{"id":122,"date":"2017-12-08T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/12\/08\/harassment-in-indie-games-part-4-conclusion-how\/"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:39:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:39:35","slug":"harassment-in-indie-games-part-4-conclusion-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/12\/harassment-in-indie-games-part-4-conclusion-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Harassment in Indie Games: Part 4 (Conclusion) – How"},"content":{"rendered":"

Content warning: sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual violence, threats, online harassment, threats of violence, harassment and assault of minors, statutory rape, rape, mental illness, anxiety, social ostracizing<\/span><\/p>\n

Harassment in Indie Games: Part 4 (Conclusion) – How<\/span><\/h1>\n

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This is the fourth and final post (posts one<\/a>, two<\/a>, & three<\/a>) in a series about sexual harassment and assault in indie RPGs, larps, and spaces. I put out a survey<\/a> to ask people about their experiences. This post is going to cover How (how do we fix this). <\/span><\/div>\n

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Previous posts have said this has not been an easy task for me or, especially, for the people who shared their stories. It has certainly been that. This has been really hard, and exhausting, for me. I can\u2019t imagine how hard it was for people to relive their own experiences and trust me, to some a stranger, to talk about them with respect. Whether they chose to be anonymous or to share their personal information, I think it takes a lot of fortitude to talk about our experiences.<\/span><\/div>\n

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This last post\u2019s Patreon proceeds will go to RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest Network)<\/a> and I ask you to join me in supporting RAINN to promote the safety and wellbeing of survivors and at-risk individuals as much as we can. Donate here.<\/a> Thank you!<\/span><\/div>\n

HOW <\/span><\/h2>\n

How do we fix this?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Change. We need to change, and we need to do it as soon as possible. A few suggestions from the respondents really are valuable in how we can look at this:<\/span><\/div>\n

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– I think the community needs to learn effective ways to self-police. Maybe it should be included in first sessions, but I know not every one of the men I encountered in my early years was a sexual predator but they were complicit and probably egged some of that behavior on without realizing. Creating an environment where those predators are afraid and terrified of the reaction should they behave that way is paramount and an active contract the community and the game runners should participate in. <\/span><\/div>\n

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– A clear consent\/anti-harassment policy would have helped. The convention has that today, and they have panels on sexual harassment and how to identify and help stop it. People also need to feel stronger about calling out bad actors’ behavior.<\/span><\/div>\n

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– Making it clear that these spaces (and really any spaces) don’t work without consent, and the adults in a space need to make sure that if there are minors in a community older members aren’t making advances towards them.<\/span><\/div>\n

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– They should have listened and made it clear that this behavior was not acceptable and worked with [the bad actor] to adjust his behavior into something not deeply harmful to members of the community. If it came to it, I think people should have asked him to leave the space\/community.<\/span><\/div>\n

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All of the things we can do are such concrete, understandable actions. Most of them involve acknowledging the risks within our own communities. They also can often mean excluding people, sometimes even people we don\u2019t know if we want to exclude. The reality is, some of the time we have to exclude people to include people. For every bad actor you include,<\/span> you are excluding at least one other person or group<\/a><\/span>, and that is a choice you should be conscious of every time<\/a><\/span>, and you have to ask yourself whether the wellbeing of people at risk is less valuable than letting a well-known game designer speak on a panel at your convention. <\/span><\/div>\n

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Is it worth hurting people to be able to play with a GM who constantly runs over people\u2019s consent? Is it worth losing the participation and contributions of tons of women to let the senior manager for D&D say women aren\u2019t \u201creal\u201d developers? I ask anyone with power, with anxiety in my heart, with fear inside me: are we worth anything to you? Do you care? Will you read this and just turn away? If you decide we don\u2019t matter now, I hope someday you change.<\/span><\/div>\n

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If instead you think it\u2019s time to make a difference, my suggestions are here:<\/span><\/div>\n

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