Welp, this stuff always finds a way, like a weed.

Ok, so to get down to brass tacks, theres a few issues here.

Your avatar =/= you. You cannot sexually harass a non living entity. The idea of a random person sexually harassing your character in game is making the same argument of "Her barbie doll is sexually harassing my ken doll (or vice versa)." I think an issue people need to learn and understand is that while we can immerse ourselves in a video game, we need to be adults about this and realize "Its a video game". If someone is doing 'lewd' stuff to your character, or being like "show me your 'x'", we need to acknowledge "hey, thats immersion breaking" and stupid. Afterall, very few people refer to their character as I. We typically say "My Dark Knight is...", "My scholar was," or "I ran Byakko EX with my Bard...". Most people in talk, talk about their character as a third person, not as themselves.



It becomes sexual harassment, in my estimate, when they begin targeting you, the actual living breathing real deal person. When its no longer about your avatar but about you specifically, the actual end user. This takes some level of discretion and awareness of course. But if they start saying things to you in private, trying to get real world info about, wanting to take chats to off game, etc. Then you can start raising flags about it.



At that point, fine, you got a real issue we can discuss. Report them, then proceed to mute/block them, and move on. If its an FC member, talk to FC leadership about it. Dont get pissed, however, if they have a healthy level of skepticism. Taking your word alone without and followup should be frowned upon. Take screenshots to back up your claims though. If they refuse to help or what not, then you either cope with it or leave the FC. Sucks but thats life. If the group isnt right for you, stop associating with them. You have control over that. Do whats best in your own interest and own it. Dont stay in a situation that sucks ass and is not getting resolved. If you do, complaining about how 'unfair it is' means little. You make the choice to stay in an unfair situation. And yeah, these kind of situations tends to spoil things. Make things difficult, but thats life sometimes. Sometimes bad things happen and nothing can be done about it except take your leave. Own it and run with it.

But going back to the first point, your avatar isnt you. Its an avatar. A 'doll' you created. Thats it. People running up to it and being stupid (using lewd emotes or what not) isnt sexual harassment. Its just people being stupid. Gross, sometimes sure (admittedly its funny sometimes how stupid they are). Ridiculous, sure. But is it you? No. Its a thing you project on. And so long as you have the mind to understand that, its not going to 'break you'.

"But what about the children!!!!"

I saw someone argue that, saying the 'damage is done'. Well first off, MAYBE you shouldnt have young children playing this game unsupervised. Just saying. If theyre a teen, as long as its not sustained direct harassment, theyll be fine. Teens arent fragile things thatll break the instant someone unpleasant happens. As a parent, they should be talking with their kids about that. You know, the whole being an actual parent thing. And before someone says "Well they dont know!", thats just lazyness. Your job as a parent is to be aware. Get knowledgeable about the things your kids are into and do.

If that FAILS, be a big sister/brother to other players. Be someone that can keep an eye on them and be there for them if they DO have an issue. This doesnt mean being a parent, it means being an adult and keeping an eye on things. If you think something is up, ask and investigate. Do your part, particularly if you feel its a huge issue. Dont be mother hen, be big sister.

TLDR: People need to start being adults more about a lot of things. Youre not receiving sexual harassment if someone is being stupid to your avatar. Youre not your avatar. Think of hte children is a stupid argument. Parents need to be exercising responsibility, and if they fail and your an adult, be a stand up person and just keep an eye on things and make sure younger players know youre someone they can talk to. Be rational about solving issues, not emotional.