Sexism in the gaming industry

*beep, beep, beep* Welcome to Condescending Comrades! This game consists of three levels. To defeat the monster, you must successfully pass through all stages with your comrade, alphabeast_3000. You must put up with alphabeast_3000's increasingly patronising comments at every stage. His superpowers include aggressiveness, gaslighting, hostility, and giving unsolicited advice. Your skills will be severely underestimated, and you will not be given credit where it is due. In addition, your costume will ‘upgrade’ to progressively provocative clothing when you cross several checkpoints, unlike alphabeast_3000, who has genuine armour. Even if you do more work, alphabeast_3000 will be declared the hero when you level up. Nearing the end of your quest, you'll realise that it is your teammate you must K. O. and not the monster. This is exactly what women in the gaming world experience. This sexist culture prevailing among its users and further reinforced by game developers is of utmost concern to me. During quarantine, I picked up the game Valorant, a first-person shooter video game. The first time I joined an online voice chat, I was met with shocked comments like, "Are you really a girl? " Why are you here? If I did well, I’d get backhanded compliments like "You're playing well for a girl, " or if the team were to be losing, they'd say, "We’re losing because we have a girl on our team. " It is a truth universally acknowledged that whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. The industry is no longer exclusive to men, but pervasive misogyny continues to afflict it. Women who often play games will pick an enigmatic username and refrain from using their microphones to interact with their team out of fear of being harassed by their male counterparts. Young men who are repeatedly exposed to content that hyper-sexualises and exploits women are subconsciously influenced to act in such a discriminating manner. This discriminatory culture adversely affects leading women in the field because it encourages unwarranted harassment, stalking, and privacy invasions and discourages them from playing. In certain ways, the gaming world can act as a simulation of the actual world. People who discriminate online are inclined to do so offline as well. The effects of this ubiquitous sexism have profound impacts on the individual in both their online and offline lives.