Amid weeks of heated rhetoric and misogyny-laden threats and attacks in the gaming world, many members of the gaming industry have publicly signed a petition asking for tolerance and acceptance in the wider community.
“We believe that everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability, has the right to play games, criticize games and create games without being harassed or threatened,” Spaces of Play’s Andreas Zecher wrote in a statement. open letter on Medium.
“It is the diversity of our community that allows games to thrive. If you see threats of violence or harm in comments on Steam, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, please take a moment to report it on the respective sites,” the letter reads. “If you see hateful, harassing language, publicly object and make the gaming community a more enjoyable space to be in.”
Zecher has asked members of the gaming industry to write down their names and organizations to be counted as supporters, and at the time of writing, more than 2,100 have done so. While the signatories so far include a large number of independent developers and students, Zecher’s letter has also received public support from developers from major studios such as BioWare, Crystal Dynamics, Double Fine, Epic Games, DICE, Electronic Arts, Harmonix, Infinity Ward , Insomniac Games, Microsoft, Riot Games, Rockstar North, Sony Computer Entertainment, Telltale, Ubisoft, OculusVR, Zenimax and more. A few journalists have also signed up, from outlets such as Eurogamer, Destructoid, IGN, and Polygon.
This should not be taken as official corporate support for this anti-harassment message from these organizations, but the sheer number and variety of industry signatories is a loud, public statement against a vicious element of the community that grows louder over time has become. recent weeks.