This morning, I logged onto Xbox Live to play some online matches in Gears of War 2. To be completely honest, I suck (my kill/death ratio is 0.3 if that helps you get a clearer picture). I play, not because I'm amazingly skilled, but because it's fun. That's what games are, right? I log onto the server and join a match. Five seconds later, I realized this match may just suck. Not because of my team's skill but because of their language. Before I continue, let me say that offensive language does not instantly offend me. I'm a 22 year old college student. I'm used to hearing and using dirty language. But, the amount of crap that was flowing over my headset, immediately made me question my decision to join this particular team. I decided it wasn't a big deal and started playing. Three matches later, my team is in the lead, I have a nice set of kills under my belt, and I'm ready to quit in the middle of the match. The expletives that were spewing forth were insane. It wasn't just situational ("Oh **** I ******* got shot!") or trash talk ("**** my **** Horde!") though there was plenty of that. The thing that really bothered me was the in-team ridicule. I won't post what three members of my team said about me and the other guy, but it was incredibly offensive. Remember, I'm not easily offended. It took a lot. I decided to not cop out and finish the match. The last two matches consisted of half my team shouting how much each other sucked and not helping each other out. In the end, we won. Hooray. I left the match feeling like crap. I know who I am, and I don't take it personally (15 year olds making fun of everyone tend to just sound stupid anyway). However, the atmosphere that my teamates were creating absolutely ruined the fun for me.
Trash talk is fine. It helps create tension between teams before they blow each other up. It's not necessary, but it's not a big deal. Cussing when you get shot isn't a big deal, though again unnecessary. Even so, it doesn't bother me. But, ragging on your teamates because they're not as good as you because they don't play your game 15 hours a day? Spewing out racial slander because of someone's accent (as in my case)? It's stupid and it ruins the fun for everyone playing.
It even keeps potential players from getting a great experience. My friend has son who is 7 and wanted to play Call of Duty 4 with his dad. About one minute after starting a match, my friend had to turn it off simply because of the language of the other players. "Whatever. It's just a 7 year old. Who cares?" Maybe so, but my friend stopped playing as well. And he's like me, not easily offended.
I work at a video game store, and I can't tell you how many adults and college kids have brought back games because they were offended by players on multiplayer servers. My initial inner response was, "Suck it up. It's not a big deal." But it still ruined the game for them. Isn't that bad enough? It's sad that when parents ask me about a game, I tell them that "The single player is fine, but you might want to watch out for the online stuff." I shouldn't need to, but I do.
So, here's the end of my rant. If you're a player, who uses offensive language constantly, why bother; especially if you're hurting your own team, or ruining the experience for other people. We play games for fun. Let's keep it that way.
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