Gaming technology has made major leaps and bounds, to the point where some titles are almost indistinguishable from real life.
Yet even with the industry progressing so rapidly, you sometimes just can’t help but wonder how many are still stuck back in the stone age – especially when it comes to accepting female gamers.
Apparently sexual harassment in gaming has really become a real problem recently, and now according to Slashgear, 343 Industries and Microsoft are making an effort to take out the trash on Xbox Live. For example, if you’re caught making sexist comments in lobbies or in private messages, you could be banned for life from Xbox Live.
As Sashgear laments, “Unfortunately, sexism is something that runs rampant in our online gaming communities…women who take their game online risk becoming the target of some sexist comment every time they do.” But as we just mentioned above, Microsoft and 343 are indeed making an effort to do something about it, and they’re going after Cro-Magnon gamers as the biggest event in gaming is about to be released on November 6.
This is reportedly also going to be a zero tolerance policy, so you better keep sexist comments to yourself – or else. Several of the major gaming executives behind Halo 4, including Bonnie Ross and Kiki Wolfkill, are women, and as Wolfkill told Slashgear, “It can be dangerous to give adolescents a broadcast mechanism,” and indeed, it’s easy to let your inner a-hole out in the faceless, anonymous world of the ‘Net.
It’s disappointing to read that sexual harassment has been going on in the gaming community, especially with women’s presence in gaming growing stronger than ever in recent years. The gaming companies are indeed trying to take a hard stance against it, and as one woman who has been documenting sexual harassment in gaming told the New York Times, “The gaming industry is actually in the process of changing. 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.”
