Girls, how many of you play games online and deal with harassment? and guys how do you feel about this?

Question

This is pretty terrible. if you don't want to watch the clip: she's just casually playing this game when the guy over chat starts asking 'do you know what r*pe feels like?' she appears visually disturbed and replies "are you gonna r*pe me?" guy replies "you're heading on the right path for it?"  Yeah this is pretty terrible. i can see the comments after too with dudes attack her for this. this shit needs to stop. I'm a gamer and i feel embarrassed these types of people exist. it should never be tolerated.

Cute_Miss_Laura · Accepted Answer

My brother was the gamer in the family… Well, online gaming anyway! My dad still has his Atari 2600 that he got for Christmas 1979, or 1980. He even had the thing converted to work with 110v and NTSC TV format, so he could play it in the US, and play it he does! He LOVES that thing! But my brother is definitely be online gamer. Several times, over several years. I asked him if I could play. He never flat-out said “NO”, but he did seriously warn me “Laura, as SOON as they hear your voice and realize you're a girl, they'll gang up on you just to make sure you don't score any points, let alone win, and I wouldn't be surprised if you started getting highly inappropriate sexual comments within two minutes… Probably WAY less!” Given what had already happened to me at the age of 13, I decided right then to NEVER play ANY online video games, ever. This video only serves to reinforce that belief! I don’t know much about the so-called “Gamer-Gate”, but I know it had something to do with some women who set up a website to report the usernames of men harassing women in online games! Then they would publish the real names of the gamers, thus doxing ALL the guys who do this, without due process of law! I’m very much against doxing, but THAT guy needs to be arrested (and no it’s not FREE SPEECH to threaten to rape someone, nor is it protected by the 1st amendment, it’s a crime! It has always been a crime, it has nothing to do with the “online” aspect! Besides it sounds like they are BOTH in Australia, which has very similar laws to Britain, and no 1st amendment so it’s irrelevant anyway, but having laws similar to Britain means that anything you say that so much as causes “alarm, distress, or is offensive” is a crime, it’s arrestable, if caught he will be tried, and definitely convicted, and could spend time in prison because this is so egregious, or if it were less offensive, or more ambiguous, he'd receive a heavy fine, house arrest, and community service! This needs to stop! All I want to do right now is to give her a hug, and assure her that she will be okay! This abusive bullshit is NOT okay!

Laura 😡

Cynicaldreamer · Accepted Answer

You know I'm a gamer- been gaming since I got an NES back in the stone ages.

I'm proud to say that in my years playing video games, I've NEVER been harassed online- yes, really. People find that hard to believe, but not all women online get harassed or hit on by guys.

I play WoW (world of warcraft) and yes, guys have heard me on voice plenty of times- no effect. They treat me like one of the guys or seem indifferent. Yet my other female friends I game with, most of them have been hit on, flirted with, given gear or carried, harassed...

I'm kind of happy I've never dealt with that, but at the same time it's kind of... insulting? Not the being harassed part, but the obvious difference in treatment between me versus other women online. Like damn, I know I'm not as feminine as other women, but sheesh, lol

DrPepper12 · Accepted Answer

It's not terrible, it's a crime!! I've listened to my nephews and sons playing just to make sure this shit isn't happening. The worst I've heard is them lighting up some middle school kids who roasted them. Never any violence or misogyny.

GoodGuyBreakingBad · Accepted Answer

I think it is terrible to hurt a girl online, no matter whose doing the bullying.

ShellyB · Answer

My brother and to some extent my dad were into online games when I was like 10 to 14 years old and I did play it a few times just for something to do or bc they urged me to, luckily my dad make sure that voice chat was disabled for me, but at some point I did play with voice chat enabled and, yes I got peppered with pervy comments. No threats or anything but, one time was enough. Later on my boyfriend, now fiance, got me to play a little more, I made him turn off the voice chat for me, unless it was going to be a group of people he knew irl. So, I do have some experience w this. However I am not into gaming anyway and wouldn’t choose to do it if I wasn’t trying to hang out w guys who are into it, and, I don’t do it that much anyway.

msmissydc · Answer

Yes, its quite common. I mean that is an extreme case you bought up, but it happends from time to time. Other kind of harresment is nearly to be expexted if a voice chat with strangers is to be used. I try to not use it if I can avoid it.
The one thing, that I think is saving non voice chat games is, that men take female chars as well quite often. So keep doing that! It results in much fewer cases I guess.
People often dont trust girls actually being girls in online games, I mean neither do I. Its just that I dont care.

Boomchakalaca · Answer

Every girl has gone through harassment. The ones that didn’t, i assume did not have an account that did not associate them as a girl?
I been playing smite for a few years and I have dealt with my share of incels. Its rlly quite common, i swear they 100% look like a pimple irl. That is why they despise women online bc they can't get nun irl. Their unhealthy relationship with women is very transparent.

DishLady · Answer

I've learned that in any space -- online or in person -- harassment is a possible risk. You just have to know how to remove yourself from the situation in a clean and final manner... If it's a one-time thing then it ends there, but if the person harassing persists then the activity needs to be reported.

Dinklex3 · Answer

I mean… the only game I’ve really played was league of legends.

No one knows I’m a girl & I sometimes just have to block them to stop myself from being petty. League is pretty toxic in general, most common insults I see is people being called a dumb n** without knowing their sex or skin color 🤷‍♀️

If someone does find out I’m female they usually just try to add me which I always decline.

LazerBean · Answer

I've played games and gotten harassed a few times, but it's just because the other people are either sore about losing or sore about being bad. I don't talk a lot to begin with, so it's been rare. But like I said, it's not because I'm a girl even when it does happen. When people are salty, they will just find some random thing to go with it. I've seen people use "your name is literally Nathan" soooo many times with one of my friends as if it's an actual insult. They're just being dumb.

GOLDFISH_smile · Answer

Yeah... I suspect that's one of the reasons my husband never got into online multi-player games. I was just never interested in them. He tried some with minecraft as a kid, and even that was sexist as fuck apparently.

LadyKitty · Answer

I have played online games and the ones that have voice chat I have had it on occasion where dudes act creepy the moment they heard my voice.

IslaTheWitch · Answer

I rarely play without someone I know... it helps a lot

WhitneySnow · Answer

I don’t play video games but that’s terrible! Thank you for sticking up for us.

12karen · Answer

I play games online and when they start to bother me, I block them that's all, or igaf at all

Girls, how many of you play games online and deal with harassment? and guys how do you feel about this?

Most Helpful Opinions

I think it is terrible to hurt a girl online, no matter whose doing the bullying.

What Girls & Guys Said

Do any of the other girls here get harassed by men a lot?