7 ms·
Are there any other enthusiast groups that are this toxic? I stopped associating with the hobby after GamerGate but in retrospect I should have stopped earlier.
by akhilcacharya 7y ago
Are there any other enthusiast groups that are this toxic? I stopped associating with the hobby after GamerGate but in retrospect I should have stopped earlier.
- larsiusprime 7y agoSports? Arguably massively more toxic. People being murdered over sporting events is a truly ancient phenomenon and even destabilized empires clear back into ancient times (Nearly Half of Constantinople was burned down to the ground in the Greens vs Blues Nika riots).
- islanderfun 7y agoVery good comparison and similarities can be drawn between the target audience. Unfortunately gaming sees deaths too with swatting and what not
- larsiusprime 7y agoIf you want to draw a rigorously serious comparison you need to mathematically compare audience sizes and base rates. Don't know how it shakes out but my money is definitely on sports, if for no other reason than that video game fans don't congregate in huge arenas with heavy drinking as often as sports fans do
- islanderfun 7y agoCompletely agree. Though I can see a future where gaming gives it "competition" in this area. Especially with esports on the rise. Multi million dollar prizes and loyalties forming around these teams.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- orf 7y agoI've not heard of the Nika riots, but from a brief reading it seems that it was about a bit more than sports: > The team associations had become a focus for various social and political issues for which the general Byzantine population lacked other forms of outlet And: > Some of the senators saw this as an opportunity to overthrow Justinian, as they were opposed to his new taxes and his lack of support for the nobility. The rioters, now armed and probably controlled by their allies in the Senate... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots
- larsiusprime 7y agoAs if video game controversies are untouched by politics. And murder in sports continues to this day even when there isn't an emperor to overthrow. If you want to bring politics into sports, then i'll just say videogames are just as political as sports are, and the death count is still way way lower (hypothesis, but I'm pretty confident). I'm not saying "Video game toxicity is not a problem." it is, it's a big problem. But lets dispense with easily disprovable hyperbole like "it's the MOST toxic enthusiast culture"
- tomatotomato37 7y agoI can't really think of any other event where people riot when they are on the winning side just because they are over-excited
- islanderfun 7y agoSeriously. I can't think of any other group but not really looking that hard. And I love the medium. It's my go-to hobby. And like many here, I got into programming because I wanted to make my own games (still do) I refuse to use the term/label "gamer". It's horrible. "Hardcode gamer" has turned into no true scotsman.
- gambiting 7y agoAs others have said, European football. When I was a teenager you'd get stopped on the street by "hardcore fans" and asked which side are you on - answer incorrectly or not at all and you're getting a mild couple punches, or if they had a few drinks then a good kicking on the ground. When there was a major football match in town then the streets would become deserted - the opposing side's fans were 100% guaranteed to pour out of the stadium and look for a fight with anyone. It would get incredibly brutal and people sometimes died. There's a reason why buses of football fans of some clubs are heavily escorted by the police whenever there is a match.
- rasz 7y agoHave you ever heard of European football? People are being killed routinely during opposing team fan "meetups". https://idrottsforum.org/alsio130118/ https://idrottsforum.org/alsio130118/ Raging kiddie gamers are a joke by comparison.
- dfcmt 7y agoPeople are being killed "routinely" for European football? That's simply ludicrous.
- rasz 7y agoYes, in Poland alone there has been ~one death every year. 2001 Opatów, 2003 Walichnowy, 2007 Kielce(knifed), 2007 Łódź(coma), 2011 Poddębice, 2011 Kraków, 2018 Prokocim(arm cut off with machete, body massacred with baseball bats, axes and hammers). Thos eI could find with a quick google. Example clip from one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKXOsC3ms7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKXOsC3ms7k train was emergency stopped in the middle of nowhere, other team was already waiting after being transported by shuttle buses. You can search "Ustawka" on YT for more.
- Mountain_Skies 7y agoLots of terrible examples to go around across the globe. A few years ago a woman who is a fan of the University of Alabama football team murdered another woman who was a fan of the same team. Why? Because the victim wasn't upset enough about the team they were both fans of losing a game earlier that day. So being a rival isn't even required for violence to happen. Heighten emotional states are inherently unstable.
- dgzl 7y agoPolitics, money, fandom, competition... These things will create toxicity.
- aiyodev 7y agoYes. A film fan shot the president.
- james_damore 7y agoGamerGate were the good guys. They tried to warn us but we didn't listen.