Insults in the game/forums: The toxic community

[gamingmuscle]

I guess you are American.

I would recommend for you to visit Haiti if you want to see a collection of people so near to the all mighty US who are treated like rotting meat and literal trash.

Their opinion is not heard or cared for.

I suggest an awareness is needed that although people respond to your thread, you are not the most important person on the planet and hundreds/thousands all want to participate so their voices may be heard, no matter what it is.

Me... I just want to post dogs.

<snip>doggy picture</snip>

I thought his point wasn't about stopping people from expressing their opinions, but to do so in a civil and constructive manner.

There is a lot of toxic behavior...and there is a lot of entitled behavior. So you get a lot of insults/belittling and you get a lot of my opinion is right because it's my opinion and I don't have to provide reasoning, just agree with me.

Pretty sure I'm innocent of the former...I hope I don't do the latter.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

I find it sad that when disagreed with online, someone would refer to themselves as a victim of bullying.

I was in the thread, and while people did call your idea, you responded immediately by calling them idiots. Heck, your first response in the thread was a sarcastic "clever" comment followed by a condescending "think before speaking." I't not sure how you can talk about insults to be honest.

The "lazy" comment wasn't really even directed at your work ethic at your job, but its essentially lazy to want to skip a whole part of the game for no reason really.

[Ronduwil]

You're right, this is just a game. But when someone has the nerve to call me lazy over something in a video game, I take it VERY personal.

You have to understand that you know nothing about the people posting on these forums. Everyone posts from their own perspective, and many players lack the worldly experience to truly understand the meaning of the word. Many kids on these forums are in high school and/or college and have broken off contact with anyone who is not as immersed in the game as they are. For that reason they've been throwing around terms like "lazy" or "elite" in the context of WoW without anyone around to contradict them. You, on the other hand, know what hard work truly is and are therefore understandably offended by the term. My advice to you is to forgive them for they know not what they say. Seriously, don't let it get to you. When someone calls you lazy for wanting to cut some of the tedium out of the game for players that have already played through the level 90 experience repeatedly they are simply exposing the fundamental disconnect between their perception of the world and reality. You'd have to be really insecure to take offense at that. That kind of insecurity is a personal problem that you have to tackle for yourself, not a problem that anyone on these forums is going to fix for you.

[Themerlin]

I thought his point wasn't about stopping people from expressing their opinions, but to do so in a civil and constructive manner.

There is a lot of toxic behavior...and there is a lot of entitled behavior. So you get a lot of insults/belittling and you get a lot of my opinion is right because it's my opinion and I don't have to provide reasoning, just agree with me.

Pretty sure I'm innocent of the former...I hope I don't do the latter.

My only comment was the fact that in my opinion, and it is not meant to flame any sole group or even individual, is that Americans specifically feel that their opinion is the most relevant one available, when in fact that collective global perspective is usually brushed aside.

I would love to have a comparison of online toxic activity from various countries/cultures when compared to American forums.

Let us not forget that this is a gaming forum catered for players of all ages and maturity levels...

I used Haiti because it is in such close proximity to the US (Florida) yet people live in worst conditions than most African countries. I find that to be horrid.

At least here, people have a voice.

[Xothic]

I post on 4chan, so yes. Those posts outweight anything with substance.

[Deleted]

Well, sure but it's easy to just ignore and report the posts that get personal (ex. you're stupid for creating such a dumb topic). Never argue with them when it's clear they are not interested in discussing the topic and just want to insult the poster. If you sink to their level and insult them back, you might get infracted as well, arguing with them leads nowhere because they usually just ignore everything and go after you (the OP).

So that's that. If the topic only attracts these people, it might not be that interesting or have much discussion value otherwise, ignore them and they go away or get banned if they start trolling or go too far.

[Jackmoves]

Gaming forums(compared to others) seem to attract a wide variety of human beings that I would have a really hard time socializing with because they come off as fucking assholes, maybe it can be explained by the fact that gaming forums attract a younger crowd, or maybe forums dedicated to games just attract bitter cunts at a higher %.... lol, I dont know.

[-Superman-]

When someone calls you lazy for wanting to cut some of the tedium out of the game for players that have already played through the level 90 experience repeatedly they are simply exposing the fundamental disconnect between their perception of the world and reality. You'd have to be really insecure to take offense at that. That kind of insecurity is a personal problem that you have to tackle for yourself, not a problem that anyone on these forums is going to fix for you.

The past 24 hours have opened my eyes to a great many things. And yes, you are correct. This is a personal issue I need to tackle. I've never asked anyone for help fixing anything for me. So I will certainly be making this a focal point in the upcoming weeks to try and remedy. By the same token, it will likely still not stop me from hoping that people will choose their words more wisely and discuss the topic, and not the person posting that topic.

[Ronduwil]

The past 24 hours have opened my eyes to a great many things. And yes, you are correct. This is a personal issue I need to tackle. I've never asked anyone for help fixing anything for me. So I will certainly be making this a focal point in the upcoming weeks to try and remedy.

I wish you the best of luck with that. From the sound of it, you already overcame more obstacles by the age of 25 than most people will ever face in their lifetime. Don't ever forget that.

By the same token, it will likely still not stop me from hoping that people will choose their words more wisely and discuss the topic, and not the person posting that topic.

There's nothing wrong with hoping for that. Just don't get too upset when reality falls short of your expectations.

[Lord Pebbleton]

scared to make a thread? why? why do you care what people on the internet think of you?

Maybe "scared" isn't a proper term. Better said, I often have ideas to create new threads, but then I have to shrug it off, because I don't want to see yet another thread where half the people talk shit.
I remember one of my very first threads here. "Why does Invincible has wings?" was the title. It really bothers me because lore doesn't state anywhere that Arthas has a flying steed.
So a guy who thought to be the funniest person in the world wrote "If it's Invincible, how can you see it?". All, ALL of the comment afterwards were of people saying "LOL GOOD ONE!11!11!" and disregarding my OT. It took the admins... the admins to clear it.
From then on, I made other threads. Some had no replies at all. But even if someone quotes me nowadays, I often ignore it because i don't want to deal with such stuff anymore.

[Duridi]

Calling someone lazy is an insult. Plain and simple.

If you choose to focus on that one word, yes... but reading the whole sentence should help you see the person can't see past his own nose on the matter. If anything, it should make you feel better about yourself.

You said you wanted characters to skip to 90. That is showing you don't want to take the time to level one up but still want access to playing a high level of a certain class. That is being lazy.

It's not about being lazy. It's about picking the part of the game you enjoy. That you consider it lazy, is purely your opinion, and not a fact. Would you call a person who levels through PvP lazy? After all, as soon as he ding high enough level to enter a battleground(which is level 10 iirc), he jumps straight into the part of the game he enjoys, rather than bothering with what used to be the intended way to progress in levels... PvE questing.

Battlegrounds were changed to reward XP because players solely interested in PvP, wanted the option to level solely through battlegrounds. At the same time, you have players solely interested in endgame raids. The level 90 boost, still requires you to level from 90-100, but you won't be wasting too much time doing things you don't enjoy. It's a game after all.

The word you are looking for, is "interest", not lazy.

[Warlord Booty]

You must not ask much, then. Certainly not enough to build up this level of resentment.

"Hey, what do you guys normally pick, Halo or Cascade? Cascade feels better, but buggy, haven't tried halo yet" With a reply of "Aww, instructions on spoon feeding babies is a hot topic on google, that's gee-oh-oh-gee-elle-ee dot cahhhhhmmm but grats on knowing the names of the talents" like... what?

Just an example.

[Themius]

People are dicks, some people say they are only like it on the internet, well guess what, it doesn't matter.

If you can't be polite on the internet to people then i would hate to me you in real life, i spend most of my time trying to make people happy anyway i can, its not hard.

I really don't like how people say it's just the internet like that mean something its not like people online are no longer people

[Duridi]

The past 24 hours have opened my eyes to a great many things. And yes, you are correct. This is a personal issue I need to tackle. I've never asked anyone for help fixing anything for me. So I will certainly be making this a focal point in the upcoming weeks to try and remedy. By the same token, it will likely still not stop me from hoping that people will choose their words more wisely and discuss the topic, and not the person posting that topic.

How long have you been lurking any kind of forum?

I found myself a lot more sensitive on the subject back when I was more inexperienced with forums. Now, after about 13 years using various forums, I am pretty much immune, and don't really feel I get into trouble either. That said, I've also learned ways to dodge insulting situations by trying to view my post from different angles before I post. Not saying it's bulletproof, but can't really remember the last time I felt I got into trouble either.

Just saying, if you are rather fresh to forums, your problem with probably get better... or cured, after a while. If not, then yes, you'll need to work more with yourself IRL.

I am with your on the hope for better days, but we're talking about humanity here, and a constant addition of new people. I can't see this problem going away in any near future or decade. Best you can do, is not to add to the douchebaggery.

It's not really about the anonymity either. The newspaper in my country requires you to comment on their articles, through your FB profile. At the same time, I have friends on my FB which sprouts crap from time to time. They often don't know any better, or is just one of the extremes who don't really give a shit about the rest of the world. After all, there is a reason we have things like racism and bullying. Some people is that way, and it will continue for decades, if not hundreds of years into the future.

[Al Gorefiend]

So as long as the internet lives, civility never stands a chance.

Its why I prefer Internet over civil conversation. Sit around a round table and express your idea and people will lie and say nice things to make you feel good. Say something on the Internet and you'll get honest answers - albeit harsh, but honest.

[Themius]

Its why I prefer Internet over civil conversation. Sit around a round table and express your idea and people will lie and say nice things to make you feel good. Say something on the Internet and you'll get honest answers - albeit harsh, but honest.

That's a bunch of bullshit.

At least here people argue shit just to argue shit, even if they barely believe in it themselves.

It's not about honesty delivered harsh it's just about being an asshole.

[madmanx]

I hope you dont actually believe that somebody seeing you as a "fucktard" simply means they are below you, because it doesn't. The english language doesnt have a word for every degree of mule-tier stubbornness and stupidity

I don't consider anyone to be "below me" for something they say on some random forum. If you read my post again you will realize that it wasn't the word "fucktard" I had a problem with.

...and that is a lot of very odd assumptions.

[dextersmith]

Yes, it can be hellacious trying to inspire an exchange of thoughts when you frequently receive responses such as "epic phail, rawr!"

[Wildtree]

It would appear we are in agreement about this. Hiding behind a keyboard should not give someone the right to blatantly insult someone. There are hundreds of ways to disagree with someone without resorting to name calling.

You've just basically ended your own thread with this.

Now there's a difference between disagreement, even fundamental disagreement and insult.
But the anonymity of the internet, and the lack of real consequences work against that, and leads people to insult..
How to deal with it better?
Well that varies. For my own part, and that applies IRL just as much. One cannot insult me, unless they are above me, or equal.
Means we actually have to know each other well enough. Otherwise I discard it automatically as below me.
I'm aware that I take a high ground with that, whether or not warranted, but I am fine with that.
And certainly the percentage of being right with it is in my favor. Lifetime experience.

[truckboattruck]

team based competitive games = liability
if you fail..and negatively impact another player he will feel negatively about it

"he was mean to me" = toxic
be a better player and you will not be the victim of toxicity

and about Anonymity...toxicity is present in all team based sports
if ANYTHING...anonymity allows emotionally weak people to cry about being victimized

one does not simply "become" thicker skinned
you must work at it every day