In the Gray reading, the author discusses how women of color are oppressed in online communities. I have absolutely noticed this. There are countless clips online of female streamers being sexually harassed by other players online. I believe this is due to how anonymous one can be online. More often than not, these people are not caught and reprimanded because it is hard to find the culprits when all you have is a username. Not only is there sexual harassment, but a lot of racism as well. The anonymity is a problem in online gaming platforms because people can get away with saying horrible things.
The author tells a story of a time she was verbally assaulted while communicating with a teammate in an online game. After reading this article, and recalling what I know about how toxic the gaming community can be, I wonder if there is enough being done to prevent this when using online games for learning. Earlier in the year we discussed how play can be very helpful when used for learning. If play and video games continue to be in school curriculum, I wonder how schools can protect their students from the dangers of the internet.
Hi Cam thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI too was unfortunately not surprised when I read about the ways that online communities allowed for so many racist comments as well as sexual harassment. I remember as a kid learning all about how mean people could be online. Through my own personal experience, I was taught the difficult lesson that when people say some pretty ugly things over the internet, it is because it is so much easier to hide behind a screen and type it on a keyboard than it is to say it to a person face-to-face. You can see this all over the place whether it be in online gaming communities or just through comment sections on various social media platforms.
I am intrigued by your curiosity regarding the curriculum and what schools could possibly do about this issue. I think that for sure, there need to be updated laws regarding internet use and age. Not that video games are a bad thing, but I feel like there are ways that can restrict certain types of communication on video games with younger players. I think that there can also be better ways for people to report other players for their poor conduct and ugly remarks.
How do you think rules can be put in place to have a better gaming and online environment?