It really boggles the mind sometimes, so much so, in fact, that I find myself writing about it. I must apologize in advance if my choice of language offends, but I simply do not believe any other word suffices to convey my meaning. The question that motivates my writing today is this: why are there so many assholes in gaming?
Is there something inherent in the sorts of persons who pursue gaming as a hobby such that it makes them behave as assholes? Or is there something in the nature of gaming that elicits the behaviors deserving of that label? Or perhaps it is a bit of both? I wonder because of the experiences I keep having with on-line gaming; I simply cannot understand why so many people feel the need to behave as they do.
It didn't bug me in years past, but either the situation is getting worse or I'm becoming more sensitive to it. I recently started keeping a log of the ridiculous reasons for which I've been kicked from gaming servers, which represent the barest tip of the proverbial iceberg insofar as I am threatened with kicking/banning far more often than it actually happens.
Today, for example, my friend Dan and I had occasion to play Raven Shield (RS) together for a few hours. The first server we played on belongs to the MCG clan. They're usually a good bunch, we get good pings to their server, and it's a place I play frequently. I had been threatened on their server once before—that time because I made a disparaging remark about a gun somebody apparently liked more than I do—but my time there usually passes without incident.
Tonight, one of their members came through a narrow hallway on the Garage map, spraying bullets seemingly without any concern for aiming. I was standing behind two players who had demonstrated themselves in previous rounds to be quite new at the game. They were standing out in the open in the hallway and were gunned down almost immediately by the MCG player coming toward us. I stood back a couple of paces and nailed him as soon as he rounded the corner, getting killed by his spray for my trouble.
Apparently the MCG player was feeling pretty pleased with himself, for he made some sassy remark in public chat about how awful we all were. I responded by saying it took only one player with a clue to bring him down, my point being that slaughtering newbies isn't particularly impressive. His response was to ask whether there was anything about which I wouldn't "talk shit". I said, being quite honest, that I wasn't trying to "talk shit" at all; I was merely making an observation.
My honesty was rewarded with an immediate threat. Some other MCG player, who presumably had admin rights on the server, asked me whether I wanted to leave. When I said no, he responded by telling me that I could keep my observations to myself or that I'd be kicked and banned. One would think from the tone of his fellows' comments, which were positively unprintable, that I'd just been caught in the middle of urinating on Mother Theresa's corpse, having just raped and murdered her for lack of anything better to do. Not wanting to play with such a hostile bunch of assholes, my friend and I moved on to a different server.
Later in the evening I was given a similar threat, though for different reasons. My friend and I broke for dinner and got back to the game later, joining the SRT server instead. We played there for quite a while and did relatively well, considering that several of our teammates weren't very skilled and that the SRT members were united on one team using voice-comm software.
My "crime", to come right to the point, was in advertising for my clan, Steel Maelstrom (SMS). The green team was comprised almost completely of SRT members while the red team was comprised of players not wearing clan tags, save of course for my friend and I. Because my friend and I had just managed to win a few rounds I made the following statement in public chat: "With respect to SRT, SMS is recruiting. See http://www.steelmaelstrom.com to apply if interested." Incidentally, that goes for any RS aficionado reading this as well; we're always interested in recruiting good people.
For the record, there wasn't anything in the server messages prohibiting recruiting. I know that some clans don't appreciate it, for those that don't typically ask (nicely) that I not recruit anymore. That's a request to which I always acquiesce out of courtesy, even though I don't really understand it. At any rate, I wasn't surprised when I was asked not to recruit anymore. What did surprise me was the immediately hostile overreaction. I didn't get a "please don't recruit here" or anything similarly appropriate. Rather, the SRT member who responded threatened to ban me if I ever said any such thing again, despite my entirely cordial apology.
Granted, the second incident of the day was less over-the-top than the first, but it was still ridiculous. I admin an RS server myself, and I've never been so hostile. If other clans advertise that they're recruiting on my clan server I don't even object. Why should I care, after all, whether people might want to join their clan instead of mine? It's not like I think SMS is the only clan on the planet or is the right clan for everyone. Even if somebody was being objectionable I'd at least give them a friendly warning rather than jump down their throat.
I wish I could say these were isolated incidents. I've been threatened with kicking/banning, called all sorts of vile names, had my sexuality and parentage called into question, and even been threatened physically—if you can believe that one—by assholes on various servers on more occasions than I can even remember. What motivates people to react with such hostility? I really don't understand it. Perhaps one of my readers can write me and explain. The only thing I'm sure of right now is that there sure are a lot of assholes out there.
02/25/2004