Home Title Index Topic Index Sources Directory News Releases Sources Calendar

Racists and xenophobes find fertile ground in violent online world

Bloomberg News
http://www.thestar.com/business/2017/10/28/racists-and-xenophobes-find-fertile-ground-in-violent-online-world.html

Publisher:  The Star
Date Written:  28/10/2017
Year Published:  2017  
Resource Type:  Article

Spend enough time hunting terrorists or wandering dystopian wastelands in online games and you're bound to come across players hurling xenophobic and racist taunts at each other -- from the openly Islamophobic in Europe to Korean and Japanese gamers bickering over disputed islands.

Abstract: 
-

Excerpt:

Facebook and YouTube police hate-speech to comply with advertisers: YouTube sensation PewDiePie's premium show got cancelled over videos deemed to contain anti-Semitic content (he denies being racist). But in the world of online gaming, where competition is the main pursuit, name-calling and verbal abuse are inextricably part of gaming trash-talk to many enthusiasts. In others, it provokes uneasiness.

"If you speak Russian, for example, there is a genuine hate from people toward you," said Jan, 25, a university student in Denmark who plays Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six Siege on European servers.

"Due to the crisis in Syria and all the immigrants coming in, if you speak with a Middle Eastern accent you’ll hear a lot of obscenities too," he said, asking not to be identified because he's worried about attracting online abuse.

The toxic behaviour is becoming more apparent as gaming goes live via sites such as Twitch and more online titles design play around larger and more diverse groups. Servers that host matches are often assigned to regions rather than countries, creating an international mix of players.
Sources-journalists use the sources website to find you


AlterLinks
c/o Sources


© 2023.