Quick YouTube angry halo kid, or kid gets WoW account cancelled. Are these really the ambassadors we as gamers want? I would hope not, as the majority of gamers are very respectful…and sane. It is these few examples that make their way onto the internet that makes people look at our community as a bunch of angry…angry little children that lose their temper over something so trivial.
Is this behavior just an example of monkey-see-monkey-do? Is the gaming youth looking at these videos and considering these responses as socially acceptable? Sadly I do believe many people see these examples on YouTube and think, “well that must be what all gamers are like”. When children see these examples it is very easy for them to imitate and accept these reactions as correct responses.
Just play Halo or Call of Duty for more than fifteen minutes and tell me who is using the most profanity or “colorful” language. Most the time it is kids who have not even had a chance for their voices to drop (believe me I had a lot of different word choices to end this sentence). I remember back in the day if I was talking like some of these kids I would have gotten a swift smack to the back of my head by my grandmother.
It just makes me wonder if these children are really investing so much of their lives into these video games. It seems like they are as each time they get killed or lose a roll on some loot it is like a loved one was murdered in front of them, to which they must inform me on my headset how displeased they are with the outcome.
Friendly banter and competition is just fine, actually I encourage it in many cases. It builds character and teaches children valuable social skills. Looking…and listening to some of the conversations on popular games I seriously worry that these children are not being instructed on how to properly interact on the internet.
Not to sound all high and mighty, when my good friend and I lace up the gloves for some Fight Night Round 4 there is some trash talk, but it never comes to actual fist fighting or breaking of things (regardless of how many beers we have). Then at the end of the round there is always the customary “good fight” exchanged between the both of us.
Now think long and hard about the last time you said, “good game”. Or even heard the opposing team say it? Have we as gamers fallen so far from grace that we cannot even acknowledge a good competition between two sides? ….. sigh rant over.
