Sexism and video games

This may manifest as sexual harassment or in the way genders are represented in games, such as when characters are presented according to gender-related tropes and stereotypes.

Harassment can involve sexist insults or comments, death or rape threats, demanding sexual favors in exchange for virtual or real money, or criticism of the presence of women and their interests.

[13][14] Female developers from the survey also revealed that they were not taken seriously in the field and instead were met with inappropriate behavior from male colleagues, such as being misled into attending dates.

In comparison to their male counterparts, women are subject to three times the amount of derogatory or offensive remarks, which can be made anonymously by gamers.

[15] Video games conferences have been criticised for using sexualised advertising such as 'booth babes', creating a demeaning image of women, and for failing to stop harassment of female attendees.

[16][17][18][19][20] One form of harassment involves perpetrators changing their username to include sexist or racially charged language when they leave comments during live-streams, according to gamer Amira Virgil.

According to Stephen Toulouse (moderator of the online gaming service Xbox Live), between 2007 and 2012 women were the most frequent target of harassment.

"[26] In an ethnographic study of Xbox Live, Kishonna Gray wrote that a lot of the racism and sexism experienced in the gaming platform is facilitated by linguistic profiling.

[31] In October 2017 the #MeToo movement highlighted sexual harassment allegations against several important and high-profile figures from predominately the entertainment industry.

[32][33][34][35] In response to a growing number of claims of harassment, several important figures in games media or publishing made public statements outlining their thoughts on how more needed to be done within the industry to do better when dealing with harassment including Jennifer MacLean, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association, and Kate Edwards, the former director, Joe Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment and Mike Wilson of Devolver Digital.

[37][38][39] In January 2018 following a public outcry the Game Developers Conference rescinded a Pioneer Award to Nolan Bushnell after revelations about early Atari meetings being held in hot tubs, amongst other claims.

[44] In a January 2018 an opinion piece in The Guardian, journalist Keza McDonald speculated that the video game industry would have a similar "#MeToo moment", but was not currently ready.

[41] In August 2019, following Nathalie Lawhead coming forward with sexual assault accusations against Jeremy Soule, several other women and non-binary people brought additional accusations of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse against members of the industry, including some whose reports had been generally overlooked in the past.

Twitch was also criticized for allowing such behavior to occur, and the service said it would begin to evaluate all reported incidents and work with law enforcement as necessary.

[49] The event led to other accusations of past misconduct to be raised against various members of the video game industry and other closely related markets, including freelance writer Chris Avellone (later retracted),[50] CEO of Cards Against Humanity Max Temkin (who resigned following the allegations),[51] Wizards of the Coast artist Noah Bradley (who was terminated following the accusations),[52] and Ubisoft creative director Ashraf Ismail (who stepped down from his position to deal with his personable matters).

The results showed that when narrowed down to gender and socioeconomic levels, a connection was made between stronger sexist views and a higher amount of time spent playing video games.

Cultivation theory is key to the analysis of sexism in video games, because it is the idea that when an individual is exposed long-term to multimedia, their understanding of their reality can change into becoming more similar to the media.

[82] These theories also illustrate the ways prominent video game characters are gendered and what is received by the user or viewer.

They write that "Gender portrayals of video game characters reinforce a sexist, patriarchal view that men are aggressive and powerful and that women are not healthy, whole persons, but sex objects, eye candy and generally second-class citizens.

In addition, these gender portrayals become increasingly prominent because of the mass appeal and number of users of online multiplayer games.

The longitudinal study was based on cultivation theory, and the results broadly showed that playing video games did not lead to gamers becoming sexist.

[87] The researchers analysed the performance data of over 10,000 players (both men and women) in the online MMORPGs EverQuest II in the United States and Chevaliers III in China.

Their study found that the men who were categorized as showing signs of being socially dominant and hostile sexism carried out acts of verbal sexual harassment, such as "making sexist comments and joking about rape."

Media critic Anita Sarkeesian, for example, has – through her organization Feminist Frequency – given lectures and training to help change gaming culture.

According to Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, "typically, 80% of the workforce is qualified to degree level or above, but the proportion of women studying subjects such as computer science or games programming courses is low.

"[95] Initiatives on the part of gaming companies include codes of conduct and the adoption of trainings and standards to ensure safe and respectful workplace.

[100] The group has launched an e-sports diversity initiative, and have produced white papers on the topic of women in esports and online harassment.

[102] The group also hosts many recruitment expos, to highlight companies in the video game industry that are committed to gender equality in the field.