5 ms·

A lot of people have been talking about the evil of this one individual kid, or the irresponsibility of the police department, but there's another aspect being

A lot of people have been talking about the evil of this one individual kid, or the irresponsibility of the police department, but there's another aspect being glossed over here: The first thing I thought when I read this article was, "Wow, the toxic Call of Duty community finally killed someone." I've been playing CoD WW2 online off and on since it came out last month. I have been astounded by the behavior of many people in those games. Players with racist and genocidal names who spout horrible things on chat about minorities. Threats of real world physical and sexual violence. Homophobia and misogyny. And of course just childish spamming and yelling and cheating and complaining and other nonsense. It is a terrible, terrible community. It does not surprise me at all to see it escalate to actual real world violence. Yes, the kid who made this particular call should be punished. And the police department needs to be held accountable too. But the root of this problem is the CoD community, and to some extent the gaming community at large. I don't know how to fix it, I don't know how you get an entire community to start treating each other like human beings -- but that's what needs to happen.

kbvk 9y ago
>Players with racist and genocidal names who spout horrible things on chat about minorities. >Homophobia and misogyny. And of course just childish spamming and yelling and cheating and complaining and other nonsense. I do that in online games. AMA
- SturgeonsLaw 9y ago
  How old are you?
- sundaeofshock 9y ago
  Maybe you should be ashamed of this behavior and stop? I play games on-line and not only do I manage to avoid doing these rather reprehensible things, I will chastise others who do so.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - steveeq1 9y ago
    Even blacks?
    - dang 9y ago
      You have a pattern of posting race-baiting comments to Hacker News. That's definitely not what this site is for and if you keep doing it we will ban you, so please stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- orf 9y ago
  Do you believe what you are saying?
- imh 9y ago
  Why do you do that?
- cornyNetHandle 9y ago
  Anything? I'd like to ask if you could please stop using the internet.
Parcissons 9y ago
You remind me of my mother, she was as summer of 68 as you could get- in full blown constant denial of the human reality. We were not allowed to have guns and swords, or play violent games - outside, computer games where the devils play anyway. Guess what, we made them from sticks and stones, and fought anyway. This is the best you will get- meaning the hostile part of humanity encapsulated. This is a golden era, normally these guys would be out there to get you. And sorry, but the world you wish for sounds kind of dystopian to me too. So frozzen, free of any conflict and thus development, a humanity so flawless that nobody needed advances anymore. Sitting there, throwing the dice of beeing to nice a million times, until the one in a billion event strikes and it all vannishes in a puff of suprised helplessness. What a nightmare. Im happy your inability to grasp the human condition also renders you unable to effectively do anything about it. Game theory states that only second return prank call capability can deter first strikes. So i guess its robo-call swatting all the way.
robotkilla 9y ago
As much as I hate CoD and wish the issues you highlighted were limited to the CoD community, they are not. The behavior you described fits many if not most online, semi-anonymous, young, male majority communities. CoD is just one community in that bucket. Edit: > I don't know how to fix it, I don't know how you get an entire community to start treating each other like human beings -- but that's what needs to happen. Hang out around a group of young guys and you'll realize that the groups you described are just an amplified reflection of IRL groups of similar makeup. If you want to fix this type of behavior you have to change it at a much deeper level than online gaming communities because its a mindset. People do it mostly for the laughs - even the extreme idiotic shit like SWAT calls... just like they do extreme idiotic shit IRL like fraternity initiations that get people killed. IMO the stuff you're describing is systemic.
- tunesmith 9y ago
  I took OPs point to be more about the intensity of the behavior rather than that it exists at all. We shouldn't limit the goal to the eradication of it, when the mere reduction of it would still help a lot. If the CoD community is "amplified" in some sense, then it by definition means that it is possible for them to improve it.
- projektir 9y ago
  > As much as I hate CoD and wish the issues you highlighted were limited to the CoD community, they are not. While I agree with the gist of your post, I can't help but feel that pointing out that it's not "special" is the opposite of helpful. People are mostly equipped to notice problems in their ballpark, and are right to call out problems as they see them. Whether or not similar problems exist in another ballpark is beside the point. Even if other ballparks are worse it's beside the point! I frequently play Dota 2 and it has similar problems and I don't want to see them there, either.
  - robotkilla 9y ago
    > I can't help but feel that pointing out that it's not "special" is the opposite of helpful. I disagree -- I'm pointing out that the issue is not CoD or even online gaming, its a larger issue. You can't really address it on a small scale without understanding the bigger picture.
aceofspad3s 9y ago
>I've been playing CoD WW2 online off and on since it came out last month. I have been astounded by the behavior of many people in those games. Players with racist and genocidal names who spout horrible things on chat about minorities. Threats of real world physical and sexual violence. Homophobia and misogyny. I don't understand what your point is. Communities exist that have other political views than yours and...?

kbvk 9y ago

>Players with racist and genocidal names who spout horrible things on chat about minorities. >Homophobia and misogyny. And of course just childish spamming and yelling and cheating and complaining and other nonsense. I do that in online games. AMA

SturgeonsLaw 9y ago
How old are you?
sundaeofshock 9y ago
Maybe you should be ashamed of this behavior and stop? I play games on-line and not only do I manage to avoid doing these rather reprehensible things, I will chastise others who do so.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- steveeq1 9y ago
  Even blacks?
  - dang 9y ago
    You have a pattern of posting race-baiting comments to Hacker News. That's definitely not what this site is for and if you keep doing it we will ban you, so please stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
orf 9y ago
Do you believe what you are saying?
imh 9y ago
Why do you do that?
cornyNetHandle 9y ago
Anything? I'd like to ask if you could please stop using the internet.

Parcissons 9y ago

You remind me of my mother, she was as summer of 68 as you could get- in full blown constant denial of the human reality. We were not allowed to have guns and swords, or play violent games - outside, computer games where the devils play anyway. Guess what, we made them from sticks and stones, and fought anyway. This is the best you will get- meaning the hostile part of humanity encapsulated. This is a golden era, normally these guys would be out there to get you. And sorry, but the world you wish for sounds kind of dystopian to me too. So frozzen, free of any conflict and thus development, a humanity so flawless that nobody needed advances anymore. Sitting there, throwing the dice of beeing to nice a million times, until the one in a billion event strikes and it all vannishes in a puff of suprised helplessness. What a nightmare. Im happy your inability to grasp the human condition also renders you unable to effectively do anything about it. Game theory states that only second return prank call capability can deter first strikes. So i guess its robo-call swatting all the way.

robotkilla 9y ago

As much as I hate CoD and wish the issues you highlighted were limited to the CoD community, they are not. The behavior you described fits many if not most online, semi-anonymous, young, male majority communities. CoD is just one community in that bucket. Edit: > I don't know how to fix it, I don't know how you get an entire community to start treating each other like human beings -- but that's what needs to happen. Hang out around a group of young guys and you'll realize that the groups you described are just an amplified reflection of IRL groups of similar makeup. If you want to fix this type of behavior you have to change it at a much deeper level than online gaming communities because its a mindset. People do it mostly for the laughs - even the extreme idiotic shit like SWAT calls... just like they do extreme idiotic shit IRL like fraternity initiations that get people killed. IMO the stuff you're describing is systemic.

tunesmith 9y ago
I took OPs point to be more about the intensity of the behavior rather than that it exists at all. We shouldn't limit the goal to the eradication of it, when the mere reduction of it would still help a lot. If the CoD community is "amplified" in some sense, then it by definition means that it is possible for them to improve it.
projektir 9y ago
> As much as I hate CoD and wish the issues you highlighted were limited to the CoD community, they are not. While I agree with the gist of your post, I can't help but feel that pointing out that it's not "special" is the opposite of helpful. People are mostly equipped to notice problems in their ballpark, and are right to call out problems as they see them. Whether or not similar problems exist in another ballpark is beside the point. Even if other ballparks are worse it's beside the point! I frequently play Dota 2 and it has similar problems and I don't want to see them there, either.
- robotkilla 9y ago
  > I can't help but feel that pointing out that it's not "special" is the opposite of helpful. I disagree -- I'm pointing out that the issue is not CoD or even online gaming, its a larger issue. You can't really address it on a small scale without understanding the bigger picture.

aceofspad3s 9y ago

>I've been playing CoD WW2 online off and on since it came out last month. I have been astounded by the behavior of many people in those games. Players with racist and genocidal names who spout horrible things on chat about minorities. Threats of real world physical and sexual violence. Homophobia and misogyny. I don't understand what your point is. Communities exist that have other political views than yours and...?