It is rare that I play anything online these days...I got tired of those little shits in Quake3:Arena, Counterstrike, and Unreal Tournament (the only three games I played on PC in recent memory, online anyway)...they hacked, cheated, talked a load of crap and annoyed me and fellow players tremendously.
It isn't so bad in the console community (although admittedly, there are far fewer female players in Call of Duty than in other, more friendly franchises, like the Sims) but I'm not the dominant presence online I may have once been. I don't have the patience for it- besides, the few girls I did run into on CoD invariably killed me many more times than I ever killed them; they were good.
I was initially going to comment that the 'callout' might be a tad bit much, til I got to thinking that just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I read up on Anita Sarkeesian...while I do like my lusty, busty video game babes, I'm not against what she's trying to do, to eliminate the obvious sex-oriented characterizations of women in video games...I just hope they don't get rid of all of it. All kidding aside, the author makes some good points, but we no longer live in a society where outside influence upon children is welcomed. For my part, I never had a problem with someone upbraiding one of my daughters if it was called for- but many parents are not of the same mind. For a lot of them, you can't even look as if you have something to say before the parents are up in arms threatening bodily harm. It sounds funny, especially when you read it, but I have seen this in action.
The kid could be dead wrong but as far as the parent is concerned, her angelic little boy didn't do it despite the evidence and no one has a right to say anything about the matter. In certain areas I have lived in the past, it could get you dragged out into the street and pummeled. I totally get why adults have muttered 'those damned kids' under their breath when I was young; not necessarily about me (although, sometimes, it was) - I not only get it, but have discovered that I'm prone to saying it too!
All that to say, if I catch some young assholes giving a girl or girls a hard time in-game I'll be sure to let'm have it, for all the good it will do. The anonymity of online gaming allows these little shits a lot of leeway...at least, for now. I like the author's idea of pay-for-play subscriptions having a clause that will penalize a gamer for such misconduct- I only hope there's an adequate pool of researchers who can verify such claims so that we don't have any girls crying wolf simply for some gratuitous get-back.
