Though there is enough to be said about racism and homophobia, I think we should also be really careful with not overshooting in the other direction. I used to love shit talking with a small group of friends. No, I’m not a racist, I’m a minority, but we have a different kind of humor, which is not politically correct and we use it to kind of vent about real issues. I do know that we’d be banned in a heartbeat (we have been before) and for what? We never bother anyone, we never stalk or hareass anyone and typically were in our own little group.
I do think people should grow a thicker skin as yes yes a thousand times yes, racism is bad, homo/trans/bi/whatever phobia is bad, it’s all bad, but these days you need to watch every word you say lest you want to get banned. Calm down, don’t ban people over jokes that in your eyes are tasteless.
There is a wide gap between some shit talking and the vile hatred you see people spewing online.
Telling people to harden up when smack talking their mother or their gameplay might fly… but idlt does not apply when people tell you to kill yourself in Ernest, Harras you outside a game.
With gaming becoming more mainstream, the tight knit communities playing on curated servers and policed by community admins have been replaced by platforms hosted by big tech and infested by the assholes that used to be too cool for gaming and the basement dwellers that used to be isolated and are now emboldened by their fellow basement dwellers, rednecks, and other generally unlovable people.
Though there is enough to be said about racism and homophobia, I think we should also be really careful with not overshooting in the other direction. I used to love shit talking with a small group of friends. No, I’m not a racist, I’m a minority, but we have a different kind of humor, which is not politically correct and we use it to kind of vent about real issues. I do know that we’d be banned in a heartbeat (we have been before) and for what? We never bother anyone, we never stalk or hareass anyone and typically were in our own little group.
I do think people should grow a thicker skin as yes yes a thousand times yes, racism is bad, homo/trans/bi/whatever phobia is bad, it’s all bad, but these days you need to watch every word you say lest you want to get banned. Calm down, don’t ban people over jokes that in your eyes are tasteless.
There is a wide gap between some shit talking and the vile hatred you see people spewing online.
Telling people to harden up when smack talking their mother or their gameplay might fly… but idlt does not apply when people tell you to kill yourself in Ernest, Harras you outside a game.
With gaming becoming more mainstream, the tight knit communities playing on curated servers and policed by community admins have been replaced by platforms hosted by big tech and infested by the assholes that used to be too cool for gaming and the basement dwellers that used to be isolated and are now emboldened by their fellow basement dwellers, rednecks, and other generally unlovable people.