Gaming Fat, Ugly or Slutty?

Good article!

 

The vote kick is still flawed as they log in with a different name. Teamkillers/trolls/abusers are just viruses that need to be made extinct. Screw the Human Rights!

 

I'm leaning towards the idea that this is a bit of an invalid complaint to be honest. There internet is like few real world environments in what is acceptable in it. We can throw off about 6000 years of cultural norms and just basically act how we are all inclined to act. Instead of social rules and cultural norms needing to gradually develop over hundreds of years, they can be created or abandoned instantly with no repercussions. This is cool.

While I get that there are cases of genuine online harassment that are taken too far (say, gamer sees girlgamer in game, finds her on facebook, starts calling her mobile, e-mailing her) - so much of what is being complained about seems to be along the lines of what is shown in the article, silly jokes relating to kitchens and sending nekkid pictures. These are both so tired and overdone that they're clichés, just as criticism of me being tight-fisted or wearing a skirt (as in a kilt, I'm male) or enjoying the company of ewe's is so tired and overdone it's a cliché.

Especially in games, on the internet, you get made fun of. Everyone gets made fun of. It's jocular, it's not serious, it's just part of lingua. Whether that's a problem for any given individual or not is irrelevant to the greater world because this is extremely unlikely to change. All that can change is one's sense of self-worth and self confidence, realising that some stranger on the internet probably picked on that difference you have, whatever it may be, simply because they're having a laugh with you (fully expecting you to return the favour) - or if they're actually being serious, realising that they're immature fools insulting someone they know virtually nothing about on the internet.

It's smack talk. If you're a jew, you'll get jew jokes. If you're black and the mods are chilled out enough, you'll get black jokes, if you're a women you'll get women jokes, if you're stupid you'll get stupid jokes, if you're smart you'll get smart jokes. If you're the most normal middle class western white anglo saxon protestant in the world, someone will think of something to take the piss out of you for.

TL;DR - People need to stop being so butthurt.

 

I've been on servers where it's often completely the opposite, and girls are massively encouraged to join in (especially on FPS games like CSS), and in some cases, offered special protection from experienced players!

I only play on PC though, so perhaps this is just related to the age/maturity of the gamers on a certain platform. Perhaps xbox gamers are just less mature than PC gamers...

To be fair anyone who deliberately ridicules others for being different (although it sounds like being a girl gamer may not be so different after all) is a complete plonker and doesn't deserve an opinion anyway. If everyone was exactly the same it would be a very boring world to live in.

One last point: votekick/mute/ignore functions exist for a reason... if everyone decided not to put up with the abusive idiot yelling 'stfu noob - I pwned yo mama' down his microphone, online games would be a happier place in general.

Maybe there should be a stupidity test before you can buy an online multiplayer game (or an internet connection)?

 

sry wrong quote

 

anyone going to mention the law and the consequences on the individual and the server? Just thought I'd try and cut through all the "opinion" and get some facts out here...

 

I think I have a brain filter. I never really listen to the chatter in mp games, I'm busy doing things. I hear orders & requests & I make the same. But I seldom hear the drivel. Occassionaly someone will keep making the same noise over & over & someone just votes to kick them, it almost always goes through & the game continues.
You just learn to pick out useful information over unmemorable static.

Though I suppose most games could benefit from players needing to be "friended" before any of their comm comes through. That would disuade a lot of the twits I think.

 

I think this just going into the whole internet theory, you don't have to be female either. I think people go for the biggest shock factor and key into anything be it a female gamer, a minority, or just saying stuff about your mother.

as a ruse, when I play modern warfare 2, I have my girlfriend do all the trash talking for me. I'm relatively good and I'm nearly always topped on the scoreboard. It makes people madder to think that the person who is 25-3 is a female.

 

I find servers with too many rules and overly officious moderators the least joyful to play on. Jolly Rodgers' Darkest Hour server i'm looking at you.

 

Sometimes I really do think we need a little bit of chlorine in the gene pool...

 

Can I not abuse the nOObs on bit tech now?

 

This is one of the first things I've read on bit-tech that I've felt the need to share and promote. FUoS is a fantastic idea, and this article sheds important light on what is often ignored as a 'non-issue'. Hope to see continued coverage on this topic!

 

I dont get the whole trash talk thing, I really don.
Ok so it can be fun winding up some mates on Teamspeak, but that's a little different, giving abuse to total strangers just wrecks everyone's day.
Personally, if I ever meet a female gamer, compliments are the order of the day as we need more female gamers and who know what it could lead to?
If you spend enough time online it's quite possible you could meet a future partner there (obviously as long their old enough) just because of the whole "shared interest" thing
I'd much rather make someones day by being nice, or saying something nice than wrecking it by being an asshole.
It's harder work being remembered for being nice because everyone remembers an arsehole, but no one wants to be round an arsehole because they stink.

 

Good article and an interesting discussion. I have never played online and I had no idea this sort of thing was so bad.

But, if you'll excuse a n00b question, how practicable is it to play online fps without a headset and mic? Can you still have a decent game without communicating?

I am getting to the point where most single-player shooters are a bit too easy and had been thinking about going online for the sake of a better challenge; however, the prospect of talking to people puts me off. Messaging is fine and I am not unfriendly, I just don't like talking (family and friends all know to send text/email rather than call!).

 

Depends on the game. Tactical shooters probably would need mic. Plain old deathmatch doesn't matter. I have a mic but never use it.

 

In times before the Web, village idiots stayed in their villages. Nowadays it seems that every one of them got an Xbox and started spewing his nonsense to the world.
But what else could you expect from people using consoles? I play Eve Online for six years and haven't seen any instance of such behaviour. Even though there is far too much griefing and scamming, flaming rarely crosses the line. Hell, even griefers (despite being obvious assholes) usually stay civil, and I have never seen anyone picking on female players.

 

I never play with a mic. I want a game, not a conversation.

 

Thanks, SmiffyDude and Joe. That's exactly my feeling -- I'm interested in having a game not a conversation. I'll give it a go as a silent one (and save my invective for the home...)

[back on topic] Good luck to FUoS on raising awareness -- it seems a really good project.

 

Same here, unless I'm playing with friends.

 

Suppose it all depends on what the game is ,for instance, take the UT series, it's full of in- built taunts like; "Die Bitch!", "You play like a girl", "You whore" "Suck on this". The Female characters taunts include "lick me " etc ,etc .

Then there are things like Pelvic thrusts, in the many taunt animations. So... any female playing this game knows it's an un-ashamedly un PC, macho environment. Announcing you're female may not be the wise choice. Heck even guys who play as the female characters get called...well you can guess .