Sexism is still rampant in online gaming communities

Women gamers are targets. That’s not an anecdote, it’s fact.

[gillri]

Rightly or Wrongly sexism is far more acceptable than racism in today's society, and with the amount of N word abuse I hear online!?

Sorry girls, but this problem aint gonna go away quickly

[Dylila]

understatement

[Bimkoblerutso]

Sexism is just one part of the broader issue of anonymous hate-mongering. EVERYONE gets hate online. I get called a "fag" online all the time because of my slight lisp. Do you think it matters that I'm not gay? No. They call me that out of idiocy and the reassuring sense of anonymity that comes with long-distance-social-interacti on.

I'm sorry you're getting it because you're a woman or you're black or etc., but the simple fact of the matter is that it's not a problem that is unique to any one demographic. Online hate-mongering is an issue that is bigger than any one sub-category.

[Novistador]

When girls have to sign up for selective service then they will be truly equal. Honestly though.. this is the least of my concerns on the online community, at least girls are treated "well" Guys just sling profanities at each other.

[guitarded77]

Sexism, homophobia and racism are everywhere whether people want to admit it or not. Online gaming is not exclusive. There will always be prejudice... some are simple stereotypes, others are downright hateful. If they get on your nerves, hit the mute button, because odds are you are not going to change their way of thinking (or lack of thinking). At least online you can mute/block them. In the real world it's a bit more serious.

[pat_11_5]

The amount of N bombs I hear on a daily basis in Halo 4 is kind of disgusting.

[InMyOpinion]

Turn off the mic or party chat with your friends. That's what I do mostly. If it's isolated persons you can also mute them and report them.

All options are there for you to use :)

[HammadTheBeast]

In Dust 514, whenever someone with a female character appears in the war barge, other players start following her around...

[Blastoise]

You should check out Playstation Home, all the losers follow around the female avatar's shouting "Hello" "Hello" "Hello" -_-'

[Blackdeath_663]

yeah i agree with @blastoise ps home is riddled with wierd perverts. i made an account for my little sister since she is not a gamer and she wanted to try using my ps3 when i bought it. i thought what harm can it do to let her run around in pshome play a load of minigames and visit the locoroco area and how wrong was i. every five minutes some one would attempt to talk to her thank god she never knew how to use the keyboard. it is exactly as @Blastoise describes it, people follow you round saying "hello" "hello"

[Rumplebumpkin]

I found that the best way to communicate on Home is through the medium of dance, just go and stand next to someone and start doing your thang. They'll either start talking to you or run away.

60% of the time it works every time.

[Reibooi]

It's sad really. My sister is a avid gamer but short of having a name that doesn't imply she is female and never using a female avatar or talking she can't play online without being talked down to or harassed. Sad I had great fun playing online with her and watching her destroy some of the sexist morons but it go to be a bit to much for her and she plays offline games more often then not now.

I honestly don't understand why people are like this online. I mean I like to trash talk as much as the next guy but there is clearly a line and it seems as if everyone online cross it long ago and never looked back and that is sad.

[admiralvic]

It most likely has a LOT to do with demographics, the "gamer" profile and it being deemed "acceptable" by many.

Like I get the impression you're talking about FPS games (Halo, CoD, etc), which are usually filled with teens and young adults who probably aren't that mature. Like I joined a friends game on Borderlands 2 and there was this 9 year old kid. He instantly asked me for gear (me being level 50 and them being level 30), to which I declined. From here the kid just RAMBLED on about how I was showing off (was added to help them fight Terra), how he was better than me and about how I had no life. Replace me with a girl in this situation and the difference might just be that he was better because Girls can't play or perhaps it was EXACTLY the same, but the girl took the remarks to be sexist (which does happen every now and then).

In addition to this mentality, the "average" or "stereotypical" gamer is a nerdy person that doesn't have a lot of experience with women. So seeing a woman online might put them out of their comfort zone, perhaps the stuff mentioned above gets a sexist spin (due to more stereotypes) and probably some of it stems from these people wanting someone they can relate to, which results in women being objectified.

Finally we have the fact that not a lot of people "stand up" against it. Like bullying in school, a lot of people see it and let it continue. Also I would say a small / fair number of girls bring it upon their self. Like I remember 1 girl wrote a review that I disagreed with and was inaccurate in a number of areas. Upon bringing up what she did wrong, I was instantly attacked by her for "assuming I am wrong because I was a woman". This isn't too different than the women that are in the "culture", but know very little about it (like when a girl calls Link Zelda or something of the sort). We also see the same from men, but it typically only becomes an issue issue when women are involved.

If people want to end this, then all the sides need to change. Some kids need to at least act a little more mature, some people should work on improving their skills, others need to call people out for things that are indeed sexist and finally some girls need to stop playing victim. When all of these things occur (or at least most) we will see it end / start to decline.

[stuna1]

It's plain and simple, alot of the anonymous players online are already balding, fat beer gut, hot pocket eating slobs to begin with! But to make matters worse, most have the roj complex from the Big Bang Theory! So the anonymity in essence is like them having a drink to talk to women.

It's sad that there are so many "ISM'S" in the world today! I have quite a few women in my friend list, but I respect them as gamers and treat them as I would a male on my friend list! Including when it's time to spank them in a game.

[Skyliner12]

What is 'rightly sexism'? Is their 'rightly racism'?

Are you really saying racism is a worse problem then sexism? It's all a massive problem.

[Feralkitsune]

This is a problem with our culture in general. so of course it will spill over into gaming. The culture as a whole must change if we expect it to go away elsewhere.

[pat_11_5]

I agree, that doesn't make it any less horrible though.

[Gazondaily]

Well, with Xbox Live you can block the voices/messages of everyone except those in your friends list and with party chat, you don't have to hear others so it can be avoided.

[mandf]

It kind of defeats the purpose of playing a multiplayer game. Communication is key to win but muting people or talking to others not in the game is kind of counterproductive.

[Gazondaily]

Yeah, unless you are playing with your mates, then yeah; its a compromise that you have to make.

[JAMurida]

I really do think it's based on what you are playing. For example, CoD games generally don't use heavy teamwork to win, not saying there is ZERO teamwork in the game, but not compared to a game like MAG, where you MUST work together and communicate to take the front lines down and attack the letters (domination).

With that said, I rarely come across your typical racial slur/slut shamming person on MAG as you would on CoD *in my experience*. As with MAG, it's almost normal to get into a room and you have people calling things out/FRAGO'n objectives. Also the teamwork in MAG is more visible when the JP clans play domination early in the morning.

But plain and simple, that's just how it is with online gaming. And honesty, the only way to deal with it is to ignore/mute it or stop playing.

[DasTier]

Exactly, I havn't listened to anyone in a public game lobby since about 2008. The only multiplayer games I currently play that really require communication are the Battlefield & Halo series anyway. With 4 players working together on those you can generally be unstoppable without the need for the rest of your team.

I do miss the pre/post game banter in Halo 3 lobbies though. It was hilarious, if people were offended, they need to get some thicker skin and stop being so pathetic.

[Cueil]

Xbox Live allows you to mute universally individuals from all games... also rating them poorly will have the system attempt to keep you from joining their games, but wont make it impossible... wish there was an avoid at all cost option for the truly disturbing.

[WildArmed]

Avoiding =/= solving though.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

In 2013 people cannot evolve past this??

[dcortz2027]

I know right? People are idiots. I really feel for female gamers who just play games like the rest of us to have a good time. But they shouldn't feel too bad as if you don't get hate for this, you get hate for that. Everyone gets hate, regardless of race,gender,sexual preference etc.

[DasTier]

Honestly, I don't care, there are far more pressing issues in the world to deal with. Everyone these days is just looking for some kind of proverbial "hand out".

[ShaunCameron]

My sentiments exactly.

[Godmars290]

The title makes it sound like it went away at some point.

[Eoure]

This is not limited to sexyism. The fact is, people on the internet are just major douchebags and they think they can say anything to anybody because, nobody can do anything about it.

In conclusion the internet is dominated by obnoxious pricks and unfortunately we're gonna have to live with it.

[BanBrother]

"sexyism"; descrimination against sexy beasts, like me :-)

[InMyOpinion]

If you look up "sexyism" in the dictionary there's an image of this man.

[Quadraxis]

Why is this whole sexism fad still going? people are going to insult you regardless of your genre. It's not complicated.

[WeAreLegion]

Eminem once confused genre and gender.

[wishingW3L]

is this the new thing? Sexism is everywhere not just in video games. Before trying to eliminate sexism in videogames people should first deal with it in the real world.

The perception of men being superior to women is something that comes from ancient times. Yeah, it's lower now compared to 500 years ago but that's not something that will be addressed in the next few years. Or maybe even... Never.

[ShaunCameron]

Actually it is not a perception from ancient times. Men being superior to women is rather a biological reality as nature intended. All this talk about women being "oppressed" is nothing more than feminist propaganda. Women always had it good.

Men contributed way more to society than women except babies, and built it from the ground up.

[gamernova]

I could really go for a sandwich right now...lol But seriously, the reason for this is because people feel safe when online. They feel like there are no real consequences to what they do online. Once these services start using your real identity like you-tube was trying to do...that is when things start to change.

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Why is this a surprise? A huge portion of gamers are immature, bigoted teenagers. Hell, immaturity and bigotry is rampant among older people as well. Parenting is a dying art.

[jeremyj2913]

I hate that females get so disrespected in gaming. I for one absolutely love female gamers. Especially the ones that like and are good at Tekken. 3 of the people on my friend's that I like playing it the most with are female. One's even on my team :).

[SugarSoSweet]

Funny thing is women and blacks were heavily oppressed by White males through out American culture and you still see it today even in virtual reality

[Skyliner12]

All of these comments of "it's not going away deal with it" are complete bullsh*t.

You know it's wrong and if you want to try to change it be a damn adult. When kids on XBL go on and on about 'lol ur a gay n-word' just speak up and tell them they're ridiculous. It's a stupid and wrong use of the words, grow up and learn another word. If they can read.

You keep letting dumb 13 year olds get away with saying this bull and not calling them out on it makes them think it's okay.

[DomceM]

here is an idea. Stop being hypersensitive to everything in the universe.

This society has become nothing but a bunch of groveling idiots, all crying about what offends them.

If you cant live in the real world, sit in your house locked up and be happy.

I am an immigrant. People make comments/jokes all the time. Some of those jokes are not very nice. But I do not care, because I know that everyone should be able to laugh at themselves once in a while.

STOP BEING CRY BABIES.

[Diffraction_Fos]

Get in line. Sexism is not the only problem with online gaming, y'know. Heck, it's not even the biggest problem within the online gaming community.

[hano]

Not this BS again...

These C-level writers get a lot of hits out of crappy sensationalist articles like this.

If you wanna cry about sexism, leave gaming out of it. Gaming is fun, not for every schmuck and their sister to make a political statement.

Some stupid pricks actually fall for this crap. Did you see that girl who got 100 grand in kickstarter just to play games? Wow, people, wow. To think all that money could have gone for something worthwhile like an actual project of making a game and supporting real artists.

[MacDonagh]

Hmm. On the subject of racism, I believe that it "could" end but I don't think it will. The issue with racism is that it's a fantasy since it's a belief that you're superior to someone while the difference is literally speaking skin deep.

Sexism will never end. Testosterone fuels males to be aggressive by nature and that puts women at a disadvantage. Men have power and they don't want women to have it because they already have it. People don't want people to have what they have and that will never change. Selfishness and misery are the rivers of the world.

[SageHonor]

If you play online you should know what you are getting yourself into. And it's not just women. Everybody is a target in the online community. Racism/sexism.Heck,you can get a barrage of insults for simply playing a certain way.

[Cueil]

Here is the real problem... most don't care... you can put me in that group... If you're getting harassed or bullied there are methods of dealing with that... stop crying and start using the tools available to you

[madjedi]

@cueil Thank you, all the white knight crusaders and champions of morality are starting to get annoying.

@article/wkers I am accountable for 1 individuals behavior mine, thats all society should require from individuals. And thats all the i have thin skin brigade, is going to out of some of us.

You have your crusade, i have my video games, stop trying to lecture(this ain't school and you aren't a professor) others because alot of us will just say fuck you and ignore it anyway.

I always like how the i have better moral code than others types, will run down anyone that doesn't share, their beliefs and yet they almost always present themselves as model citizens. Bull fucking shit, at least assholes like me won't lie about it.

Funny all these guy rushing to defend female gamers everywhere as though they are helpless, strikes me as slighty sexist(but maybe that doesn't count since it isn't trying to push a agenda.

At the female gamers, welcome to equality(enjoy) your getting disrespected just like any other guy would albeit slightly different tactics.

Lets see a new metal gear game starring, The Boss or countless white knight articles, featuring posts by the superior morality brigade. I wonder which is going to have more of a lasting impact on gamers in general.

Even when i rarely do play competitive games online, i generally mute myself because i have a tendency to cuss when i die, mag different story.

And yeah if your not snipping and your camping your a pussy, get up and fight instead of hiding like a coward.

[Tokyo_reject]

So...?

[kB0]

Plain and simple, sexism = insecurity.

I'm sick of racism articles and sexism, but both are very rampant online. Playing counter strike since 1.3, the n word gets tossed around the game more than "lol".

I don't see a solution, but I will remain disgusted by anyone creating an unhappy gaming experience, be it trolling, racism or sexism.

[SugarSoSweet]

I get the sense all of the guys co-signing this are white males since they have an obsession with controlling and oppressing their own women it's all through-out European history

[azazel665]

The N4G staff is pretty sexist as well. They failed a submission that was approved by the community simply because it was an interview with a female gaming journalist. They claimed interviews with journalists weren't newsworthy but if you perform a simple search you will find dozens of other interviews with gaming journalists that WERE allowed on here. Strange.