http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/katherine-clark-fight-against-internet-trolls-gamergate - I was wondering if this is mainly U.S. or if other countries are having the same problem.  What do you think the solution is?  If your country is having this issue - what are they doing about it?

I actually stopped playing Fiesta, in part, because there were some people in my guild who, after getting to know them, seemed like they were kind of creepy in real life.  They  were ok in the game but there was some drama with divorces, child custody issues, some what I thought of as stalking (irl, and ig), and people meeting up not by choice irl.  I had younger kids and didn't want to go there so I left.

I have always been upfront about being an older, very happily married player.  I did have to report a couple of players who, ig, followed me around and kept propositioning me or making really rude comments publicly (and at one point a mods response was just give in and they will leave you alone - yeah - I wasn't going to do that) in Fiesta too but that did get cleared up.

I also made alts and soloed a lot - this is probably one of the reasons it took me many years to check out the clan system on runescape.  Honestly, on of the main drivers for me was the citadel.  Now, Consentus is a reason I love Runescape.  But I will admit to being somewhat gun-shy. 

Anyway, I am sure guys/gay people/gender-neutral/fluid/trans have these harassment issues - I have mainly seen it from the female side so I probably will be using the female pronouns but I think it is wrong against anyone and the internet emboldens people.  We do wind up with a make the victim change mentality.  In my own experience, I wound up making alts and alternate accounts, leaving the game, avoiding and blocking people.  I doubt most people (unless they are harassed to the extent of the people in the story) will want to use legal options.

Is there a better way to handle things online?  I rarely respond to news articles because I think a lot of the responses are vitriolic and probably a bunch are from p.r. people trying to spin (some political staffers get their start from being active on social media and being noticed by campaigns that are definitely responding as plants - I am sure companies and other entities with vested interests plant responses too).  In games, it is hard to avoid this kind of thing - in Runescape - you can't keep someone from friending you, or joining you except by changing privacy settings and that impacts your entire gameplay because your friends can't join you either then.  I just wonder if there is a way to build in less harassment (and less propaganda) into at least apps/games/forums but maybe into the internet (I actually am an electrical engineer and started working with the internet in 1992 - web browsers could be changed - standards for sites could change over time) without infringing too much on individual freedoms?

Anyway, I would love to know what other people think.

While I believe that some people are inherently good, our capacity for evil is simply much higher. After all, being destructive is so much easier than being constructive; being belligerent so much more easier than being accommodating. Maybe it's because in games, behind the anonymity of the internet, some people feel the urge to take out their aggression on others - something that most of them simply cannot do in real life. Even better, in their opinion, if they have the ability (read: character) to do so. Generally, I think people simply need better role models. I think misconduct requires swift action by the platform admins before the attitude infects parts of the community and becomes a larger problem.

That was a really thoughtful reply Red!  I sometimes wonder if gaming is more positive than people think.  People do get to try out behaving different ways behind their chars but most people I have met in games tend to be kind overall.  Sometimes you can get more being mean (and you are totally right - destruction is much easier) but Karma can catch up with you - and you get a lot more satisfaction being good.