The 2023 State of the Game Industry survey features polls with answers from over 2,300 game developers about the industry, including one where the majority of respondents marked player harassment as a “serious issue.”
Player harassment was marked as a “serious” or “very serious” issue by the majority of respondents in a poll conducted for the 2023 State of the Game Industry report, with those who worked in roles such as community management or PR apparently “experiencing or witnessing harassment” more than those in other roles.
42% of responses said they considered “player toxicity and harassment directed at developers/studios” as a “very serious issue” in the industry, while 36% said it was a “serious issue.” This is from a poll featuring answers from over 2,300 game devs as part of the 2023 State of the Game Industry report (thanks, Axios). 13% voted to say they thought it was a “minor issue,” with 4% saying it “isn’t an issue,” and 5% voting for “unsure.” Another question asked if they had experienced harassment from players themselves while working on a project — 11% said they’d experienced harassment directed at them, while 19% said they’d seen harassment directed at another colleague or team, and 10% said they’d witnessed harassment directed at themselves and another colleague or team. 54% of responses said they hadn’t witnessed harassment from players, and 7% were unsure. The report notes that those involved in community management, marketing, or PR “reported experiencing or witnessing harassment more than developers in other job roles.”
The report also asked how the companies those who had experienced or witnessed harassment worked for had addressed the issue. 68% said their companies “addressed” the harassment — “either internally (30%), externally (4%), or both (34%). One-fifth said no, while 11% were unsure.”
Individual comments from the survey takers were also shared in the report. One said, “Large companies seem to fear that their toxic players are their fanbase without appreciating that they are impacting much larger numbers of their actual fanbase,” while another said “I’m a community manager, so it’s a part of the job, unfortunately… We need to recognize that behaviour when it happens, call it out, and set expectations that we are not going to allow it. We also need to stop inviting the community to be part of the family. You’re part of the conversation, you get to offer an opinion, but you don’t get to demand everything goes your way.” One noted that “the companies need to take it seriously,” saying, “I received death threats and they contacted my family on social media but the company ignored my concerns.”
The survey covers a number of other topics, such as gender representation and social media. What do you make of the survey responses, and the comments about player harassment? Let us know in the comments.
