Nightline Investigates Gamergate and Online Harassment

[Shawn Zipay]

Last night, ABC's Nightline aired interviews with Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, Tim Schafer, and others in a segment they called, "What It Feels Like to be a Gamergate Target."

The segment, seen here (or here in a text-based format) does also include some discussion of how women are portrayed in a number of games. Beyond that, the segment largely focuses on harassment of women who play games and the growing market of women who play and purchase games.

Tim Schafer weighs in on how the industry has been and continues to change.

"Once you've sat down and tried to play a game with your daughter and tried to find games where she can play a character that she identifies with, you start to feel bad about not putting that option in your own game," Schafer said.

If you're surprised to learn that the harassment against people in the gaming industry continues to this day, you aren't alone.

The threats became so bad that Wu said she was forced to move out of her home – all because she simply tweeted her opinion.

“When someone posts your address online and they tell you they're going to murder your whole family, you don't really feel safe staying in that location,” she said.

So far the harassment against Wu and other women like her has remained online, but the FBI is taking threats like this seriously enough that the bureau has started a file.

“I'm hesitant to use the phrase ‘terror’ because I think it's such a politically loaded word, but this is,” Wu said. “It's terrorism on the women in the industry. It's scaring every one of us.”

When asked why she thought there was such anger directed towards her, Sarkeesian said, “I think it comes from this idea that gaming is a male dominated space, and that games are for men by men… It’s a very misogynist backlash.”

Even with all this going on, so many developers and publishers remain silent.