Foul play: female video gamers facing vile abuse, threats and stalkers

Nico Deyo, a 33-year-old e-commerce specialist from Milwaukee, used to enjoy mixing it up with players from around the world in the popular online fantasy game World of Warcraft.

Then a stalker began harassing her on the game’s forums, impersonating her in the game and, later, sending her barrages of Twitter messages, some threatening her with graphic rape and murder.

While the stalker didn’t drive her from the game, the experience helped sour her on multiplayer gaming.

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“There’s a lot of things about the community that are very hostile,” she says of Warcraft. Deyo largely gave up the game almost two years ago and now mostly spends her time on playing other games by herself.

Deyo is far from alone. In the male-dominated world of multiplayer online games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Call of Duty, many women say they’ve had to take drastic steps to escape harassment, stalking and violent threats from male players. Some quit particular games. Others change their screen names or make sure they play only with friends.

Online harassment of women, often involving threats of horrific violence, has become a big issue – and video games are a frequent flashpoint. Two years ago, the online “Gamergate” movement, ostensibly a protest over the ethics of game journalists, also fuelled Twitter attacks on female critics replete with gutter-level abuse and assault threats. Some targets left their homes or cancelled speaking engagements, fearing for their safety.