[FitzChivalry]

It is very sad that because we are playing, supposedly anonymously, across the internet, there are men who think female players are "fair game" (no pun intended). Of course this doesn't just stop at MUDs etc., this happens in any social media.

I rarely go in chatrooms now, but when I did, I wouldn't always reveal my gender (I'm male, by the way), and it was interesting the number of men who would persistently ask the question, often following up that they'd be my friend if I was female. If I did reveal my gender, after a period of time, then it was amazing just how many males would instantly stop talking with me. What was even more interesting female participants of the chatroom rarely ever asked whether I was male or female - they were there for a chat.

I have to disagree with Snowtroll a little because he states that it's hard to get that badly harassed over the internet, but then gives a list of the actions he takes when that happens. On occasion when I have played in any computer games as a female character, I've often been asked if I wanted to see "pictures" or ask if I have any of myself, and so on.

I think that games developers can try and keep things as "in the open" as possible - ensuring that there isn't a way for someone to send a private message to another in the game world, for example, without the recipient first agreeing to it. I think there would be a lot less harassment if messages had to be posted for all to see.

And of course there has to be an effective administration or Mod team that will deal with complaints very quickly.