Of course stopping playing games won't stop the person from encountering racist/sexist/homophobic/etc individuals, but the point of stating something like, "I stopped playing games online" is that it is something that is within the victimized person's control in some way. I can't avoid racism in my day to day, but I can minimize my exposure to racism while trying to enjoy my favorite past time of playing video games while I unwind after a hard day of, well, making video games at my job, by avoiding online gaming outside of playing with friends or my wife. Call me sensitive, but I just haven't ever gotten used to being called a "nigger" by someone who sounds like their balls haven't dropped yet.
It's just a little thing we can do to not have this shit filter into every little bit of escapism we try to occupy our minds with. It's another reason why representation in gaming is so important to people like me, to women, to the LGBTQ community and all of the other marginalized groups that have a passion for escapist entertainment. For many straight white males, escapism through books, film, television, gaming, is total. No nook and cranny of their power fantasies has been left unexplored or unexploited. For marginalized groups like I mentioned above, escapism through similar mediums comes with a shit ton of caveats. Mostly revolving around how the few representatives of our gender, ethnicity, or sexual identity have been portrayed in our chosen medium of escapism. History has shown that most of those representations are lacking (key word being most, by the way).
Our representations are either exploitative, or offensively stereotypical. That is, if we're included at all. As marginalized minorities, we've gotten used to putting ourselves in the shoes of the heroine straight white male, while cringing at the lone minority, female, LGBTQ character they've inserted to be relegated to supporting character or damsel. It fucking sucks.
So yeah, when someone says they avoid gaming with others because of the toxic environment, I can't say I blame them. And I certainly don't "not all gamers" them. They know it's not all gamers. That doesn't change the fact that their experiences have soured them on their hobby. My wife has been gaming since she was a little girl, but she's sworn off playing online with strangers because of the harassment she's had to deal with every time she dared to join a game. Is it unfair that she's associated her numerous experiences with harassment with online gaming as a whole? Maybe. But it's even worse that a hobby she loves has made her feel unwelcome, isolated, and excluded. I can relate to that.
Anyway, sorry for the off topic. I think Campo Santo was awesome taking a stand against bigotry and racism by disassociating themselves with PewDie Pie. As a creator, would you really want your work to be associated with racists or misogynists or homophobes? I personally would not.
