For a growing boy, there are more dangerous things on the Internet than spyware-addled porn sites. One of them is white dude-bro culture — you know, the kind rife with men who threaten to murder women for wanting representation in video games and compare themselves to the KKK. For years, I tiptoed too close to this dark side of the Web.

Game developer Valve’s “Greenlight” project — in which developers can, for a $100 fee, make their work available through the popular Steam downloadable store — is coming under fire for failing to stop the game “Kill the Faggot” from launching, Ars Technica’s Sam Machkovech reports. On its face, the game clearly violates Steam’s terms of service, which prohibit “[t]hreats of violence or harassment, even as a joke.” The game was designed by a self-styled “Christian shoe promoter” from California named Randall Herman, and in it players are encouraged to shoot homosexuals.

One Wednesday, Minecraft will officially introduce Alex, a new and female character to be offered along with the longstanding default figure Steve. Writing on parent company Mojang’s blog Monday, Minecraft’s Owen Hill announced, “When most players begin their Minecraft adventure there aren’t many looks to choose from. In fact, you only get to play as our blue-shirted friend. Now, everyone loves Steve – he’s probably the most famous minecrafter in the world, and has excellent stubble. But jolly old Steve doesn’t really represent the diversity of our playerbase. For that reason, we’re giving all players opportunity to play with an Alex skin instead. She brings thinner arms, redder hair, and a ponytail.” Oh, and a male name, but why quibble, right?

In the clever science fiction video game Bioshock, an Objectivist business magnate named Andrew Ryan (recognize those initials?) creates an underwater city, where the world’s elite members can flourish free from the controls of government. It is a utopian village that Ayn Rand and her hero John Galt would surely approve of, but unfortunately it ends up becoming a dystopian nightmare after class distinctions form (what a shocker) and technological innovation gets out of hand. It was a hell of a video game, for those of you into that kind of thing.

This week two new members were inducted into the club of semi-awareness. Not because the experiences of women on the Internet stirred any empathy in them, but because, after making something of a sport of harassing women online, they got a taste of their own awful medicine.

In the wake of Gamergate, curating our collective spaces seems more important than ever. How else will our sons and daughters learn that this is everyone’s house? Let them learn to speak up for the kid getting bullied, even if they really are, like, the worst ever; help them understand that taking the bait feeds the trolls; allow them to witness the way kindness gets you farther than incendiary jokes, in this as in every platform.