Hate speech leads to thousands in donations for girl coders

An ugly case of harassment had an unexpected silver lining this week, when it started a donation train to fund a camp for future female game designers.

Girls Make Games is a series of camps and workshops aimed at teaching young women the basics of game design, including coding, modeling, and artwork. The camps are sponsored by LearnDesign, a company in California, and a portion of donations received go towards financial aid for potential students.

Apparently the catalyst for the giving spree was the harassment of Allie Rose-Marie Leost, an Electronic Arts employee who may or may not have been involved in Mass Effect Andromeda‘s much-maligned facial animations. The insults directed at her were largely based on her gender.

I have an idea how she landed this gig.
you’re really bad at your job i guess this is what happens when they employ base on sex organs instead of talent
can i stick my dick in you so you can learn a few more facial expressions

Check this article from Kotaku if you want to read more for some reason. Or search her handle on Twitter, because they’re still pouring in.

Meanwhile, Alexandria Neonakis of game studio Naughty Dog was having none of it. Over the weekend, she tweeted about her own experiences with negative gender-based attention, and solidarity with other women in the game’s industry.

We're in your AAA, Indie, mobile, PC, console, board, card, hardcore, casuals… we're in all of them. Sorry bout it.

— Alexandria Neonakis (@Beavs) March 19, 2017

She faced some rather predictable backlash on this, and on Monday she made a donation to Girls Make Games in the name of her critics.

With that, the donation train started, with people giving anywhere from $50 to $500. There’s no official tally of donations, but a cursory bit of math based on Girl Make Games’ Twitter feed easily shows several thousands of dollars raised in the last few days.

Girls Make Games hasn’t said what it’ll do with this new windfall, but it did tweet thanks, as well as some stories of the people who apply to for its financial aid.

Sharing a few stories that we receive in the form of financial aid applications. Thank you all for your incredible support! <3 @Beavs pic.twitter.com/cNApif8ti7

— Girls Make Games (@GirlsMakeGames) March 21, 2017