I have a confession to make. I am a gamer. At around the ripe age of three I was indoctrinated into the mind numbing subculture of video gaming and I have remained there ever since.
Historically speaking video gaming (I will refer to it as "gaming" from now on) was a communal, corporeal, and all around a social practice that has since degenerated. Originally console gaming was only enjoyable in a face to face setting which often took place in public (arcades), and, as a result, tended to be highly social in nature. Although competitive, these environments were all around friendly social settings which often understood their occupants by the quality of each others abilities and not by outside social constructions.
With the advent of massive multiplayer online gaming (MMO for short), however, this community of corporeal gamers has since degenerated into solitary adolescents crouched in the dark before the buzz of a glowing screen shouting anonymously over a foam mic at strangers. Please don't get me wrong, I am one of them so to speak (I mean that I play video games not practice bigotry), but I must admit that most of the interactions that now take place amidst this subculture tend to the crude and racists.
It must be said that this phenomenon has arisen in large part due to a feeling of anonymity. Similar to the social psychology of group think, individuals in these online settings lack a feeling of responsibility or connection to their behavior. Much like the invisible man or Plato's "ring of gyges" story, the anonymity in the gaming community gives us a dark glimpse at our nature unopposed by our social inhibitions.
Below is an article which talks briefly on the subject, and although I do not want to go into great detail about the actual bigotry that can be found over the speakers of the modern mmo, I do want to point out that it is unclear how much of the racism is actually intended to target and/or subjugate members of a race. The brutishness of mmo dialog, after all, isn't limited to racism and this makes me suspect that racism is incorporated because of its stigma as being hyper antisocial in modern society. Please let me know what you think.
The following is a link to an article which deals with this topic:
President Obama walks fine line on race, justice
11 years ago
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ReplyDeleteI have also noticed the frequent use of racial slurs when playing online video games before. It's one thing to do a little innocent "trash talking" once in a while, but making racial comments is a whole different issue. I imagine it is the anonymity of online gaming that gives people a sense of security and makes them feel that it is okay to make these racist remarks. Not only is it insulting and ignorant, it is just plain annoying to listen to, especially since people have no idea what other players' race/ethnicity is (not that this would make it okay). Personally I don't even bother using the headset when I play so I don't have to listen to these comments.
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