Anyone who’s played many online games can confirm how mean people can be in the chat. What starts as competitiveness can quickly turn into harassment, which can take a toll on your emotional wellbeing.
To combat this problem, a new crisis hotline for gamers has launched this week.
The Games and Online Harassment Hotline (GOHH) provides gamers with professional help in times of crisis. Anita Sarkeesian, GOHH’s founder, saw the need for change as the #MeToo movement rippled through the gaming industry. Gamers and game developers alike have dealt with harassment and sexism for years, often with nowhere to turn to with these issues.
The GOHH tries to tackle that problem by giving gamers an anonymous, text-based way to talk about their mental health. People can use it to report harassment, find emotional support or seek expert advice on what to do. There are even links to organizations that specialize in helping specific groups, like people of color and the LGBTQ community.
The GOHH is open from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Time on Mondays through Fridays, You can text “support” to 23368 to get started and talk to a professional.
Harassment in the Gaming Community
A nationwide bullying hotline for games may be a new concept, but harassment within the community sadly isn’t. In recent years, teenage depression has risen sharply, with young women being the most vulnerable to suicide. While there are a lot of factors at play here, harassment from other gamers is a substantial part of the problem.
These issues persist in the production side of video games, too, not just among players. In 2014, several women received death threats after calling out the industry for its culture of harassment.
Just earlier this year, executives of Ubisoft and Evo stepped down after several reports of inappropriate behavior.
The video game community has historically lacked the systems necessary to handle these kinds of situations. The GOHH is trying to take a step forward to fill the need for even more harassment protections for the gaming community.
Other Emotional Support Resources for Gamers
The GOHH isn’t the only crisis hotline out there, but it stands apart for its focus on the gaming community. If you feel the need to reach out and the GOHH is closed, though, you still have some resources available. Some games and platforms have their own process for reporting harassment, which can offer varying degrees of usefulness.
There are also other, non-gamer-centric emotional support hotlines you can use. You can text the Crisis Text Line to speak to a counselor about any kind of emotional issue, not just gaming-related ones. The GOHH specifically references the Crash Override Network, a support system for victims of online abuse.
Mental Health Is a Serious Issue
The world can be a cruel or lonely place sometimes, so taking care of your mental health is crucial. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, there are resources out there for you to use. If you are struggling with any issue, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of these organizations or hotlines.