Female gamers fear for their safety in face of ‘terrifying’ abuse from online trolls
SEXUAL harassment, 12-hour shifts without a break and “dark and disgusting” online abuse, including threats of murder and rape, are all in a day’s work for some of the world’s most popular female gamers.
Sophia White, 24, the UK’s most followed female broadcaster on Twitch, told The Sunday Telegraph she is a vic- tim of “terrifying” threats from men, angry that a woman has become successful in a male-dominated field.
Since being catapulted to worldwide fame at the age of 20, men regularly harass her on Instagram, which she describes as “a hotbed for perverts”.
The practice of live streaming games emerged as a potentially lucrative job in the mid-2010s via sites such as Twitch and YouTube. Today, streamers com- bine skilful gameplay with entertaining commentary and command huge fol- lowings of millions of fans. But while streaming has attracted vast audiences and can be highly lucrative, it remains ripe with abuse and misogyny, with female gamers often subjected to abuse and threats.
White, known online as Djarii and who has 299,300 subscribers, plays World of Warcraft in front of her webcam and broadcasts it online.
She says she “loves” the job but that she regularly feels burnt out when her social media is targeted.
Men send her messages “because I’m female and they say I am only popular because of good looks”. Sometimes they take a sinister turn, with White often fearing for her safety. A man recently began posting the name and address of her old school and names of her friends.
Twitch is investing in technology in an attempt to foster a safer environment for creators and has created an “AutoMod” to automatically block words.
White said it’s important for women to talk about the dark side of streaming online. “When you’re online it feels like we’ve taken steps back.
“There is a huge amount of sexism and misogyny, and I feel like it needs to be said. Even if one person reads my argument then it was worth complaining about.”