Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Play Nice: A Call to Repair the Online Gaming Community ...

The amount of online bullying, racism, and sexism being used by gamers online has reached an unacceptable level. There is a?deeply?rooted problem within our culture. Despite?popular opinion that it is simply the actions of a few ill-mannered?individuals, the entire framework of online gaming is a breeding ground for?unacceptable?behavior.

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The environment in which an online game takes place would be considered ridiculous in any other context. The participants in these games, aside from small groups of friends, are completely unknown to one another, selected more or less at random from a pool which consists of whoever happens to be available at the time. Furthermore, players cannot leave the game without penalty. At any other time, playing a board game for example, if one player is cheating, displaying unsportsmanlike behavior, or otherwise making the game unenjoyable, the other players may leave the game without consequence. In online multiplayer most games impose a penalty to dissuade players from leaving a game early. Finally, and perhaps most damningly, there is little to no governing body for these?games, there is no judge or?referee.?Reporting misconduct is?difficult?and often amounts to nothing. In effect players can behave in any manner without consequence. This environment has developed slowly and through necessity. Unfortunately,?there is no easy way to fix?these?problems without risking the destruction of the online game. What can be done is for gamers as a?community?to make it known that sexiest, racist, and unsportsmanlike behavior will not be tolerated.

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This is not the first time this has been said, but it is time to realize that that is no reason to be silent. Gamers as a community need to decide how we will be seen by society and those of us who are unhappy with individuals in the community practicing these unsavory behaviors need to continue to speak out. Too often the few who give our community a bad name are the only ones who are heard. A new cry must be heard from our community, ?play nice.? Racism, sexism, and bullying must no longer be tolerated and it is not until every member of our community breaks our silence that they will finally be snuffed out. There is no way to stress how important this message is, it needs to be said and said again, repeated until it is synonymous with game culture. Then and only then can we all once again be proud to be called gamers.

Source: http://www.videogameologists.com/2012/12/24/play-nice-a-call-to-repair-the-online-gaming-community/

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