International Conference Meets to Solve In-Game Hate Speech

The conference will take on the trolls, the haters, and the bullies to make a safer space in gaming.

Today marks the first day of the week-long GameOver Hate conference in Budapest. The conference will examine online hate, especially in gaming communities, and begin creating a network of people to recognize and react to hate.

David Pinto, one of the organizers for the conference, said he and Martin Fischer, another organizers for the conference, got the idea for the conference when they were playing Guild Wars 2 and thought a conference devoted to online respect in videogames would be interesting. “Games are relevant today,” Pinto said. “And working for respect, inclusiveness, and diversity is important. Joining these two things together is something I find really interesting and very much urgent for our current (and future) generations.”

A draft of the program shows that participants will examine gamification, the roles people play online, what developers want, a simulation on combating hate, and discussions on activism. The conference will also premiere GTFO – A Film About Women in Gaming.

Pinto admitted he thinks conflict will always stick around when many people interact. “That being said, there are some ways to minimize the worst of its manifestations. And as we focus more on this problem and talk about it, I think we’ll get better at dealing with it. If we pay attention.”

Source: GameOver Hate via Polygon