Some players are stupid, violent, intolerant of new players, and lacking in social skills. In short, they're irritating. And sadly, they're also given a voice. It's a voice that is often used in all the wrong ways.
If you need examples of the things I'm talking about, head over to Fat, Ugly or Slutty, and check out the archives. The 'Death Threats' section is particularly revealing. In fact, I'll post one here. The following are messages received by a player, for no serious apparent reason.
Now, this isn't the norm of course. It's an extreme example. But it's not as rare as you might think - there are plenty of others on Fat, Ugly or Slutty, which does an excellent job of documenting at least a small percentage of abuse exhibited online.
Online abuse by itself is a problem. But it's made a bigger one than it needs to be because some people will defend that sort of behaviour, by claiming for example, that the culprit may have been provoked. Even if that's sometimes the case, messages like those above are hardly a rational, intelligent or appropriate response. What happened to 'stiff upper lip', or 'not stooping to their level'? If you receive abuse, report the player, don't hand abuse back.
It seems obvious, but death threats are genuinely horrible things to receive. My first (an anonymous phone call) lost me two or three days work and sleep, and the cost to victims can often be higher than that. Offline, it's not such a problem - while one-offs are not usually grounds for police action, on a second occurrence the coppers can and do track the culprit down.
This doesn't happen on the internet of course. This sort of thing is expected on the internet - and the second defense some people use for this sort of behaviour is exactly that - this is online, it happens all the time, get used to it or get out. Sometimes they will even add that men also get abuse, and that women are clearly whining too much - thus turning it into a gender issue.
This puts the blame squarely on the victim, which is monumentally dumb in a way that makes me want to bash my head against the desk. Oh, a mugging? You shouldn't have gone outside. Why, you've been burgled. If you didn't want to be burgled, you shouldn't have had stuff in the house. Oh, men get assaulted too, all the time. Why are you complaining? Stop bleeding on the pavement.
When people say rape is rape, other people say "but". Due to a perception that exists among many men that women are treated more fairly than they are, some seek to correct that imbalance by protesting that 'there wouldn't be this fuss if it was a man'. This detracts from the real issue. In short, a wrong has been committed. Yes, maybe people make more of a fuss when it's committed against females, but that doesn't make it any less wrong - so don't block the idea of any punishment of the offender, just to make things fair on male victims. Seek punishment for all offenders instead, regardless of their sex.
Now, gamer society is unlikely to move from the idea of equal amnesty to one of equal punishment anytime soon, but it is something that we're seeing more and more of in the industry. The game companies that produce highly profitable multiplayer games are realising that abuse in itself is putting off many potential customers, in particular the female half of the market. And they're looking into ways to prevent it: the good folk over at Extra Credits give a far more expert and comprehensive rundown of those ways than I ever could. And hopefully, some of these methods will take root. I might even pick up an MMO again some day.
But why does this behaviour occur in the first place?
Games do not encourage violence, or misfit behaviour. But they do sometimes attract individuals who already enjoy it. Games can make you feel like a winner, free from the troubles of the real world, and better than some people. Inevitably, you attract some very damaged people to whom those qualities are almost alien, to be treasured. You end up with the socially damaged, the resentful outcasts, or the just plain ignorant.
They're a tiny percentage of gamers, but they're often the most vocal. And the industry has to find some way of teaching them what real life hasn't - that their behaviour is wrong, repulsive, and disgusting. Sometimes they don't even realise. Sometimes they let the power of anonymity get to them, and feel free of all consequences. Sometimes they just don't quite understand that other people have feelings - they're too caught up in their own dramas and sadness.
Silencing these people may seem cruel. But maybe it's best to remember that people who set out to cause pain, deserve to be outcasts, no matter how much pain they're in themselves. It's a powerful lesson, and maybe it's the best one. Let them earn their place in gaming society, not through skill, level, or time played, because that's not how real people are measured. Let them earn it just by not being dicks. You can't go far wrong with that.
On another note - new Skyrim DLC!
Oh, and, regarding the 'videogames cause violence' issue, this is a historical thing. Entertainment mediums have always caused this sort of concern. Back in the Middle Ages, poetry was considered worryingly likely to incite lust. Theatre was the scapegoat of the 16th and 17th centuries, the novel was the corrupting devil of the 18th. Comics, opera, and film all had their time as the acid corroding respectable society. It's nonsense, based on a fear of the ideas each medium has conveyed. And even if there have been one or two cases where killers are inspired by videogames, believe you me, ten times as many have been inspired just by the news.
And even then, it isn't the fault of the news. I think Critical Miss sums it up best.
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