http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/inside-sexual-harassment-online-gamin...
I just caught this on the podcast. They mentioned "trolls" (that some people say to just ignore them) but no mentions of Wikipedia.
-Jeremy
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/inside-sexual-harassment-online-gamin...
I just caught this on the podcast. They mentioned "trolls" (that some people say to just ignore them) but no mentions of Wikipedia.
-Jeremy
This coincides nicely with this highly-discussed article on the same subject from yesterday’s New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/us/sexual-harassment-in-online-gaming-stir...
Likewise, no mention of Wikipedia, but there are some interesting parallels. For one thing, there is a guy at Microsoft with a thankless job—or I would call it thankless if I weren’t already a Wikipedia administrator and thus able to empathize:
Stephen Toulouse, who was the head of enforcement for Xbox Live from 2007 until February, policed the most egregious behavior on the network, owned by Microsoft. And women were the most frequent target of harassment, he said. In that role, Mr. Toulouse experienced the wrath of angry gamers firsthand, who figured out where he lived, then called the police with false reports about trouble at his house (more than once, SWAT teams were sent).
If players were reported for bad behavior, they could be disciplined by being muted on voice chat or barred temporarily. At least once a day, Mr. Toulouse said, the company blocked a specific console’s serial number from ever accessing the network again.
But policing the two or three million players who are active on Xbox Live at any given time is hard. Just as on the broader Internet, there are people who delight in piquing anger or frustration in others, or “trolling.” For trolls, offensive language — sexist, racist, homophobic comments — are interchangeable weapons that vary with the target.
Mr. Toulouse, anytime you want to come over to Wikipedia, your mop is ready.
Daniel Case
Sexist harassment on Wikipedia is real, but the sort of stuff that normally goes on in the online gaming world is orders of magnitude more offensive and damaging.
Also Wikipedia is not a video game :-)
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Jeremy Baron jeremy@tuxmachine.com wrote:
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/inside-sexual-harassment-online-gamin...
I just caught this on the podcast. They mentioned "trolls" (that some people say to just ignore them) but no mentions of Wikipedia.
-Jeremy
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Maybe we can learn how to (or how not to) deal with sexism from the gaming community, though.
From, Emily
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 2:37 AM, Michelle Gallaway mgallaway@gmail.comwrote:
Sexist harassment on Wikipedia is real, but the sort of stuff that normally goes on in the online gaming world is orders of magnitude more offensive and damaging.
Also Wikipedia is not a video game :-)
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Jeremy Baron jeremy@tuxmachine.comwrote:
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/inside-sexual-harassment-online-gamin...
I just caught this on the podcast. They mentioned "trolls" (that some people say to just ignore them) but no mentions of Wikipedia.
-Jeremy
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
At the risk of generalising, my personal experience has been that the vast majority of sexist comments in online gaming (and I'm mainly a MMORPG player, so it might be different elsewhere) have come from young males, under the age of 18, with language and communication habits that tend to indicate a lack of education. There are also some players in that category of course who are perfectly fine, and some who even publicly challenge such behaviour. Among the more educated and mature members of the community, it is not so much a problem.
The other thing, if we take World of Warcraft as a standalone example, is that the game is splintered into hundreds of different "instances", with differing rules. Those where roleplay rules are present and enforced seem to have less problems. Those with rules that promote "PvP", or "Player versus Player" with its emphasis competition between players (as opposed to "Player versus Environment" and its emphasis on co-operation) tend to have a lot more trash talk and problematic behaviour. I do think that in a lot of cases its more based on cluelessness and ignorance rather than malice (not that that doesn't mean it isn't a very serious problem though). It's probably not practical to split Wikipedia into different instances with different rules to create PvP and PvE projects ;-).
On the other hand, having seen some of the objectionable behaviour on Wikipedia, the worst practitioners of sexist behaviour tend to be intelligent, cunning, and subtle; the direct opposite more or less of your average gaming troll. Their behaviour tends to be a lot more devious, with more 'sailing close to the edge' and pushing at rules, creating doubt in the minds of observers and tying up any action in protracted legalese, rather than outright and blatant violations. So I don't think that applying the strategies used in gaming (auto-muting, zero tolerance, etc), are likely to be very successful in our environment.
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 5:39 PM, Emily Monroe emilymonroe03@gmail.comwrote:
Maybe we can learn how to (or how not to) deal with sexism from the gaming community, though.
From, Emily
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 2:37 AM, Michelle Gallaway mgallaway@gmail.comwrote:
Sexist harassment on Wikipedia is real, but the sort of stuff that normally goes on in the online gaming world is orders of magnitude more offensive and damaging.
Also Wikipedia is not a video game :-)
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Jeremy Baron jeremy@tuxmachine.comwrote:
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/inside-sexual-harassment-online-gamin...
I just caught this on the podcast. They mentioned "trolls" (that some people say to just ignore them) but no mentions of Wikipedia.
-Jeremy
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Sexist harassment on Wikipedia is real, but the sort of stuff that normally goes on in the online gaming world is orders of magnitude more offensive and damaging.
Also Wikipedia is not a video game :-)
Gaming draws from much more difficult, and troubled, demographic sectors. They may share social isolation with Wikipedia editors though and seek a sense of belonging in either case. Geeky girls and girls that love interactive combat games might share that. By the way, recently saw the movie "Whip it", about a Texas teenager that takes up roller derby.
Also a great movie, "Lilya 4-Ever", about a girl that is human trafficked but that is to change the subject.
Fred