A group of BIPOC gaming advocates recently announced the launch of a new digital community watch to help get rid of racism in the gaming world.
Melanin Gamers, a BIPOC gaming community founded by Women in Games Ambassador Annabel Ashalley-Anthony in 2018, is tackling the issue with their new project, “The Watch,” by encouraging all gamers to stand together in solidarity against racism.
Through the program and their collaboration with streamers on Twitch, the community’s encouraging gamers or viewers to record any discriminatory language through the streaming platform’s function and send it to them. With the video evidence, Melanin Gamers’ “The Watch” calls on big gaming companies such as Activision Blizzard, the creators of “Call of Duty,” to acknowledge the racism that BIPOC gamers are subjected to on their platform and make changes to their reporting systems.
Amongst the suggestions that the community’s advocating for are clear updates for each time someone sends a report, creating a relationship with BIPOC gamers to address any issues they may be faced with and carrying out any penalties a player might face for any discriminatory behavior. Melanin Gamers is also calling on game developers to be transparent and share any ideas and plans they have to eliminate racism in online gaming.
“I experienced my first instance of racism in-game when I was 14 or 15 years old while playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,” said Ashalley-Anthony in a statement. “There are millions of Black players across hundreds of video games, yet somehow harassment towards Black and BIPOC communities is so widespread.”
As 73% of Black Americans identify themselves as gamers, a rate that’s more than that of the total population, they’re subjected to discrimination at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group.
According to the latest 2020 survey by the Anti-Defamation League, while women were reported as being harassed at the highest rate with 41 percent, Black Americans were identified as the racial group that was discriminated against the most as 31 percent reported they were victims of verbal abuse during gameplay.
Studies have proven that racial harassment in this space has a negative effect on the mental health of Black gamers in particular. In a 2021 study published in Maynard Games and Culture, researchers from the University of California measured the effects of online racism during online gaming on different racial and ethnic groups. Out of three racial groups that took part in the study, Black gamers reported the most psychological distress, such as increased stress as a result and less satisfaction with life, as there were lasting indirect effects on their view of gaming. Latino and Asian gamers involved in the study, on the other hand, didn’t report any kind of distress while playing.
“We created Melanin Gamers with the belief that video games are for everyone to enjoy. Unfortunately, problematic gamers hurl endless verbal abuse towards people of color, like myself and my brothers,” said Ashalley-Anthony in a statement. “The goal of The Watch is to raise awareness about the racism that occurs in online multiplayer games and call on our allies to help make meaningful change for generations of gamers to come.”
