While it has been a decade since Gamergate and all that followed with it, being a female gamer can still be like navigating a minefield. A new and detailed report from Sky News showed just how toxic online gaming can be, especially for women.
In the report, Mickey Carroll delved into online gaming spaces to see what it was like in 2024. After weeks of hanging out in a gaming chat room, she was referred to as a “dirty f***ing b****” and “filthy female.” This doesn’t seem to be a small issue either, as data in the report showed that 2/3 of female gamers have been harassed.
1 in 5 female gamers even go so far as to avoid all online play due to harassment. It’s not just in-game voice chats where harassment can be found, either, as in Discord being a woman resulted in similar harassment.