Is politeness in Online Gaming dead?

[RobinStarwing]

So, as I noted earlier in a thread topic...I started playing World of Tanks X-Box 360 Edition. I have a headset and everything for like coordination and what not. So far it's been fun. There are bad matches but that's not what this is about.

I've noticed certain behaviors by people who have headsets. One of the more common ones is open mics where you can hear what is going on in the background (family arguments, discussions, etc.), crying children, or blaring their music over the headset mic on their end. These are minor irritations that I just mute for and hold no grudge against. Another is children who will not be quiet and start making noises while shooting their gun NON-STOP. This is a bit more of an irritation than the former but again, they are kids and I will not hold a grudge on this.

The ones that really get me are the people who are verbally abusive and use language that would get my own Mother to still wash my mouth out with Dawn Dish Soap at the age of 33.

I've been called the N-word for politely asking someone to clear the music off their mic. Not to turn it off, just set it up so it is not on the mic.

Another guy complained in foul language to me about our team losing cause I would not go to the cap when I had another enemy in front of me and was trying to keep more foes out of the cap circle and got muted when he asked me to repeat what I said (I think he just asked so he could see who I was). He spoke about me not wanting to scratch the paint on my tank...my tank was a one or two hit kill for most of the tanks playing in the map. Our team still won that game.

Another guy in another match was not just being verbally abusive with swear words to his team but using the word Retard for EVERYONE, his own team and OPFOR. Even singing the use of the word in songs. This guy is repped up to 5 stars (I got 3 Stars and 25% of people want to play with me, 75% don't and it's divided 3 ways between Player Skill (I try to play my tank well and do well), Language (I will admit to swearing on occasion but I try to not do it often), and Disruptive Communications.

And today...Guy was using a term I will not repeat for how insulting it was telling us to get going and I asked who he was talking about...his own team. The only thing I can say good is he got very quiet either because he died early and died hard and left the game or stuck around and looked at the other tanks and noticed that I was doing better than the rest of the team. Or he still survived and noticed that the lone Matilda II charging against multiple tanks was managing to pull off four kills before dying to another Matilda II.

In short...the question I ask is this.

Is politeness and good sportsmanship dead in these online games when it comes to PvP or is this just something limited to where I am playing?

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Originally Posted by RobinStarwing

Words

No it is not simply tied to you. I have had to deal with my own fair share assholes and foul mouthed jerks online. It has gotten to the point that if I am playing online I make sure I am with my friends only.

[Doc ock rokc]

Well Xbox's community isn't exactly known for its love and tender care. That being said I don't know. I have run into just as many fowl mouthed individuals as I have run into rather alright individuals. The Fowl mouthed individuals are more prominent in the mind but only because that is how the mind works sometimes.

I suggest looking at other games/collecting more then 3 bits of data before decreeing that its dead.

[Ryong]

I'm Brazilian and I play Dota 2 and I don't hear enough complaints to think politeness in gaming is dead.

It's just that people hate losing, specially in team-based games where they think they're doing much better than their entire team at all times.

[RobinStarwing]

Originally Posted by Ryong

I'm Brazilian and I play Dota 2 and I don't hear enough complaints to think politeness in gaming is dead.

It's just that people hate losing, specially in team-based games where they think they're doing much better than their entire team at all times.

Even when they are the first to die in a match.

Also, I have been poking around and asking other gamers what they think.

[Menarker]

I don't think it's dead. On the decline, perhaps. I do imagine that many players behave in a way that they think being polite means being a bleeding heart and would end up being a 'liability'; whether it is a liability in gameplay like if a rare item dropped or to one's personal self enjoyment like not being able . It's like when someone is on their personal off-time, they prioritize actively enjoying it themselves even at the expense of others (often without recognizing that others are trying to do the same, either at their own pace).

Additionally certain game mechanics REWARD being "dishonest" or "impolite" like several rogue invisible backstabbing abilities and players tend to associate game play like that to be the height of douchebaggery, even though decent souls can still enjoy or prefer such gameplay. I imagine it can be difficult (especially in the heat of the moment) to make a distinction between someone who is naturally a jerk, and someone who just enjoying themselves.

Frustration would also be a major factor as players expect that to be rewarded if they invest a significant amount of time (and sometimes money) in a game. The player may be more self-interested in their self statisfaction if time is something that is otherwise limited for them, such as them being with a full-time job or family in the meat-world. They might have an (overly) inflated sense of entitlement to some sort of reward when they do finally go to a game to spend what little free time they have (as opposed to spending it any other recreational past-times)

Still annoying/frustrating when I encounter someone who has lost any sense of civility.

(Is hoping the post is more or less coherent. Just woke up)

[Amake]

I haven't seen any evidence that attitudes have changed since battle.net first let people play with complete strangers, myself.

[mauve]

I'm polite in games and I am not dead (or AM I?) ergo politeness is not dead in games.

In an attempt to actually contribute to the thread: It depends on the game/server/group of gamers online at a given time. Military/Realistic FPS and the traditionally "frat boy" games tend to have less polite communities than others, as a general rule.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

When anonymity is involved, assholes will always be assholes. Hell, far back in 1970-something there was reference to CB radio chatter essentially being the same. The Disinhibition Effect is nothing new.

G.I.F.T. (Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory) applies as strong as ever. Most of the time reporting and ignoring troublesome players is the only option, and in some cases the best option seeing as giving them attention only feeds into the cyclical behaviour. While I can't stand MOBAs I'll give League of Legends credit where it is due since they're taking a hardline stance against extremely toxic players: permanent banning from the game for toxic behaviour. I'd like to see that mentality adopted by more developers. Other times simply having a solid one-on-one conversation can be productive, as is a recent case with a dayZ clan I occasionally run with. One of the younger types in it thought it was entertaining and fun to sling about racial racial epithets with wild abandon. Had a long talk with him about that. Longstory short: doesn't do it anymore.

Scum generally accumulates around the casual/lower comp tiers/free areas of gameplay. As one goes up the competitive ladders sportsmanship is pretty commonplace.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Cosmic Break can go back and forth between a group of nice anime fans enjoying a mecha 3rd person shooter and mostly messing around having a blast. With the occasional insensitive joke or two but never intended to be rude and almost always satire in this case. To racists wanting entire nationalities banned because a few people speak a different language on the global chat. Sometimes all within minutes.

And the moment someone room leads one too many matches. Chat turns into a harassment fest real quick towards that unlucky player until that match ends. Even worse if they are using a broken bot. Rage fits pretty much plague the high Battle Rating and All ratings rooms but the low Battle Rating rooms tend to be more mellow, usually because players aren't trying to play seriously for the sake of dropping their BR in order to stay in the low BR rooms. Sometimes to escape some of the rude players, other times to escape broken builds being spammed. Admit-tingly me a my 3 Seiron builds aren't much help despite my argument that they aren't broken and are basically Glass Cannons.

Fortunately this is mainly in the PvP Arenas and the GMs do crack down on it (when they are on). Guests and Missions, the latter of which is a glorified Arcade Mode (not complaining, I love it for that reason) Rarely have this problem due to them being PvE. And this is all mostly from a vary vocal minority. The majority of the players are either completely mute, or otherwise polite and respectful.

A real shame to see Cosmic Break the way it is since it's a game that has a lot of potential to be a very great online game. But get's held back by Cyber Step's questionable approach to Free to Play. (the Grappon...) Cyber Step's occasional slip up with parts and bots balance, Poor frame rate due to bad net code and having the western players play on servers based in Korea when they have a US and soon an EU branch (though they might not be doing that anymore and it's just bad net code now). And angry players that in truth are more pissed at CS then any other player because of the potential this game has that they tend to waste. Though I will admit they are improving and things have gotten better over the years so far. Still have a ways to go though.