Hatred and incitement have no place on GameStar, GamePro, and MeinMMO. We explain here what we do daily against hate.
More than a million people in over 200 cities have taken to the streets in recent weeks to stand up against right-wing extremism. Among them many of you, many of us.
Every day we receive emails from people asking us to take a stance on a topic. Or that we should stop. That we want more content on a certain topic. Or none at all. That we are too political for websites that are “only about video games.” Or not political enough.
We can never please everyone. Instead, we want to try to do what feels right for us and listen to our moral compass. As diverse as we are as individuals at Webedia Gaming, one thing unites us: We agree that hate, intolerance, and violence have no place on our pages, in our (professional) lives, and in society.
That is why it is especially essential for us, in the current time and situation, to repeat and clarify these values again and again: Hate has never and will never have a place on our platforms or our channels.
How we contribute
These values are not empty words for us. No throwaway statement that follows nothing and for which we pat ourselves on the back before moving on to other things.
As already written in last year’s statement for tolerance and diversity, we stand up for these values every day – not just regarding pride and inclusion.
Some parts of our promise are visible, such as our videos, podcasts, or articles, or even the annual pride flag. Others, however, are less obvious or take place completely behind the scenes. Not everything we do to make our little part of the (online) world a better place for everyone is meant for the public. However, this does not make these things any less relevant.
Whether publicly visible or behind the scenes: We will always take a stand and continue to fight for hate and incitement to have no chance with us.
A thank you to our communities
At this point, we also want to thank you for already actively speaking out against hate and incitement from outsiders and committing to a shared coexistence. Thanks to your help, our pages and channels become a better place and a home for everyone who loves gaming as much as we do.
With moderation and networking against hate
The core of this has always been our community and social media management (including our moderation), which works hard to ensure that you do not see many things or that questionable content quickly disappears from our pages.
Without their moderation and our comment and forum guidelines, it would not even be possible to provide things like a forum or comment sections to discuss our favorite games or the most exciting news in the world of video games. Their tireless and hard work to make our communities a better place plays a crucial role in our effort to advocate for more tolerance and acceptance in gaming.
Plus-Podcast: The fight against trolls and why our mods do this
It is also important to mention that particularly our community management is not only directly active on our pages but also participates in numerous training sessions or holds lectures on the topic of hate. In addition, we participate with all our gaming sites in the initiative Consistent against hate of the Bavarian State Center for new media and the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice.
In this context, all legally relevant content is reported immediately and directly to the judiciary without detours, and an exchange with law enforcement authorities is ensured.
How you can help us make our communities a place for everyone
Although we are well positioned with our community management and moderation, we rely on your help. With over 25,000 comments a month alone on our websites and hundreds of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok comments, we don’t always see everything immediately.
Here’s where you come in: If you see comments that violate our rules, we kindly ask you to report them. This helps us find problematic content faster in the sea of thousands of good comments.
You can report comments directly on our website via/under the respective comment or by clicking on the user profile. If you do not have an account with us, you can also send us an email at [email protected].
That’s why we are restructuring our community management – Talk with Mary
Our plan for the future
But beyond that, we want to do even more to not only entertain and inform but also to equip you with the tools to protect yourself and support games that promote diversity and stand against hate and discrimination and projects that fight hate and advocate for more tolerance in our favorite hobby.
Therefore, we are working to provide you with more content on these topics in the coming weeks and months. Not in the form of a limited-time theme week, but as a continuous part of our reporting and our understanding of what we want to stand for in gaming journalism.
