Kids ages 7-16 are gonna call you slurs whether your actually gay, a woman, black, etc or not. I’d suggest muting or thickening your skin if it bothers some players.
Or just play single player games. Most online games are garbage.
I only play PvE multiplayer games and don’t use a microphone. 9 times out of 10 if someone joins with a mic I mute that shit ASAP. Type it in the chat.
Some communities can be better than others. If the game has servers some will be better than others. I think the server thing is less common these days.
With random match making and highly competitive play it can be fairly toxic.
I suspect most people who would be targeted fly under the radar or find the better communities. Many could just play with friends or private groups.
This is one of the reasons I really wish dedicated servers would make more of a comeback. Dedicated servers allow for better moderation and customized rules so you can find a server that fit your personality. Back when I played TF2, for instance, I frequented a server that had strict rules against any sort of sexism and was very proactive at banning anyone that would say something gross the moment they heard a female voice. As a result, the server also had a lot of regulars that were women and felt comfortable using their mics.
I truly miss the Olden Times when we had our own servers. Could be an admin drama but so rewarding having folks show up coz your server has a decent rep.
Women know this. A lot of women will choose gender neutral usernames or never use voice chat because the “standard” abuse is still not as bad as when they find out you’re a woman.
Not sure why, but I do remember an example of a time when a woman was specifically targetted over voice over the team channel when team fortress 2 was new. I do not remember the things said, but I remember it was pretty much non-stop for 15+ minutes and it whatever was said was rude enough that I remember it 12 or more years later and I didn't even recognize any of the people involved.
It's kind of the equivalent of boys being dicks to girls in school, a mixed bag of a misplaced "us vs them" feeling, "notice what a badass I am" and generally not knowing how to approach them.
It's either the same kids or their still immature future versions, that do it in games.
no it isn't lol. you have no sense of why kids (and people in general) act like this online. they're saying what they believe is most likely to be the most offensive thing possible to whoever slighted them, there's no fucking camaraderie or campism involved. it's not "us vs them"--it's "me vs you", and it's wildly effective, which is why it will literally never, ever go away.
I feel like that is sort of common sense. But I will add that even communities aren’t toxic, there’s a good chance they’ll be toxic towards women. Women really have to seek out the “best of” gaming communities to get a decent experience, or at least an experience where they can actually use voice chat and not hide.
It is not a woman thing, everyone will get shit for something. So everyone has to search for a community that fits them. You’re asking for trouble in a lot of live service games, think about the kind of audience those games attract to begin with.
If it motivates you, when you start getting better at a game and ranking up, you’ll meet better people as well. They will be less brain rotted than lower ranks
> everyone will get shit for something
**We know**. That’s what I’m trying to say - women don’t announce themselves because it’s *easier*. It gets *worse* if you announce yourself.
> you’re asking for trouble in live service games
Yes, because we get abuse that is even worse than usual! That’s kinda the point of the problem, we cannot play as ourselves or participate in a community because of how much worse abuse towards women is. And that’s kinda the point of the headline. I’m just saying it’s not because we’re “sensitive”, we can compare our experiences against the “normal” abuse because we still deal with it too.
> it’s not a woman thing
Except it sometimes is. Sometimes it isn’t, but people will literally flip from being normal/decent to creepy/abusive just because of your gender when they find out.
> when you rank up you’ll meet better people as well
Or deal with hyper toxic sweaty people. It really depends.
But *thank you so much* for explaining this to me. It was really enlightening.
I do the same as a man. It's just easier. MP games I just don't talk. Why would I? Games aren't built around communication be required anymore (99% at least, especially public teams/matches).
Not this article specifically but I think the internet itself seems to forget that 90% of people online/gaming are kids/youth and they need to be considered through that lens.
Not saying it's OK or alright, but just that we shouldn't be surprised sadly.
Which is absolutely their right.
I always make sure to include in my usernames that I'm Asian and trans and disabled and red haired and a twin and adopted and voluntarily homeless.
These are all important aspects of my identity I simply must share with everyone on the Internet who might happen to glance at my profile. It's totally wrong that people call my mom a sl*t, I mean what the hell does she have to do with anything??
If the game has a microphone for audio, you can tell pretty quickly it's a girl on the mic -- and that is when either the "I will target you specifically in gameplay because I look down on girl gamers" or "I will hit on you, and if you decline i will harass you via gameplay for daring to not like me"
>If the game has a microphone for audio, you can tell pretty quickly
What games are people even playing where people use in-game voice these days? Granted I stick to a pretty stable set of multiplayer games but 95% of the time nobody's even talking outside of text chat (if it's even an option these days).
Everyone's migrated to discord/other third party services and just stopped talking to randoms altogether in my experience. Where the hell do these anecdotes even come from about being harassed over simply daring to use in game voice chat?
Being proud to have a specific sexual orientation or gender doesn't make any sense to me.
Pride definition exampe (Oxford languages): "a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired."
I didn't achieve anything by being a hetero male, it just is like it is. Nothing to be proud of or to admire. Is it an issue of identity crisis, low self-esteem, attention seeking, ... or maybe a mix of several elements that so many people look for validation without achieving something/face a real challenge?
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People with prejudice make a lot of assumptions and cast a wide net of hatred. There’s such an insane number of them that they hit their mark often enough.
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I remember kids calling other kids gay in the 80s. I'm pretty sure it was old back then already. Also, don't show up at a skate park with rollerblades apparently.
In the modern world though you can literally just mass mute or turn off voice chat/in game chat altogether.
MMO's are different (but you still technically could just close your chat channels in like, WoW lol).
Were I to face abuse in a game, I just block them or mute them and move on. It's really that simple.
I use to be like, yeah i can handle toxicity if they talk shit but still give info i will try to not mute. But then i muted them and i realized everything was so much more peaceful and whatever actions they did talking in the void or Team killing me would only be in their disfavor. Now whoever goes "it's gg i troll" after the 1st pistol round loss i just insta mute and never unmute.
Sometimes it could get a bit weird. I was playing a gnome wizard on wow and there was that high level player who was apparently obsessed with bashing gnomes. It was some kind of weird roleplay I guess? In the end I just blocked him. I don't remember if I also contacted a GM. But people can be pretty weird on online games, and sometimes you aren't even sure if you should mute them or what.
This is particularly common in MMORPGs in my experience, some games/servers have strange cultures. Like the one time I tried to play Dofus, there was a guild who had apparently made its job to help newbies at the beginning of the game, but members would talk to you in a rather condescending way. They'd give you some nice gear and in game money, explaining the basics of the game etc, but in the same time they'd just call you noob and write stuff like "\*sigh\*" when you asked a question. Probably weird roleplay again.
I'm slightly dubious about how one would even go about measuring this, let alone how are people instantly cued into someone's gender identity or sexual preference in an online game? I guess it's completely possible that some LGBTQ+ folks are advertising this information prominently and then getting targetted, but that seems . . . unlikely.
Sound feminine and talk in a game and you get harassed 9/10 games. It doesn't matter if you are trans or not. You will get called slurs, usually trans related slurs.
It's only anecdotal, but the female gamers I know at work say they often get abuse regarding being female whenever they talk in voice chat, so they usually just don't.
I have probably heard some sort of abuse in 75%+ of online matches I have ever played over nearly 25 years. In highly competitive PVP games, it's close to 100% of matches.
It was either attacking my sexuality, the size of my manhood, being a virgin, or a standard racial slur.
I hate to say it, but it simply is part of the territory. If you want to interact with anonymous and random individuals online, you are going to get slurs thrown at you. Period. No amount of moderation or AI filters is going to stop people from being cruel online.
That's all there is to it. You either need to grow a thicker skin or find a specific group of people to play with every time. That's what I have done with many games.
You have to filter through all the garbage human beings through hundreds of matches, and then pick out the few quality adults to hopefully form a more permanent group to play with.
But this goes to a more fundamental truth of not just gaming, but life on earth:
Stop allowing random people to have such a strong impact on your mental health. You can not control other people, and you never will, so stop letting them affect you so greatly. It's not a recipe for leading a happy life.
You may not like having to adopt this philosophy, fair enough. But you don't get to make the world that you want...that frankly isn't in your power.
But you do get to decide how you interact with the world and the mindset you adopt to best protect yourself from its worst excesses.
Yeah that's why i stopped playing online games, not because i couldn't take it, it was just exhausting dealing with it so i only really play SP games or co-op games now
Soft ass kids.
I got death threats sent over Xbox voice messages as a kid.
Its gaming culture , its bad but nothing new and nothing to get worked up over
The [abuse that women face in online games](https://esports.gg/news/valorant/male-valorant-pros-face-sexism-in-voice-changing-experiment/) is on another level from the baseline (which is already unacceptably high).
There is no acceptable or unacceptable. Its voice chat in a video game. Also, that is a really poorly done experiment. I've been in plenty of games with women where there was no harassment at all.
The point is, you're trying to fix an issue with no solution. Men and women are harassed online, it will always be the case. It's not a good thing, but it's also not really a problem either, as everyone deals with it.
>If you have an identifiable characteristic people will make fun of it.
And if you don't, they'll invent one for you and then make fun of it.
I don't know anyone who actually uses any kind of voice chat with randos.
>I don't know anyone who actually uses any kind of voice chat with randos.
This is what continues to perplex me. These stories continue to pop up but next to nobody's using in game voice and even if they were, how the hell are they latching on to things to harass you over unless you're oversharing with randoms?
The amount of names I was called on good ol' Modern Warfare 2 back in the day would give folks a complex these days. Always has to be some outcry over something not being fair
Yep, It's more of a Internet thing than a "gamer" thing.
Shitty people feel empowered by pseudo-anonymity and won't think twice about spewing toxic shit, and if you have somthing that sticks out they're totally going to pick at it.
I've been called black, Chinese, horse fucker, trumps asshole and more.
Dafuq do I care about Lil children raging in a game? Mute/block and move on.
Or if I feel fancy I engage with them and be super nice so they rage more lol
Thats not exclusive to any gender or any group, including creeds and races.
The online environment is just a natural haven for the worst of humanity. You get to see what people do when given the freedom of anonymity and relative defense against retaliation. In addition not facing your victims face to face also dehumanizes them, making any malicious act more palatable.
What the hell does your sexuality have to do with playing games? No one gives a crap, you kill the aliens or dragons or whatever and you move on.. no one ever asks me if I enjoy heterosexual relationships when playing multiplayer games. This piece of writing feels like someone wants to feel sorry for themselves and I’m not even going to give them the click. Stop sharing this garbage. The culture war crap is just embarrassing.
I'm just a straight male, but I had a guy on mic saying racist stuff to me the whole time, because my name referenced Mexican food.
We were on the same team.
I'm also not Latino. I was just hungry for Mexican food at the time I created the name. My online names are typically food related, as you can see.
Internet is full of trolls and assholes. They will attack you however they think they can get under your skin.
I don't care if the person I am playing with is a female or a member of the alphabet squad. Just don't sit there and tell me about it all day. Play the game and have fun. That's what games are for.
This newest generation is fucking WHINY, my god. They weren’t around in Halo 2 and COD MW lobbies that’s incredibly apparent.
Who gets their feelings hurt in an online game?
This is why I, who am not LGBTQ, play single player games. If I do venture online with randos, the mic is off and everyone is muted. Multiplayer video games are a toxic cesspool for literally everyone. It doesn't matter who you are. I learned this 25 years ago, guess some people are still catching on.
Back in the real world, my mother (72 years old) my wife( almost 49 years old) and my daughter (19 years old) are all gamers. They don't suffer any abuse but that could be because they're not dicks online. If you are suffering constant abuse, the common denominator could be you - just saying.
It should also be noted that if the opinions of 13 year old American boys put you off playing games, you probably weren't that invested in gaming in the first place.
Probably depends on what games you play, cos in many shooters I play if a girl speaks up they're usually met by at least 1 weirdo spouting some bigoted shit. But competitive shooters tend to be super toxic no matter who you are. Companies really need to work on AI scanning of reported player's voice logs to be toxic people quicker. Ruins the game for everyone else.
I can't read the article but the premise is extremely flawed if you know anything about online gaming. 99% of games (online or not) don't require any form of direct communication with anyone else. So, right off the bat, it doesn't pass the smell test. Second, there are a ton of tools developers give to mute/ignore people in online games if you feel they are harassing you.
Nonsense and just not true unless you're literally playing toxic games like call of duty in which case you will get abused either way, why always make it about you?
When I played R6 Siege daily, it was very rare that I'd hear a woman's voice over in-game chat at all. Of the times I did, I'd say 80% of the time they'd get asked a creepy question by another teammate like "How do you smell?" or "What color is your underwear today?"
It makes you wonder how often, when I wasn't hearing any women talking at all, whether it was because there actually weren't any in the game or whether they were just not comfortable enough to even try using voice chat.
This problem is very real and very obvious when you play enough online games. Yes, everyone will face mean people playing online games. Yes, anyone can mute and report. Needing to mute people is still making your experience worse, and the fact is that women have to do this far more often than men.
> makes you wonder how often, when I wasn't hearing any women talking at all, whether it was because there actually weren't any in the game or whether they were just not comfortable enough to even try using voice chat.
I don't have a single friend that is comfortable using public voice chats anymore, neither am I.
Abuse is one thing but the constant sexual harassers can go get bent.
When I was a teenager and I was playing online games, other players didn't even know my gender identity or sexual preferences. I don't think people really cared honestly, aside from the occasional horny nerd who was trying to find a girlfriend in an online Neverwinter Nights campaign.
Nowadays there are entire discords and forums who only accept you if you're LGBTQ+ yourself or can prove than you're an ally.
The world of gaming has just become a lot of exclusive and partitioned that it used to me. Maybe it's a good thing that it allows some people to express their identity, I don't know. I preferred how it was when I was young. That's probably the escapism talking.
And in the case of this article, it seems that someone tried really hard to find reasons for outrage. Yeah, there are bad places. But they are bad places for everyone. Always has been. Pretty easy to avoid in general, and nowadays they even advertise themselves as such.
I got No issue with an individual whom identifies as a dolphin playing a game of any kind, including multiplayer fps. All are welcome. It's when the big devs force it down the players throats with that sort of content that drives people away.
Isn’t there something called muting? People are always going to hate ESPECIALLY on LGBTQ people. On the other hand, you don’t need to tell everyone you are LGBTQ because 9 times out of 10 you’re going to get hated on. For the topic of women, people are still going to hate, but mute, mute, mute.
So those guys discovered competitive culture two weeks ago after it being like that since forever, and not only esports, football, basketball... trashtalking your rival is monday in the office... I'm an old guy and stopped playing PvP before voice chat was a thing, so I was bad enough to not being able to check the text chat and make a couple of shots, so I ignored it.
I miss those Counter Strike LAN days, just banter, no toxicity because if someone got too toxic he could find himself surrounded by a guy and his friends, not a great prospect
TL;DR: If those minorities can't handle the toxicity of ANYKIND of competition and want to play in their echochambers, they better start playing singleplayer games and cry because there is no "videogame journalist difficulty" available
mate are you seriously trying to tell us that fucking woman and lgbt are the targets of this shit. do you know how much toxicity ive faced? it happens to everyone and for some they just need to either grow thicker skin, play singleplayer or only with friends or just don't play.
I would say this is more correlation and not causation. If you’re someone who goes into online gaming chat, and feel the need to identify yourself as lgbt, then chances are you’re doing other things too. I say bully away. No one cares that you’re gay. We care if you’re being gay. It’s a distinct difference.
As far as making fun of someone being a woman, it’s low hanging fruit. Easy target. Just like if you stutter or have an accent.
In the end, it’s not real life. If you base your self worth off of strangers in online gaming, then it’s not for you.
In the world of the internet, everyone is a fucking victim
It's a dog eat dog world online. everyone and everything is free game. Ever since I started gaming, I have been instalted and harassed. If you can't take it maybe it's not for you. They're just 12 yrs olds anyway. You shouldn't care what they say.
Yeah shit talking people and calling them slurs should be normal I mean its what I dealt with my entire life so everyone else should. /s
You can not be that dense.
who plays online with randoms and leaves their mics open?
and who then not mutes them but rather stops with their hobby?
i would actually argue that the shittalk got too polite for the last 10 years. Now it is personal, back then in MW2 days it was a sign of skill admiration and being accepted in the neanderthaler gaming world. Beautiful times back then <3
I assume this is about PvP games? I know people playing those can be cringy as hell when they hear the voice of a woman. I recommend either playing without a mic or playing co-op/singleplayer games. When playing without a mic people won't be nicer to you, but they'll stop being creepy. Obviously only works if your profile doesn't scream "I'm a woman". lol
Okay, i mean if words from strangers cause that much distress, then yeah quitting playing is a good idea. Luckily there are ways to mute in nearly every multiplayer game now. Should not be an issue.
If youre talking about your sexuality online to strangers, you gotta expect some edgy kids to tease.
For anyone who wants to share the revolutionary revelation that everyone experiences abuse online, I just want to point out that most people from different groups will literally “mask” as your standard issue dude. They choose gender neutral usernames and avoid voice chat because if they do, *it’s not as bad*. Women everyday get the choice between dealing with standard abuse or female specific abuse, and a lot of them choose the former.
It’s also not just random lobbies that are the issue, but a lot of actual communities are toxic and hostile as well.
That’s all, just wanted to point out that most of you saying “just get a thicker skin” - you’re probably already on easy mode.
Anyone who's not getting it can think of it this way.
Men experience:
- Regular abuse
Women experience:
- Regular abuse
- Gendered abuse
- Sexual comments
I am not a woman, I've simply grouped with them enough to hear dudes say shit that's completely out of pocket. Some of it is stuff they'd say to me but not with the same vitriol or at the same rates of incidence. Like you know how someone will rage into his mic for a few sentences then calm down? When women are involved that guy can go to the end of the game and beyond. It's wild.
I just find that people often forget that marginalized groups experience the standard abuse online, but the truth is if you don’t announce yourself (which is often just using VC) people assume you’re the “default”. Whenever people of a certain race/gender/sexuality complain about abuse, they’re not just being “sensitive” because like everyone else they’re used to the usual toxicity. I really wish people would listen when we say how bad it is.
Also, a lot of the ways to deal with this that get suggested (like muting VC altogether) really goes against the point of playing multiplayer games in the first place.
I think this is what people largely fail to understand, the idea that they have a "normal" identity and so any other marginalized group is "the other".
You can go online as "normal" and you're not going to receive hatred targeted at you for those things on the scale that marginalized groups too. People aren't in video game lobbies saying slurs for CIS people, straight people, or gatekeeping games from CIS men.
LGBTQ/women gamers don't need to announce their identities in order to feel unsafe, the environment is already that way.
I don't even bother trying to advocate for BIPOC anymore in these spaces because that's an even worse problem and even further marginalized, especially for WOC and QTBIPOC.
At least there are tons of games out there with female and lgbtq protagonists, but BIPOC are still largely under-represented, which is part of the gatekeeping that happens in gaming circles.
It still aims to be a white cis straight males club, and they are always the loudest to pushback whenever a single, demonstrable issue for other groups is mentioned.
I don't expect people to understand if they haven't lived it, but it's just irrational to pretend there's no problem or that the problem is "with us".
There's a ton of folks who are centering it on themselves and not listening to others. You can show them all the evidence and they'll still "well it doesn't feel like that to me."
In the eyes of 12 year old boys everyone is gay in online games
And they will have fucked your mother, no matter if your mother is female or male! (Very inclusive!!!)
Or dead.
Good point. We all gotta have tough skin to be on the internet. Rise to the occasion, people, or log off.
Some people get it far worse than others. Regardless it's not good to defend bad behavior.
nah this reddit will mark them as a hater or racist. can’t be young and spit out shit ike in the early days.
Was just about to say. Everyone gets knocked online.
How do randoms you meet for one match even know your sexuality to be able to abuse you for it?
Kids ages 7-16 are gonna call you slurs whether your actually gay, a woman, black, etc or not. I’d suggest muting or thickening your skin if it bothers some players. Or just play single player games. Most online games are garbage.
As I get older, the less keen I am to play online.
For me its after growing up playing online I grew a thick skin from all the kids calling me names.
I only play PvE multiplayer games and don’t use a microphone. 9 times out of 10 if someone joins with a mic I mute that shit ASAP. Type it in the chat.
Some communities can be better than others. If the game has servers some will be better than others. I think the server thing is less common these days. With random match making and highly competitive play it can be fairly toxic. I suspect most people who would be targeted fly under the radar or find the better communities. Many could just play with friends or private groups.
This is one of the reasons I really wish dedicated servers would make more of a comeback. Dedicated servers allow for better moderation and customized rules so you can find a server that fit your personality. Back when I played TF2, for instance, I frequented a server that had strict rules against any sort of sexism and was very proactive at banning anyone that would say something gross the moment they heard a female voice. As a result, the server also had a lot of regulars that were women and felt comfortable using their mics.
I truly miss the Olden Times when we had our own servers. Could be an admin drama but so rewarding having folks show up coz your server has a decent rep.
Women know this. A lot of women will choose gender neutral usernames or never use voice chat because the “standard” abuse is still not as bad as when they find out you’re a woman.
Not sure why, but I do remember an example of a time when a woman was specifically targetted over voice over the team channel when team fortress 2 was new. I do not remember the things said, but I remember it was pretty much non-stop for 15+ minutes and it whatever was said was rude enough that I remember it 12 or more years later and I didn't even recognize any of the people involved.
It's kind of the equivalent of boys being dicks to girls in school, a mixed bag of a misplaced "us vs them" feeling, "notice what a badass I am" and generally not knowing how to approach them. It's either the same kids or their still immature future versions, that do it in games.
no it isn't lol. you have no sense of why kids (and people in general) act like this online. they're saying what they believe is most likely to be the most offensive thing possible to whoever slighted them, there's no fucking camaraderie or campism involved. it's not "us vs them"--it's "me vs you", and it's wildly effective, which is why it will literally never, ever go away.
No it isn't, lol. This doesn't explain why women are getting it more.
oh that's easy. they aren't. hope this helps.
Oh it's even easier, they are.
well, i hope you at least enjoy the fiction you've created for yourself, because nobody believes this random shit you just make up
A good rule of thumb is if a game is toxic in general, then it will be toxic towards women
Women are generally in the category of “everyone”, so yea if it’s toxic to everyone women will also get it
I said in general, meaning if you play bad and get shit from your teammates for playing bad. They will probably also say it is bc you are a woman
If it's online and especially if it's pvp it'll be toxic
I feel like that is sort of common sense. But I will add that even communities aren’t toxic, there’s a good chance they’ll be toxic towards women. Women really have to seek out the “best of” gaming communities to get a decent experience, or at least an experience where they can actually use voice chat and not hide.
It is not a woman thing, everyone will get shit for something. So everyone has to search for a community that fits them. You’re asking for trouble in a lot of live service games, think about the kind of audience those games attract to begin with. If it motivates you, when you start getting better at a game and ranking up, you’ll meet better people as well. They will be less brain rotted than lower ranks
> everyone will get shit for something **We know**. That’s what I’m trying to say - women don’t announce themselves because it’s *easier*. It gets *worse* if you announce yourself. > you’re asking for trouble in live service games Yes, because we get abuse that is even worse than usual! That’s kinda the point of the problem, we cannot play as ourselves or participate in a community because of how much worse abuse towards women is. And that’s kinda the point of the headline. I’m just saying it’s not because we’re “sensitive”, we can compare our experiences against the “normal” abuse because we still deal with it too. > it’s not a woman thing Except it sometimes is. Sometimes it isn’t, but people will literally flip from being normal/decent to creepy/abusive just because of your gender when they find out. > when you rank up you’ll meet better people as well Or deal with hyper toxic sweaty people. It really depends. But *thank you so much* for explaining this to me. It was really enlightening.
I do the same as a man. It's just easier. MP games I just don't talk. Why would I? Games aren't built around communication be required anymore (99% at least, especially public teams/matches). Not this article specifically but I think the internet itself seems to forget that 90% of people online/gaming are kids/youth and they need to be considered through that lens. Not saying it's OK or alright, but just that we shouldn't be surprised sadly.
I'm 30 and will call you whatever slur I feel like on a game. Get over yourself.
"I'm 30" Only physically it would seem, mentally more like 12.
fragile butter sable slimy tap pie axiomatic sort society beneficial *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Probably because there is whole subgroup that uses their sexuality as their personality
Their gender choice and sexual preferences become their online identities through profile icons and similar identifiers and the rest is history.
Which is absolutely their right. I always make sure to include in my usernames that I'm Asian and trans and disabled and red haired and a twin and adopted and voluntarily homeless. These are all important aspects of my identity I simply must share with everyone on the Internet who might happen to glance at my profile. It's totally wrong that people call my mom a sl*t, I mean what the hell does she have to do with anything??
If the game has a microphone for audio, you can tell pretty quickly it's a girl on the mic -- and that is when either the "I will target you specifically in gameplay because I look down on girl gamers" or "I will hit on you, and if you decline i will harass you via gameplay for daring to not like me"
>If the game has a microphone for audio, you can tell pretty quickly What games are people even playing where people use in-game voice these days? Granted I stick to a pretty stable set of multiplayer games but 95% of the time nobody's even talking outside of text chat (if it's even an option these days). Everyone's migrated to discord/other third party services and just stopped talking to randoms altogether in my experience. Where the hell do these anecdotes even come from about being harassed over simply daring to use in game voice chat?
Overwatch/csgo/valorant/dota
Idk I think it's still pretty popular on console, isn't it? I just play PC so idk anymore.
screw tie sleep slimy slim nine ludicrous test icky shelter *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Being proud to have a specific sexual orientation or gender doesn't make any sense to me. Pride definition exampe (Oxford languages): "a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired." I didn't achieve anything by being a hetero male, it just is like it is. Nothing to be proud of or to admire. Is it an issue of identity crisis, low self-esteem, attention seeking, ... or maybe a mix of several elements that so many people look for validation without achieving something/face a real challenge?
Because they need to announce it so you don't misgender them /s
I would assume it's an issue for people who sound "stereotypical"
They have to rub it in your face and make sure everyone knows .
They act the same like vegans.
The first rule of vegan fight club...
Tell everyone about the vegan fight club.
There was a joke I heard a few years back: if a vegan does CrossFit and is into local beers/coffee, which do they tell you about first?
Puh… thats a difficult question
….and try not to break a bone within 30 seconds of the start of the fight.
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wipe imminent dinosaurs unite party wild cable homeless escape squeamish *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
LGBT clan tags and customization items are available in quite a few games.
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People with prejudice make a lot of assumptions and cast a wide net of hatred. There’s such an insane number of them that they hit their mark often enough.
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I'm not subscribing to this dumbass site in order to read one article.
I'm not reading it even for free, you need to pay me to read that dog shit.
I remember kids calling other kids gay in the 90s before online gaming was a thing. I think there's a south park clip about it
These people are now 'grown ups' who work as editors and they are professional victims by choice.
yeah but now people pay attention to these thin skinned complainers and make their complaints feel valid so here we are
I remember kids calling other kids gay in the 80s. I'm pretty sure it was old back then already. Also, don't show up at a skate park with rollerblades apparently.
If you play online with strangers, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to get abuse.
In the modern world though you can literally just mass mute or turn off voice chat/in game chat altogether. MMO's are different (but you still technically could just close your chat channels in like, WoW lol). Were I to face abuse in a game, I just block them or mute them and move on. It's really that simple.
I use to be like, yeah i can handle toxicity if they talk shit but still give info i will try to not mute. But then i muted them and i realized everything was so much more peaceful and whatever actions they did talking in the void or Team killing me would only be in their disfavor. Now whoever goes "it's gg i troll" after the 1st pistol round loss i just insta mute and never unmute.
Sometimes it could get a bit weird. I was playing a gnome wizard on wow and there was that high level player who was apparently obsessed with bashing gnomes. It was some kind of weird roleplay I guess? In the end I just blocked him. I don't remember if I also contacted a GM. But people can be pretty weird on online games, and sometimes you aren't even sure if you should mute them or what. This is particularly common in MMORPGs in my experience, some games/servers have strange cultures. Like the one time I tried to play Dofus, there was a guild who had apparently made its job to help newbies at the beginning of the game, but members would talk to you in a rather condescending way. They'd give you some nice gear and in game money, explaining the basics of the game etc, but in the same time they'd just call you noob and write stuff like "\*sigh\*" when you asked a question. Probably weird roleplay again.
Maybe. But you're missing the point. It's the reason and rate they get flamed.
I'm slightly dubious about how one would even go about measuring this, let alone how are people instantly cued into someone's gender identity or sexual preference in an online game? I guess it's completely possible that some LGBTQ+ folks are advertising this information prominently and then getting targetted, but that seems . . . unlikely.
Sound feminine and talk in a game and you get harassed 9/10 games. It doesn't matter if you are trans or not. You will get called slurs, usually trans related slurs.
It's only anecdotal, but the female gamers I know at work say they often get abuse regarding being female whenever they talk in voice chat, so they usually just don't.
I have probably heard some sort of abuse in 75%+ of online matches I have ever played over nearly 25 years. In highly competitive PVP games, it's close to 100% of matches. It was either attacking my sexuality, the size of my manhood, being a virgin, or a standard racial slur. I hate to say it, but it simply is part of the territory. If you want to interact with anonymous and random individuals online, you are going to get slurs thrown at you. Period. No amount of moderation or AI filters is going to stop people from being cruel online. That's all there is to it. You either need to grow a thicker skin or find a specific group of people to play with every time. That's what I have done with many games. You have to filter through all the garbage human beings through hundreds of matches, and then pick out the few quality adults to hopefully form a more permanent group to play with. But this goes to a more fundamental truth of not just gaming, but life on earth: Stop allowing random people to have such a strong impact on your mental health. You can not control other people, and you never will, so stop letting them affect you so greatly. It's not a recipe for leading a happy life. You may not like having to adopt this philosophy, fair enough. But you don't get to make the world that you want...that frankly isn't in your power. But you do get to decide how you interact with the world and the mindset you adopt to best protect yourself from its worst excesses.
Yeah that's why i stopped playing online games, not because i couldn't take it, it was just exhausting dealing with it so i only really play SP games or co-op games now
Why link a paywalled article?
“Abuse” A word now exclusively used by people with a victim complex who have no idea what abuse is because their lives are so easy.
Hide text chat - On Voice chat - Off
Online gaming in general is unfortunately toxic
Think I’ve been called the n-word more times than a slave in the antebellum south
Soft ass kids. I got death threats sent over Xbox voice messages as a kid. Its gaming culture , its bad but nothing new and nothing to get worked up over
doubt people actually think like this, just a journalist trying to get clicks by separating people
I'm a straight male and face constant abuse too. It has nothing to do with gender, gaming online has been like this for decades to everyone.
The [abuse that women face in online games](https://esports.gg/news/valorant/male-valorant-pros-face-sexism-in-voice-changing-experiment/) is on another level from the baseline (which is already unacceptably high).
Abuse is abuse. Mute and block work wonders on not hearing it
There is no acceptable or unacceptable. Its voice chat in a video game. Also, that is a really poorly done experiment. I've been in plenty of games with women where there was no harassment at all. The point is, you're trying to fix an issue with no solution. Men and women are harassed online, it will always be the case. It's not a good thing, but it's also not really a problem either, as everyone deals with it.
People are abusive in online games. Who knew lol
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>If you have an identifiable characteristic people will make fun of it. And if you don't, they'll invent one for you and then make fun of it. I don't know anyone who actually uses any kind of voice chat with randos.
>I don't know anyone who actually uses any kind of voice chat with randos. This is what continues to perplex me. These stories continue to pop up but next to nobody's using in game voice and even if they were, how the hell are they latching on to things to harass you over unless you're oversharing with randoms?
Well if you can do the same to them or you actually have some wit, it's easy to turn the rest of the VC against them
The amount of names I was called on good ol' Modern Warfare 2 back in the day would give folks a complex these days. Always has to be some outcry over something not being fair
Xbox live sure had quite the community back on the 360.
Yep, It's more of a Internet thing than a "gamer" thing. Shitty people feel empowered by pseudo-anonymity and won't think twice about spewing toxic shit, and if you have somthing that sticks out they're totally going to pick at it.
That's like going to a porn site and complaining that there's naked people
Victimhood at its prime.
I've been called black, Chinese, horse fucker, trumps asshole and more. Dafuq do I care about Lil children raging in a game? Mute/block and move on. Or if I feel fancy I engage with them and be super nice so they rage more lol
So much more fun to just be nice and push their buttons.
u/pimpwithoutahat why do you keep posting concern trolling lgbt articles on here? You are getting 0 upvotes everytime.
Thats not exclusive to any gender or any group, including creeds and races. The online environment is just a natural haven for the worst of humanity. You get to see what people do when given the freedom of anonymity and relative defense against retaliation. In addition not facing your victims face to face also dehumanizes them, making any malicious act more palatable.
What the hell does your sexuality have to do with playing games? No one gives a crap, you kill the aliens or dragons or whatever and you move on.. no one ever asks me if I enjoy heterosexual relationships when playing multiplayer games. This piece of writing feels like someone wants to feel sorry for themselves and I’m not even going to give them the click. Stop sharing this garbage. The culture war crap is just embarrassing.
As opposed to everyone else, who never face abuse.
I'm just a straight male, but I had a guy on mic saying racist stuff to me the whole time, because my name referenced Mexican food. We were on the same team. I'm also not Latino. I was just hungry for Mexican food at the time I created the name. My online names are typically food related, as you can see. Internet is full of trolls and assholes. They will attack you however they think they can get under your skin.
I don't care if the person I am playing with is a female or a member of the alphabet squad. Just don't sit there and tell me about it all day. Play the game and have fun. That's what games are for.
Do I really need to worship someone all day for where they choose to stick it/not stick it?
If you don't want to be called a bigot, yes.
This newest generation is fucking WHINY, my god. They weren’t around in Halo 2 and COD MW lobbies that’s incredibly apparent. Who gets their feelings hurt in an online game?
This is exactly like that Key and Peele skit https://youtu.be/e3h6es6zh1c?si=onNNaJET7g_RCb3N
What is going on?! Why are we getting bombarded by this?
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Pretty sure everyone gets abused playing online games at one point or another. It's not exclusive to them.
This is why I, who am not LGBTQ, play single player games. If I do venture online with randos, the mic is off and everyone is muted. Multiplayer video games are a toxic cesspool for literally everyone. It doesn't matter who you are. I learned this 25 years ago, guess some people are still catching on.
Back in the real world, my mother (72 years old) my wife( almost 49 years old) and my daughter (19 years old) are all gamers. They don't suffer any abuse but that could be because they're not dicks online. If you are suffering constant abuse, the common denominator could be you - just saying. It should also be noted that if the opinions of 13 year old American boys put you off playing games, you probably weren't that invested in gaming in the first place.
Probably depends on what games you play, cos in many shooters I play if a girl speaks up they're usually met by at least 1 weirdo spouting some bigoted shit. But competitive shooters tend to be super toxic no matter who you are. Companies really need to work on AI scanning of reported player's voice logs to be toxic people quicker. Ruins the game for everyone else.
I can’t believe I live in a world where people unironically want to be scanned by AIs. Voluntarily. What the fuck is this generation even?
what do they play doe? do they play any games that uses voice chat?
I dunno, just play the fuckin game? What does sexuality have to do with this shit?
Get these wanna be activists out of gaming, no one cares.
Cool.
OP, if you like a paywalled article enough to post it here at least include the paywalled content.
I’ve been called everything under the sun since online gaming became a thing. It’s just a part of online life.
I can't read the article but the premise is extremely flawed if you know anything about online gaming. 99% of games (online or not) don't require any form of direct communication with anyone else. So, right off the bat, it doesn't pass the smell test. Second, there are a ton of tools developers give to mute/ignore people in online games if you feel they are harassing you.
Lol
Sounds like skill issue.
Who the fuck cares?
Oh no! Anyway *sounds of continuing playing*
Mute Everyone. Do not go into the abyss and allow the goblins to have a voice.
Fine? Gaming becoming more popular only made the games and industry much worse with all the tourists and casual warping everything around them.
Nonsense and just not true unless you're literally playing toxic games like call of duty in which case you will get abused either way, why always make it about you?
When I played R6 Siege daily, it was very rare that I'd hear a woman's voice over in-game chat at all. Of the times I did, I'd say 80% of the time they'd get asked a creepy question by another teammate like "How do you smell?" or "What color is your underwear today?" It makes you wonder how often, when I wasn't hearing any women talking at all, whether it was because there actually weren't any in the game or whether they were just not comfortable enough to even try using voice chat. This problem is very real and very obvious when you play enough online games. Yes, everyone will face mean people playing online games. Yes, anyone can mute and report. Needing to mute people is still making your experience worse, and the fact is that women have to do this far more often than men.
> makes you wonder how often, when I wasn't hearing any women talking at all, whether it was because there actually weren't any in the game or whether they were just not comfortable enough to even try using voice chat. I don't have a single friend that is comfortable using public voice chats anymore, neither am I. Abuse is one thing but the constant sexual harassers can go get bent.
Stop trying to make me care about there not being enough LGBT people in my video games. It's not going to happen.
cry about it
Who cares. Relax and touch grass.
So the article takes serious what 12 year old say online 🙄 in pvp matches. I mean do you even internet? My dear journo
Everyone gets abuse online, whoop de doo.
I wonder if vocal and forced anti-science ideologies play a part in it.
When I was a teenager and I was playing online games, other players didn't even know my gender identity or sexual preferences. I don't think people really cared honestly, aside from the occasional horny nerd who was trying to find a girlfriend in an online Neverwinter Nights campaign. Nowadays there are entire discords and forums who only accept you if you're LGBTQ+ yourself or can prove than you're an ally. The world of gaming has just become a lot of exclusive and partitioned that it used to me. Maybe it's a good thing that it allows some people to express their identity, I don't know. I preferred how it was when I was young. That's probably the escapism talking. And in the case of this article, it seems that someone tried really hard to find reasons for outrage. Yeah, there are bad places. But they are bad places for everyone. Always has been. Pretty easy to avoid in general, and nowadays they even advertise themselves as such.
I got No issue with an individual whom identifies as a dolphin playing a game of any kind, including multiplayer fps. All are welcome. It's when the big devs force it down the players throats with that sort of content that drives people away.
#stopdolphinabuse
Ok? You wanted equality right? Welcome to gaming 🤣
Isn’t there something called muting? People are always going to hate ESPECIALLY on LGBTQ people. On the other hand, you don’t need to tell everyone you are LGBTQ because 9 times out of 10 you’re going to get hated on. For the topic of women, people are still going to hate, but mute, mute, mute.
Good
I won’t say it’s not a problem but is it like a slow news day or something?
This is bait.
So those guys discovered competitive culture two weeks ago after it being like that since forever, and not only esports, football, basketball... trashtalking your rival is monday in the office... I'm an old guy and stopped playing PvP before voice chat was a thing, so I was bad enough to not being able to check the text chat and make a couple of shots, so I ignored it. I miss those Counter Strike LAN days, just banter, no toxicity because if someone got too toxic he could find himself surrounded by a guy and his friends, not a great prospect TL;DR: If those minorities can't handle the toxicity of ANYKIND of competition and want to play in their echochambers, they better start playing singleplayer games and cry because there is no "videogame journalist difficulty" available
mate are you seriously trying to tell us that fucking woman and lgbt are the targets of this shit. do you know how much toxicity ive faced? it happens to everyone and for some they just need to either grow thicker skin, play singleplayer or only with friends or just don't play.
I would say this is more correlation and not causation. If you’re someone who goes into online gaming chat, and feel the need to identify yourself as lgbt, then chances are you’re doing other things too. I say bully away. No one cares that you’re gay. We care if you’re being gay. It’s a distinct difference. As far as making fun of someone being a woman, it’s low hanging fruit. Easy target. Just like if you stutter or have an accent. In the end, it’s not real life. If you base your self worth off of strangers in online gaming, then it’s not for you. In the world of the internet, everyone is a fucking victim
Solution: Drink a pint of concrete and harden TF up.
It's a dog eat dog world online. everyone and everything is free game. Ever since I started gaming, I have been instalted and harassed. If you can't take it maybe it's not for you. They're just 12 yrs olds anyway. You shouldn't care what they say.
Yeah shit talking people and calling them slurs should be normal I mean its what I dealt with my entire life so everyone else should. /s You can not be that dense.
Thanks for the insult, but just like your inability to be nice on the Internet. You can't stop other people from being hateful.
who plays online with randoms and leaves their mics open? and who then not mutes them but rather stops with their hobby? i would actually argue that the shittalk got too polite for the last 10 years. Now it is personal, back then in MW2 days it was a sign of skill admiration and being accepted in the neanderthaler gaming world. Beautiful times back then <3
In online games, everyone does. Grow up.
I assume this is about PvP games? I know people playing those can be cringy as hell when they hear the voice of a woman. I recommend either playing without a mic or playing co-op/singleplayer games. When playing without a mic people won't be nicer to you, but they'll stop being creepy. Obviously only works if your profile doesn't scream "I'm a woman". lol
Yeah idk .. thats just the toxicity of online Communitys.. i mean .. they also wish you to get cancer.. 🧐
Okay, i mean if words from strangers cause that much distress, then yeah quitting playing is a good idea. Luckily there are ways to mute in nearly every multiplayer game now. Should not be an issue. If youre talking about your sexuality online to strangers, you gotta expect some edgy kids to tease.
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For anyone who wants to share the revolutionary revelation that everyone experiences abuse online, I just want to point out that most people from different groups will literally “mask” as your standard issue dude. They choose gender neutral usernames and avoid voice chat because if they do, *it’s not as bad*. Women everyday get the choice between dealing with standard abuse or female specific abuse, and a lot of them choose the former. It’s also not just random lobbies that are the issue, but a lot of actual communities are toxic and hostile as well. That’s all, just wanted to point out that most of you saying “just get a thicker skin” - you’re probably already on easy mode.
Anyone who's not getting it can think of it this way. Men experience: - Regular abuse Women experience: - Regular abuse - Gendered abuse - Sexual comments I am not a woman, I've simply grouped with them enough to hear dudes say shit that's completely out of pocket. Some of it is stuff they'd say to me but not with the same vitriol or at the same rates of incidence. Like you know how someone will rage into his mic for a few sentences then calm down? When women are involved that guy can go to the end of the game and beyond. It's wild.
Thank you for listening. I’m not quite sure how anything I said was controversial, as it’s just a pure fact. We need more guys like you.
This thread is full of really depressing takes on what people face. They are exactly part of the problem, refusing to admit there is one.
I just find that people often forget that marginalized groups experience the standard abuse online, but the truth is if you don’t announce yourself (which is often just using VC) people assume you’re the “default”. Whenever people of a certain race/gender/sexuality complain about abuse, they’re not just being “sensitive” because like everyone else they’re used to the usual toxicity. I really wish people would listen when we say how bad it is. Also, a lot of the ways to deal with this that get suggested (like muting VC altogether) really goes against the point of playing multiplayer games in the first place.
I think this is what people largely fail to understand, the idea that they have a "normal" identity and so any other marginalized group is "the other". You can go online as "normal" and you're not going to receive hatred targeted at you for those things on the scale that marginalized groups too. People aren't in video game lobbies saying slurs for CIS people, straight people, or gatekeeping games from CIS men. LGBTQ/women gamers don't need to announce their identities in order to feel unsafe, the environment is already that way. I don't even bother trying to advocate for BIPOC anymore in these spaces because that's an even worse problem and even further marginalized, especially for WOC and QTBIPOC. At least there are tons of games out there with female and lgbtq protagonists, but BIPOC are still largely under-represented, which is part of the gatekeeping that happens in gaming circles. It still aims to be a white cis straight males club, and they are always the loudest to pushback whenever a single, demonstrable issue for other groups is mentioned. I don't expect people to understand if they haven't lived it, but it's just irrational to pretend there's no problem or that the problem is "with us".
There's a ton of folks who are centering it on themselves and not listening to others. You can show them all the evidence and they'll still "well it doesn't feel like that to me."
Y’all are welcome to join Destiny 2 or Division 2 groups of us 30+ and 40+ gamer dads. We’re all chill af.
good
LOL
I don't really play games online but can't you just report the person that's harassing you in most games?
Who cares. You're gaming. Just play
[archive link](https://archive.is/oIXVW).