GDC's annual State of the Gaming Industry survey (opens in new tab) found that 91% of developers believe player harassment of game developers is an industry problem. Not surprisingly, women are more likely than men to experience player abuse, as are members of the LGBTQ+ community.

"For years," said the GDC, "developers have been talking at game developer conferences about the cost of not addressing harmful behavior from some players, including harassment and intimidation." This year we asked developers how much of a problem it has become and what can be done about it."

In the survey of more than 2,300 game developers, 42% of respondents said they felt "player toxic behavior and harassment directed at developers/studios" was a very serious problem. 36% said it was a serious problem, 13% a minor problem. Respondents answered "not a problem. Only 4% said it was not a problem, and 5% said they did not know.

While respondents felt that harassment and abuse were almost universal, only 40% said they had either experienced it firsthand or witnessed abuse by a co-worker. This is probably a result of the demographics of the gaming industry: of course, the majority of survey respondents are male, accounting for 70%, compared to 23% female and 5% non-binary, and 20% of respondents identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

However, the survey found that men were less likely to experience or witness harassment from athletes than women or non-binary, and members of the LGBTQ+ community were more likely to experience harassment than other members.

Abusive behavior from athletes is clearly perceived as a problem. What is less clear is how to deal with it: the survey includes a number of statements about how developers think gaming companies can effectively deal with harassment from the community, and the responses range from asking people to be nice to them to accepting abuse as a job to accepting abuse as part of the job.

"I think it would be effective to set clear and public boundaries as well as call for cooperation within the community itself.

"Large corporations seem to fear that the toxic players are their own fan base, but they don't realize that they are affecting a much larger number of their actual fan base.

"Game studios should have easily accessible hotlines and other internal resources for employees facing harassment in the player community, both for personal strategies for dealing with online hatred and for using said internal support resources. Training needs to be provided for both employee training," another respondent responded.

"I can't believe no one has done it yet.

One respondent recommended simply throwing in the towel: "Accept it, let it go, and move on. A noisy minority is part of human nature."

More instructive, respondents who claimed to be studying player harassment recommended a multi-pronged approach of community involvement, strong boundaries, and, very importantly, acknowledging that player abuse is a real problem! .

"The approach should include appropriate responses, including punishment such as game suspensions and banning where possible, pro-social community management, proper training of community managers, enhanced ethical knowledge and clear boundaries within the studio, fear of offending players and the associated revenue loss, studio solidarity, appropriate support for those affected, and more. It starts with the industry understanding that this is a serious issue and not just from "overzealous players." It is abuse."

The full 2023 State of the Gaming Industry Survey is available for free at gdconf.com (opens in new tab).