Two former gamers, James Good and Matus Mikus, shared their alarming experiences of "toxic behaviour" when playing live multiplayer games online, adding that harassment towards female players is particularly rife. "People would just tell you to kill yourself because you were so terrible at the game, and this was a very common occurrence, almost every game," Mr Mikus told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. I think unfortunately it's a human thing, we can't really silence people or censor people from that kind of thing." When deciding to give up gaming, Mr Good said he experienced withdrawal symptoms including headaches and mood swings, and had to lock games consoles away to avoid temptation. The Government is set to release its long-awaited White Paper on dealing with online harms soon, which will set out new measures to make social networks accountable.

Source: Daily Mirror March 06, 2019 16:41 UTC