I was exposed to an interesting article today. Before I link: This article has nothing to do with, specifically, Guild Wars 2, though it is about online gaming. However, in light of all this vocal nonsense going about in regards to the GW2 code of conduct and how Arena Net responds and whatnot, I felt this was worth sharing with the rest of you here. Please, let's keep *ban* discussion to the ban thread - this thread is about a related, yet different, topic of building nicer communities and taking a stand against bigotry. (if the mods do feel it should just be merged, and therefore remain largely unseen, by all means - I'm no mod anyways)
This article is about, primarily, men being men, instead of boys, and therefore treating women (and each other) properly. Yes, it's written by a man. But I think we can expand on the intent behind this article, especially considering the link at the end of the article (if you get a warning about that link, supposedly they were recently attacked by hackers, but I think they've cleaned it up? - seems there's groups out there against the very message that site stands for?).
Here is the article/blog post/whatever: http://jezebel.com/5938972/a-call-to...for-decent-men
This is not about "protecting women." It's about cleaning out the sewers that our games have become. This will not be easy and it will not be fun. Standing up to these little jerks will require the same courage from us that women like Anita Sarkeesian have already shown. We will become objects of hatred, ridicule, and contempt. Our manhood will be questioned. But if we remember who we are and stand strong together, we can beat them. In any case we won't be threatened with sexual violence the way women are. We have it easier than they do.This, in a way, is one of Arena Net's biggest goals with this game, aside from making a fun new MMORPG. They want to build a nicer, cooperative community, and they've commented on this sort of thing all the time. You can see it in their standards for behavior, and how they react to said behavior. They very much want to take a stand for exactly this.Use your heavy man's hand in the online spaces where you go –- and especially the ones you control –- to demand courtesy and punish abuse. Don't just mute them. Report them, block them, ban them, use every weapon you have. (They may try to report us in return. That won't work. If you always behave with integrity, it will be clear who's in the right.)
The question is - will the rest of us, as gamers, stand with them?