Gatekeeping in Gaming: All Bad, a Little Bad or Not Bad at All?

By Gaming Editor Bonny Murphy

Since the dawn of human existence, we have decided who can and cannot enjoy something. I am certain that there was once a neanderthal who claimed that his favourite rocks were superior to all others, and anyone interested in other rocks was a fool. While gatekeeping is a natural consequence of human life, it can and should be controlled. As defined by the Cambridge online dictionary, gatekeeping is “the activity of trying to control who gets particular resources, power, or opportunities, and who does not”. Now, gatekeeping can have some serious and evil consequences in more crucial human rights cases, but it is present in all things, gaming included. The two main forms gatekeeping takes in gaming are either stating you will not play with someone or that you need to vet someone to a degree before playing. Gatekeeping is not always harmful and can be only in good fun, however it can have negative results and create toxic environments in gaming’s social spaces. My aim here is to tease out both sides of the gatekeeping argument and discuss where the line should be drawn between acceptable and unacceptable forms of gatekeeping, hopefully providing a new perspective on the act of gatekeeping.

The most obvious and damaging reasons people gatekeep I would hope, are clear to you. They are: exclusion due to race, thinking someone too old or young, or claiming their sexuality or gender is somehow relevant in playing games with them. These reasonings are unbelievably stupid and clear to most as inherently wrong. However, they still do happen today. In a survey done by Reach3, they found that 77 per cent of women have faced gender-based discrimination when gaming. Alongside examples such as, insults, inappropriate sexual messages, and their skills being scrutinized more harshly, Reach3 includes gatekeeping also. Furthermore, 58 per cent of women mask their identity while gaming according to Reach3. Gatekeeping being listed among such damaging behaviours calls into question if it can be defended. Gatekeeping is wrong when the reasons you gatekeep are fuelled by any of the “-isms” or “-obias”, (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc). One would like to think this is blatantly obvious to most, but this survey was conducted just 3 years ago, in 2020.

I would also like to note on one such “-ism” that doesn’t get enough attention, ageism. In my experience, I have noted how older players can often assume a younger, teenage player, to be inexperienced thus creating gatekeeping. Associating the teenager with immaturity and assuming they are a “noob”, without any evidence. Noob, for those who may be unaware, is a term frequently used in gaming to describe “someone who has just started doing something, especially playing a computer game or using a type of software, and so does not know much about it”. This term is mostly used derogatorily and is often be directed at any of the demographics I have listed above. Ultimately, if the reasons you gatekeep are or might be due to prejudice you have against any marginalised community you need to check yourself.

Is gatekeeping always this obvious? When you push a person, they might outwardly reveal why they gatekeep but sometimes its not nearly as deep or clear. The best example I can give would be this: Have you ever played a game with someone on call or spoke to someone about a game you like and received this response: “that game is cringe and the people who play it are losers”, or something to that effect. They are not targeting you because of gender, race etc, but simply what you like. They, in most cases, still want to play games with you and have no problem with you otherwise, but if you bring up that game, you will get both barrels for it. Some common examples I have heard include, “people who play League [League of Legens] are all toxic and horrible”, or “World of Warcraft players have never left their mother’s basement”, etc. These kind of comments can be made in good fun, but also show certain gaming communities’ shortcomings as the developers have not imposed proper regulation in minimising toxicity. Although this can be damaging too. I am sure some would argue that these stereotypes are true and reasonable, however, it is impossible to know that for sure. You risk diminishing the interests of that friend who likes that game. Critiquing a game is perfectly reasonable, the further insinuation that all players who play it are the same, is wrong. Critique and gatekeep are very different things, and we must be careful not to move from one to the other.

Well, are there any forms of gatekeeping that are totally above board? Here I want to offer some examples of gatekeeping that are reasonable, and simply defend the way you want to play by setting boundaries. Of course, you can criticise a game, you just got to keep in mind others may like it. Moving on from critique, lets assume you and the other person like this game but they play differently to you. The age-old debate of casual vs competitive. If you are playing a casual or silly game, like Agar.io or Bloons TD6 with some friends, and one of them genuinely is taking this game as life or death, it frankly can ruin the mood. If the game’s design is purely for silly fun with little to no competitive element, calling out the competitive player is only fair. This process, of course, works in reverse. You are playing a high stakes competitive ranked game of whatever your choice may be, and you have that one person, the troll. They joke around and ruin the game for the competitive players. Gatekeeping competitive and casual play, within reason, is a fair example of selectively choosing people to play with. Simply put, it helps with reading the room. Linked with competitive and casual gatekeeping, is what is known as “skill gap”. Many games already do this for you, but if you are very good at a game and your friend is not, this is a hard hurdle to overcome. Sometimes, if both of you play together it is not enjoyable for anyone as the lower skill player is out of their depth and might either joke that feeling away or be sweating to keep up, while the higher skill player may be sweating to compensate for their friend or joking the game away to the upset of their broader team. This is not a perfect and always fair way to treat gatekeep, but there is some truth to needing separation between certain types of players who want different things from the same game.

So, we arrive at how best to solve the problem gatekeeping causes gaming. I think the first step is to be clear on what is and isn’t gatekeeping. Things like critiquing a game is not but belittling those who like it, is. This is a blurry line already and this article will not solve this issue, but ask yourself what is too far when it comes to who can and cannot play games. A good while ago a friend and I had a discussion about Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) groups we liked and didn’t like playing with. In this discussion we agreed that the best part of D&D was when we were all asked and expected to agree on what kind of game we were playing. This is crucial to controlling gatekeeping. One might want the silly, whimsical game and other may want a more serious narrative and numbers focused game. Both types of games are valid, but both types of players shouldn’t be expected to sacrifice their interests. Agreement and communication are key in creating strong gaming circles.

To close, I would add that we will all encounter gatekeeping in some form or another. Surround yourself with people who respect and hopefully enjoy your interests and passions. All games are fun to someone out there, even if that person is not you. And always hate the game, not the player.