Sexist and misogynistic abuse in gaming isn’t new, and it’s something a lot of female gamers have to face every day, simply for being interested in it.
Most gaming sites do have technology in place that bans certain words, but on many occasions this isn’t enough to stop comments with threatening intentions reaching the women they are aimed at.
Twitch, who has around 100 million users worldwide, have announced they are now working on new technology that will aim to tackle this problem.
Anna Prosser Robinson, programme manager, Twitch, said to BBC Newsbeat: “We're testing new technology to provide a more nuanced approach to moderation so that potentially people can use technology to identify messages that might not be automatically banned, but might have a malicious intent or might have words that make someone feel unsafe."
She said that the improvements were “happening as fast as we can make it happen, but I hope we will continue to gain speed”.
The gaming site giant said the industry needs to do more and even invest money to tackle the problem of sexist abuse on gaming platforms.
Matthew DiPietro, Twitch senior executive, said: “It's a very tough problem and I think it will take a long time for the industry as a whole to come to grips with, but we are very interested in playing our part.
"There is no such thing as fast enough. There is always faster and we're committed to building tools to create a world in which harassment is no more than a tiny nuisance, if that."
YouTube also said it was playing its part in tackling online abuse and highlighted their community guidelines against abusive comments. They recently updated their partner program policy so that many types of abusive content can no longer be monetised.
The online platform for video also introduced their YouTube Heroes program in an attempt to use gamification to encourage their community to moderate the site for them.
A survey earlier this year revealed that one in ten people on gaming sites feel unsafe online, whilst 31% of gamers have been harassed on an online game.
The research by Broadband Genie also found that the most common form of harassment was general verbal or written insults, with 18% also experiencing sexism.
Rob Hilborn, head of strategy, Broadband Genie said: “The gaming community is now made up of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, so it's important that we create an environment where all gamers feel welcome online. Unfortunately this currently doesn't seem to be the case as online abuse in gaming is clearly a problem.
“A lot of gamers see the comments they make online as just banter, but unfortunately a lot of these comments will be sexist, racist or homophobic and are clearly something much more serious. The only way this kind of behaviour can be stamped out is for publishers, developers and the gaming community to work together to educate others what is and what isn't acceptable online.”
Mr Hilborn added: “There's a huge amount of content uploaded to sites like YouTube and Twitch every day, which means that moderating them is incredibly difficult. However, I think we're starting to see some interesting ideas being introduced to reduce the amount of abusive content on these services.
“I think the key driver pushing these sites to clamp down on this behaviour is advertising. Advertisers are becoming increasingly picky about where their content is shown online, as they don't want to be seen to be promoting content which is abusive and could potentially harm their brand image.”
Steph Staszko, a video games blogger at Sugarcanes & Videogames said: "I used to regularly Twitch stream, and although I did receive the odd misogynistic comment, often derogatory and sexual, thankfully I haven’t received as much abuse as some other streamers.
“Unfortunately, internet trolls exist in every interest area and I think it would be over generalisation to blame it on gaming. However, it is really encouraging to see the likes of Twitch clamping down on abusive behaviour as it does exist and those who think it's acceptable to display sexist behaviour and hide behind a computer screen need to be shown that it will not be tolerated on such platforms and within online communities."
