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.
I have also noticed a major decline in friendly mannerisms in competitive gaming. Although I play mostly mmorpgs without voice over tools so I don't know what the age the one cursing is. It is rather sad to say a friendly good game or nice hit, things like that, and not have a response (or sometimes I get a not so nice response).
Anyways heres to good old fashioned competitive humor.
Tue Nov 03 2009 8:35PMYou only have to look at the general demeanor of a lot of the posts on this site to get the impression that general courtesy is lost in the anonymity of the internet. The rudeness and lack of respect shown to me or others has been a factor in my leaving several MMOs. Sure, I can overlook it on an occasional basis but when it becomes an everyday occurance it is a problem. I would hope that it is just children doing these things but I don't believe they are the only culprits nor the majority of the problem.
Spoiled immature brats of all ages seem to be a very vocal minority in some games and on the internet in general. At least I still hold out hope that they are a minority.
Tue Nov 03 2009 10:22PMthanks for the feedback elirion and zeirex.
"the anonymity of the internet" is probably the main reason people say the things they say. There is no punishment or consequences if no one knows who you are.
Tue Nov 03 2009 10:45PMI have to be honest, "kids" are not the only ones crying like the 2 videos you showed (which by the way seems extremely fake but I have seen many real ones so I know what you are talking about).
Wed Nov 04 2009 11:57AMI've seen some "18-20s" act like total pricks especially on FPS (L4D) or raids in RPGs (WoW).
Another thing I noticed though was that this issue seems to affect a lot more console users rather than PC users. In most FPS, players OWNS the server and if someone misbehave, well he can just IP ban and with PunkBuster, it's even easier so people tend to behave (although PC also has it's share of immature gamers).
But yeah.....kids are not the only one. Just look at the forum and you'll see.
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