>Feminist blogger <a href="https://theconversation.com/vitriolic-abuse-of-anita-sarkeesian-why-the-games-industry-needs-her-31826">Anita Sarkeesian</a> recently posted what one week on Twitter <a href="http://femfreq.tumblr.com/post/109319269825/one-week-of-harassment-on-twitter">looks like for her</a>. This included 157 abusive tweets, with 24 explicit threats of rape or violence. More worrying was <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/01/28/online-harassment-sarkeesian/#:eyJzIjoidCIsImkiOiJfb2NzdmZyZnNzZGVxdzNiMSJ9">the insistence</a> by at least one of the commenters that rape and violence are part of gaming.</p>
<p>I don’t have statistics on the number of men abused verbally or otherwise as a result of racy portrayals on book covers – which is not to deny the existence of female violence towards men. At least in Australian society, however, violence towards women by men is not only pervasive, but common. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/DestroyTheJoint">Destroy the Joint</a>’s “Counting Dead Women Project” found that one woman is “killed almost every week by her current or former partner in Australia.” (89 women between 2008 and 2010). If you are disinclined to trust a “radical” group’s figures, consider instead the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4906.0">2012 Personal Safety report</a> that 4.5% of Australian men over the age of 15 had experienced sexual violence compared with 19.4% of women over the same age.</p>
<p>Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women (ANROWS) stacks up some <a href="http://www.anrows.org.au/publications/fast-facts/key-statistics-violence-against-women">sobering figures</a> here. Most concerning is the fact that young women (18-24 years old) experience sexual assault at twice the rate of the female population. Men are much less likely to experience sexual violence of any kind than women, but much more likely to experience physical violence from other men. That however, is a discussion for another time.</p>
<p>Or if you prefer economic analyses, consider that the Federal Government in 2014 <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2014/04/26/our-family-violence-shame/1398434400#.VMmtjHZ2WtM">presented evidence</a> that: “Domestic violence and sexual assault perpetuated against women costs the nation $13.6 billion each year.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71026/original/image-20150204-25536-cqenqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Wallace</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is what is concerning about men (mostly) arguing that the way women are portrayed in gaming is just part of the culture and the game: that it is too close a mirror of everyday life. Correlation not being causation, we can’t say that such depictions in games cause violence. </p>
<p>In fact, decades of academic research has not been able to conclusively demonstrate a link between violent media and violent behaviour in individuals because so many confounding factors exist. </p>
<p>However a 2005 Lancet meta-analysis <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673605179525/abstract">concluded that</a>: “there is evidence that violent imagery has short-term effects on arousal, thoughts, and emotions, on increasing the likelihood of aggressive or fearful behaviour.”</p>
<p>More interestingly, in that same meta-analysis Browne and Giachritsis highlight research that demonstrated that aggressive behaviour after playing violent video games <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2001.tb00787.x/abstract">increased</a> when games had human characters. </p>
<p>The same study found that cartoons with violence have been shown to have a significant effect on behaviour, <a href="http://crx.sagepub.com/content/21/4/516.abstract">topped only by media</a> that portrayed a combination of violence and erotica.</p>
<p>You could also look at the role of storytelling, both the stories told and how they are told, in creating ways of thinking and talking that become social norms, or “common sense”. If you want to take another approach, you could think about how repetitive portrayals of people in certain ways create easily accessible cognitive schemas.</p>
<p>If all the women you “know” online are sexual objects and schemers only interested in what they can get out of you, how does this translate to how you interpret your everyday interactions with real-life women?</p>
<p>In addition to the research mentioned above, you can also say that such portrayals of women as objects to be used as one wishes are offensive, alienating. They say something quite profound about the people who prefer the “other” to be depicted in such a manner.</p>
<p>Ultimately there isn’t a fundamental difference in the images being produced by game creators and romance writers (or their graphic production team). The difference is how that portrayal affects the viewer/reader/gamer and what they do with such portrayals. </p>
<p>You may even wish to argue that people should “toughen up” if they want to be full participants in the gaming world. Interestingly it is only women who are expected to “toughen up”. The men are doing it for fun.</p>
<p>I argue instead that if you are concerned about others’ wellbeing and positive social outcomes, then how women are portrayed and interacted with anywhere, whether online or in real life, matters. And if you possess or have taken, for whatever reason, the authority to describe others, it does come with a responsibility to respect, or at least try to understand, them. </p>
<p>That is what is clearly missing in #gamergate, to an extent not nearly so obvious as those book covers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Ostini receives funding from the Australian Government’s Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program. ‘Digital Futures’ is the CRN research theme for the University of Southern Queensland. She is affiliated with 612 ABC Brisbane Local Radio as a Community Correspondent.</span></em></p>Buttons open to the waist, skin gleaming with sweat, hair tousled, intriguing flashes of curves … men on the covers of classic romance novels, or “bodice rippers”, are objectified in many of the same ways…Jenny Ostini, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Digital Futures and Personalised Learning), University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.