Growing up a gamer in the 70s.
I’ve been playing video games my whole life. I was a child of the 70’s, a time when home entertainment was really starting to ramp up. Arcades were where most kids needed to go to get their video game fix. I was lucky enough to have had older brothers who were slightly nefarious and somehow got us a “Calico-Vision” system, and then an Atari. I was 4 so I didn’t ask questions. We got other systems. We would take turns playing on a handheld football game where we had to move little red lines up and down to avoid getting “tackled”. The neighborhood kids would move house to house depending on who had what system. Trash talking began early. 1-2 player games are all we had, so we took turns talking and receiving the trash. It’ was as much a part of gaming as controllers.
FPS grinding at the dawn of PC gaming.
As the years went on, I kept gaming. I was an early adopter of computer/PC video games. The graphics were better, the games seemed more exciting. The main part that drew me to computer games was the ability to play online with friends. I got on the “Counter Strike” and “Rainbow 6” trains early and played for hours with friends. All of our communication in the 90’s was only able to be done with text chat. Things like “gg”, “noob, or “newb” would flash on the lower half of the screen. Usually they went ignored. It wasn’t a big deal. No one ever went on a tirade. Not that I could remember, not one that left any kind of impression.
As the years and technology improved so did the communication between players. I can remember working with my squad, speaking over voice chat, and moving towards a target as a team. It was so much easier to plan and play together. Keep in mind, these weren’t people who I knew personally. These were all random players thrown together in a game lobby. I remember making a lot of jokes. We laughed with each other often. Sometimes someone would get upset but it would be a few seconds of mic rage and it was over. It seemed like the players had done a good job of calling people out and policing chat behavior. That is not how things stayed.
An insider’s view of MMORPG chat toxicity.
In the early 2000’s I worked for a massively multiplayer online role playing game. There was no built in voice chat but there was a lot of text chat. Being able to read the chat logs of players who think they are speaking privately is very telling. I read a lot a hateful, racist comments, threats of physical violence, and just some random weirdness. It was also a time of internet cafes. A place where gamers could gather and play on faster machines with faster internet connections.
I remember the day I came into the office and we had a special meeting about what had happened over our game in another part of the world. Apparently two players were in the same Internet cafe. One player had tricked the other out of his extremely rare and expensive sword. It was about $140 American. The duped player had broken the EULA and purchased game money from an eBay seller. This was a time before gaming companies realized they could monetize in game items, micro-transactions. The scammed player was pissed! That’s when he heard someone from across the cafe exclaim that he had just scammed some guy for his sword! The victim of the scam stood up, spotted the individual, walked over and fatally stabbed him. The chat logs we provided law enforcement told the story of how multiple players used in game chat to coordinate and scam their target. They had no idea that the person they had targeted was literally in the same building nor that he was mentally unstable and capable of real world violence. It was a very polarizing event.
Processing modern gaming toxicity and practicing mindfulness.
I continue to game today, in my 40’s. Time has taken its toll on me and I have PTSD and severe anxiety. I have to be mindful of the interactions I have and that includes the games I play. Sadly, game chat and society have both kept in time with each other. Gaming and technology have merged so well together that most people don’t even think twice about voice chat. Most games have voice chat automatically set to “on.”
Verbal abuse in voice chat games
I hadn’t gamed online where voice chat was something that I needed to use. Then about 3 years ago a game I had been looking forward to for a long time came out, Red Dead Redemption II. I had a group of friends who had been playing and were excited to get together and party online like we used to. When we first got our posse together it was a blast! 4-5 players galloping through the west doing cowboy stuff and making jokes about dying from splinters and bad farts. It wasn’t until we decided to join the PvP, player vs. player, aspect of the game that I had realized that people have lost all sense of respect and decorum in chat. The N-word was being tossed around so much that it made my heart race. 12 year olds screeching at me in their pre-pubescent voices to “get the f*** out of the way!” Insults about mother’s and accents. Lack of skill (which hurt A lot more than the mom insults). It was like being in a 5th grade class full of the worst bullies in school. I lasted about 10 minutes before I left the lobby and went into my chat settings to see if I could fix the problem. Thank goodness I could. Now I only play in groups of people who I know personally. It’s my “rule” and all the friends I play with know it. That rule came about after I had stopped using the general chat feature and we only chatted amongst our posse members. A friend of mine brought a random player he had been gaming with for a few weeks into our group. It took a little convincing, but he vouched for the guy. It took about 20 minutes before the new guy started to talk about his right wing political agenda. We blocked him and gave the friend who bright him into our posse a stern talking to and revoked his right to bring in new people! I take my mental health and gaming seriously!
I think that it’s very important for everybody to take a good look at the behaviors that we allow into our lives, especially when it negatively affects our mental health. I myself game because it’s relaxing and I enjoy escaping this reality for a bit and forget about my real world problems and just enjoy the adventure. Having a feature in game that triggers you emotionally, physically, and or mentally is something to pay attention to. Chatting in the game is not mandatory. A lot of games like “Overwatch” have built-in commands that will allow you to communicate with your team in-game without actually having to talk. For instance, if you need a healing. You’re going for “the point” or your “special attack” is ready.
How is gaming chat different for women?
My niece has a separate issue with game chat. Being a female gamer opens her up to all kinds of sexist insults, harassment, sexual innuendos, and unwanted advances from boys who think that women are gaming to get laid. It’s a little sad and pathetic that it happens so much. Men and boys need to realize that and stop it. It’s in appropriate and tiring.
Advice for parents of Fortnite players
If you’re a parent with younger children playing online games, like the popular Fortnite, chat can be extremely damaging and toxic to your children. It could even be a window to child predators. I recommend that all parents take a look at their children’s games to see which ones have voice chat capabilities and take the extra step and go into the game and disable that feature.
Not all gamers are filthy mouthed idiots. Sadly, I wish I could say that it’s not that common, but frankly, it is. Regardless of the game I’ve played, every time I’ve opened the voice chat it’s a barrage of negativity, insults, toxicity, and nastiness. I don’t know if this will ever change but if you take a look outside your door you can see that it’s a societal problem that has made its way into gaming, not that games promote that kind of behavior.
What online organizations fight against bullying and toxicity?
National Agency of People Against Bullying- NAPAB www.napab.org
NAPAB advocates on behalf of bullied children and their families. Their goal is to bring about positive resolution between parties involved.
End to Cyber-bullying Organization- ETCB www.endcyberbullying.org
ETCB is a non-profit organization aimed at combating cyberbullying in this modern age of advancing technology. Their mission is to raise awareness, provide a plethora of cyber-bullying information, offer compassionate, approachable services, and mobilize students, educators, parents, and others in taking efforts to end cyber-bullying. ETCB will work to create a global social networking arena where all users can feel safe and positive.
