I understand we all come from different backgrounds (belief systems, countries, etc) so the title is only loosely representative. I am trying to capture broad strokes so I will to use “in-game” behavior as a common reference point.
I have always maintained that if you treat people with respect, and act as if you are actually listening to them, that you would get that treatment in return. Corny, Golden Rule stuff, but by and large that’s the way I try to behave. I find on occasion it becomes impossible to give others the benefit of the doubt. This is because they not only display a lack of good intentions, but they actively pursue hostility, both verbal and mental (remember, I am using the game, and this forum as reference). I don’t like being being ambushed or attacked when interacting with other people, and I sometimes cave to the urge to retaliate. Honestly it doesn’t work; I usually feel worse when it is over and done.
Things are different than they were 20 years ago, and globally many values have changed. I still don’t believe in cussing people out in chat just because I don’t agree , and I really don’t appreciate some of the comments I read there. Being toxic has become the accepted relief for frustration or the need for attention, and I really don’t think anyone cares to contend with it.
So the question is, how bad does someone have to act in order for it to actually be considered BAD?
Do we truly think that we have to “get a thicker skin” because it is now ok to say whatever we want, whenever we want, regardless of the audience? Do we really think that rules literally are “meant to be broken”? Has it come to the point we will need to contend with ill behavior because it is not important enough to correct it?
I don’t think they have that much. Access has. You see it a lot more now than you did then because you have access to all the information immediately.
I mean, our values used to be that slavery was ok and if you disagreed with the wrong nobleman you ended up on the executioner’s block. Women and children were traded like cattle. People would burn down villages and kill everyone in it because they wanted their stuff.
Humans have always had shifty values. We’ve just hidden our dark side behind laws, politics, and religion.
I agree, but I believe access has also exasperated poor behavior w/ mindless automatons feeling the need to outdo whatever they just watched some other nitwit do online.
You say this like it’s so obvious what is respectful or not, though.
It’s not that obvious to a lot of people.
Take for example something as simple as saying hello back to someone who said hello to you. Sounds like a common thing in America and Canada, and if someone fails to return the hello, that is often (not always) seen as ‘rude’.
But in MANY cultures around the world, hello is not the word used, maybe there’s something else. Maybe they have a hearing issue, maybe they are wracked with social anxiety, maybe their culture certain genders don’t speak directly to others and they don’t know how to respond because they haven’t grown accustomed to it.
Who’s “at fault”? The person who didn’t return the hello, or the person who gave the hello and gets irate because it wasn’t returned?
Of course, in real life, we don’t have time to go through all the possible reasons for an unreturned greeting. To me, it is at THAT MOMENT, where we choose to be “respectful”: just keep on walking and don’t assume negative intent — something a lot of people just can’t seem to do.
There’s some obvious things that I think most people would consider bad, such as blatant harassment. But there are other things that are a little debatable.
Read the comments on any post of a woman complaining a guy was harassing her and you’ll see what I mean. One person considers it harassment while the other considers it “just being nice”
Gaming culture, to stick with something relevant to WoW, has taken on a very harsh version of communication. You see this, well hear this often with PvP style games especially the FPS. Very standard to rip people a new one and have it be acceptable behavior.
Personally I have no issue with it as long as it’s okay with the majority. Where it goes bad is when they take it to a real life level and do things like Swatting.
When it comes to WoW I imagine the discord conversations are a mix, some are fine with harsh talk others want it more civil. As for forums and in game chat I think people are a bit on the sensitive side, the report and ban system I believe is more abusive then most the comments.
To add to your point, I feel that people are justified in acting out because as you say, they have access to much more information. As such they (we) have permission to express what we might not have in the past, because it is being expressed by others.
I am more undecided on that. I have sat at the entrance to a BG and been reported by a player even having said or done nothing. They think it is a good way to get attention, therefore abuse the system. I also feel that Blizzard, much like we players, are on a curve of trying to keep up with the change in our behavior. I believe they shouldn’t have to spend their creative time trying to manage players that can’t control themselves. So it becomes a “lesser of two evils” kind of thing. The bottom line however, has always been clear…don’t behave badly, and you won’t get busted. Use the lesson if you do get busted.
I definitely agree with the stance that we should do more to stop making these idiots famous. They feel like rock stars in their own minds. We even give some of them cool nicknames.
I’m not sure what’s worse: people who are dogmatic and preach legalistically, or people that are moral relativists yet maintain their own special legalism.
don’t ever come here and complain this is bad or thats bad when obviously you sit around and participate in things to get attention like trade op or the forums. life’s pretty untoxic nowadays compared to when i grew up anyone with half a brain at least trys to act somewhat decent even if they ain’t with the internet and social media all that stuff and life has got alot better than what is was for lets say lgbt since its always mentioned here then what its used to be or say the colored its way better than used to be so society has grown for the better and way less toxic.
“Who’s bad!?” 