Different gaming platforms have found huge success in recent months as the growing pandemic has left many of us stuck in our homes seeking out alternative forms of entertainment, mobile gaming has certainly been at the top of this list too as despite recent changes to online regulation for online gambling and betting, a growing number of casinos not on gamstop have become a fan favourite. This includes the Red Lion casino, which is reviewed by best casinos – but this same period of time hasn’t held all good news in gaming.

(Image from atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com)

In a recent study, it has been suggested that up to sixty-five percent of players in online gaming have experience some level of severe harassment whilst playing games online which can include physical threats, stalking, sustained harassment, or racist and anti-semetic remarks – of all questioned, fifty three percent said they had been targeted directly on their race, religion, ethnicity or gender directly. This comes amongst recent reports of similar happening with public figures – in gaming directly this has been very widely spoken about with live streamers and internet personalities as many have recently come out and spoken about the ongoing issues they face with similar remarks in their live chat and public platforms as many of these messages are now starting to be brought to light.

There’s also the ongoing issue outside of gaming, a number of other public figures have recently been ousted for their own remarks as some have even found themselves being banned on social media – the most public of these has likely been British grime artist Wiley, but there has been recent rumblings around actor and director Seth Rogan and how he has also spoken out against it following his own experiences – as the situation becomes more public there’s no doubt a growing number of stories will emerge from this and that measures will need to be taken in order to reduce the exposure for many, simply banning or silencing those who are the problem may not be enough as it just provides a different platform for others to do the same.

It hasn’t all been bad news, however, as these online spaces also create a large support base for many of those that may have been impacted by this – it has been seen recently that those who have fallen victim so much of this harassment are being brought into a growing number of support platforms aimed at helping those and the same is true for online gaming particularly too – as it is becoming a more public and more widespread issue the number of people willing to create support communities has begun to grow and there is now very much a wide network to help those who have fallen victim. It may never be a space that’s completely clear of these issues as anonymity plays a huge role in why much of this happens online, but at least for many a growing number of places where they may go to feel safer and find words of encouragement where they may otherwise find this harassment.