Minority Gamers Get No Respect!

Women gamers just don't get any respect. In a world where women account for more than 42% of online gamers, why do they have to resort to a male voice changer to play with the boys? Michael McWhertor, a writer over at Kotaku writes the following on a blog post: "So, you girls want to come into our boys club and play our video games. Fine. A lot of us like girls. But you've got to understand our natural instinct to harass you over the internet at the slightest hint that you might be the bearer of actual breasts—the naturally occurring kind, that is, not the masculine version borne of fistfuls of Peppermint Patties and Cheese Puffs. If you're really that bothered by the constant barrage of invites to "cyber" behind the Darnassus Hall of Justice or requests for your age, address, and cup size during a few rounds of Counter-Strike, maybe Audio4Fun's AV Voice Changer Software is for you."

VH1 Game Break writes that instead of advising male gamers to grow up and stop harassing female gamers, Kotaku's writer makes a weak excuse for other men by stating that it's their "natural instinct" to harass women online. "McWhertor is promoting something religious extremists like the Taliban would enforce: the idea that it's a girl's fault that a guy harasses her. She was the one that didn't have a veil on her face (or in this case, a voice changer on his mic, right)?"

But why aren't these harassing gamers getting banned from online gaming? Shouldn't these online gaming companies take extreme measures towards gaming trolls? Almost half of their audience is female, and by allowing such misogynistic behavior they too are allowing this abuse towards their female customers. Alisha from Blogcritics, writes about her experience online. She actually had a stalker who would change characters, send her party invites (which are not blocked by blacklists), and recruited other players to send her messages. After three reports, something was actually done about it. She suggested the following: "... girls shouldn't have to pretend to be something other than what they are. The gaming community should make a conscious effort to self-censor this sort of behavior; the "officials" in these games should take action when reports are filed, and actively seek out the truth. Read logs. I give blanket permission to check into my stuff if I'm being harassed, personally. Give girls who file reports (hey, guys too) that option and investigate. Write to the popular magazines and ask them to make their content a little more female friendly."

Women gamers are not the only ones frustrated with the way video game companies ignore these problems. Just last week, the NAACP criticized Sony for their racially charged PSP campaign billboards posted all over Europe. The billboards show a white woman (white PSP) violently grabbing a black woman (black PSP) by the throat followed by a message "Playstation Portable. White is coming." The campaign has obviously offended many people, yet Sony has simply ignored them by leaving the controversial billboards up.

This billion dollar industry needs to take a closer look at their marketing tactics as well as revise and enforce their online gaming sexual harrasment policies. Gamers should be treated with respect regardless of gender or race. That's the bottomline. What do you think?

Update: Sony pulled the ad, and apologized to anyone offended by the ad.