Lately there has been a lot of discussion on misogony in video game communities. Some have linked this to The Fine Young Capitalists’ donation winner mascot, Vivian James, created by the video game board on 4chan. To me, this character looks rather menacing, someone that will not take bullshit from anyone, someone that will say “STFU” if you annoy her. So it seems rather peculiar to me when people claims that she is made in a misogynistic image, or when people say she is some misogynistic “ideal” woman that stay quiet and obedient.

Now I am not here to discuss the messageboards on 4chan. Using demeaning slurs is commonly accepted on those boards — this is widely known on the Internet, and is why most people who don’t thrive in slur-driven conversations don’t go there, including myself.

When I hear people talk about having been extensively harassed in the gaming community for being female, I am curious to where it happened. My good faith assumption is that they must be talking about either some mainstream gaming message boards, or while playing a game, and not somewhere where being offensive is considered funny.

This is where all my online gaming experience lies as well. I have been a member of gameFAQs.com, a video game site with dedicated forums for every game, since 2007. The site has been on the decline lately, but was one of, if not the largest gaming forum a few years ago when I was active. Never did I see misogony and hatefull speech towards women. The same I can say for most main stream video game sites that I’ve visited.

As for inside the games. My biggest gaming experience lies in about 365 hours of Team Fortress 2, a two-team first person shooter game, and 1000+ hours in Starcraft II Arcade custom games. Here I’ve played games such as Star Battle, Footmen (MOBA games for 12 players), tower defense games, various hero coop games, and a “Mario Party”-like game, ranging from 3–12 players. In all of these hours, never have I experienced someone recieving harassment for being a woman.

I am not trying to deny any harassment happening, I am saying that a typical gaming experience (e.g. playing for a thousand hours), doens’t necessarily involve even seeing it happen once. So understanding the problem, or ‘standing up’ against harassment, has hardly been applicable for me, and is why I am skeptical of claims of widespread misogony in gaming culture. I can condemn the harassment in gaming culture like most, but since I haven’t seen any of it, it will not be a heartfelt condemnation, it feels more like calming down hysteria.

Still, there is the common anecdote that ‘just being a woman will incinerate harassment’. I have not seen a woman recieve harassment for talking, but if a woman did suddenly start talking, my prediction is however: Yes, that could easily happen in the games that I’ve played.

Why?

Most communication in these games happen by text. Only rarely does someone use a MIC — and in most cases, it is to disrupt the game by playing loud music, or just rambling without really even talking to anyone. There is an expectation (a bad stereotype if you will) that people who use a MIC do this to disrupt a game, and many people will type STFU as soon as a MIC is heard. If you are woman who had this happen, I will say this, the steretope is not related to gender, it’s related to the MIC. Most MIC disruptors that I’ve heard are male, and abusive responses are common. While a MIC could be used positively for cooperation, this is hardly done in games with strangers, I’ve only ever done it successfully in a party of friends.

Now many people might wish that the whole communication culture among strangers while playing a game was better. Sounds great enough, but I am not sure if these people realize what they are trying to achieve. In a football match, would you like to have a social conversation unrelated to the game while playing? Most people came to play the game, not to chat. The “Shup up and play’ culture in video games is hardly controversial compared to other sports. While in some games it is more appropriate to use voice communication than in others, in most cases it is unrealistic beyond speaking to your own friends.

Now I don’t claim to have some all-covering experience of online gaming. I think mine ties in well with the above Vivian James image though, as using a hand controller for online gaming, implies a likelihood of playing a first person shooter. There are however many games where you do have an avatar of self-chosen gender, such as RPGs like World of Warcraft. I have not played it, but then again, I’ve mostly heard positive things about having a female avatar, such as reciveing free entries in parties and items, and being more accepted for expressing emotion. Some male players even pick female avatars only for this reason. While creepy PMs may be an issue, they are only seen by the individual who sent it and the reciever, and can hardly be called part of an “accepted” culture.

I do have one gaming experience with a game that has gendered avatars though — I have played around 30 hours of Town of Salem. This is a mafia/werewolf game for 15 players, where criminals will make killings during each night, and during the day, players have 60 seconds to present evidence in the chat that they collected during the night, and vote on someone to a trial for lynching. Occasionally, people will talk about something irrelevant, and get voted on. Some become furious and personally offended, and rather than defending themselves (anyone who won’t even say their role at a trial are presumed guilty), point to the lack of evidence against them. But the suspicion is warranted, because it is in the criminals’ interest to waste and distort the discussion time. I find it very plausible that someone would get lynched for saying “I am a woman” in the chat, and I really hope to not see someone be genuinely offended for getting lynched over this.

In this game though, I did observe something that could possibly be seen as a gendered-creepy PM. The game have private messages, but they are not meant for personal communication — players who has a spy role can read them. I saw someone ask another “Are you a woman? Can I add you?” once. Probably not a BFF you are looking at there, but hardly misogony level of rude. I called the player out as an appropriate flirter in my will (A document that is revealed after you are killed, the only way to convey information in the gametrustworthily).

Anti-misogony duty accomplished?