Gender Equality and Harassment in Gaming

I did know a little bit about gender equality and harassment before we started this lesson in Gaming, Animation, and Web Design. I know that gender equality and harassment is a big problem in the real world. I know it has to deal with how people are treated differently and they are either made fun of because who they are or what race or sexuality they are. With harassment I drew a blank. I learned more after reading the articles and watching the videos. This lesson helped me better understand what was going on in the gaming community.

After I read the New York Times’ article, “In Virtual Play, Sexual Harassment Is All Too Real” I became disturbed that this went unpunished. I can’t believe how often this happens in the gaming community. I already support Anita Sarkeesian’s Youtube, she has helped open my eyes on the subject of harassment. The most shocking part of this article was that the “coach” for the team that was in the tournament. He sniffed Miranda Pakozdi’s hair and asked her to take off her shirt, and this was all on camera. The sad part was this was never reported.

I love playing online games like Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty Black Ops 2. I hear racist remarks all the time along with bashfulness to the women players (who are rare to play against). I will admit I’m guilty of saying nasty things but after this video I’m going to stop doing that. I have been a “victim” of harassment while playing online in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. I was in a good mood when I read the message (I just lead my team to victory in the previous match) so I laughed it off. I called the guy a troll and surprisingly I never heard from the person again. I have a good heart I always try my best to help the one being picked on. I have no respect for people who think its fun to be a bully.

Like I said earlier I support Ms. Sarkeesian. I love the fact she has the strength to stand up for whats right even when she is out numbered. I’m glad that she is shedding some light on a topic most people would ignore. There is an issue of gender inequality in gaming. I wish there was more I could do to help. Like she said the women are overly sexualized or just there to look good or the weakest characters in the game. Women in games can be useful characters though like Ellie from the Last Of Us and Ada Wong from the Resident Evil Series. But luckily women are starting to become the main characters in games like Lara Croft in the newest Tomb Raider game.

There are many ways to help stop harassment in video games. Playstation has it where if you are harassing someone you will be suspended from PSN (Playstation Network) sadly Xbox Live does not have this feature. On both Xbox and Playstation you can block the players who are harassing you. When online you have the ability to mute the player spewing his or her hate filled words. A way that could help decrease the amount of gamers who are harassing other players is making it so when they are muted enough times that won’t be able to use their mic for that game. Another way to decrease the amount of “bad” players is it they get reported enough they won’t be able to play online for that game at all. So those are my views on gender equality and harassment