Do
♪ [upbeat]
Recently, the video game world was rocked
by allegations of toxicity and harassment against
girl gamers and female game developers.
[electronics]
Ubisoft
was accused of having a toxic sexist work environment,
especially against girl game makers,
and
in the streaming community.
Not too long ago, we talked to Canadian
HiveQueen, a.k.a. Robin Lee,
to find out her thoughts on how the videogame culture
can be better for girls.
[swoosh]
I am an Ottawa based
and I'm a variety streamer, so I play a whole bunch
of different kinds of games, not even just games,
I do other activities as well,
and I'm a full time streamer, which means that I do this
content as my career, as my job.
You do not have to do that, ya'll. OK?
Thank you so much for doing that, though.
That's very sweet of you,
Ah, Robin For Prime Minister,
I would be the worst Prime Minister.
If I go into a random lobby with my game palms on,
to communicate to my team and I speak up,
I know that there's probably going to be half the time,
but as soon as I say anything,
they're going to be like, "woman! she's a girl!"
like, get out of our game, blah, blah, blah,
or just say mean things to us and point out the fact that
I am a woman and for me,
I might be a woman, but that has nothing
to do with my skill level in gaming.
[swoosh, keystrokes]
♪ ♪
Because there's a girl...
This is what happens...
♪ [light]
Gigi.
♪ ♪ [multiple male voices]
Guy:
Girls can't play
[multiple speakers, indiscernible]
I'm leaving. I'm leaving the game.
Guy 2:
Guy 3:
I'm not being rude.
You're, you're asking my gender when it's not relevant
at all to this game.
[swoosh, keystrokes] ♪ ♪
My hope is that the companies,
gaming companies and platforms that
we streamline can be held accountable.
I think it's up to them.
I think it's up to them to make it harder
for people to do such things in these spaces,
to have higher standards and expectations
for their employees so that it doesn't trickle down
in this way and it doesn't have to be exposed
on social media.
Since this interview, companies like
and
to address these claims in the future.
Ubisoft
to give greater focus to diversity, inclusion,
and respect.
I am truly sorry to everyone who was hurt.
We have taken significant steps to remove,
or sanction those who violated our values
and code of conduct.
And
and harassment policy,
saying, that kind of behaviour has no place on
[he tuts]
But is this enough?
Are all of the gamers in this together?
How do we make it so that every single human being
can feel comfortable and safe to play a game
that they love, or to be a streamer,
in the streaming world, or a content creator at all?
There are so many more things that we can do,
that can be done and should be done,
but I think we're just a little slow on the upkeep.
I think, I think we're a few, too many steps behind,
so we need to take some leaps forwards to truly be able
to create safe spaces for everyone
and hold people accountable for their actions.
We all have to be in this together
and that goes for men and women.
I have so many men in my life who are very supportive of me
and they will always stand up for me.
If you see it happening to somebody, call them out.
You know, I don't care if people call you a white knight
or a simp or whatever these new terms are,
it's like, who cares?
It just means a lot knowing that someone's
standing up for you and that you're not alone
in this battle because it's not going to,
it's not going to be there forever.
It's not. Things are changing.
As Robin said, things are changing a little bit
at a time, but what do you think?
Do video game companies and streaming services
do enough for girl gamers?
Let us know your thoughts and stories by messaging
cbckidsnews@cbc.ca.
Until next time, I'm Elijah Sandiford
for
Game on and game over.
♪ [upbeat]