Over the summer, the state of California filed a civil lawsuit against video game publishing studio Blizzard Entertainment and its owner, Activision-Blizzard. Activision-Blizzard is well known for being the production studio for popular games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch and more. Each of these games have leagues of fans across the world, and Blizzard Entertainment’s game Overwatch even went as far as to air E-sports tournaments on live television.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing says that the largely popular gaming studio has created and harbored a toxic environment full of “constant sexual harassment.” The details of these claims, outlined in the lawsuit files which are available to the public, were shocking to many fans. While few names were mentioned in the lawsuit, the details of the claims referenced hundreds of male employees and groups of development teams involved in the so-called, deep-rooted “frat boy culture.”
Only weeks before the lawsuit was announced against Activision-Blizzard, another video game empire, Ubisoft, was sued under similar claims of harassment. The French video game company is responsible for games such as Rainbow Six: Siege, Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance and the Far Cry series. Two former Ubisoft employees, as well as the French workers union Solidaires Informatiques, have alleged that the company would rather tolerate sexual harassment then deal with the claims when they were first filed.
In just the span of a few months, two of the largest names in the gaming community were ousted as unsafe places for women and minorities to work. Unfortunately, claims of sexual harassment in the video game community are not new, especially in games that have chat rooms.
Speaking from personal experience, logging on to World of Warcraft with a female avatar invites at least one private message or comment about how the avatar is dressed. In games like Overwatch and Rainbow Six: Siege, players might be at the receiving end of “girl gamer” jokes if their voice is of a higher octave. Even playing single player games like The Sims 4 or Stardew Valley prompts jokes about being “girl games” because players assumedly couldn’t handle competitive and first-person shooter games.
If fans cannot trust the companies that produce their favorite games to be a safe place for women, how can they hope for a more inclusive space in the gaming community as a whole?
Aaron Banyard is a senior legal studies major and the president of the Society of Anime Gaming and Entertainment at NSU. Banyard has hosted multiple gaming competitions and events on campus and explains that in order for these video game empires to regain the trust of millions of their fans, they’re going to need to show that they’ve had a genuine change in leadership.
“They’re going to need people in charge who have the best interests of their employees, especially women and other minorities, in mind when making decisions. They need to publicly demonstrate that their staff, both leaders and employees, are going through training to make them more sensitive and aware to this type of behavior so this doesn’t happen again,” Banyard said.
Making sure that individuals have proper training is another big way Banyard believes that the gaming community could become more inclusive.
“We need to create an environment where women feel safe to compete and be a part of the community, and that starts with members being educated on how to conduct themselves,” he said.
The only way to create a more inclusive space for women is through respect.
“On an individual scale, you just need to be nice to people. You’re in the same space with that person because you share a common interest and that should be enough to make you respect them,” he explained.
