Whenever I get into a discussion on this subject, this always comes up: "Because you can't take some 'lighthearted joking' (the harassment, as described by people who allow it or encourage it) you need to shut up about it and not 'harass' (speak against) us."

Someone who harasses and/or assaults someone does not deserve kind words to be used to describe them; to do so would be accepting of their behavior and encourages it more. Calling them out for their idiotic behavior (because it is idiotic to harass someone for something they cannot control; it shows a distinct lack of education/intelligence, good sense, and respect for others) is not inherently wrong; it is truthful and an attempt to get them to change, or at least try to get them to realize that they are doing something that is wrong.

You say that I am basing things on "arbitrary understandings and assumptions"...you are wrong. Try having this behavior lobbed at you for several years, by many, many people, and most times you have your mic on with randoms. Maybe if you had something similar happen to you, you'd understand why its a problem.

Its not about having feelings hurt, or not liking someone; it is an inherent problem with gamer/nerd culture that NEEDS to be addressed and stopped. Allowing it, looking the other way, treating the harassers nicely; this allows it to continue. Women hate it, but with the harassers ignoring them or becoming even more harsh when spoken against, other guys need to take a stand against them.

I'm just going to say this: Most women fed up with this behavior have tried, many, many times, to ask (or told) guys to stop harassing them. Most of the time it results in MORE harassment. Very, very rarely will a guy stop because their target asked them to; it is a challenge to them to be worse.

You can say "keep trying and someone will eventually stop" but when the normal response is to be worse...is the remote possibility of getting it to stop really better than all the extra harassment received?

And...why is it on the woman to get them to stop? What about all the guys that sit there and say nothing?

Has nothing to do with joking around.

Someone pisses you off? Someone has a realllly annoying voice? Someone is trying to start static with you? Well, all you have to do is just *mute* then *block*. I know its difficult to be the bigger person and just ignore them altogether.... but c'mon.

This is a space game about killing people, and their reincarnations... repeatedly. I would think that would be the main focus other than the anatomical intricacies of the female model and how it garners attention from other players.

Exactly. It should be about the game and fighting merc vs merc, and implementing a way to report players for harassment would greatly shift personal interaction between players back to that. It doesn't matter if they can mute and block and offensive player, having to just hear it the first time is a terrible experience for anyone and we should be working as a community to push morons who harass others away from us. So long as it's done properly and swiftly, what's so wrong about cleaning up the community and making it better for everyone?

Eve voice has a voice changer, so should dust.

/shrug

In other words, "You have to change (literally alter your voice) to avoid harassment because I'm not going to do anything to alter the hostile environment."

That's your solution?

When did society get so weak, thin-skinned, and irrational that interactions that take place online, i.e., NOT REALLY HAPPENING IN THE REAL WORLD, can seriously be considered harassment?

This is all in the same theme as cyber bullying... which will probably be the theme of a new post after someone gets upset about being shot in an FPS game.

Nothing that happens online is REAL. You're actually in the comfort of your own home when these interactions are taking place. If you cannot discern that key difference on your own perhaps you aren't equipped to deal with interacting with faraway people in make believe lands.

When I was a kid and an older kid felt like 'harassing' me with his fists I couldn't just ignore him or turn off the PS3. Wish I could have but in the long run getting smacked around a bit probably did me some good. It just blows my mind that the quality of people can disintegrate so quickly as to allow fake interactions to be seriously mistaken for something like 'harassment'.

If you'd like to see actual examples of sexual harassment I'd recommend you wiki women's suffrage and quit embarrassing yourself with the pretense that anything of the like is possible in this GAME.

In other words, you have to change (literally not use your real name) to avoid harassment because i'm not going to do anything to alter the hostile environment.

See how that works?

So... Yes. It is a solution. So is reporting and moving on with your life. Welcome to; 'The Internet'; where obfuscation of personal details is always a good idea. Sorry if it offends you.

So, Grendel, is someone writing an anonymous letter to the newspaper, writing about how he feels all woman need to be completely submissive to men, and how any woman seen outside their homes without their man deserve to be beaten and ******, not considered to be harassing women? Is he not a threat to us? Are woman supposed to just not read the paper or look the other way?

What about a guy calling a woman's home, and threatening her sexually that way? Is she supposed to just hang up every time he calls, threatening her with harm?

Neither of these cases are a man saying these things face-to-face to a woman, but are they to be tolerated? If you don't think I've heard some absolutely sick things guys want to do to me online, you're only kidding yourself; to say that I should ignore this means you are part of the problem.

So you seem to have a very narrow view of harassment. However, I took part of your advice, and wiki'd harassment, and this is the defintion I got: "Harassment is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing." Nowhere here is there anything that says harassment can take place only in face-to-face situations. Internet-bullying is entirely possible as seen in this case here.

It seems I have to repeat myself one more time. Am I saying all men are harassers? No. Am I saying all women are innocent? Also no. But there IS a culture on the internet of men harassing women, sexually or otherwise. As I've said before, all this is doing is harming DUST by driving away a significant potential player base (30% of gamers are women older than 18) because some people can't get their heads out of their collective asses. The best way to combat the unstated truth of female harassment in online games is to empower not just women, but all players with the knowledge that they can quickly and easy submit their grievances to CCP, and that those submitions will be seriously considered.

It's very, very easy for someone who has never experienced harassment, especially a man who has not, to claim that there is no problem, or that the problem can be easily dealt with through things like "only squadding with certain people," "voice changing," or "turning off the microphone." But these don't solve the real issue. Instead of telling women to "get over it" or "HTFU" or blaming them for their own victimization, think about what you, personally, can do to make them feel welcome on DUST. And this should extend to all players, because whether you admit it or not the more people playing DUST the better for everyone.

You misunderstand. My point is that expecting the harrased group to make all he changes is pretty lame.

Its sad, really sad, that Grendel thinks harassment is perfectly fine.

In a way, he's like those people who blame a woman for being ******; "she should have not been in that place at that time", "she should not have worn that outfit", "she should have fought back" and all those other absolutely BS "excuses" for the villain.

Makes me sick that these people are still accepted in today's society. They'd chance their tunes very quickly if something comparable happened to them, and they got no support or care.

and the crazy train goes CHOOO CHOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. because OBVIOUSLY real world sexual assault is the same thing as your perceived (OHNOS) harassment in a video game. Get a grip.

So, by your own admission you have the mentality of an unstable child? because that is what your example equates to. My view of harassment is narrow with regards to the extent reality. If you can remove yourself from the harassment with no consequences then it's not really harassment. A further view could even be taken that by putting yourself repeatedly in these situations and then demanding everyone ELSE modify their behavior, perhaps the problem is actually you.

By the way, why are you being so disagreeable. I see you continually looking down at where my avatar's ***** would be and I feel quite violated right now. So violated that I can' t stop coming back here to be violated over and over again.

I think this is getting a little bit derailed... we are here trying to find a solution for the problem of getting boxed by four guys or more in the prebattle room (yes it happened to me more than once) or stalked like no tomorrow, I mean I don't mind that my character attracts attention (mostly when I'm using a scout dropsuit) but four people or more people stalking you? that's a little bit overkill, I can tell that I played as many female chars in several other MMO's and this is actually the first time I'm seeing this type of harassment, now I understand how the girls feels when they're facing this lol.

I think this is getting a little bit derailed... we are here trying to find a solution for the problem of getting boxed by four guys or more in the prebattle room (yes it happened to me more than once) or stalked like no tomorrow, I mean I don't mind that my character attracts attention (mostly when I'm using a scout dropsuit) but four people or more people stalking you? that's a little bit overkill, I can tell that I played as many female chars in several other MMO's and this is actually the first time I'm seeing this type of harassment, now I understand how the girls feels when they're facing this lol.

If getting boxed in is the "real" issue at hand... that's really immature to get mad about. Ya its annoying when it happens, but seriously. I cant believe anyone would think its such a huge problem that it needs to be addressed.

If that legitimately makes you mad, then you deserve it because you are probably not old enough to play this game anyways.

-- Snip of legitimate position --
If getting boxed in is the "real" issue at hand... that's really immature to get mad about.
-- and snip of Don V H with the ramble mode set on --

Ok guys, this is getting a bit out of hand so I would like to reiterate what has already been said:

Harassment will not be tolerated. Feel free to report anything to [email protected]. We will investigate the issue further and take appropriate actions.

I would also like to mention that Harassment is perceived differently by different people. Something that I find offensive might not be offensive to someone else and as such some consideration, to a certain degree, should be taken into account when such instance occurs.

DUST 514 is a single shard MMO FPS and we want a friendly, united community but let's face it, in this day and age of the internet, there will always be someone to ruin the fun for everyone else!

Ok guys, this is getting a bit out of hand so I would like to reiterate what has already been said:

Harassment will not be tolerated. Feel free to report anything to [email protected]. We will investigate the issue further and take appropriate actions.

I would also like to mention that Harassment is perceived differently by different people. Something that I find offensive might not be offensive to someone else and as such some consideration, to a certain degree, should be taken into account when such instance occurs.

DUST 514 is a single shard MMO FPS and we want a friendly, united community but let's face it, in this day and age of the internet, there will always be someone to ruin the fun for everyone else!