Pointless Trash Talkers

Just mute and move on.

 

Im that trash talker. Lol jokes. I only do it sometimes for the lolz. Most of the time I dont use my mic or Im in party chat with people I know. As Ladnil said, mute and move on.

 

I've actually gotta stick up for this guy, or at least the principle he's putting forward, one which I think extends through the wider issue of internet anonymity and interaction, be it on games, forums, whatever. Adam Sessler talks about this issue quite a lot and it's helped change my perspective on it from something that should be ignored to an issue which we should at least discuss in terms of over coming if gaming as a culture (especially in maintstream terms like Halo and CoD, since you'll often find that more cult games see a more mature and chilled community attitude by and large, I guess through a higher degree of identification with others in said community over the increased anonymity in a community like Halo just by sheer volume of players and varying attitudes) is to be taken a little more seriously. Obviously we can't just expect objecting to it to fix things, and a good part of it is ignoring those who indulge themselves with being mouthy little pricks online.

But if we don't at least voice these concerns in a mature and discursive fashion, it's that much easier for people to continue justifying it to themselves as 'just the internet'. Fact is that the internet is the most important new medium for communication that humanity has seen in god knows how long, and the most far removed from our instinctive form of communication (ie. face to face) so far. It's also one which sees the younger generations taking the lead and feeling most at home on it, meaning an increasing number of people are growing up with this being 'normal' and even a large part of their human interaction, as someone who spends a lot of time on forums I can personally vouch for that. But at the same time, it's a medium which our social instincts of communication aren't yet set up to account for, and the 'top down' method of teaching social boundaries by older generations largely doesn't apply like it does with regular human interaction, since once again the younger generations are the ones taking the lead and older generation who would impart and enforce these boundaries aren't comfortable enough, or even involved enough, with the medium to do so.

As such, it is a problem which can be argued as likely to resolve itself through human adaption as the internet becomes more embedded in human interaction as a whole (something I personally see as inevitable without some technological apocalypse befalling the western world, which I'll admit is my point of focus here, or rather developed nations). But I for one am not quite content to just let it resolve itself, and think that no harm comes from working towards instilling a more consciously mature and accountable attitude towards internet interaction wherever possible or appropriate. Especially when one of the things at stake right now is the idea of gaming as a media, even art form (if you agree with some sides of that argument over others, though I'll admit it's a complex debate in terms of 'is it art?'), and how the media form itself and resulting community are viewed within wider society. This is something close to my heart, and I'd like to think it's possible and worth pushing at least somewhat for an accelerated move towards integration and acceptance. I know this is all getting a bit like big talk, but the issue at hand is a small but significant part of this wider issue and hopeful progression, in that it signifies one if the current biggest barriers towards that progression: a contentedness to accept internet anonymity as an excuse for these actions and attitudes.

/massiverant. Apologies for taking a small issue and extrapolating it to a frankly overblown post, it's just that this discussion always reminds me of what is essentially an issue that isn't looked at for what it is. I just want to show that these seemingly innocent principle can turn out as much more complex if it's thought about at length. It just shows that we aren't quite equipped to deal with what the internet does to our basic instincts of interaction and social accountability as of now, and even if it does work itself eventually, we as a species have the gift of conscious assessment and discussion on our own nature. Why not utilise that to try and curb the tide before our unconscious adaptive nature gets there eventually?

OP, one point stuck out to me in particular, since it's very much borne of a world that I consider myself a part of, and as such have to suffer the reptuation that these people promote amongst other gamers:

This is very much the image that non competitive gamers form of MLG players, and in many senses they can't be blamed since these guys are not only numerous but very loud and quick to voice their perceived nature as 'mUlgProZzzz'. When MLG players who aren't like this are, by default, quieter and more about being themselves than thrusting a veil of being 'MLG' over their internet/in game presense, it's hard for an outsider to balance their image of what MLG means as a gaming attitude and see the good as well as the bad. I'm not saying that you make this assumption, since you used the (highly suitable) suffix of 'tryhards' to (I'm guessing) differentiate between these guys and others in the MLG or competitive community who don't act like this, just wanted to again voice one of the main problems with perception, this time even within the gaming community as opposed to an internal/external perception problem.

The fact is, these guys need this to make themselves feel better. They need to feel good, like they've beaten someone, to validate their own competitive nature. They likely can't get this within the competitive community, and so vent their frustration by trashing any casual player they happen to dump on. The proper response to these guys is to point out that they're taking satisfaction and personal validation from beating someone who doesn't care about the game and the win nearly as much as they do, and if their talk actually amounted to something they'd be able to do it against people who do care as much. It probably won't bring the moment of introspection on their part that would do both them, and the people who have to suffer their pointless trash, the world of good, but there's always that little chance that it will make them think a little once they've calmed down, and reconsider where they gain satisfaction in gaming. Even if not, at the very least it will frustrate them and further reinforce their competitive insecurities. If they respond by even more vehement trashing then you know you've gotten to them, and so at worst consider this a small victory. Idk, I'm probably a little petty in this regard .

 

I always give poor reviews to people I can't stand. It's the only way that I'm aware of that helps keep those players away from me as much as possible. In the end, if enough people give bad reviews... those players that nobody can stand will eventually only have themselves to play with. Then they can circle jerk all over each other.

 

I think we can all agree that tryhards are annoying and need to be punished.

 

Oh totally, if only it were that simple....

 

Yup, this is as I suspected, and I genuinely appreciate that there are at least some people who try to see past the vocal and numerous tryhards to what MLG can and should mean at its heart. Though the sad fact is that even some of the highest level pros seem (I don't have any personal experience of meeting them in game, but going off extensive reports of others' experiences and, in some cases, what I've even seen and heard from these players on streams/videos/forum posts etc.) to still be infantile and immature in how they deal with other people online over Halo. I guess the truth is that even some of those at the very top are pretty young, or just immature as you'll find in any sector of society, especially one focused on a competitive basis which is dominated by young males.

 

You mad cuz ur bad, bro?

 

tbh, I find the pointless trash talkers ridiculously amusing. Not only because of the fact that they are trash talking on a video game-who really cares?- but more so that they provide an ideal ground for seeding in maximum ridiculousness. I usually respond with my usual patter of being a Czechoslovakian and that I possess multiple pink rabbits. That usually shuts them up, at least momentarily. The funnier times are when they try to reason against me how I can't possible fly while holding a pink rabbit. That's usually when I "reiterate" (I use that sarcastically) that I am Argentinian, and that means I can do it.

 

I troll the pointless trash talkers... Especially the ones that sound like they're 10 years old.

 

lol typo.
no but seriously i agree whole heartedly. just because these people will never actually meet you doesnt mean you should talk trash like your better than them. Some people will never grow up and if you have to insult people to get your kicks then you seriously need to re-evaluate your life.

 

Brag about being in the military much?


And the stupid "MLG Pros" think they're better then everyone else because the only way they COME CLOSE to getting a kill is by host-booting. And they say stupid **** like "oloololll kid your a colonel" and then they have to make a another to get a 50 and they think that a symbol next to your gamertag in a GAME really defines if their "pro". Do something amzing in real life then we will see you as a "pro".

 

Please, it would be very disappointing if this thread turns in to yet another place for people to bash on MLG at large. As has been discussed in here, there are way too many people who are way too vocal and almost seem to be actively seeking to give MLG a bad name. Frankly, don't let them win, their attitude is not what MLG is really about, and if you think that it's sad to call yourself pro in a video game, please address your criticisms to actual players like Final Boss who just won $100,000 for a single weekends worth of play.

Once you can tell me straight up that you've earned anything like that amount in your entire life (and I don't care if you're 15 or 50 in this context), then I'll have a little more sympathy for your attempts to bash people for doing something they enjoy and are incredibly good at, at the highest level of competition. Yes it's a game, no one's pretending there's any physical prowess involved, but if you think that's the same as it not taking skill or not meaning anything in relation to real life sports (after all, what do they really mean, and how much respect would these athletes have were it not for the millions of fans that serve to validate the sport as something 'meaningful'?), then you clearly know nothing about what actually goes on at the highest level of MLG and are just letting your hatred of these tryhards get in the way of trying to understand it. As I said, I have sympathy for people who have to suffer these tryhards, and even for those who find it hard to discern examples of what actual competitive Halo is like, but for attitudes like yours I have no sympathy, since you haven't even tried.

 

I don't hate MLG, I hate the people who act like their MLG and that they be bowed down to,and people get so wroked up over a 50 rank, and get obsessed over a BR, and they ***** and moan if theirs not a BR on the map. If someone gets to the highest rank without "cheating" to get it, then that is actual skill, but if someone has to cheat to get a rank, then that is just sad and pathetic.

 

Fair enough, and trust me dude, I hate those people too. Not only do I have to put up with them as much as anyone, generally preferring the same gametypes/playlists as they do (much as I wish this wasn't the case), but I have to suffer being put under the same banner as them by people who don't differentiate between anyone who likes MLG, whether they act like that or not. I will say that I get pretty tired of walking around with an AR, seeing people all over the map and knowing that I can do absolutely nothing about it (in short, I love BR/DMRs as much as anyone), though I think it's pretty unfair when people turn this dislike for certain gametypes in to everyone else's problem as well as their own, so I think we can agree there.

It was just your last statement, the one which I bolded, about doing something in real life before being considered pro, which echoed so much of the blind hatred towards those who work their asses off to be the best they can be rather than going around and trashing randoms in social to make themselves feel big. I apologise for extrapolating that out in to another long rant, but it just gave off that sense upon first reading.

 

Ok, I can't concentrate enough now on this thread to read the pages of text (which I will tomorrow). But for now I'll post my view on trash talking.

For the most part trash talking isn't too bad as far as I've seen in Reach. What gets to me is when they are excessive about it, or using excessive foul language, or any racial slurs or personal derrogatory remarks at all. When that starts to happen, what I do first off, is mute the person, then I remember their GT, and in the post-game i submit a negative player review on them, so that I am less likely to get matched with them (supposedly IDK) and file a complain on them. I strongly encourage you to do this on people, as this may get them muted/banned if enough people do it.

 

I'm not one of them.

I'm one of the asses that trash talks his teammates.

"QUIT ****ING RUSHING"

"YOU JUST ****ING NADED ME ASSHOLE."

"REALLY? REALLY? YOU'RE GOING TO ARMOR LOCK WHILE I'M DYING?"

"GIVE ME BACK MY ****ING SNIPER DOUCHEBAG"

"YOU TOOK MY SNIPER, EVEN THOUGH YOU SUCK WITH IT?!?!"

"Why do I even play this game if all my teammates suck, or quit?"

"HE'S RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE. ONE-SHOT. RIGHT THERE. TURN THE **** AROUND."

After the match, I'm always like "Good game."

Unless my friends request me to trash talk them.