Xbox Living

I’m due for a blog update, but I have a bit of writer’s block.  So, it’s time for a rantish commentary post.

I’m not a huge fan of trash-talking in games.  It’s fun sometimes, but I tend to avoid Call of Duty 4 because mindless insults have become a part of that game’s culture.  That’s fine for those who enjoy it, but it’s not for me.  So I play a lot more Battlefield, where the average age is a bit older and there’s less mindless chatter.

But I’m noticing a bit more anger lately, and I’m not sure why.  Let’s look at two situations that happened yesterday:

Team-killer Guy

I was playing in Conquest mode on Ascension.  It wasn’t long before I was suddenly knifed by a Sniper on my own team.  Normally that’s not a big deal — team killing is very easy to do in BF:BC and 90% of the time it’s an accident.  But in this case, the player came from across the room I was in, pulled out his knife in front of me, and deliberately killed me.  He wasn’t on my squad, so I couldn’t figure out why.

The game ended a few moments later, and the next round started on the same map.  As soon as the round began, I heard someone on my voice channel repeating “n*****, n*****, n*****” over and over.  “Great,” I thought.  “I’m in a squad with one of them.”

He stopped after a moment, and I didn’t hear from him for a while.  I try not to judge — for all I know he suffered from Tourette’s Syndrome and left his mic on by accident.  That would be perfectly understandable.

A short while later the voice resurfaced, complaining about someone else on our squad who wasn’t doing enough.  A few seconds later I see the log show that he’s just killed our squadmate with a shotgun.  Not cool, but I stayed out of it.

About a minute later, as I was standing in a corner, holding a flag and avoiding a mortar strike, the same guy walked in and shot me.  “Why?” was my question this time.  Maybe he thought I wasn’t doing anything, since I was just standing in a corner waiting out a mortar strike.  That seemed to be his complaint the first time, and it suddenly occured to me that this was the same guy who had stabbed me in the previous round.  I was also standing in a corner that time, so maybe he’s frustrated with people who aren’t doing enough.  Again, I try not to judge, so I ignored the fact that I was #2 in the game by score, and he was dead last with -25 points.

“Why did you just kill me,” I asked.

“Because I can,” came the answer.

Alright, that sounds reasonable.  (I’m being sarcastic this time.) Then he started talking about teammates not doing anything, so I restated my question.  This time, the answer was “because I’m sick of playing with f***ing n*****s.”

Let it be known, I gave this guy every chance before passing judgement.  But sir, I declare you a douchebag.

Overreaction Guy

Here’s a sharper contrast.  I joined a game on End of the Line, and spawned right into a boat with a squad member.  After a couple of seconds, I realized that the boat was being eyed by a Demolitions class enemy on an island nearby.  I spawned into the greneade launcher position, so I started firing.  Unfortunately, I was too late and we were hit with a rocket.

The driver of the boat called my by gamertag and asked me if I was retarded, and if I knew how to use the weapon.  I replied sarcastically, and he instantly retracted his statement.  He explained he had thought I didn’t even try to get a shot off, when I in fact fired several times.  He apologized, and all was well.

This guy: not a douchebag — just emotionally invested in the game, which makes it more fun.

It’s easy to get frustrated if a game’s not going well, but I usually leave my mic off if I’m going to start cursing at my TV — unless I have something semi-productive to say, or I need to yell at someone when they kill me because they wanted the helicopter or artillary strike.  What about you?  Do you ever get angry on Xbox Live — and how do you respond to stuff like this?