To say that I found this appalling is an understatement. The Quake community has never been especially kind to certain groups of people. We eat our young. Newbies are shunned, and it is very difficult to gain respect in our community if you weren't around when QTest first shipped. However, nothing has ever come this far.

I have a sister (Bobbi) who plays Quake. I encouraged her to do so, because I felt that the female portion of our community is very open to new members, and all in all very supportive of one another. The actions by certain individuals towards HellKitten disturb me to the point where my protective side takes over. Do I really want my sister to play a game where female players are continually harassed? Where does this end?

For the record this is not the first case of sexual harassment in our community. Since my sister is an active female Quake player (and a member of PMS) I do hear stories. It is a sad thing to say, but I could have warned HellKitten that she would be harassed if she posted pictures of herself. I'm sure she had a good idea of what she was getting herself into when she decided to post her pictures in the first place, and if not then, certainly when she decided to repost them. Either way, she showed a courage that is rarely seen, and should have been appreciated. Instead, we watched in horror as our worst fears were realized.

You will note that the PMS clan girls all have Anime characters as their personal pictures. It is sad to say, but this is not only a good idea, it has practically become necessary. I shudder to think about the email KillCreek must get. The depths to which some members of our community have sunk is deeply troubling, and I wish I could say that things were changing for the better. It sickens me to say that a female player can't enter a server without being harassed in game, and that people attempt to hit on them while they are simply trying to play. We need to deal with these issues now, otherwise they are only going to get worse.

What exactly is the problem? Well for starters the maturity level needs to improve drastically. There is a large number of thirteen year old boys whose only contact with women is via obscene messages on IRC who need to learn that women do not appreciate such things. For every KillCreek, or Kornelia, there are a dozen girls who simply stop playing because they cannot take the harassment any longer. All the good sites like the Quake Women's Forum and PMS do is ruined by slimebags like the ones that harassed HellKitten.

I wish I could say I hope the people who sent Hellkitten those emails feel happy. But I don't. I hope they feel like scum. Actually, I hope they feel worse than scum. I hope they feel like outright dogshit. On behalf of the Quake community, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to HellKitten. No woman should ever be subjected to what she has been in the last week.

And to the next schmuck who thinks sending obscene photographs is funny, I'd just like to say this: grow up.