Black gamers are being encouraged to come together and tackle the ongoing fight against racism during online gaming — a problem which online community Melanin Games says has gone on for far too long. The company, which was founded back in 2018, has made it its mission to end the persistent attacks people have hurled through the use of their headsets when playing multiplayer mode in games such as Activision’s Call of Duty.
Over the summer, Melanin Games launched a project titled “The Watch,” where members of its community can help eliminate racism by reporting inappropriate remarks made during online gaming. The purpose is to collect enough data to call for action against Activision in the hopes that they, alongside other game developers, hold players accountable for their uncalled-for choice of language.
Just play Call of Duty Modern Warfare if you want to know how far we got when it comes to dealing with racism. Spoiler, we didn’t do a thing
— Tshepo (@Here_TakeThisL) October 11, 2022
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With the growing rise of people choosing to stream their gaming on Twitch, Melanin Games has partnered with the aforementioned firm and asks gamers to use the site’s built-in chip function to record moments where racist abuse is being spewed at them, which they are advised to send to The Watch’s Twitter account @HelpKeepWatch. The compiled clips are then passed over to game developers, with the intent to have these developers potentially add in-game penalties for comments that should never be tolerated on any platform, to begin with.
“Call of Duty and Infinity Ward stand for equality and inclusion. We stand against the racism and injustice our Black community endures. Until change happens and Black Lives Matter, we will never truly be the community we strive to be,” Call of Duty creators Infinity Ward said in a statement back in 2020, following the growing rise of Black Lives Matter protests.
But according to Melanin Games founder, Annabel Ashalley-Anthony, there was nothing actually done to prevent these attacks from occurring time and time again, prompting many to wonder whether the statement was just a way to deflect from the bigger issue at hand — what’s actually being done to stop the verbal abuse during online gameplay?
LMFAOOO racism isn’t funny, but me and my boys were talking in a call of duty lobby and someone goes “boy these nig**rs are out tonight” why another dude gon say “oh yeah, Martin Luther king day is coming up” LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
— Hood Favorite 🗽 (@SnipedPaulie) January 16, 2022
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“Unfortunately, problematic gamers hurl endless verbal abuse towards people of color, like myself and my brothers,” Anthony said as she remains hopeful that her strong advocacy against in-game racism will eventually spark a much-needed change.
“Racism is prevalent in gaming because individuals can hide behind the mask of anonymity. If they say something, and there are no consequences, then they will say it again and again. Also, if they join a game that has a toxic culture, even if they didn’t necessarily speak like that, they will begin to assimilate to fit in.”