There’s a hell of a lot of harassment going on in gaming. If there’s one thing Kotaku would like to see, it would be big-name publishers speaking up about it, and taking a stand against it, instead of capitulating to it or tacitly endorsing it through silence. Meanwhile, there’s Sega’s approach spotted by Eurogamer, where the company recently went nuclear on someone for being abusive to a member of its staff.
Posting to its corporate site on July 17, Sega released a statement outlining a recent case in Japan where it sued an individual who had, the publisher says, “made excessive slanderous and insulting comments on social media against one of our employees for a long time.” Then, sounding like a very disappointed father (via a Google translation), the company continues, “…as there has been no improvement, we have been forced to take legal action.” Everyone’s dad’s took legal action against them as a kid, yes?
Highlighting the difference between what is tolerated in the U.S. and in Japan, courts agreed that the offender’s personal information should be disclosed to Sega, which then got in direct contact with the internet troll and, through “negotiating,” arrived at a settlement. The individual, unidentified by Sega, will pay unspecified damages to the employee, as well as “delete the slanderous and insulting comments, and refrain from such actions in the future.”
Yeah, we too are dying to know more details, but Sega has made it clear this is all that will be said on the subject. “As this is a case related to a court proceeding,” the company writes, “we ask that you refrain from making any inquiries regarding this matter.” The statement continues (again, via Google Translate):
We consider slanderous acts against employees, such as announcements of violent acts, threats, and intimidation, to be serious human rights issues that damage the dignity of employees and lead to a deterioration of the work environment. We do not tolerate any harassing behavior, and in order to respect all employees and protect their human rights, we will continue to take appropriate action based on our Customer Harassment Policy when we judge any behavior to be malicious. Please review our Customer Harassment Policy and refrain from any behavior that damages the dignity of employees.
Of course, given the scant information, it’s incredibly hard to know what to think about this. The description given by Sega could be of anything from a series of unpleasant insults, all the way to specific death threats, and while neither is welcome, laws do tend to rule rather differently at either extreme.
It’d be lovely if everyone could just stop being a colossal asshole on their socials. It would also be splendid if there could be some sort of karmic consequence for those who spend their lives trying to destroy others because they’re scared of girls or what have you. However, it does seem tricky to think the solution is courts granting personally identifying information to corporations, so they can take people’s money in secret. That…doesn’t feel quite right.
Sega makes clear it’s not done, and intends to repeat these actions should others go after their staff, pointing the entire world to its Customer Harassment Policy, which it appears to believe it can legally enforce on the planet’s population. I love the energy, not so much the method.
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