I hadn’t thought about this in years, but something you said made me remember that I used to be part of a Quake clan in the Denver area pre-Y2K. All dudes, of course, because… I mean it was Quake?
Years later:
- one of those dudes was convicted of some kind of child molesting charge.
- one of those dudes is in prison for beating up his wife.
- three of those dudes got divorced.
All this I heard through the grapevine 15+ years later. I did not connect those dots between toxic gaming culture and a quake clan I used to be a part of until literally right now, but I’m ashamed, truly ashamed, that I ever called myself a “gamer”.
I wish I had appreciated how especially toxic videogames are, because they are interactive media, sooner. I wish I had understood exactly how big the risk to society is for this kind of interactive media, and how it’d end up with everyone suffering under Trump, sooner. Thank you Anita. Thank you Feminist Frequency.
