Talking trash to your opponent has always been a part of playing games. I have often told Pandalicious that she was about to receive an ass whoopin' beyond compare. 
We would be condescending to each other, impugn each others skills [or lack there of] and even egg each other on in hopes of flustering the other and making them lose. I would even go so far as to make extra music-type noises during an Amplitude match in hopes of throwing off her rhythm. Many of our epic bouts ended with one of us calling the other a cheating bitch, or dumbass, or making some "yo mama" crack that would make the other say, "she's your mother too..." and we'd laugh our asses off.
But are sisters; being related we can get away with saying things like that knowing what is in jest and what is not. We know the boundaries, and that it's all in good fun. Neither of us really thinks the other is a bitch or that the other should in reality suck on monkey testes; it's just a little harmless trash talking. But when does talking trash become something more negative and mean spirited? When do you cross the line and go from "harmless fun" to harassment or verbal abuse?
I ask the question because the more and more that I play games online the more I find myself caught in conversation that quickly goes from lighthearted trash talk to the kind of comments that people come to blows with other over. Take one of my last gaming sessions on DOA4. It was about two weeks ago and I was having a pretty decent winning streak for me. I'm still learning how to string combos together in the game, but this evening I was putting things together rather well and was about 1200 pts away from getting my rank up to a B-. [Which for my straight D having ass would have been huge.] I got an invite to play some people in another room and took it and while most of the gamers in this room were cool there was one gamer who seemed to just have it out for me. Every time we would have to fight each other he would proceed to call me a whore, a dirty bitch, a dumb skank, a motherless whore, and [my personal favorite] a weak assed c*nt. [Sorry, I hate that word so much that I can't even type it] I, in turn called the player a "junior high school reject who probably only used such large words because they were the only ones he could spell properly and write in cursive."
After making my quick little quip, the other gamers in the room laughed and began coming to my defense against the player; some even threatened to report him if he didn't stop his rowdy behavior. For their efforts, they got treated to the same string of filthy fucking language as I did. And this made me ask myself, "am I just overreacting? Is this guy just talking trash and I'm just too sensitive?" Had the almost gleeful "bitches" and "you suck" jibes that my sister and I enjoyed trading back and forth been replaced by whores and that other word? For a moment I really questioned if I had been wrong. The moment passed and I came to my senses.
Girl or guy, there is no situation where anyone has the right to refer to any player as a whore, or that nasty "C" word and it be ok or be considered "cool" period. When you have a familiarity with the gamers you are playing you know where the line is on what is just joking around and what is harmful or mean spirited fightin' words. Telling someone that you are about to kick their ass or that you are about to spank them I don't think is bad. Goading each other adds to the fun of being competitive. What I do think is wrong is how many gamers seem to go from trash talking to being crude because they can. There are no real consequences for players that exhibit crude behavior, so there is no reason for people not to be jackasses.
While this by itself normally would be reason enough for me to stop playing online altogether, I'm holding out hope that these experiences will become fewer and farther between. For each negative or bad experience that I've had so far, I have had 5 times as many more positive experiences and met gamers that I am proud to call friends. They help me have faith in that I am not alone in wanting a fun and fulfilling gaming experience that doesn't require me having to sit through a dirty dozens match.
Just because I can whoop your ass at DOA4 doesn't make me shit...it makes me DA SHIT. Deal with it.
We would be condescending to each other, impugn each others skills [or lack there of] and even egg each other on in hopes of flustering the other and making them lose. I would even go so far as to make extra music-type noises during an Amplitude match in hopes of throwing off her rhythm. Many of our epic bouts ended with one of us calling the other a cheating bitch, or dumbass, or making some "yo mama" crack that would make the other say, "she's your mother too..." and we'd laugh our asses off. But are sisters; being related we can get away with saying things like that knowing what is in jest and what is not. We know the boundaries, and that it's all in good fun. Neither of us really thinks the other is a bitch or that the other should in reality suck on monkey testes; it's just a little harmless trash talking. But when does talking trash become something more negative and mean spirited? When do you cross the line and go from "harmless fun" to harassment or verbal abuse?
I ask the question because the more and more that I play games online the more I find myself caught in conversation that quickly goes from lighthearted trash talk to the kind of comments that people come to blows with other over. Take one of my last gaming sessions on DOA4. It was about two weeks ago and I was having a pretty decent winning streak for me. I'm still learning how to string combos together in the game, but this evening I was putting things together rather well and was about 1200 pts away from getting my rank up to a B-. [Which for my straight D having ass would have been huge.] I got an invite to play some people in another room and took it and while most of the gamers in this room were cool there was one gamer who seemed to just have it out for me. Every time we would have to fight each other he would proceed to call me a whore, a dirty bitch, a dumb skank, a motherless whore, and [my personal favorite] a weak assed c*nt. [Sorry, I hate that word so much that I can't even type it] I, in turn called the player a "junior high school reject who probably only used such large words because they were the only ones he could spell properly and write in cursive."
After making my quick little quip, the other gamers in the room laughed and began coming to my defense against the player; some even threatened to report him if he didn't stop his rowdy behavior. For their efforts, they got treated to the same string of filthy fucking language as I did. And this made me ask myself, "am I just overreacting? Is this guy just talking trash and I'm just too sensitive?" Had the almost gleeful "bitches" and "you suck" jibes that my sister and I enjoyed trading back and forth been replaced by whores and that other word? For a moment I really questioned if I had been wrong. The moment passed and I came to my senses.
Girl or guy, there is no situation where anyone has the right to refer to any player as a whore, or that nasty "C" word and it be ok or be considered "cool" period. When you have a familiarity with the gamers you are playing you know where the line is on what is just joking around and what is harmful or mean spirited fightin' words. Telling someone that you are about to kick their ass or that you are about to spank them I don't think is bad. Goading each other adds to the fun of being competitive. What I do think is wrong is how many gamers seem to go from trash talking to being crude because they can. There are no real consequences for players that exhibit crude behavior, so there is no reason for people not to be jackasses.
While this by itself normally would be reason enough for me to stop playing online altogether, I'm holding out hope that these experiences will become fewer and farther between. For each negative or bad experience that I've had so far, I have had 5 times as many more positive experiences and met gamers that I am proud to call friends. They help me have faith in that I am not alone in wanting a fun and fulfilling gaming experience that doesn't require me having to sit through a dirty dozens match.
Just because I can whoop your ass at DOA4 doesn't make me shit...it makes me DA SHIT. Deal with it.
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