This second post for the day almost goes hand in hand with the last, because this is a good example of someone having a privilege and abusing it. What am I talking about? This Kotaku article on game makers getting death threats from players. Perhaps the most troubling part of the article is this:
Condon had had other threats, mostly triggered by that same offense of moving his games to Facebook. “I’ve had a bunch over the years,” he said. “I’ve been doing browser based stuff for about five years.. and that crowd can be rough, real rough. Especially when you make the move to social games: Oh, the seething anger.”
That’s people who were getting stuff free, and who can still get the new stuff free, but who don’t like Facebook. Folks, I HATE Facebook, but if a game company moved to making Facebook games, I would never think, I’m going to send those motherfuckers a death threat. No, it takes an extremely privileged person to think that their “right” to get something free online is so vital that the only proper response is an attempt to scare the target of their ire.
Death threats online are so common because a lot of people sit down and write without thinking at all. I know, some of my rants seem like I’m not thinking, but I spend an hour or two after a rant editing my post to make sure it’s not too incoherent. And at no time do I wish someone would die just because they’ve displeased me. I hated Shinobido 2, but I don’t want anyone at Namco to drop dead. I just want them to make a better game next time.
People online get so ridiculous in their debates. And we’re not even talking about important issues, like what to do about global climate change, or how to deal with racism and sexism. No, people are out there threatening death to each other over topics like JRPGs versus Western RPGs, Xbox VS PS3, and Vita VS 3DS.
The excuse given for this immature behavior is always the same. Online communication is so easy that people just say the first thing that comes to mind. Everyone has this ease of instant communication, but it takes a special kind of childish douchebag to resort to intimidation over an actual response. So if a gamer’s first thought in any debate is “Bitch, I’ma kill you,” then maybe, just maybe, they need to grow the fuck up and learn a little empathy before they attempt to engage other people in any form of discourse.
But that is of course wishful thinking, hoping that the gaming community would grow up and stop acting like a pack of spoiled brats.
