A particularly disgusting example from an Overwatch match shows the sexism that women still face in online games.
The anonymity of the internet often brings out the worst in people. Especially in online games, some individuals take the opportunity to “let loose” and show no regard for others. When a person identifies themselves as female in voice chat, sexism is all but guaranteed.
Why many women still do not feel comfortable online when they reveal their identity is excellently illustrated by the following example. The player Glisa recorded a match that demonstrates how she faced sexist remarks for nearly 20 minutes.
A few translated examples of the many, many attacks:
- “Mercy, heal me. I won’t call you ugly anymore! Just a joke, you’re probably ugly.”
- “I like that Mercy heals me because she wants me.”
- “That’s not sexual harassment, it’s equality.”
- “You’re a woman, do you even have the right to have an opinion?”
Even after she points out that their remarks are sexist, it doesn’t get better – quite the opposite. The laughter of the young men only increases, and comments like “Yeah, we basically raped you, haha” come out.
Even when asked to coordinate as a team and use voice chat, Glisa responds briefly and is then interrupted: “Did anyone mute Mercy? I had to mute her!”
This behavior continues throughout the match. Comments like “I find it strange that women always play healers, probably because they can’t play well” and “And then they just pick the most attractive heroine, as if they need to compensate for something.”
And if someone thinks it’s not any less nice to expose these gentlemen: Yes, they were informed that this would be posted online and seemed to enjoy it.
Cortyn says: “Fortunately,” in this case, it only hit someone who doesn’t take these attacks too personally and instead brings attention to the topic. Cases like this are probably not uncommon and serve as a prime example of why many women avoid voice chat in online games. Many women won’t easily brush off such experiences and will quickly wonder: Why should I put myself through this in my free time?
One can only hope that these gentlemen develop some sense during their puberty. And maybe they’ll have a voice change then too.
The cover image is fan art by MICE-KING (link to DeviantArt account).
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