The Need for Safe Spaces in the Gaming Community

Too often, the gaming community acts as a funhouse mirror reflection of Western society. People will take racism and sexism to new heights due to assumed internet anonymity and lack of consequences for their behavior. The gaming community should unite everyone interested in playing video games, but instead, it often reinforces racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and transphobia. Cultivating inclusive, safe spaces in the gaming community are especially important. Sadly, it’s often met with aggressive resistance.

Why Marginalized People Feel Unwelcome in Predominantly White Spaces

For years, marginalized people had to be silent and pretend to be okay with racism, sexism, and homophobia in the workplace. As society continued to make strides toward equality for all, each generation became less tolerant of the bigotry that demeaned them. Now, it’s normal to call out these unacceptable behaviors.

Unfortunately, it’s still widely accepted that marginalized people should be okay with racist and sexist commentary. At my last marketing internship, the marketing manager asked me during my interview, “Do you get offended easily? Because they guys are wild here.” My response to her: I don’t offend easily, but I also don’t tolerate disrespect.

The gaming community is much worse because of the assumed anonymity and lack of consequences for harmful behavior. This goes beyond the “get back in the kitchen” and “hey, this joke is funny but a little racist” comments.

Aggressive Resistance to Inclusion

Black, PoC, Women, and LGBTQ gamers continue to fight for safe spaces in the gaming community and beyond. Whether it’s on Facebook or Discord, marginalized gamers have been creating safe spaces to be themselves so that they don’t have to be subjected to comments and jokes about their gender, sexuality, and race.

It’s unfortunate that many gamers, mostly White male gamers, take issue with refraining from hate speech and creating safe spaces for all, electing to call people who do create safe spaces “snowflakes” or “overly sensitive.”

I mod for a popular gaming community that is predominantly White and male. When we allowed dozens of newcomers into the group, I reminded them and existing members to follow the groups rules and Facebook’s Community Standards, including not using slurs. The first response, of course called me a “snowflake” with another calling me “Karen” and another calling me and others “retards.” And of course, there were a few obligatory, “don’t let the words of strangers affect you…” rhetoric that ignores the bigger issue. In case you don’t understand what the bigger issue is, let me break it down.

In the United States, we have a government who has systemically dehumanized Black, Brown, Asian, LGBTQ, and Disabled persons—for centuries. Literal laws exist to disenfranchise minority groups (The Immigration Act of 1924, Black Codes and Jim Crow, various anti-LGBTQ laws) and politicians use both blatant and coded language to dehumanize these groups of people. Citizens then go on to use that language, teaching others that language and so forth. They are not just the words of strangers. These words lead to the harassment, assault, and murder of thousands of people a year.

Yet, White group members literally threw virtual tantrums because I asked them to follow the rules and not use hate speech. But I was the snowflake for simply asking them to follow the rules. I receive the same reaction when gaming and the bros on my team resort to racial slurs and I calmly and politely ask, “Can we please not use racial slurs?” They literally lose their minds, as if I’ve asked them to not breathe.

Not accepting disrespect and the dehumanization of others does not mean we are sensitive. It means we do not accept disrespect and the dehumanization of others. Thankfully, most people understood.

…But They Don’t Want Us to Have Our Own Spaces

The same people who think it’s funny and cute to be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and xenophobic are the same people who act surprised when those marginalized people create safe spaces. They will call us “segregationists” and argue for us to share the same spaces and “just be adults about differing opinions.” They don’t understand that our existence is not a matter of opinion. Our human rights are not up for debate. We do not owe them our attention just for them to opine our rights and what they should be allowed to call us.

So, what do we do? We create safe and inclusive communities. We work to ensure our gamer friends feel safe enough to be themselves, provided that “themselves” doesn’t include the dehumanization of others. We work with brands and gaming companies in hopes that they do more to eliminate hate from their games and their communities.