The popular subreddit r/Games will be closed for a day on April 1st. However, this is not about avoiding bad April Fools’ jokes, but about making a statement against the hate that comes from gamers.
What is r/games? This is the part of Reddit where people want to discuss games in general. Most other subreddits are dedicated to specific games or genres, while r/games serves as a place to discuss all video games.
While r/gaming mainly consists of people posting funny videos and memes, r/Games links to English articles from gaming sites, tweets, or YouTube videos, and then thousands discuss how to classify what is happening in the world of games.
- The subreddit has 1.7 million subscribers.
- The fun subreddit r/gaming, by the way, has 21.5 million.
That’s why r/games will close on April 1st: The mods published a message the day before (via reddit/Games). They say: They want to take April 1st a bit more seriously this time and highlight something that is becoming a growing problem in the subreddit community and in other gaming communities:
The subreddit has become a battleground of conflicting ideas.
The moderators then give examples of posts:
- that are against transgender people
- that are shaped by homophobia
- that are directed against Muslims
- with racist content
- with misogynistic content
- that advocate for pedophilia or rape
- that contain malicious attacks against others
This is nasty stuff when you click through. For example, comments are linked that approve of the attack in New Zealand on mosques. Or people talk extensively about each other’s penises and say they are probably microscopic. Developers are accused of throwing out gay people who were certainly brainwashed by other gay people.
The moderators say: This happens every day in the subreddit. It makes it difficult for the moderators to create an environment where everyone feels welcome.
There are also bright spots where the community comes together to follow the central idea: to discuss and enjoy video games together.
Because even though the gaming industry as a whole has many difficulties, we are fortunate today to be able to play so many fantastic games, from AAA titles down to indie games that come from nowhere.
The letter then ends with numerous links to organizations that represent the interests of LGBT+, women, or ethnic minorities.
