Hate and harassment was recorded in almost half of online multiplayer game sessions tested with a range of religious, ethnic and national identity-based usernames, according to the Anti-Defamation League‘s latest research.
One-third of gaming sessions that expressed pride in ethnic, religious or national identity resulted in abuse; and 38% of gaming sessions included harassment toward Jewish people.
Rather than do an annual survey on gaming, the ADL Center for Technology and Society took a different approach to research this year, asking 15 gamers to play hours of games with usernames that signified national, religious and ethnic identities. And they got a lot of hate.
Examples of hate and harassment included racial slurs, trash-talking or disrupted play….