Anger And The Online Video Game World

 

     I'm sure most of us are familiar with the term Rage Quit. A lot of people in the online gaming community, myself included, are guilty of getting frustrated, and sometimes violently angry because of a simple video game. But is it the video game itself that causes these tendencies, or the player? This question has been posed throughout many debates between psychology professionals and even in the U.S. senate. Since I suffer from this problem as well, I thought I would look into the matter for myself.

THE GAME

     It's no secret that the majority of video games on the market are incredibly violent. Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call Of Duty, Far Cry 3, The Last Of Us, and League Of Legends are some of the most popular on the market place. Each of these game have their own unique and brutal moments that would put most critics in a cold sweat.
     For example, in Far Cry 3 your character is met with the antagonist near an ocean cove. While the two engage in an intense conversation, the player can view people being tortured and thrown into the cove in the background. Once the conversation has concluded, you yourself are thrown into the cove, hands and feet bound, and a cement block tied to your legs. When you hit the water, the heavy block carries you to the bottom where you have to struggle to break free before you drown. Think that's pretty mild? Just a scene later you are shot in the chest and thrown into a mass grave of broken and bloodied bodies where you have claw your way back out of. To most people these scenes would be grotesque and vile, but to a gamer they are pretty typical.

THE COMMUNITY

     Psychologist have proven that violent events over time cause violent tendencies. So if a gamer only plays violent video games for a long period of time, it's only natural that their real world habits will inevitably change. As a gamer myself I have witnessed these events in real time.
     After playing multiple matches on multiple games, the crowds are almost identical. Every one of them included obscene insults, yelling, and multiple references towards my sexual preferences. These habits came from both the Losing and Victorious sides of the matches. Though a lot of them are pretty humorous, for most new gamers who are trying to join the community and find an outlet, they are very off-putting.

     New members of the current community are getting younger and younger, while the older members are either moving into more sophisticated games such as the Elder Scrolls Series, or moving away from games entirely. Some of the reason for this is because older gamers are getting more mature and want better gaming experiences, but the majority of the reason is because of the new crowd.
     I interviewed several gamers, both new and old, and they all of them basically said the same thing.
                     "...The new crowd is just so hostile and frustrating to play with..."

THE NEW CROWD

     The majority of the new crowd of gamers making their way into the community are between the ages of 10 and 19. Because of how accessible video games have become over the recent years, younger children are being introduced video game more early on than usual. From Flappy Bird, to Angry Birds, to Spider-Man Edge Of Time, to Call Of Duty. Everything has its own progression. Since these new gamers are so young and immature, most of them start to adapt the traits of the first people they come into contact with online. Unfortunately, those first influences are negative.

       Younger children always have problems early on when it comes to dealing with their own emotions, especially anger. It takes years of experience and events in adulthood that bring about the control of one's own emotions and personality. A difficult puzzle, and a challenging boss fight can sometimes take a lot of patience and concentration, two things that many young people lack entirely. Due to video games becoming the new form of babysitting in society, there are no adults to help these young gamers through the challenges and teach them the point of patience and dealing with problems. Video games can be used to teach these points, but it still takes an adult presence.
       Once these young gamers grow older and are introduced to more adult themed games with online capabilities, they carry their immature methods and ways of dealing with struggles with them. So when a more skilled gamer enters a lobby and beats them in a match, they resort to anger and insults rather than good sportsmanship.

HOW IT USE TO BE

     Online and offline interactions with video games use to be very exciting, and in some cases were actually more appealing than regular real world interactions. You couldn't judge someone based on their appearance or who they hung out with. All you had to build on was a voice and a personality. So it was easy to makes friends because you met a lot of people with similar personality traits to yours. It was a great outlet for antisocial people to make friends and learn how to interact with others, and for outgoing people it was a great means of meeting new and exciting people. I can't tell you the number of friends I've made online that I never would have known otherwise. These events and more are what led to the increase in popularity of video games in recent years, but unfortunately a lot of people are now falling into the ever popular new trend of being insulting and mute.

WHAT I WANT FOR THE FUTURE

     What I want for the future is for everyone to game in peace. I know I probably sound like a complete Miss America contestant for saying so, but it's the truth. Video games were and still are a means of joy and entertainment that you just can't get from movies, television, and sports. Everyone remembers their best moments from video games. Their very first Deatmatch in Halo 2, their first time hitting the very top of the flag pole at the end of a Super Mario World stage, their first dungeon raiding party in World Of Warcraft, and their first character they created in Skyrim. If a new player quits playing video games because of the actions, comments, or insults another gamer makes while they play, then they would be robbing that player of all of all these great experiences they may never have.

     I also wish that everyone would learn to let the comments go and just look on, but as I well know that is incredibly difficult sometimes. My advice to all you humble gamers reading this is plain and simple to do. You only need to remember...

                                                       ...It's just a game... :P