Sup fam? So typically I don’t put myself in a position to experience online toxicity — simply because I don’t play multiplayer games, really ever. And on the rare occasions I do, I’ll simply toggle options in settings to mute everyone.
But that changed with the brilliant Vermintide 2 recently, and for those that have played the series, you know that, when playing the higher difficulties (in this case, Legend), you must be able to communicate at some level with your team. Think Left 4 Dead, that’s a similar dynamic here — cooperate and communicate tightly with your team, or everyone dies.
Today I entered a Legend game and encountered some very chatty players, which at first was fine. But then I sensed something was off. Some very whiny, nasally voices came over my headset and before I knew it, the string of profanity and absurd statements began to flow.
Now, let’s get some shit straight. I’m not easily offended and even good natured trash talk is cool with me, but there was a different tone here, like sociopaths who happily ran into each other and couldnt believe they found their best, disgusting friends at last. Among the topics broached in my 10 minutes of playing with these vile fucks was — how horrible and broken the game was (it’s not, by the way, it’s generally very polished), how the people who made it were “stupid Europeans with no morals, no wonder it sucks assholes”, constant screeching and high pitches laughs through the microphone followed by color commentary about parts of the female anatomy... well, you get the picture.
Thing is, these weren’t kids. I just ran into the lowest of the low in the gaming community and it was enough to make me nauseated.
And yes, I realize women and people with accents tend to experience this much more frequently, but god damn it really bummed me out. Not really sure why.
Thanks for letting me vent.
But that changed with the brilliant Vermintide 2 recently, and for those that have played the series, you know that, when playing the higher difficulties (in this case, Legend), you must be able to communicate at some level with your team. Think Left 4 Dead, that’s a similar dynamic here — cooperate and communicate tightly with your team, or everyone dies.
Today I entered a Legend game and encountered some very chatty players, which at first was fine. But then I sensed something was off. Some very whiny, nasally voices came over my headset and before I knew it, the string of profanity and absurd statements began to flow.
Now, let’s get some shit straight. I’m not easily offended and even good natured trash talk is cool with me, but there was a different tone here, like sociopaths who happily ran into each other and couldnt believe they found their best, disgusting friends at last. Among the topics broached in my 10 minutes of playing with these vile fucks was — how horrible and broken the game was (it’s not, by the way, it’s generally very polished), how the people who made it were “stupid Europeans with no morals, no wonder it sucks assholes”, constant screeching and high pitches laughs through the microphone followed by color commentary about parts of the female anatomy... well, you get the picture.
Thing is, these weren’t kids. I just ran into the lowest of the low in the gaming community and it was enough to make me nauseated.
And yes, I realize women and people with accents tend to experience this much more frequently, but god damn it really bummed me out. Not really sure why.
Thanks for letting me vent.
