The lawsuit alleges a pervasive frat boy culture at the company and discrimination against women in pay and promotion.
The allegations are also of a piece with adecades-long history of gender discriminationin the technology field.
Gaming culture is toxic but community norms can change it
Things have not been getting steadily better.
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These strategies take time and energy, and they avoid rather than challenge the harassment.
Challenging harassment is also fraught, because it typically sparks a backlash and puts the burden on the victim.
Shutting down harassment comes down to creating and supporting community norms that reject rather than allow or encourage harassment.
Read more:Heres what itll take to clean up esports toxic culture
2.
They founda sharp distinctionin the language fans use when commenting on players, called streamers, depending on gender.
The streaming services need to examine their cultural norms to drive out toxic standards that effectively silence entire groups.
Read more:Can online gaming ditch its sexist ways?
Just over 8% of college esports players and 4% of coaches are female.
Female players face overt hostility and harassment, which discourages participation, according to SUNY Cortland professorLindsey Darvin.
Professional esports organizations arebeginning to address the gender gap.
Colleges and universities need to follow suit.
Read more:At colleges nationwide, esports teams dominated by men
4.
That discrimination has proved stubborn.
Twenty-five years later, were still far from that goal.
Reversing discrimination is a matter of changing cultures within organizations.
Diverse leadership is a critical part of creating diverse cultures, she writes.
