A different kind of ?gamer? hotline: Free, anonymous emotional support

This week, a completely different type of gamer-centric hotline has emerged to address an industrywide issue that isn't as easily solved by walkthroughs: emotional support.The Games and Online Harassment Hotline (GOHH) launches today as a free text-based hotline that anyone can use to begin talking about the emotional issues that emerge all over the gaming industry. The values of Feminist Frequency and the hotline are intertwined: it's its own space where people can go with emotional needs."The project began when Sarkeesian and her FF collaborators, along with a team at the tech advocacy nonprofit Take This, began a hearty conversation in August 2019 after an explosion of "me too" stories stemming from abuses in the tech and games industries. Many of us came together and asked, 'What do we actually do to end abuse in the games industry?'"The answer is incremental, and this week's launch of GOHH is one near-term solution because it is built to "create emotional support for folks who need it," Sarkeesian says. "Who show up wanting support but not knowing how to ask for it, and reacting in a harassing way." (This, everyone on the call clarifies, is an inherent operating issue for a text-based emotional support hotline.)Eve Crevoshay, the founder of mental health advocacy non-profit Take This, was consulted early in GOHH's development to help with matters just like this. If you texted harassing content at one point but need help in the future, we'll be there."Crevoshay's work at Take This is already invested in bridging the gap for people in gaming and tech spaces in need of emotional support. "This is emotional support." (And if you're looking for a more general hotline that offers generalized, non-gaming support, GOHH can help, but so can larger operations like the Crisis Text Line.)But GOHH is still a far more inviting and hospitable "gaming hotline" than any I've ever heard about.