Yi-Kuan Cheng, Week 9: A Punishment Worse than Losing
Yi-Kuan Cheng
Benedetti
AP English P5
18 January 2022
Quarter 3, A Punishment Worse Than Losing
Almost as per tradition, each quarter I look at the new category for our blog post and each time, I am met with a word more vague than I ever thought possible. After heavy consideration, I’ve come to the same conclusion I’ve come to every other quarter: To relate a loosely connected and petty example of the topic into a full blown blog post.
What is power? Personally, I believe that power is to be able to control someone or something. Therefore, how powerful a power is does not depend on how strong or how much control exuded, rather the situations in which the power can still be exerted. To truly be powerful, means to change someone’s emotions and intentions even when they are in a situation of the opposite. This brings me to my example of language and power. Oftentimes in online gaming, there are features in which users can communicate with other users through either a chat or “emote” system. With some exception, this can be useful when communicating with one’s own teammates in a teamwork centralized game. However, the problem lies within the fact that some games allow communication that can be seen in real time by the opponent. Through this, we are introduced to the concept of online toxicity. This is not to reflect poorly on the gaming community; only a twisted few engage in toxicity, but it is not fair to undermine its effects either. Something as simple as a “Thanks” from your opponent as you make a mistake can put an invested player into a terrible mood, causing more lost games, ultimately leading to a rabbit hole known as “tilting.” By far it is one of my biggest gripes of gaming that in addition to personal frustration, others are able to add salt to the wound using such simple phrases. As the platform of gaming grows to be more mainstream, It is up to the developers of games to learn and mitigate a toxic community.
So what exactly are game companies’ responses to the growing concern of toxic language? Let’s take a look at one of the most notoriously toxic games of all: League of Legends. According to and article published by Dot Esports on October 19th of 2021, Riot Games, the author company of League of Legends, will be restricting “all chat” in certain regions. What this means is that in certain regions around the world, players will be unable to communicate with opponent players. This is most definitely a step in the right direction, as there is little to no benefit in the incorporation of a cross team chat. Admittedly, in the early years of gaming it might have been a healthy way for members of the community to overlap. However, in the age of toxic social media, now is a better time than ever to begin change. As more updates move in, I hope to see that more anti-toxicity is implemented within gaming as a whole.
Image Source: Vice
Hi Yi-Kuan Cheng,
ReplyDeleteAs an avid League of Legends enjoyer, I cannot help but agree with your statement. At the beginning of my career, it was common practice for me to drop a mere "glhf" at the start of every match, only to be met with derogatory words that would not be fitting on an academic submission such as this one. I have to admit, it was indeed tempting to join in with the childish nature of things and succumb to the amalgamation that was the toxic player base. However, I found that the easier solution was to implement the convenient /mute all function, which in turn preserved my mental for much longer. I am very glad that Riot Games amazing game development team has opted to take this course of action, for League's notorious toxicity would continue to run rampant otherwise. Thank you for sharing this insightful topic with the rest of us.
FF15,
Sean Wang
lmao thanks ggez
DeleteThe reason why games implemented a system of communication is to foster a sense of belonging and give chronic addicts a space to (I’m sorry if this comes off wrong) feel like they have a purpose. I think the implementation of these censors will honestly bring about the slow decline of these multiplayer games. Unfortunately the biggest part of a community is the creation of a group identity that is oftentimes facilitated by toxicity. Rather than facilitated, it is more accurate to say that it is a feedback loop with toxicity being the fuel to allow the loop to continue. This is not the most sophisticated argument, it isn’t backed up by any substantial evidence rather just personal experience and instinct. So Yi-kuan if you end up reading this comment please don’t chastise me for more incoherence. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHey Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't relate more to your blog post. My little brother, who is just a 5th grader, plays video games with voice chat enabled, and he used to come to me feeling down or crying because of insults thrown at him for being a "sqeaker." It devastates me every time, and it's one of the biggest reasons why he stays away from those games now.
It's heartening to see large game developers begin to implement community safety measures, and I hope that this will make video games more accessible to younger and more vulnerable players like by brother.
Hi Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI think it's extremely beneficial that the League of Legends game is taking it upon themselves to change a major part of communication within the game by removing cross-team communication. This can be seen as a removal of power, and this makes me wonder how the people who play this game will react to it. When power is taken away from people in real-life settings, I have mostly seen negative and angry responses, since power is extremely powerful and can corrupt people. Although this will create a healthier environment for the gamers, it may lead to a less exciting experience for some.
Hi Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI agree that language in gaming communities is very powerful, especially the toxic language used by certain people in those communities. Many players abuse the privilege of game chat and ruin the game for others, allowing a small portion of the community to have a disproportionately large effect. My personal experience has been that the toxicity seems to be more likely to occur in games with larger communities than games with smaller ones. This seems to be because gamers in larger communities rarely play with the same people more than once, giving them a greater sense of anonymity because they will not see those people again, and thus believe that their actions will likely create no consequence to themselves. In smaller communities, however, if players will encounter each other multiple times, the players who act toxically will gain a bad reputation that is known to most others in the community, providing a strong disincentive.
Sincerely,
Raymond Yu
Hey Yi-Kuan, I can definitely see how the chat system in online games can cause a lot of problems. I play Battlefront with my sister every now and then, and she's ridiculously competitive, so every time she kills me, she has to say something to get me mad. Not saying she's toxic, but after a few snarky comments, I get frustrated and eventually end up losing. There's a huge power struggle in putting someone down when they've already hit a low, and I think it's definitely something we can all improve on. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI, for one, have experienced toxicity while playing video games. Especially as a female player, it is not too rare to see some little kid, teenage boy, or even full grown man not fully understand that anyone can play the game. There are also griefers in games with friendly fire, such as VALORANT, as made by Riot Games. As well as in League, Riot is attempting to create a safer place for all players. I believe in the new updates they have made it harder to smurf in VALORANT as well as a grief detector. Other ways to tone down toxicity in the game that already exists is the ability to mute voice communication as well as the text communication. I do believe that the people "trolling" in games feel like they have some sort of power over the other party, knowing that they have an impact on the other's mental state. There is also the choice to report a player, although I am not sure how trustworthy that system is. As well as you, I hope for more actions against toxicity in gaming.
Hi Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI haven't really experienced toxicity while playing video games (probably bc chat is almost never used for some reason). At least game makers are actually implementing anti-toxicity, this way people are never hurt while playing. I never actually experienced this, but I have a feeling it won't be good.
Sincerely,
Vivan Waghela
Hey Yi-Kuan,
ReplyDeleteI have never been much for gaming (except my brief 8th grade CSGO phase) but regardless I have heard a lot about how toxic the gaming community can be. It sucks to see because people see gaming as an escape from reality to put their worries aside and just have fun. The world of gaming become so hostile ruins that. I think things escalate so quickly in chat rooms because the nature of gaming is very urgent and fast-paced. Placing stressors, like insensitive comments in a chat, quickly escalates into anger. It is very similar to the concept of road rage. It shows how important it is to be mindful of what we say because our words hold a lot of power.
-Deeta:)