I am sure everyone has at least played one online multiplayer game, ranging from First Person Shooters to Real-Time Strategy. This is the new form of competition that has arisen within the past decade and a half due to video games and the internet. This new form of competition has come up so strong that there is a whole entire country dedicated to it, though it maybe only one game, it still applies. Then there is of course the tournaments, LAN parties, even conventions that celebrate these competitive games; things like QuakeCON or the World Cyber Games. It has come to the point that this new form of competition should get their own ESPN or something but let’s take it to a smaller scale, that simple internet lobby where some gather to play competitively, lobbies like Battle dot net, Steam, Playstation Network, and even Xbox Live. But I’m not here to talk about the new age of online sports, but rather online sportsmanship – what the hell happened to it?

Seriously, what the hell happened when people where nice to each other after a friendly game? Now days, when I lose match, I get called a cuntface douchenozzle faggot, not just by the other team, but my own team as well. Recently with the release of Left 4 Dead, this has become very apparent to me. I get insulted by both my team and the other team. Not just Left 4 Dead, other modern FPSes on the PC have players with similiar attitudes – except Quake III, never really saw bad sportsmanship on there. The rage, anger, and bigotry are so strong in that cyber air that it’s enough to give one a stroke after a good single breath. Of course this has been around for quite a while, specifically around Xbox Live.

Now I’m not exactly blaming the community as a whole or am I trying to insult any Xbox players – but the travesty that is the hate-filled ignorance which is Xbox live is hard to ignore. Simply playing around a few games on Xbox live, I will be insulted by every single profane word that is in the English dictionary, and maybe a few other languages as well. I can simple say, “Nice round man” and I get replied with “You sound like a butthurt cunt, you know I’m the best there is”. Is this any way for players to treat each other in, what I thought was, a friendly game?

After all that malarkey, a few days ago I decided I want to take it old school and play some Starcraft on battle dot net. Of course there isn’t much a player base, but I was able to join a few games here and there. Most of which were Top vs. Bottom so I had to be in a team. The one thing that I noticed is that, it’s the exact god damn thing. I get bashed by my teammate who got killed quickly and blames their team. The other team was, of course, talking smack throughout the game. And out of all those games, guess what’s the one thing I never saw in the chat? “gg” or “good game” That’s right. No one said “good game” after a match, the equivalent of shaking hands with the other team in sports, the “gg” I thought was a courteous thing to do after a game. I would be saying “gg” and all I get is “lol i pwn u fgt”.

Where did all the friendly players go? I don’t remember this many assholes in the 90s and even early 2000 when I use to play on battle dot net. Sometimes I wish I was back in the 90s, with my dial-up modem, my piece of paper with quake hubs, and where everyone was actually mature, even knowing that I was still a prepubescent kid. What is the cause of all this hostility in internet games? Is world getting angrier? Is our youth becoming corrupted? Or just because now that you’re grown up, you can talk like sailors? Is this an American thing or is it worldwide?  What is the exact cause?

Now I know there is people out there that still act friendly on the internet and I would love to shake your hand, but nowadays, the unfriendly players outweigh the friendly ones. I can understand the gloat that people do, but it’s no longer gloating if you’re trying to demean the other players. It’s becoming harder and harder to actually enjoy online multiplayer games if this keeps up, so I ask every single one of you – say “gg” after that good game you just had.