The Toxic Gaming Community ? Healing the masses

This isn?t my own writing and is ripped of the Tera Forums from around the start of the year but with the way things are going with so many big names duking it out in the mmosphere lately it seemed apt to post it. Not to mention the really rabid ?people? posting filth which has been highlighted over at Diminishing Returns and In An Age. It seems as though something needs to change? and fast before we all rip each other to shreds and give ourselves a bad name to those looking in. Our gaming community really is sitting quite precariously on the edge, not that violence isn?t fun but lets leave it for the battlefield

The Toxic Gaming Community by Vorch

Let me preface this by saying that this problem is by no means exclusive to this forum. It also does not apply to everyone?there are plenty of decent folk in this community, but they tend to be quieter than the loud and rude people. Feel free to disregard this topic all together as well?I just need to vent my frustrations in writing.

I have 3 main issues with gamers today:

1. Liking a Competitor?s Game is Frowned Upon

This is probably the stupidest facet of our community. Halo vs Killzone; Dark Souls vs. Skyrim; GW2 vs TERA?this ?versus? crap needs to stop.

pref?er?ence- A greater liking for one alternative over another or others

Preferences are something that everyone has: I like strawberry ice cream over vanilla, I like the Pontiac Firebird over the Ford Mustang; I like Battle Star Galactica over Star Wars; I like mozzarella over cheddar. Does that mean I HATE vanilla, Mustangs, Star Wars, or cheddar? NO!! I really like all four! And guess what? There?s nothing fraking (Battlestar Galactica reference ^_^) wrong with that.

In contrast, enter the gaming community. Someone plays Halo and even THINKS about talking about Killzone, people freak. Someone comes from playing Skyrim and asks a question related to Dark Souls on a forum; instantly, the topic reverts to Skyrim being an easy game for casual gamers. People come from being psyched about Guild Wars 2 and also wanting to play TERA, and they are branded trolls and fanboys. What the hell is wrong with us? We used to be a society that could play Sonic one day on a Sega Genesis and Mario the next on an SNES?WHAT HAPPENED?

The anonymity of the internet?that?s what happened

2. Being Anonymous is NOT an excuse to be rude

?Character is what you are in the dark.? -Dwight L. Moody

I?m sure that all of you have someone who loves you, likes you, cares about you, or at least tolerates you. How would you feel if everything you say online comes to light? Freedom of speech is a very important human right; however, equally important is how responsibly we utilize this right.

You don?t have to agree with someone in order to respect their right to disagree. However, just because you disagree with someone does NOT mean that it is respectful to call them every name that you learned in by 3rd Grade.

3. It?s OKAY FOR PEOPLE TO DISAGREE

?Forum- A meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.?

People have views, morals, and principles that are derived from their own life experiences and upbringing. As no two people?s lives are exactly the same, everyone has a different take on what is right and wrong; what they like and dislike.

Guess what?

That?s PERFECTLY FINE.

Forums are supposed to be a place of heated debate where ideas can be exchanged, challenged, and defended. However, this can only work with mutual respect of all participants. If you are not respectful, or you are not respected, all that forums become are a shouting contest of who can make the most offensive post, or of who has the snappiest comeback.

Don?t get me wrong. You don?t have to change someone?s mind about a topic in order for a lively exchange to be productive. People in the most heated of debates more often than not leave with the same views that they had before. However, they now know WHY they believe what they do and are able to articulate the defense of their position much clearer.

You cannot know where you stand on an issue without first understanding why others do not stand with you.

In the end, I know that this will most likely wind-up buried under a pool of other off-topic threads. However, I REALLY hope that someone will take this to heart before they say something stupid and perhaps disagree with the person in a respectful, constructive manner without degenerating the conversation into accusations of trolling, fanboyism, and other silly terms.

TL;DR

1. Liking a Competitor?s Game is Frowned Upon
2. Being Anonymous is NOT an excuse to be rude
3. It?s OKAY FOR PEOPLE TO DISAGREE

I REALLY hope that someone will take this to heart before they say something stupid and perhaps disagree with the person in a respectful, constructive manner without degenerating the conversation into accusations of trolling, fanboyism, and other silly terms

I really can?t believe how much I agree with this, the gaming community seems to be getting worse with some communities being an absolute cess pit. The worse division in my mind is between the apparent ?Hardcore? and ?Casual? demographics, or whatever that even means in this day and age. It does a better job of constricting the market then any game mechanics or apparent stigma ever could, if the environment isn?t welcoming you will see less people entering or even enjoying the genre? This is the main reason I don?t play LoL for instance.

I really do want the community to grow up, people usually say it is becasue gaming is in it?s relatively infancy but in reality it has been around for decades now, pnp, card and board far longer so that it?s a new market really isn?t an excuse anyone more. We are now a hugely diverse market and that should absolutely be celebrated but instead all it seems to be doing is causing division.

I think the gaming media is a huge part in the problem, there is just so much inherent bias between ?Journalists? and even whole sites. At the moment many claim that it isn?t there fault or that we shouldn?t take it too seriously but when you are in the public eye, whether or not your intending to write a review or an opinion piece you should always try to keep a critical eye with what you are writing and how it can be construed. Nearly every review i read these days always seems to compare games to another (worse with mmo?s) rather than actually talking about their experience, pros and cons, themes and such, there is just no real discourse around games and this really needs to change. For starters such a review system makes it very hard for those not familiar with the field to make informed opinions, secondly it encourages people to compare a games merits against each other leaving to a good and bad analogy. It is an anomaly that i never really see in any other media types or at least is never as all consuming and blatantly belligerent.

It also comes in part to the moderators of communities who let such attacks slide or are completely bias themselves (*cough* gw2guru *cough*), and i applaud companies like origin for making a stand on these issues and outright banning people (wholeheartedly against people being locked out of their game libraries though, as well as the system where you can?t actually appeal the claims).

And then it is the user, we all have verbally attacked someone from one reason or another and i really don?t think there is ever an excuse. Be Critical, respond calmly and just remember that someone?s opinions whether or not they agree with you are always valid. We are a diverse group when it comes to our likes, dislikes and interests and this really should be celebrated, such a diverse way of thinking will lead to greater projects and communities if we can put aside our difference and work together.

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Tags: Fan, Gamer, games, gaming, Guild Wars 2, gw2, Hater, mmo, mmorpg, Ramblings, the secret world, troll, tsw

Source: http://healingthemasses.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-toxic-gaming-community/

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