David Cooper

He wasn't spewing out deeply sexist or problematic stuff, but I do wonder, is in-game player chat something that stresses out people, and how might that affect women differently than men?

How bleak is it for most players or is this something that only crops up a little bit or is it basically systemic and that's why women players aren't talking on mic and revealing their gender?

From a mental health perspective, I feel like some practitioners ask people who game just, you know, how much do you do it?

And then they evaluate whether it's a problem or not.

Should we be asking different questions?

Like, what do you get out of gaming?

Why are you gaming?

What are you doing when you game to really evaluate whether games are going to cause people problems and mental health issues?

So there can be certain communities built around games that are supportive and people who have otherwise social anxiety can participate in and feel like they're a member of a community.

But then there's got to be certain games that are just pretty hostile.

Anyone's to stay away from or anyone, if I'm not looking to feel anxious while I play, maybe it's a bad idea.

Well, Kaylee, I've enjoyed the chat.

Thanks so much for being on the show.

Kaylee Waters is a psychology professor at Palo Alto University.

Coming up online on a news article, the first comments to appear are the nastiest.

But is there a way to make discussions on the Internet less awful?

Maybe.

And it might be a snooze button.

I'm David Cooper.

This is The Last Show.