Feminist Frequency founder and Tropes v. Women in Video Games series creator Anita Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a talk at Utah State University scheduled for this evening, after University officials confirmed that it had received a death threat via email.

Perhaps missed in the September issue of the International Game Developer's Association's monthly "Perspectives" newsletter, lies an interesting analysis of the legal issues surrounding the #gamergate debacle. Written by Suzanne Jackiw, a 3L at Chicago-Kent University of Law, "The Legal Issues of #GamerGate" delves into the questions of cyberbullying, harassment, and defamation that have been so closely associated with the GamerGate "movement".

Speaking recently at the XOXO Festival in Portland over the weekend, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games creator Anita Sarkeesian spoke out about the abuse and threats she has received in recent weeks. Sarkeesian said in her speech at the event (as detailed by the Verge) that many of the people that lob hate and threats at her and others online for their work do so because they believe they are being "noble."

Sega of America announced today that it is changing its policy about comments on pictures it posts of real people. Going forward, anyone that posts derogatory and hateful comments or personal attacks on a photo of a real person posted by Sega will have their message deleted and their right to post future comments removed permanently. This new policy applies to the SEGA blog, SEGA forums, and the SEGA or Sonic the Hedgehog social media accounts.

The FBI is working with the IGDA and "bullying experts" to help game developers cope with and fight against online bullying, harassment and threats. According to Polygon, the IGDA began talking to the federal law enforcement agency during Comic-Con in San Diego back in July.

The International Game Developers Association has thrown its support behind game developers who have been the target of harassment online over the last week or so on social media. Depression Quest developer Zoe Quinn, Polytron founder and Fez creator Phil Fish, and Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series creator Anita Sarkeesian were just some of the names mentioned by the IGDA.

UK-based charity Changing Faces is calling on the makers of Moshi Monsters to change the names of characters in its game that have offensive names. Changing Faces is a charity that provides support and information to people with disfigurements to the "face, hands or body, and their families."

A new survey conducted in the virtual teen hangout Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) for anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label concludes that cyberbullying affects more young people than first thought. More than two-thirds of people ages 13- 22 have been bullied online, with both males and females equally affected, according to Ditch the Label. One in five of the 10,008 who responded to the survey said that the abuse they encountered had been "extreme" in nature. Many said that it happened on a daily basis too.

As reported by Polygon, Sony Online Entertainment's director of global community relations, Linda "Brasse" Carlson, gave an interesting talk about balancing developer relations with its various online communities, while tamping down abusive behavior by users. Carlson detailed the process the company uses to handle all these different issues during a presentation at GDC Europe 2013 today.

On this week's show we talk about extreme developer harassment, GameStop's Xenoblade pricing, EA's Humble Origin Bundle, the latest poll from GamePolitics, and a whole lot more. Download Episode 65 now: SuperPAC Episode 65 (1 hour, 15 minutes) 69.3 MB.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) revealed that it plans to start a number of support groups for developers who have found themselves on the business end of harassment and threats of violence by angry gamers on a regular basis. The news was revealed as part of Polygon's report on online harassment and threats that are frequently leveled against game developers.

Does an abusive and abrasive community scare away game development talent? That depends on how far individuals in such a community are willing to go in order to express their disdain for what a game developer is doing. When members of a community think that it is acceptable to wish death or a sexual assault on someone, it has a very real affect on game developers - or anyone else in the public eye.

Yesterday Microsoft took the wraps off two new initiatives for Xbox Live that - it hopes - will make it a better community to be in. One is called One is Enforcement United, which lets XBL subscribers weigh in on if particular content violates Microsoft’s terms of service. The second is Xbox Community Level, which lets players "gain levels" and earn prizes by making positive contributions to Xbox Live.

BioShock Infinite developer Ken Levine says that the abuse directed at Call of Duty's David Vonderhaar and Fez developer Phil Fish over the last week has made him sad. Speaking to Eurogamer, Levine explained how he deals with abuse from fans and what he thought about how Phil Fish handled the situation with Marcus Beer from GameTrailers earlier in the week.

Apparently it is just fine and dandy with Twitter if you threaten to rape someone on its service. Feminist Frequency creator Anita Sarkeesian receives her fair share of vile threats on Twitter on a regular basis, but when she reports them to Twitter it doesn't seem to do anything about them. On her Twitter feed yesterday she noted that she reported several threatening tweets to Twitter and was awaiting a response. Today she received that response, which was a big surprise to anyone who read the example tweet she posted.

Papo & Yo developer Minority Media took the wraps off the next project it is working on - a game about bullying. The game is called the Silent Enemy, and explores the topic of bullying and what people who see bulling tend to do (not get involved). According to a promo video for the game, it will feature an "Aboriginal character" who embarks on a quest to find springtime in Northern Quebec. During that quest the protagonist will be bullied by crow-like creatures that hinders his quest.

Gaming World Wide has teamed up with Rize Up Gaming to bring their charity efforts to a community that believes in creating a positive social atmosphere for gamers of all stripes.

GameSpot reports that Riot Games has issued bans to three European Team Solo Mebdi players for what they describe as widespread in-game verbal abuse. Riot Games has issued a lifetime ban for professional League of Legends player Khaled Abusagr of Team Solo Mebdi. Riot said that he engaged in a consistent pattern of in-game verbal abuse, racism, anti-Semitism, and threatening behavior.

According to this Reddit thread the top Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Xbox Live player in the country has reset his stats after a continual barrage of DDoS and personal attacks from people being categorized as "jealous players." The player, who plays online under the name "Retrominano," decided that it was easier to just reset his rankings in the game than to deal with the onslaught of personal attacks and attacks on his connection.

A war of words between Gawker Media and the Reddit community might make for some marvelous online drama, but it doesn't sit well with Wishan Wong, chief executive of Reddit. An internal memo obtained by Gawker and attributed Wong, reveals that Reddit's CEO thinks free speech is paramount to the community but that the ban on Gawker links is not a good idea.

Microsoft is "working toward improvements" to community moderation on Xbox Live, according to a report on Polygon. The company is working towards more robust automated moderation tools, including algorithms that can reportedly detect repeat offenders and mute them automatically.

Gamers Against Bigotry, a site that asked gamers to take a pledge promising not to use bigoted language while playing games online, announced that it has lost 1500 signatures due to repeated attacks from hackers. The site has faced some tough challenges from months of repeated attacks from hackers who have done everything from posting "grotesque images" on the website's signatures page, to making it impossible for new visitors to sign on to the pledge.

A New York State Assemblymen wants to fight cyberbullying and “baseless political attacks" with a new bill that would ban anonymous web posts. The bill would make it so that all New York-based websites have to "remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post," according to Wired's Threat Level.

The latest episode of the ultra popular web show Extra Credits (Season 4, Ep. 11) tackles the very thorny issue of online harassment in games. Anyone that has played a game online via their PC, Xbox 360, PS3, etc., has run into some (basically) anonymous individual who seems to have no control over what they say. They call you every name in the book for little or no reason. This episode of the show explores what can be done about it and why some of the usual excuses for allowing such behavior no longer work.

A new bipartisan bill wants to combat online bullying but is so poorly defined in its wording that it goes too far, according to some critics. The legislation is co-sponsored by Arizona State Reps. Ted Vogt and Vic Williams, both Republicans representing Tucson, along with strong support from House Minority Leader Chad Campbell (D-Phoenix), Assistant House Minority Leader Steve Farley (D-Tucson) and Rep. Terri Proud (R-Tucson).

Alexander Gianturco, the EVE Online player who mocked a suicidal player during a live stream of a panel at the EVE Online FanFest last week, announced that he is resigning as the head of the player-run, in-game government (thanks to Andrew Eisen for the tip). Gianturco was the Chairman of the Council of Stellar Management (CSM).

An elected representative of the EVE Online community strongly apologizes for his comments and actions during a live feed of the EVE Online FanFest event that took place last week. CCP Games said earlier in the week that it was appalled at the comments made by member of the EVE Online community and that it would launch an investigation.

With the Bully Project being released in theaters this Friday, it seems ironic that we would be reporting on people mocking another player who is "suicidal" and encouraging other people to do the same in the hope that the individual would "do it." This is the same kind of behavior highlighted in the aforementioned documentary. But instead of happening in a game it happened at school to an 11-year-old boy. He ended up listening to his school mates.

California has launched a new eCrime unit to combat various online crimes. The new law enforcement unit created by California Attorney General Kamala Harris and announced Tuesday, aims take on various "cyber crimes" such as email scams, online fraud, piracy, child pornography, and real-world theft of computer gear by organized crime.

"Today's criminals increasingly use the Internet, smartphones, and other digital devices to victimize people online and offline," Harris said while unveiling the unit in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.

Kotaku gets the scoop on what could be the future of dealing with obnoxious people in online games. A new report from Kotaku looks into Riot Games' new justice system for League of Legends, which is going to be run by the player community. They are calling it citizen justice, and if it works, we could see a new standard in dealing with problematic players who go out of their way to ruin the online gaming experience for others.

Starting sometime in the next few months, the creators of League of Legends plan to implement the Tribunal System, which will be staffed by players.

"This is innovation that was bred from necessity," Steve 'Pendragon' Mescon of Riot Games told Kotaku in a phone interview.