1 in 4 game users experience sexual harassment, discrimination

People play online games at an internet cafe in Daejeon in this Feb. 16 photo. Korea Times file

By Bahk Eun-ji

One out of four online game users here has experienced sexual harassment or gender discrimination while playing, a survey showed Sunday.

According to the survey conducted for a month from May 23 by the Korea Creative Content Agency, of 3,000 online gamers aged between 10 and 65, 26.6 percent said they have experienced sexual harassment or gender discrimination when playing games, about a 10 percentage point increase from 16.7 percent in the same survey last year.

When multiple answers were allowed, 68.6 percent of the respondents said they received messages containing sexually abusive words from other users through messaging or chatting tools on the game platforms.

More than 27 percent said they received obscene images or video clips, while 26.5 percent said they experienced sexually harassing language through voice chatting.

In addition, 15.7 percent were asked to play a specific character or position in games because other users said it matched their gender, and 9.3 percent said other users requested personal contact information or to meet in person.

When asked how many times they experienced such sexual harassment or gender discrimination, 29.6 percent answered twice, while 24.9 percent said more than five times.

As to the responses, 45.6 percent said they reported such users to the game companies, but 38.3 percent said no specific measures were taken.

Of those reporting abusive behavior, 64.6 percent said the companies temporarily suspended problematic users from using text or voice chatting. But 33.8 percent said they did not impose any penalties or disadvantages to them.