Harassment of game makers: Prevalence and impact

Harassment of game makers

In the last few years, there have been several high-profile cases of the harassment of game makers. In this context, “game maker” refers to a professional in the video games industry that works in any aspect of video game production at any level.

While the harassment of game makers (especially female ones) has been a very real issue for many years, in 2019 we started to see discussions of these behaviors within the broader public spotlight when former Guild Wars 2 narrative designer Jessica Price’s was fired from ArenaNet after engaging in a Twitter exchange with a player. Because the Twitter exchange itself was relatively innocuous, her firing surprised and angered many. As Price noted:

Discussions about the harassment of game makers reemerged in 2021 after the release of Boyfriend Dungeon by Montreal studio Kitfox Games and subsequent harassment campaign of one of the game’s voice actors, Alexander Gross, who voiced the game’s main villain, Eric. Players developed a universal disdain for this character due to his use of emotional manipulation towards the character-controlled protagonist. This, combined with an insufficiently specific content warning, led to players being taken aback by Eric’s overtly manipulative behavior. A small but significant number turned to harassment of Gross in response (Gach, 2021).

Multiple other cases of online harassment of game developers also came to light in the last few years. Several developers and voice actors of The Last of Us 2, received harassment and death threats following its release; largely centered around discontent about the main character being depicted as a strong woman with a muscular physique (Hernandez, 2019). Ron Gilbert, the creator of Return to Monkey Island, was relentlessly abused online by fans who did not like the art style that was shown in previews of his new release in the series (Troughton, 2022). In an in-depth interview (Mazanko, 2022), Joe Hobbs, lead prop artist at Ubisoft, and Chris Goodswen, an artist at Ubisoft, disclosed that they have received death threats in the past over the release of new titles. Estelle Tigani, the Cinematic Producer on God of War Ragnarok, was subject to online sexual harassment after an announcement of a production delay (Mansoor, 2022).

Why these incidents happen is a multifaceted question. We know from previous work from online harassment that there are many interpersonal and environmental reasons someone may be motivated to harass another person online – including lower levels of empathy, the online disinhibition effect, a lack of formal punishment, etc. (Cook, 2019; Cook et al., 2018, 2019; March, 2019). However, there are additional variables to be considered specifically within the context of the harassment of game makers, such as the lack of clear boundaries between professional and personal social media accounts belonging to game makers, toxic gaming cultures within the gaming industry, and a lack of diversity within gaming content and cultures. There has also been research exploring a potential cycle of exclusion in gaming cultures (Fron et al., 2007; Kowert et al., 2017) and the role of masculinity in studio culture may specifically play in creating a culture of harassment (Johnson, 2013; 2014).

As noted in the previously mentioned quote from Price, there are often blurred lines between player and creator; making it difficult to negotiate social boundaries. One aspect of this is a lack of formal delineation between the professional and personal social media accounts of game makers. This is, at least partially, because many studios do not have formal social media policies and, if they do, the policies are often unclear about the boundaries between one’s personal and professional online presence. Today, whilst there remain many different guides available online about the best way for game makers to engage with game players online, very few (if any) discuss the role of personal and professional boundaries. Organizational climate can also contribute to the harassment of game makers. Some scholars argue that game companies themselves are fundamentally toxic within their organizational structure (Bourdreau, 2022) and the games they create reinforce toxicity through in-game narratives and mechanics (Bergstrom, 2020; Tompkins & Martins, 2021). Some have argued that this is a result of a cycle that starts in early childhood. Referred to as the “Cycle model of exclusion in gaming content and cultures” (Kowert et al., 2017), it is agued that early socialization of games as a male activity leads to the exclusion of non-men in the industry, which creates a male dominated industry and gendered game content and a normalization of gendered views of the world, including sexist attitudes and beliefs within gaming communities and the industry itself. This cycle is self-perpetuating. The outcome of this cycle, “toxic cultures”, are particularly concerning as “toxic cultures” in game studios are often overlooked or denied. As discussed by Price in an interview, “Game companies are generally unwilling to be honest with themselves about how they’re complicit in creating and sustaining that [toxic] environment” (Farokhmanesh, 2018).

The “cycle model of exclusion” discussed above would also provide some context for understanding the lack of diversity in game content and game industry professionals. A lack of diversity among game industry professionals has unquestionably contributed to high levels of hate and harassment in gaming spaces and towards game makers specifically (Anti-Defamation League, 2022; Kowert & Cook, 2022). The global video game industry is overwhelmingly white and male (Game Developers Association, 2022; International Game Developers Association, 2021), with the self-reported number of women and people of ethnically and racially marginalized identities being significantly lower than that of the general US population (International Game Developers Association, 2021). Similar trends are found in the UK, with the most recent industry report (UKIE, 2022) confirming that most game makers are male (67%), white (66%) and heterosexual (76%).

Game content itself is another element for consideration, as it can reinforce heterogeneity though the reinforcement of stereotypes (Burgess et al., 2008). For example, the systematic lack of female characters (Lynch et al., 2016; Williams et al., 2009) and/or noticeably and disproportionately sexualized female characters (Dill & Thill, 2007). The nature of this content has been under scrutiny for many years, perhaps most notably by Anita Sarkeesian with her Tropes vs women in video games YouTube series (Sarkeesian, 2013). The popularity of this video series itself sparked a round of hate and harassment towards Anita and was a precursor to the 2014 Gamergate movement. Gamergate was arguably the first famous example of how public backlash by a small subset of people can directly impact the mental health of industry employees (Mortensen, 2018). It resulted in a psychologically damaging public attack on predominantly female members of the game industry by a subset of predominantly male fans and developers. This movement, which started in 2014 and remains problematic today, quickly devolved from baseless accusations to character assassinations, misogyny, hate speech, and death threats (Campbell, 2014), the repercussions of which were severe. Personal information, including home addresses of the targets and their families, social security numbers, and even nude photos were posted online, forcing people from their jobs and their homes (Robertson, 2014). It is worth noting that while game content has become notably more diverse in the last decade, gaps remain and award-winning and best-selling titles continue to underrepresent characters with marginalized gender, ethnic, and racial identities (Lopez et al., 2019).

While it is possible to draw the connections between a lack of diversity in the industry to game content and then to online harassment, little remains known about the extent to which game creators and other online creators are experiencing this kind of abuse online, and how it impacts their lives, beyond anecdotal evidence (Francis, 2022; Grayson, 2019). Understanding the prevalence and impact of hate and harassment among industry professionals is the first step towards understanding how to address the problem.

Current research

Hate and harassment within gaming communities has received a large amount of attention, both publicly and within scholarly communities. However, less attention has been given to the rising incidences of the harassment of game creators even though there seem to be disproportionately high rates of hate and harassment in professional gaming spaces, both within studios and directed at gaming professionals online. To better understand the prevalence and nature of the harassment of game makers, we conducted a cross-sectional study of game makers via an online survey.

Setting

The survey was advertised online across social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook) and email lists targeted at game professionals (e.g., gamesnetwork). The survey was also directly emailed to the authors’ points of contact at several game studios, from small independent studios to large AAA studios. Data was collected throughout the month of October 2021.

Procedure

The only requirement for participation in this study to be a professional within the games industry at any level. After providing informed consent, participants were asked a series of questions about their direct and indirect (i.e., witnessed) experiences with online harassment via social media. All participants completed the questions in the same order. The survey consisted of six sections: workplace role and culture, direct experiences of harassment, witnessed experiences of harassment, general experience and impact of harassment, general thoughts about harassment via social media, and demographic questionnaire. Demographic questions were presented at the end of the survey for all participants to reduce any potential priming effects for gender or ethnicity.

Measures

Participants were asked to complete the Game Developers Social Media Experience Survey (Kowert & Crevoshay, 2021). This measure includes a series of questions about harassment via social media. First, they were asked about the kinds of actions they had experienced, the perceived motivations behind them, any changes in behavior due to the harassment, and their mental health impact. They were then asked the same series of questions in relation to their indirect (i.e., witnessed) experiences. Participants were also asked their general thoughts on actions that could mitigate these behaviors in the future. The full questionnaire can be found in the extended data.

Participants

In total, 304 participants responded to the online call for participation and completed the survey. 7.2% (22 participants) were excluded from the final analysis as they indicated that they did not work in the games industry. Of the 282 participants who fully completed the survey, 46.1% worked for an AAA developer, 42.6% for an Indie developer and 11.3% did not work directly within a game studio. Most participants worked in core creation or development roles within their studio. 17% of participants held management positions and 11% were administrative or ancillary roles. The rest of the participants were primarily game publishers (3.5%), journalists or critics (1.8%) educators (1.1%) who work with the gaming industry, game artists (0.7%), or producers of game related events (0.7%). Most participants were White (72.3%), male (54.8%), aged 26-45 (78.7%), and resided in the United States (50.7%).

Prevalence of harassment

More than half of all participants reported experiencing harassment on social media (59.6%) and nearly all participants reported witnessing harassment happening to other members of the videogames industry via social media (92.2%). Most of the reported harassment had been directly experienced (82.1%) and witnessed (94.2%) on Twitter. However, as seen in Table 1, a significant amount of harassment was reported being experienced and witnessed across platforms. Several respondents specified “Other” platforms in their responses, including Tumblr, Snapchat, and personal email.

Nature of harassment

Participants were asked to identify which of a series of behaviors they had experienced and witnessed from a list of eight behaviors: trolling/griefing (deliberate attempts to upset or provoke someone), offensive name-calling, threats of physical violence (conveying threats of physical or mental injury), stalking (online monitoring and/or information gathering used to threaten or harass), sexual harassment, discrimination by a stranger due to age, gender, ethnicity, ability or sexual orientation, doxxing (having personally identifying information made public), swatting (having a stranger make a false report to emergency services to target someone), and sustained harassment (harassment that occurs over multiple instances or a longer period of time).

More than half of all participants reported experiencing harassment on social media (59.6%) and nearly all participants reported witnessing harassment happening to other members of the videogames industry via social media (92.2%). The type of harassment directly experienced and witnessed by members of the gaming industry ranged from offensive name-calling to sustained harassment, to one incidence of an entire website being created mimicking an alternate history to one’s life. Several participants reported “Other” forms of harassment as well, including threats to one's job, impersonation attempts through the creation of fake social media profiles, hacked social media accounts, and violent physical assault. The rates of the most common forms of harassment, both directly experienced and witnessed, is presented in Table 2.

Trolling/griefing (broadly defined as deliberate attempts to provoke someone) were the most common form of harassment reported, followed by offensive name calling. Identity based harassment was experienced by 42.9% of participants.

Nearly one in two participants reported experiencing threats of physical violence, with three out of four participants having witnessed threats of physical violence directed at another member of the industry. Stalking was also experienced (38.7%) and witnessed (56.9%) by a large percentage of participants. Sustained harassment, defined as harassment that occurs over multiple instances or over time, was experienced (39.9%) and witnessed (63.1%) by almost half of everyone surveyed. Doxxing, which refers to one's personal information being shared online and is considered one of the most severe forms of online harassment, was experienced by a quarter of all participants (25.6%) and witnessed by more than half (53.5%). Swatting, which is when a stranger makes a prank call to emergency services to have them dispatched to you and was the most severe form of online harassment on the list of selections, had been witnessed by more than one in five individuals (21.9%).

Motivation of harassment

When asked what they thought the motivating factors behind the harassment were, a variety of responses were selected. The most popular included: being a public figure in the games community (47.9%); identity-based harassment (46.1%); the norms of the games industry generally independent of the game studio one works for (38.3%); displeasure towards a recent game release (37.1%) and the general reputation of working for a particular studio (35.9%). A similar proportion of responses were found when asked about what they believed motivated their witnessed experiences of harassment. These findings are presented in Table 3.

Response to harassment

As a direct target, participants reported varying degrees of response to online harassment. Blocking and reporting (85.1%) and ignoring the comment or behavior (83.3%) were the most common responses. Many also reported that they confronted or challenged the harasser (33.3%) and shared information about the experience with others (26.2%). Almost one-third (29.2%) of participants noted that they contacted their workplace for information on how to respond and/or to seek support. 43.3% of all participants reported that they have attempted to hide an aspect of their identity (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, ability) because of being targeted by hate.

As a witness to online harassment, participants most often blocked or reported the person (84%), followed by ignoring the comment (49.4%). As was found when being the direct target, just about one-third of participants reported that they directly confronted or challenged the offender (30.4%) and shared information about the experience with others (34.6%). Only 17.5% of participants reported that they sought information from their workplace about how to respond and/or seek support when witnessing online harassment of others in the gaming industry.

Impact of harassment

Participants reported that being a direct target and/or directly witnessing online harassment has had a significant impact on their mental health and offline behavior. In terms of mental health, most participants reported feeling uncomfortable or upset (77.7%). Most participants reported increased anxiety (62.1%) and being less social (51.1%). Around a third of participants reported feeling more isolated or alone (37.6%) and increased depression (36.2%). Almost one quarter (23.8%) reported symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder. One out of 10 participants reported suicidal thoughts because of online harassment.

In terms of offline behavior, many participants reported it had negatively impacted their work performance (41.1%), they had sought professional psychological help (27.3%), and had personal relationships disrupted (22%). Just about a third reported they had to take steps to reduce risk to their physical safety (37.2%). One out of 10 participants had contacted the police because of online harassment. These results are summarized in Table 4.

Policy and support considerations

Around half of all participants reported that their studio had a policy about online harassment already in place (47.5%); however, most did not have support structures in place around online harassment specifically (58.5%).

Most respondents believe that gaming companies should have stronger policies in place around hate and harassment (87.2%). Most respondents believe that the games industry contributes to the ease with which people engage in online hate and harassment (62.4%) and should be doing more to support employees being targeted by online hate and harassment (92.2%). The way that social media works is also believed to contribute to the ease with which people engage in online hate and harassment (96.5%) and respondents think social media companies should be doing more to support people being targeted online (93.7%). Most respondents (80.1%) believe laws need to be created to enact consequences around online harassment. These numbers are significantly higher than those reported by the ADL from a survey of the overall game playing population in 2021, who found only 68% of respondents believe games companies should be doing more to support people being targeted by online hate, with 59% endorsing the need to create new laws being developed to address hate and harassment online.