Internet anonymity...what a glorious thing. I can call you all sorts of terrible things, and you would never know how to get back at me! Fortunately, most people have at least an ounce of maturity in them and because of that refrain from taking full advantage of the anonymity that the internet provides. There are some however, who abuse this power, and use it to call people things like...I can't even bring myself to say some of those things. Anyway, you get the point. And of course, this crops up most often in the scary world of online-videogaming. Have you ever played Counter Strike? Halo? Pretty much any other online-multiplayer game? Then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
And if you are like me and frequently look at game related forums, then you have most likely stumbled upon threads titled things like "Anonymity breeds assholes" or "Why the trolling" with people talking about experiences they've had with trolls and such and such. They talk about how their experiences have been ruined, how angry they are that people must be so immature, and of course the mandatory smart-ass who has to dissect the whole thing and examine why people abuse their anonymity.
Well I'm going to invoke a popular saying on these here interwebs:
Don't acknowledge them, that just makes it worse. Don't mind them. Mute them. Do whatever, just don't pay attention. Are you going to let some punk with a microphone ruin a perfectly good game of Team Fortress 2? No, you shouldn't, just mute him. And don't start discussions about them either. Don't post your experiences of how some dude ruined your playtime, that will just give them more desire to do it again.
We all know why they do it, it's obvious. The rules of normal life don't apply on the internet. You can swear and not feel the consequences. You can be spam "Boobies" on a server and not have somebody slap you in the face. It's power that they don't have in real life, and they don't posses enough restraint or good reason to not use it. I get it, and if you somehow didn't before, now you get it too.
They are a minority on the internet that are being given too much attention. Who are these people? Teenagers with nothing better to do than ruin everybody's experience. They are attention seekers and assfaces, and the more you acknowledge that they are ruining games and message boards, the more they want to do it.
So I say, enough is enough. There is nothing more to discuss, trolls are idiots who should be ignored. So we should stop acknowledging their existence.
Everybody who agrees, say aye!
Your about to fall asleep at keyboard friend,
Termite
*And yes, by writing a blog about not acknowledging the existence of trolls I realize that I am acknowledging them. This is the last time I will, I swear!*
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