The Games and Online Harassment Hotline is a nonprofit organisation for people in games who are struggling emotionally due to abuse, something all too common online. It has even put together a guide on how to stay safe from hate raids, aiding Twitch streamers who undergo bigotry and abuse in targeted campaigns."Hate raids are yet another symptom of the systemically racist, sexist, queerphobic, oppressive culture we live in," the page opens. "They are a tool used primarily to silence and intimidate streamers, and we have seen how they are unfairly and disproportionately targeted at Black women, queer, and BIPOC streamers."It recommends creating a safe scene, reviewing your settings, setting up chatbots, looping in moderators, and protecting your Discord, all with in-depth breakdowns on how. The mention of Twitch settings isn't as vague as it sounds - the site recommends blocking whispers from strangers, enabling two-factor authentication, and disabling user follow notifications. It also mentions AutoMod controls, suspicious user controls, chat options, and other essential tools you can use to try and lessen the impact of hate raids.
For context, The Games and Online Harassment Hotline is a text-based support network "specifically for the gaming community." It's for developers, players, streamers, competitors, and more - if you game, make games, stream games, or write about games, you're invited.
Given that marginalised people regularly face abuse in online games, on forums, through social media, and in the workplace, this hotline is an invaluable tool for managing those hardships.
You can even get involved by donating or volunteering, helping others deal with the emotional toll of online abuse, but it also states that you can help simply by sharing the platform with your friends. Or you can host a charity stream if that's your thing.