WOMEN IN GAMES ISSUES A STATEMENT ON DISCRIMINATORY AND TOXIC BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE GAMES INDUSTRY.
Women In Games, the
worldwide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting equity and parity
for all women and girls in games and esports, has issued a press release
following the recent media reports on prejudicial and toxic behaviour within
the games industry.
Women In Games CEO
Marie-Claire Isaaman said:
“International,
widespread news of the growing furor mounting around Activision Blizzard, stemming
from allegations reported across the media a couple of Californian Department
of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) lawsuit, and the subsequent response from
the corporate, shine a harsh public eye on a culture that females in Games are
actively working to reform.
All of the media coverage
points to a piece culture gone badly wrong – harming females through harassment
and discrimination – familiar issues.
Perhaps what is genuinely
new, is that the earth, connected because it is now by global movements
like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo,
also because of the continuing global disaster of the Coronavirus pandemic, is
more equipped and prepared to vociferously reject such a culture.
In addition, we are
seeing high-level efforts from The UN through its sustainable goals, the EU
with it’s a strategy for weaving gender equality through all of it’s policies,
and the United Kingdom’s presidency of the G7, integrating gender equality into
all of it’s strategies – all demonstrate support for radical change.
Women in Games brings
it’s proactive support to both the favoured demand for change and therefore the
wider political will that provide a more formal backdrop. As an organisation,
we are actively engaged during a range of initiatives and activities to counter
harassment, discrimination and inequality for females within the online spaces
and in the workplace.
The problems that
confront females, whether or not they are players or makers of games are not
history and are not news, and women in Games is proud to highlight our ongoing
initiatives to achieve change.”
Toxicity
directed at female gamers online is taking over an increasingly sexual nature:
results of latest Bryter research to be presented at the females in Games
Conference.
Since 2018, Women in
Games has worked with Research at marketing research Company Bryter director
Jenny McBean, to raised understand the severity and persistence of online
harassment.
Toxicity directed at
female gamers is taking over an increasingly sexual nature in 2021 and one in five
say that such toxicity makes them not want to play again. Almost half of the
gamers within the United States and the United Kingdom feel there is a scarcity
of female representation in streaming, but toxicity discourages them from
streaming themselves.
A talk on the detailed
findings of this research is going to be presented by Jenny McBean at the
forthcoming Women in Games Conference, which takes place on 15th
September and 16th September as a virtual event, alongside several
other initiatives central to the deal with world problems.
The Conference, which has
long been a start line for effective action, sits at the guts of a bigger event
this year: For the primary time, a Women in Games Festival are going to be a
worldwide online event, and between 6th September to18th September
will encompass an ambitious array of events including the Conference, which can
be broadcast and scheduled to suit all major time zones, allowing delegates
around the world to tune to inspirational speakers, panels, stories, and
fireside chats.