Stomp on harrassment from the start

[super pretendo]

Keep your white nighting groveling male feminism out of my video game
Keep your over sensitivity out of my video game

[Saintlycow]

It's a human thing.
I swear at people when I play hockey all the time. They swear back. Same thing in a game.

However, the people who bitch at women all the time, are either trying to be cool and impress their friends, guys who live in basements and never see girls, or twelve year old using colorful language because they can.

Pro tip (for all the raging kiddies)
Girls seem to like the assholes and the jocks (and sometimes the smart quiet guys like me). Not the wifebeaters and sexists. Take that as you will

[Malorn]

That's gamer culture. They can roll with the punches or get all emo about it and paint a bigger target on their backs.

Women gamers need to understand the power they wield in the world of gaming.

The gamer culture is built around insult, trash talk, etc. That includes gender, member size, physical appearance. Women are not specifically targeted for these things. Males get them all the time too. The nature of the insults is different, but to say that women endure some terrible harassment is rather naïve. Everyone gets harassed in gamer culture, though women might be a bit more sensitive to it or not realize that males get the same treatment (though with different insults).

The interesting thing to me about women gamers is how easily they attract a swarm of male drone followers and can get what they want. Sure they mght get singled out because they're female, but they certainly have perks as well.

The griefing potential of women is higher too. Male gamers don't like getting owned by a girl. It's significantly more insulting to them than if it were a male doing the owning. That's why they might lash out after it happens. Women need to laugh that off and embrace it and have fun.

It's the culture. If they can't stand the heat they should get back into the kitchen

[Ratstomper]

While I think anyone who deliberately makes seriously offensive comments should be punished, we should take into account that PS2 IS a war game and violence is kinda part of it.

I'm not saying it's ever ok for someone to say someone should be raped, regardless of gender or whathaveyou, but trash talk and possible threats of violence are part of a game where you commonly kill other players. It will be important to distinguish between serious threats and people getting into the spirit of the game.

EDIT: I would like to add, though, that some common decency goes a long way. If people said some of the things to me on the street that they've said in game, they would likely be spending the evening nursing a broken nose. Important to remember that there are actual people on the other side of the internet. As a general rule, I try not to deliberately annoy people, because it serves no purpose and would make me look like an asshole. Just my 2 cents

[Goldeh]

Originally Posted by Malorn

That's gamer culture. They can roll with the punches or get all emo about it and paint a bigger target on their backs.

Women gamers need to understand the power they wield in the world of gaming.

The gamer culture is built around insult, trash talk, etc. That includes gender, member size, physical appearance. Women are not specifically targeted for these things. Males get them all the time too. The nature of the insults is different, but to say that women endure some terrible harassment is rather naïve. Everyone gets harassed in gamer culture, though women might be a bit more sensitive to it or not realize that males get the same treatment (though with different insults).

The interesting thing to me about women gamers is how easily they attract a swarm of male drone followers and can get what they want. Sure they mght get singled out because they're female, but they certainly have perks as well.

The griefing potential of women is higher too. Male gamers don't like getting owned by a girl. It's significantly more insulting to them than if it were a male doing the owning. That's why they might lash out after it happens. Women need to laugh that off and embrace it and have fun.

It's the culture. If they can't stand the heat they should get back into the kitchen

Gaming/ Gaming Culture wasn't built on insults. It was built on the idea of escapism. Isn't that the root of why we are all here? I know I didn't come here to fuck someones mother.. The culture you discribe, I think, is the internet culture seeping into the realm of gaming. Going "lolfagpissonurgrandmasgraverofl" isn't what gaming is about. Ever since "online gaming" became a thing, the internet, 4chan-esque sites seeped into it. But then again, one could say the internet culture is a form of escapism as well. So iunno I guess..but, I have a feeling it the "fagfaggaf etc" isn't it.

[Lord Cosine]

In all honesty the console matchmaking community is the cesspool of our video gaming culture, especially xboxlive. I wouldn't compare the two so closely. MMOs cultures are prone to the same garbage but its not anywhere as bad as consoles.

You lose a modicum of anonymity in an mmo, since players tend to see each other regularly they are less likely to ruin the reputation of their time invested character.

On the other hand I cannot vouch for low level characters, since this game will likely be f2p, the new character pool of the player base will probably be less trustworthy.

[The Kush]

Originally Posted by chipshop

read some of this (TRIGGER WARNING)

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=l8I0Wy58adM

i currently am not playin online games because this has became such a problem for me. equally to givin up bF3 not just because of how ruined the game is but because of how horrid the outspoken community is. "rape" is a joke word, homophobia and sexism is all acceptable conversation. i find it fascinatin that racism is so frowned on - the almighty N word - yet it is acceptable to hate on anythin else.

"chick" is not a good word by the way - unless you're hangin with the chicks...a little like gwyneth paltrow recently did in paris.

origin accepts gamernames with rape in the title. lets hope baserape doesn't stay.

in chat in these games when someone says somethin that is offensive i chat back "sorry i find that offensive...could you please stop"...somethin like that. sometimes (but not often enough) people apologise, more often than not they increase the talk. when i say somethin offensive i mean threats of violence, sexual violence, racism and general hate speech.

if we want to have a decent community there needs to be a zero tolerance attitude. that is how PS2 will become the genre/game/whatever changer. if in chat someone finds somethin offensive, others should not do nothin. or else that is as bad as bein a bully. and is that what you want to be?

the excuse "this is america - we have freedom of speech" argument is pathetic..it is not america..it is the internet. and the excuse "this is the internet" is equally obscene. i don't know in what context it is acceptable to bully someone because of their differences. in northern ireland there are laws against usin hate speech (that's where i live).

so i say be brave and stand up to hate and bigotry and demand SOE do the same. like seriously if in RL would you stand by?

Is this a joke? Do you wear a diaper?

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Yeah guys... take a stand on the internet! Show those bullies what for!

[Atheosim]

Don't pretend that you don't find your e-habits occasionally sneaking into your real life habits.

[Fortress]

Well if you guys weren't a bunch of dumb ******* I wouldn't have to yell at you now would I?

[Malorn]

Come to think of it, not too long ago when I led an outfit, I had an outfit rule that we didn't accept women.

Not because they weren't good enough - some certainly were. But usually where women go drama follows. There have been very few cases that I've seen where a female member of the outfit wasn't regretted. I had shit that I never thought I'd ever have to deal with, like a married couple where the guy goes off to fight in Iraq and the wife cheats on him with another outfit member. Seriously, that happened. Twice actually, on different occasions. Then people take sides and there's this tension that you simply don't want or need in a gaming group and multiple people end up leaving.

I've had other instances where a woman causes some other form of rift in the outfit that was entirely unnecessary. Or the guys act stupid around them. Or they get distracted or try to show off. It just isn't worth the trouble and better to have a sausage fest. Women gamers in organizations are terrible distractions and as a leader they were simply a liability. I did manage to find a few that didn't cause trouble, but the males still acted differently around them.

And all of this had absolutely nothing to do with the female player's skill and abilities. It's all the bullshit that comes with them simply because they are female.

[Revelator]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Come to think of it, not too long ago when I led an outfit, I had an outfit rule that we didn't accept women.

Not because they weren't good enough - some certainly were. But usually where women go drama follows. There have been very few cases that I've seen where a female member of the outfit wasn't regretted. I had shit that I never thought I'd ever have to deal with, like a married couple where the guy goes off to fight in Iraq and the wife cheats on him with another outfit member. Seriously, that happened. Twice actually, on different occasions. Then people take sides and there's this tension that you simply don't want or need in a gaming group and multiple people end up leaving.

I've had other instances where a woman causes some other form of rift in the outfit that was entirely unnecessary. Or the guys act stupid around them. Or they get distracted or try to show off. It just isn't worth the trouble and better to have a sausage fest. Women gamers in organizations are terrible distractions and as a leader they were simply a liability. I did manage to find a few that didn't cause trouble, but the males still acted differently around them.

And all of this had absolutely nothing to do with the female player's skill and abilities. It's all the bullshit that comes with them simply because they are female.

I think this is why we see a lot of female gamers make their own clans/guilds/outfits, because a majority of them do go to gaming for the same reason we do(or at least I do) which is for fun, and to escape reality for a few hours, and not just to bring drama to the table.

[LightningDriver]

Originally Posted by chipshop

read some of this (TRIGGER WARNING)

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=l8I0Wy58adM

i currently am not playin online games because this has became such a problem for me. equally to givin up bF3 not just because of how ruined the game is but because of how horrid the outspoken community is. "rape" is a joke word, homophobia and sexism is all acceptable conversation. i find it fascinatin that racism is so frowned on - the almighty N word - yet it is acceptable to hate on anythin else.

"chick" is not a good word by the way - unless you're hangin with the chicks...a little like gwyneth paltrow recently did in paris.

origin accepts gamernames with rape in the title. lets hope baserape doesn't stay.

in chat in these games when someone says somethin that is offensive i chat back "sorry i find that offensive...could you please stop"...somethin like that. sometimes (but not often enough) people apologise, more often than not they increase the talk. when i say somethin offensive i mean threats of violence, sexual violence, racism and general hate speech.

if we want to have a decent community there needs to be a zero tolerance attitude. that is how PS2 will become the genre/game/whatever changer. if in chat someone finds somethin offensive, others should not do nothin. or else that is as bad as bein a bully. and is that what you want to be?

the excuse "this is america - we have freedom of speech" argument is pathetic..it is not america..it is the internet. and the excuse "this is the internet" is equally obscene. i don't know in what context it is acceptable to bully someone because of their differences. in northern ireland there are laws against usin hate speech (that's where i live).

so i say be brave and stand up to hate and bigotry and demand SOE do the same. like seriously if in RL would you stand by?

Hey! I don't want to be bullied by political correctness either. I admit that I do not have the thickest skin, but that is my issue. I'm not going to throw down my gun, and sulk all the way back to the base because someone called me a name. Sure, it might sting, but whatever.

[GuyFawkes]

Im all for supporting this +1

Ive met and played with several females in different games and they , as a whole tend to be more mature, skilled and focused than the average male player.
Males then go on the offensive and become abusive to compensate for their own disabilities.
Its a male peer induced reaction in bred from generation to generation.

Companies like soe have the means via account info to take chat logs in game and do something about this kind of behavior. Setting up a cooperative cross- developer/publisher type of enforcement with other gaming creators could be a potential way to restrict future behavior.
An abusive player in future could try to create an account on a new game and become blocked from it if their IP / payment method is flagged. Just as an idea.

So many here, comment on the general attitude they perceive from communities like wow /cod and the like. Then deride said communities , in reality a bad name sticks and we tend to tar all with the same brush.

What really needs to happen is a line be drawn and behavior like that is not tolerated and has serious consequences . get rid of the problem and we make room for genuine decent players to replace the numb nuts .

edit : here in UK we have similar system for pubs , called pub watch . Someone gets out of order in one pub in an area , they get banned and all the other pubs are notified of them and banned from every pub in the area. Same needs to happen across all game publishers and formats . they cant just do off one female accusing someone simply out of spite , but since chat logs can be recorded genuine problems could be universally ironed out, or at least make it a lot harder. Then individuals with a problem may become a lot rarer.

[Brusi]

I actually wish sometimes that people wouldn't act in ways that would be deemed as unacceptable in real life while playing online games and in online communities, but only cause I’m lazy and it takes energy to constantly maintain an active bigoted bullshit filter.

If you haven’t noticed, I swear a lot and always switch off chat filter as soon as I find the check box. Still, when it comes down to it, this is exactly what chat filter and /ignore are designed for. To make it easier to filter out the fuckwitted assholes.

Generally speaking, it's everyone's responsibility to expend a certain amount of their energy making sure that they do not normalise to these things.

As Atheosim suggests... these things creep into reality and I know I personally have plenty of e-habits and carry across internet slang in my RL. Who knew that pwnd or even owned would become a word that non-gamers would use?!

On a related note... when playing Diablo 3 recently, I was slightly amused that Blizzard would filter the word dick but wouldn't filter out the word rape…