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How do you deal with casual racism/homophobia in the online gaming world?

K

Kraftwerk

Member
I know this has been talked about before, but a lot of the times I see it being shrugged off since people assume it's mostly "12 year old on xbox live" who speak like this, so they say who cares.

I used to play World of Warcraft a lot, and dealt with this a lot. I still play WoW casually on the weekends and do some PvP. I has gone beyond the 12y/o doing this.

This past weekend I was in a raid, and we were killing a boss. Didn't know any of the people on mumble. The amount of times they kept saying "nigger" or "faggot" was astronomical. And it was even more amazing since they were all adults talking about wives and jobs and such. But when it came to the boss " Oh you fucking faggot I told you to tank the boss over there".

Everytime you have someoneI try to talk to them about it over the years, they label them as a "pussy" or call you "bitch" and tell them to "chill out they are just having fun"...

I know it's the internet and being anonymous makes people douchebags etc, but it is incredible how people go online and share so much personal info about themselves, and then go on these games and say so much shit that would make a KKK branch leader take notes.

So yeah. A lot of you probably encounter this in the online gaming world. How do you deal with it? Do you just shrug it off since a lot of them are kids, or you try to educate people?

Also, do we have a responsibility as a community to educate them? You have Billy that goes on XBOX live all the time in his room, so his parents are oblivious to the attitude and lingo he adapts from other people. If you ignore it, he might get worse. What is the solution here?
 
F

Fracas

#fuckonami
If it's someone I know I ask them not to speak like that in front of me.

if it's a random person in-game I ignore or mute them.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I just try not to hang around those people these days, even if it's purely online and in-game. People who throw around shit like that in everyday conversation are generally not the type of people I want to play with.
 
O

origamipirate

Member
For a long time I just didn't game online. Now that it's practically required, I just don't mic-up and I mute everything unless I'm playing with friends. It would be nice if we could have nice things, but alas.
 
TrueGrime

TrueGrime

Member
You can't educate as a community. Well, I take that back. Maybe if they surround themselves with more mature players. Ultimately, it's the parents job to punish accordingly when they hear shit like that. If I ever caught my son or daughter talking like that anywhere I would throw their console/computer out the window.

As for dealing with people like that on a personal level? I don't anymore. Thank you XB1 party system. It can be a deterrence from getting to know new people by playing the game but I've run into far more assholes than mature people. If I want to find people to game with there are ways I can do that here on GAF.
 
C

CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls

Banned
I mute them. I typically mute every lobby I join in particular games because I hate voice chat in general.

I stopped caring about someone else being a bigot a long time ago. They won't go far in life with that mentality, why should I let it bother me in a game?
 
E

EBE

Member
ive played a lot of games on xbox live and i kid you not ive never once heard anyone say faggot or nigger or anything of that sort.

i report everyone with a tasteless gamertag though.
 
G

Gundy2010

Member
Since I play most of the online game alone with voice chat disabled, it doesn't really effect me all that much. The filth in the chat is much easier to filter ignore/filter through.
 
S

Silky

Banned
If it's happening to me? I usually just tell them to fuck off and mute them.

If it's happening to someone else, I usually tend to speak up. I've gotten to the point in online gaming where I couldn't care less about being labeled something if I see someone being harassed. It hurts.
 
S

SoldierIce64

Member
I just ignore it. There's no point in correcting a kid on their language, it just gives him/her more incentive to be vulgur since they typically don't want to listen to what an adult says, especially over the internet.

If it's an adult and they are serious about their slurs, then it's the same answer as above.
 
O

Orayn

Member
With friends, nervously. I'm part of some communities where stuff that wouldn't fly on GAF at all is said pretty frequently, and I haven't fully figured out how best to respond. It's tough to find a good way of communicating that you're still willing to swear like a sailor while having zero tolerance for slurs and bigotry. At the moment, I kind of just ignore it. I don't use certain words, I don't repeat them when conversing with other people who do use them, and I try to voice my disapproval in mostly passive ways.

If it's with randoms, I just mute them and report through whatever in-game means are available.
 
W

weemadarthur

Member
I put individuals on mute. I exit the group. If that was acceptable in a clan/guild I would withdraw from it.

But, I don't try to explain. Anymore. It takes too long and isn't well received.
 
S

Skelter

Banned
I'm not a child. I don't let every random person affect me. If its a friend well I would hope they know me well enough to not talk like that around me.

Whitechocolatekrispies said:
If you are susceptible to what a bunch of children say through a microphone, you shouldn't be gaming online with them in the first place.
Click to expand...

This.
 
M

MrGummy

Member
I don't play many multiplayer games, but whenever I do, I hit the mute all button. Almost all online gaming communities seem to be filled with idiots.
 
C

CraigerGamer

Member
I hate to say it but I just stopped playing online multiplayer games.

I thoroughly enjoy the fact that Destiny has all player conversations muted right now. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the experience as much if I actually got to know some of the strangers I've been teamed up with.

Note: I've never joined a GAF team so my post is not directed at the lovable and well-mannered online dignitaries who frequent this message board.
 
W

Wereroku

Member
Yeah I don't play online games much but I usually just mute everyone when I do. Some games have some really vile communities.
 
H

hydragonwarrior

Member
Mute/squelch. Not worth my time to argue with ppl like that - you won't change'em.

Beat them thoroughly in game if possible though, otherwise the above.
 
I

Into

Member
You can just mute people and its gone, as nasty as it is i dont feel threatened

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, there were problems with gangs depending on which arcade you visit, they would show up at the arcade and sometimes even physically attack people if they lost a match. I remember instances where my friend had to call his father to pick him up because the gang waited outside the arcade for us.

So those experiences left me indifferent towards the online stuff, mute and its done.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
I was playing Modern Warfare many years ago with some friends and this kid kept saying f****t. I told the kid that I was gay (I'm not really) and that the word was really offensive to me. Believe it or not he actually apologized and stopped saying it.

Nowadays I don't generally play adversarial MP which probably helps a lot. When I do play co-op oriented games with randoms I mic up long enough to get a feel for the room, and if they're being obnoxious I mute them and take the headset off.
 
H

Holy Order Sol

Member
I preemptively muted everyone by default because I have no interest in what they have to say so I wouldn't know whether they'd use hate speech or not. I'm interested in the game I play, not the so-called social experience.

I've also disabled messages whenever possible. There was a time when I used to toy with people who'd send me ragemail by replying invariably with "lol" regardless of content but I grew tired of that.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Either ignore them or tell them to grow up.

Then I mute and report them.

If it is really bad, I report them across multiple accounts from my family.

Holy Order Sol said:
I preemptively muted everyone by default because I have no interest in what they have to say..
Click to expand...

...and quite often I just do this too.
 
T

TreIII

Member
Simply put? I don't.

The way I game now, I only largely play online with either friends I know in real life or I've made on here, Twitter and etc. And there, it usually is better to just coordinate things through Skype and the like.

I deal with enough for my 9 to 5, such that I really have no desire to deal with foul mouth children or manchildren while I'm enjoying one of my pastimes.
 
S

Syf

Banned
Most of the time I just ignore it. Even though I'm bisexual it doesn't bother me very much. Maybe because I've been hearing it in online games since I was a kid.
 
Nocturno999

Nocturno999

Member
The first rule in any Moba game is to put on ignore people that start whining before they start to get worse.

I don't join random chat parties either.
 
E

espher

Member
I usually tell people I don't appreciate it, and if it's a clan/guild/tribe/company whatever that I run I will cut people if they don't cut it out.

I don't really get worked up over it. Half the time, people are just looking to get a rise out of someone (the other half of the time it's probably pretty genuine).
 
W

Waylon Drums

Member
I do love when people who are unaffected by something like this tell me how I should feel and respond to it.



I generally just don't use voice chat. It's not worth it.
 
S

system11

Member
I don't really see much of it anymore since I'm playing different games, but I used to just ignore it. It's not going to go away, eventually the words will just end up with another accepted use. Faggot was a bundle of twigs at one point, and a type of food. Of course the casual and aimless use also serves to lessen the venom of the word too.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Ask them if they mean literal or pejorative. They won't know what that means, and it does often make people stop and think about it.
 
N

noobasuar

Banned
People still talk in online games? Don't most modern online games require zero teamwork anyway?

I'll take all the racism and everything else to get back to a time when everyone would talk in a room and work together in multiplayer games.
 
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