by Elizabeth Roth
Trigger Warning: The following contains mentions of sexism, sexual assault, suicide, and
general harassment
The gaming industry is viewed almost entirely as being a masculine
space. It’s not difficult to see how this conclusion was made. All professional
esports teams are nearly exclusively made of male players. Most video games
are created with a male intended audience. It’s all so cliche, the buff,
sunglasses wearing, dual wielding action hero with a witty comeback and a
persona that brings all the ladies to their knees. It’s a classic escapism dream.
However, that's not entirely true. Nearly half of all video game players identify
as female. Yet, on the other side of the same coin, only 23.7% of game
developers identify as female. The discrimination these women face is horrific,
and while in recent years there has been more awareness of it, there is still
significant work that needs to be done to ensure the safety of female game
developers.
Activision Blizzard
On July 20th of 2021, Activision Blizzard was sued for “frat boy culture”
and general sexual harassment and discrimination by the California
Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The allegations against the
company were extreme and horrendous. Activision Blizzard employees who
were nursing reported that their breast milk was stolen and that they were
kicked out of lactation rooms for male employees to hold meetings in. “Cube
crawls” would occur in which male employees would drink heavily and then
would harass female employees as they crawled through the workplace. In
one case of extreme sexual harassment, one employee, Kerri Moynihan,
committed suicide on a company trip in 2017. It is alleged that one of the
main reasons she committed suicide is the harassment she received
alongside a sexual relationship with a higher up at the company. Male
co-workers shared compromising photos of her to other employees. Alex
Afrasiabi, a famed World of Warcraft (2004) developer, was so renowned for
his harassment that his hotel rooms were dubbed “The Crosby Suite”.
Afrasiabi and many other employees of Activision Blizzard were fired
after the lawsuit broke mainstream media. The Federal Trade Commision was
written to by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon
Whitehouse, prominent US State Senators, about their various concerns with
Activision Blizzard’s terrible treatment of employees. Since the lawsuit,
Activision Blizzard has been acquired by Microsoft for $68.7 billion USD.
December 29th, 2023 Bobby Kotik, former CEO of Activision Blizzard, stepped
down from his position. California’s Department of Fair Employment and
Housing upon investigating has claimed that Activision Blizzard has been
suppressing and hiding evidence, a claim that the company hardily denies
To mitigate much of the damage to their reputation, Blizzard also made
many changes to their games as well. Overwatch 2 (2022) character McCree
was renamed to Cole Cassidy since he was originally named after a developer
who was prominently involved in the allegations, Jesse McCree. In World of
Warcraft (2004), many player flirt and joke interactions were changed. Names
that were sexual innuendos were changed. Paintings of women were
changed to bowls of fruit. A zone in World of Warcraft (2004), also named
after Jesse McCree, was changed from its original name Mac’Aree to Eredath.
The player base was mostly unhappy with these changes as it appeared that
Activision Blizzard was missing the bigger picture and making unnecessary
changes instead of the changes that bettered the lives of the developers and
fixed the problems at hand.
Riot Games
A few years before the Activision Blizzard lawsuit in 2018, another
popular game studio, Riot Games, developer of League of Legends (2009),
was sued on the similar basis of sexual harassment and discrimination
towards female employees. Similar to Activision Blizzard, the treatment of
women in the company was compared to being similar to a frat house. Many
women reported unwanted sexual advances. Women trained for high
positions were consistently pushed aside for male colleagues that were
underprepared for the positions. Women who worked for Riot also had to do
significantly more work than their male counterparts. During the time of the
lawsuit, Riot Games’ leadership team was also completely male. Two male
employees were fired for speaking out against the treatment of women at the
company. There was a numbered list kept by coworkers that recorded “Riot
Games Hottest Women Employees”. Female employees were also forced to
look at photos of male genitalia at work as well as experience sexually
demeaning comments and jokes.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing blocked the
original agreement to settle for 10 million USD saying that the women
affected were entitled to upwards of 400 million USD. At the time, this was
the largest sex based lawsuit in California’s history. The lawsuit concluded that
Riot Games had to pay 100 million USD, 80 million of which would go to
roughly 2,300 affected employees. The average payment ended up being
$49,709 per person. Riot Games also implemented various policy changes to
ensure proper pay and representation. They also made an effort to hire more
women, ultimately increasing the percentage of female employees from 22%
to 27.5% in 3 years.
Beyond Development
Even outside the development of games, when it comes the the actual
consumption of video games, women still deal with significant amounts of
sexual harassment. Women in Esports are constantly challenged. Any
popularity they receive is seen as a consequence of their appearance rather
than any skill, performance, or personality that may be enjoyable to watch.
They are also accused of using their appearance and body for views or even
outright cheating.
If a woman is good looking she can't possibly be a talented gamer,
especially if the game is stereotypically masculine. Walking simulators and
“cozy games” are seen as games for women. If a woman likes them, it's to be
expected. They’re easy. If a woman likes a game primarily intended for men,
she simply wants attention. Sexual harassment of women in gaming has
actually increased over the years. In 2023, 48% of female gamers reported
harassment based on their gender while playing. Younger women also
experience harassment at a significantly higher rate. This does not account for
the amount of women who do not report harassment, the amount of women
who lie about their gender in online gaming spaces to avoid harassment in
the first place, or the women who only play single player games. Many
women avoid using microphones or using their voice in an attempt to avoid
harassment. Harassment can vary from death threats, rape threats, sexual
jokes, and general misogyny.
Steps have; however, been taken in order to mitigate this harassment.
Most games have implemented a reporting system where players can report
one another. If a player is reported, it may result in either a temporary or
permanent ban. Many games with an in-game communication system have
their verbal conversations recorded. In general; however, game studios have
not made stopping harassment a priority.
Conclusion
Women have always been a part of the gaming community; however,
due to a multitude of factors from the patriarchy to unequal power structures
to general misogyny, female voices have been silenced, and women in
general have had to face discriminatory challenges for a factor they cannot
control. No change can ever be made if no acknowledgement of the problem
happens. The conversations can be uncomfortable. They can be awkward and
shameful. But if there is any hope of solving the problem and helping these
female game developers, it has to happen. Many efforts have already been
made to curb all of these problems that plague the industry, but there's still
plenty of work left to do. Women deserve a place in the gaming industry as
much as anyone else. Be mindful of which studios you support.
This!!! You covered so many things I've seen and personally experienced playing public games as a female. My brothers made me talk in their head set while they were playing COD once and it was not a pleasant experience to say the least. I didn't know that the percentages of women who played games was so high. And the last chart you show is very sad, the fact that all of the categories are so dark is sickening. Thanks for writing about this topic! - Maren Franklin
While I had been aware of the the male gamers that discriminate against/abuse female gamers, I had never even considered what kind of discrimination and harassment was going on in the development of video games. I think it can be easy to dismiss sexism in the gaming community with the reasoning that "the men are behind a screen, they don't understand the full effect of their actions," but what is the excuse for the in-person examples of abuse you mention? I don't think there is one. I think your post effectively conveys the severity of this issue.
-Lexi Oybkhan
Thank you for sharing this post and highlighting many of the problems that women in the gaming/technology industry are facing. The infographic you include shows how women make up a large population of the people who play games, but women play a very small part in the creation of these games is important. A change needs to happen in this industry and with women supporting women through the process the impacts will be huge. Great job!
-Clare
As a woman who works in the technology field, you did a good job at detailing these issues. I think it would be interesting to read some snippets of the firshand accounts of women working- or even simply gaming- in the sphere. The statistics are jarring, and I find that reading stories from women who have experienced the harassment and discrimination is incredibly powerful. Despite the lawsuits against gaming companies, it seems that especially in the gaming industry, change for the better is difficult and a wall for many women.