Devs, pubs, critics and press call on gamers to stand against hateful behaviour
The games industry is rallying behind a call on the gaming community to actively discourage hateful behaviour rather than tolerate it in silence.
A new open letter to the gaming community has attracted over 600 signatures at time of writing, and is growing all the time.
"We believe that everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion has the right to play games, criticize games and make games without getting harassed or threatened," the letter reads.
"It is the diversity of our community that allows games to flourish."
The letter also presents two calls to action:
"If you see threats of violence or harm in comments on Steam, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook or reddit, please take a minute to report them on the respective sites.
"If you see hateful, harassing speech, take a public stand against it and make the gaming community a more enjoyable space to be in."
So far the letter has collected signatories from developers, publishers, critics and press. The contributors come from a wide variety of companies including but not limited to Harmonix, Riot, DICE, PopCap, Paradox, Splash Damage, Epic, Giant Sparrow, Sony, BioWare, Google, Nvidia, Bungie, Ubisoft, TellTale, Microsoft, Oculus, Intel, Rockstar, Double Fine, Bohemia, Blizzard, Rovio and EA - among many, many others.
If you're planning to boycott games companies who take a stand for inclusivity, you're going to end up with very few games to play. It might be time to accept that the tide is turning - has already turned, in fact.
Hit the link above to view the whole list. If you're a developer and would like to sign, you'll find instructions there, too.
The list was created and is being maintained by Andreas Zecher of independent developer Spaces of Play, which is working on a project called Future Unfolding.