www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

Sexual harassment in the gaming world

Updated: 2012-08-12 07:53

By Amy O'Leary(The New York Times)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small

 Sexual harassment in the gaming world

The increasing number of females in the still largely male world of video gaming suffer from harassment. Playing a game at a San Diego convention. Sandy Huffaker For The New York Times

When Miranda Pakozdi participated in the Cross Assault video game tournament this year, her team's coach, Aris Bakhtanians, interrogated her on camera about her bra size, said "take off your shirt" and focused the team's webcam on her chest, feet and legs.

For Ms. Pakozdi, 25, an experienced gamer, this was too much. And when she overheard Mr. Bakhtanians defending sexual harassment as part of "the fighting game community," she forfeited the game.

Sexism, racism, homophobia and general name-calling are longstanding facts of life in certain corners of online video games. But the Cross Assault episode was the first of a series this year that have exposed the severity of the harassment that many women experience.

And a backlash - on Twitter, in videos, on blogs and even in an online comic strip - has moved the issue beyond endless debate among gaming insiders.

Executives in the $25 billion-a-year industry are taking note. One game designer's online call for civility prompted a meeting with Microsoft executives about how to better police Xbox Live. In February, LevelUp, an Internet broadcaster of gaming events, barred two commentators who made light of sexual harassment on camera and issued an apology.

Even so, Tom Cannon, co-founder of the largest fighting game tournament, EVO, pulled his company's sponsorship of the weekly LevelUp series, saying that "we cannot continue to let ignorant, hateful speech slide."

The issues raised by the Cross Assault episode gained more attention with Anita Sarkeesian's campaign in May to raise $6,000 on Kickstarter to document how women are portrayed in video games. Her YouTube and Facebook pages were instantly flooded with hate-filled comments. People tried to hack her online accounts. She received threats.

Ms. Sarkeesian responded by documenting the harassment, posting online the doctored, pornographic images of herself that her detractors had created. Supporters of her efforts, aghast, donated more than $150,000, further angering her critics. A man from Ontario created an Internet game where players could "punch" her.

"The gaming industry is actually in the process of changing," Ms. Sarkeesian said. "That's a really positive thing, but I think there is a small group of male gamers who feel like gaming belongs to them, and are really terrified of that change happening."

Sexual harassment in the gaming world

When Sam Killermann, a gamer in Austin, Texas, saw the reaction to Ms. Sarkeesian's project, he began a campaign for "Gamers Against Bigotry," asking people to sign a pledge supporting more positive behavior. The site received 1,500 pledges before it was hacked, erasing its list of names.

Like Ms. Sarkeesian, many female gamers are documenting their experiences on blogs like "Fat, Ugly or Slutty" (whose name comes from the typical insults women receive online). It catalogs the slurs, threats and come-ons women receive while playing games.

Jessica Hammer, a researcher at Columbia University in New York, said the percentage of women playing such games online ranges from 12 percent to close to half, depending on the game type.

The women's presence is often criticized as "distracting." Some have been offered money or virtual "gold" for online sex. Some have been stalked online and in person.

James Portnow, a game designer who has worked on the games Call of Duty and Farmville, wrote about harassment for his animated Web series "Extra Credits." In it, the narrator says: "Right now, it's like we gave the school bully access to the intercom system and told him that everyone would hear whatever he had to say. It's time we take away that megaphone."

At the end of the video, viewers were encouraged to e-mail the Xbox Live team at Microsoft, asking for changes to communication tools and improvements to reporting systems.

Microsoft confirmed it was working toward improvements to its community tools.

"For the longest time, people have seen games as a children's pastime, and we as an industry have stood behind this idea," said Mr. Portnow. "But that's not true any longer. We are a real mass medium, and we have a real effect on the culture. We have to take a step beyond this idea that nothing we could possibly do could be negative, or hurt people."

The New York Times

(China Daily 08/12/2012 page12)

主站蜘蛛池模板: 免费一级a毛片在线播放视 免费一级α片在线观看 | 亚洲精品成人久久久影院 | 亚洲精品在线播放视频 | 国产四区 | 中文字幕无线精品乱码一区 | 日韩毛片一级 | 久久夜色精品国产亚洲 | 欧洲欧美成人免费大片 | 国产精品三区四区 | 91久久精品国产91久久性色tv | 免费一级成人免费观看 | 免费日韩一级片 | 成人合集大片bd高清在线观看 | 国产高清一区二区三区 | 久久精品视频免费播放 | 在线看毛片网站 | 亚洲2020天天堂在线观看 | 国内精品91最新在线观看 | 日韩精品a| 国产高清免费影视在线观看 | 午夜亚洲国产成人不卡在线 | 欧美成人伊人十综合色 | 欧美一级欧美三级在线观看 | 国产一区二区免费视频 | 免费一级片视频 | 一级毛片观看 | 国产在线一区二区三区四区 | 国产成人综合日韩精品婷婷九月 | 久久国产精品久久久久久久久久 | 亚州色吧| 国产视频中文字幕 | 国产一级生活片 | 成人一级黄色毛片 | 91香蕉成人免费高清网站 | 久久久精品免费视频 | 成年人网站免费在线观看 | 女人张开腿让男人插 | 亚州黄色网址 | 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕 | 欧美性xxxx18| 国产视频软件在线 |