The Escapist Bulletin: Think B4 You Speak

The internet - and especially online gaming - can be a very hostile place at times: hundreds, if not thousands, of gamers are frustrated by griefers everyday. Racist, homophobic, and sexist epithets flow like dirty water and, for many, venturing online is a strange and upsetting experience.

An Australian gamer recently had such an experience on PlayStation Home, as another user followed her around crouched behind her, despite repeated requests to stop.

Her roommate, known by his handle of 'Whoef', called the incident 'sexual assault' in a post on the PlayStation forum, saying that she wasn't sure whether or not she'd return to Home following her experience.

Now think about that story, and what you'd say to the unnamed gamer. What would your response be? If it's 'welcome to the internet' or some variant, then your callous disregard for other people’s feelings makes you part of the problem.

When you look at how we gamers treat each other, it comes as little surprise that discussions about racism and sexism in games can find so little traction: it’s no wonder we find it so hard to talk about the important issues in an emerging medium when we struggle to even be civil to our peers.

Back in August, Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade weighed in on the problem, when the ‘Think B4 You Speak’ campaign - which aims to put an end to the casual homophobia used in schools and online on a daily basis - was just getting started, suggesting in a comic that the problem was simply too big and ran too deep to do anything about.

This attitude is an incredibly common one, and it’s entirely the wrong one to take. We are far too willing as a culture to accept this kind of behaviour, which seems strange considering how often gaming has been demonised in the past.

It’s not a pleasant truth, but the real face of online gaming is an ugly one. All too often, anyone bringing up the discriminatory language used online is regarded with scorn, as if complaining about being called a 'fag' over Xbox Live was somehow a failing.

What’s ironic is that everyone complains about it - in fact, one of the most common complaints about gaming online is that children will question your sexuality on a regular basis - but we don’t challenge it, and our tacit acceptance only makes the situation worse.

While there’s no denying that the problem is a significant one, and will not be solved overnight, having a defeatist attitude about it will only help homophobia, sexism, and harassment to become the norm.

In any other place this kind of behaviour would carry pretty hefty punishment, and yet we gamers let it continue because it’s easier to just ignore it. Muting someone who is acting inappropriately is a good start, but that should be the first thing you do, not the only thing you do.