Ok, it's a little after midnight here, and i think I have to break the blog silence of the last couple of months to vent about something that really is problematic and troublesome in the game arena: obscene, vulgar, online gamers.
We all know that a lot of games tend to attract a core demographic of either pubescent or immature males who cannot restrain their mouths or their manners online. We saw a lot of it online, and we're seeing it now again with gears of war 2. Frankly, my friends and I just want to go online, have some good competition, and at the end of a good round, congratulate each other. But after about 2 weeks, and countless hours online, I'd have to say that 9 out of 10 teams we encounter are little boys (age isn't the point here) who somehow find it validating to swear, curse, and generally profane anyone who happens to be playing against them. Don't even get me started on the blatant racism of some people out there, which really is alarming in this day in age that someone would try to validate their own egos by using pretty horrible language.
I know that most of this is considered "normal" for online gaming, but should it really be? How can gaming continue to develop as a "community" or "art form" when the foremost titles are dominated by people who somehow forget the most basic human courtesies. Now I know that some smack talk can be appropriate, and even good natured in competition, but I can maybe recount one or two matches where it didn't devolve into some of the most vile and deluded hate speech imaginable. Why? Seriously, if you are that guy, what do you get out of it? What is the point? At the end of the day, all these people do is prevent gaming communities from being what they could be, and reinforce the idea that games indeed are for immature little boys.
I know I'm not the first (nor will I be the last) to go on about this. But I'm trying to convince some of my friends not to ditch their copies of the game in response to the sheer avalanche of foul-mouthed, ill-natured, online games that seem to populate a good 95% of the online community in gears of war now. I can only hope that this changes in time, because Gears 2 is a fantastic game, both local and online.
Here's the truth, having a microphone and a gamertag does not absolve you of the basic duties, responsibilities, and courtesies that people need to show one another in society. At the end of the day, those who violate this with constant derision and hate speech are trying to have their fun at the expense of others, and this is the definition of both insecurity and cruelty.
Yes, it is just a game. So why can't we all have fun, and just play?
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