GG's Articles

I was recently inspired by a post I made about trash talking so I ended up writing not one, but two articles that I would like to share with you guys in the hopes that it will help make your gaming experience a better experience. Be warned, however, what
follows is essentially a wall of text - but if you can stomach it, it will be well worth the effort. I would like for you to share your opinions and ideas on both articles and discuss them here with everyone else. Enjoy and discuss!

[quote user="Article #1"]Trash Talking and Good Sportsmanship in Competitive Video Games

written by

Video games are largely played by people of all ages for two reasons: (1) for fun and (2) to compete; sometimes both. Unfortunately, for many people, they lose the ability to have fun because others can take competing too far. When gamers get competitive,
they often forget about having fun and will often try to do anything and everything they can to win, including trash talking. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to win (after all, there is not a person in the world who would actively enjoy losing for
the sake of losing), it pays dividends to be careful in how it is done, because if done right, the competition can ramp up to unparalleled heights that can never be achieved from talking trash.

Talking trash, in essence, is a negative interaction. Even if a player meant it in good jest, it can still have unintentional negative ramifications towards others. Despite its negative connotation, millions of gamers world-wide make use of it. But why would
they do this? The answer is simple: it is an effective strategy. Long before video games were invented, talking trash was used the world over in sports and other similar activities (and still is even now) to get inside of the opponent’s head and cause doubt
in their abilities. This in turn, would give the taunting player an inherent advantage. It was used as a way to shake their confidence.

An unfortunate side-effect of this strategy, however, is the long-lasting effects and implications it can have on its victim. Even though the trash talking occurred in the limited virtual world of the video game, many gamers may be adversely affected beyond
the game session long after it’s over and can lead to serious stress and depression as a result. It is for this reason that talking trash is considered negative and inherently dangerous.

Instead of talking trash directly to another player, a good idea might be to make a joke about the game itself. Take note of what is in the game and make a pun, for example. If you can get your opponent to laugh, you can still have the same affect that trash
talking has by way of distraction, but without the negative ramifications of ruining their fun. In fact, because they will be having fun, they may want to continue playing, even if they lose. This in turn helps solve another problem: rage-quitting – and that
is a whole other can of worms.

Showing good sportsmanship is the key to ensuring everyone has fun and is at their best. If you take the time to be polite and show respect towards your fellow players, you may find that the positive benefits far outweigh the negative benefits you may get
from trash talking.

The idea behind competition is to see who is best at something – a test of skill. When trash talking is introduced however, it does not involve skill at all – it involves under-handed manipulation. Rather than resorting to that kind of behavior, however,
rely on your own merit instead. If you are truly better than the other player, than let your actions speak for you, not the other way around. If you let your words speak for you and then lose, you will only come off as pompous, arrogant, and/or a jerk. However,
if you show good sportsmanship and win through skill alone, not only will you have gained the respect of your opponent, but you just might make a friendly rival out of them. After all, many gamers will agree that a close game is the best way to play. If you
win by a landslide, it can be fun, but only for so long before boredom sets in. However, if you lose by a large margin, then it will not feel fair to the losing player(s).

A good way of showing good sportsmanship after a game is to discuss the matchup with your opponent - share tips and advice with your opponent after you beat them. For example, you can tell them how you were able to beat them in the 1st place by
(politely) pointing out what they did wrong and how to fix it. This gives you 2 benefits: (1) it helps the other player improve and get better and (2) it forces you to change your strategy and make you a better player in turn. In doing this, your opponent
will appreciate the advice and have even greater respect for you as a player and a person. It is a win-win for everyone involved.

So the next time you play a competitive video game with someone, make a change for the better – do this and you will be surprised at how much better you will become, how many more friends you will make, how much more you will be appreciated, how much more
you will win, and most important of all – how much fun you will have. After all, that is why video games were invented! To have fun![/quote]

[quote user="Article #2"]Rage Quitting and How to Lose Advantageously

written by

When it comes to competitive video games, you will lose – it is a simple fact. As they say, there is always somebody better than you. Despite this fact, it is important to remember that even if you lose, you can lose with an advantage.

Many gamers today are by and large emotional beings and will lash out in some way or even try and avoid losing altogether. This unfortunately has the side effect of players often quitting early and/or rage quitting. Quitting early, as the name implies, is
simply quitting the game before it is over. Rage quitting, on the other hand, is a bit more serious and complicated because it is the act of not only quitting early, but doing so in a fit of anger.

Both quitting early and rage-quitting are frowned upon by most gamers. Doing either interrupts the flow of the game for all players involved. It might be a quick, simple, and easy solution for the person who decides to leave the game, but the ramifications
are significant. If the video game in question is a team game, it leaves 1 team short-handed and at a disadvantage, which in turn affects the fun the other players on that team may be having.

Another form of quitting early is literally walking away from the game (but not leaving the virtual game itself). This has the unfortunate circumstance of not only leaving the team short-handed as above, but depending on the type of game, may even prevent
other players from joining the game and otherwise taking the vacant players spot. While the opponents may appreciate the gesture, most players will not.

Rage quitting is very serious. Although it is a quick solution, it is only a temporary one, and will never permanently fix the problem. When it happens, it can create a domino effect. If you rage quit, it becomes a habit, and not a good one. If you lose
constantly, you will start to rage quit more often and start to become angry every time you start to lose, even before the game is over. This will affect your concentration and become a self-fulfilling prophecy and turn losing into a constant reality. If you
let this happen, you may find yourself never having fun with playing video games and eventually giving up the hobby altogether.

As mentioned before, everyone loses. There is no avoiding it – it will happen. So how can you go about making the experience better for yourself? Thankfully, there are two solutions: (1) stay calm and (2) use the loss as a learning experience.

Video games are designed to be fun. If it starts to affect your emotions negatively, then it will cease to be fun. For this reason it is important to remember to keep your emotions in check. It is incredibly important to remember that, in the end, it is
just a game – not the end of the world as we know it. If you lose and are not happy with the outcome, do not lash out at other players or quit early – doing so will only ruin the other players’ fun. If you have to, become a Vulcan and shut down your emotions
entirely. Of course, taking a deep breath will also probably help.

Once you have kept your emotions in check, you can think rationally (like a Vulcan). This is where you can take the negativity of a loss and turn it into a benefit. Rather than ruminating on how bad the game was, think about why you lost. Think back on the
events that took place and start asking yourself questions: What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently or better? Even if you honestly think you did your best, you can still ask yourself questions: What did my opponent do that worked for them?
How can I use that to my advantage? In taking the time to ask and eventually answer these questions, you will start a domino effect, like with rage quitting, but this domino effect is all positive. If you take the time to rationalize and work your way around
the problems that are presented from losing, you will become a better player. If you become a better player, you lose less. If you lose less, you have more fun.

So the next time you lose, take a deep breath and instead of saying, “ah man! I can’t believe I lost!” say, “well, I suppose that could’ve gone better - but how?” If you can remember to do that, you are likely to find that your whole (virtual gaming) world
will change for the better.[/quote]

Hmm, maybe I should start a blog or something. What do you guys think?

:)

 

"Three Words" For Everyone Who Likes Controversy. article

I always liked GG's myself

 

UK vs DACH, Forum Game, Gears 3. Sat 4th Dec 7pm

gg's! i had fun thx for getting me in on this.

 

as much as i agree with both articles, neither will happen.

COD and fifa seem to be the worst for both, gloating if winning, and quitting and cursing if losing.

 

I know many of my friends kind of trash talk a little. Even tho several of them are sensible in real life. 99.99% of the time I don't swear. And if so it's not done in a mean way and in an invite only party. It's highly more common in young peps to do so.

Quitting. Yes many do so especially in Halo and COD Black Ops 2 (and sometimes Forza 5). I do it sometimes too either because it's late or have to do something else or American's come into our Australian/NZ lobbies at way past their bedtimes, usually during
our evenings, (Australia is only 2 hours behind NZ time) and demonstrate poor teamwork they're the host and the rest of us get a bad connection, or vis versa. I know some Australians and NZ's who will not ready up unless there are no American's in the lobby.
This is because if an American is playing, either we get a bad connection, or they do, and it's simply not what we want after a long day of school or work. You'll be surprised how fast time goes when you're having fun. Another is unsporting. In fact I get
marked down in my 360 rep for unsporting and quitting early. Not everyone sticks strictly to the objective of the game. It is a game after all and sometimes want to have some reasonable fun even if it means going off on a tangent. But still have good rep overall.

In general I'm a nice polite good person. It doesn't mean that I'm a perfectionist tho. Ask any of my friends if I grief or steal in Minecraft. They'll all nod their heads no. Just because I 1% of the time dish out a little trash talk in a private party
or quit sometimes in games doesn't mean I'm breaching any Xbox rules laid by M.

 

Good read, nice work GG. My favourite saying is; "winning is teaching, losing is learning" and instead of raging when I lose, I try to learn from my mistakes. And I consider myself to be a competitive
player.

A angry player is a bad. If I know I'm playing against a angry player I know that I will win that game, because I will use his anger to my advantage. If I kill him, he will most likely come for revenge, so I will set up and wait.

 

First thing I have to say...boy do you have a lot of free time on your hands . The fundamental point to remember is video games are a false reality. People play them for many reasons and for their own agendas. Some for stress relief, some for empowerment,
and other to escape the fact they can be something in a virtual world that they cannot be in real life.

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In article one I think it is a bit strong to call someone a "victim". Trash talking is a part of life. Does that make it right? In some instances yes and others no. Trash talking can drive competition. If it turns into a personal attack, then it has
gone too far. People need to grow thicker skins. As I have been around for quite some time and have seen many different cultures and generations, I believe now our younger generation takes things too much to heart. We are raising a generation of sissies. We
do not encourage them to deal with their own problems, but try to solve it for them. That is where the inherent problem lies with any long lasting effects . Just about every aspect of society plays a role in this.

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Article 2.... Rage quitters are funny to me. It is a game. Why get so flustered at it you want to throw down your controller and walk away? To address your point at the quitters that just seem to walk away. In my world, real life takes precedence; period.
If that means leaving in the middle of a game, so be it. I can always restart later. It happens. The sad fact is those on the other end do not see what is happening and speculate why the person left, and more often than not think they quit for no reason.

-

At the end of the day it's just a game. We can always start over. Don't worry about the stats; they are just numbers. We want to be able to play in a fun and non threatening place, but that is a utopia that will not likely ever exist.

 

U guys take gaming seriously...lol. I suggest to get over it but I don't pontificate over video games... GLHF...

 

Not going to lie, I didn't read either article, but I get the jist of what they are about.

I play a fair whack of video games and really haven't experienced much trash talk or rages quitters. I don't take any of it personally, I don't live for a high KD, some games I top the and boards others I will be at the bottom.

Winning is kewl, but If I am in the mood to lay in a bush and snipe for an entire round of BF4 knowing full well I will only get a handful of kills I will do it.

If dudes wanna Tea Bag me after killing me, I don't mind, who don't like tea anyways?

In summary, I play for my own enjoyment, rage quit, get angry, abuse me, I dont mind... as long as there are folks for me to bust caps into their domes I am happy!

 

What's more worse than lightly trash talking and sometimes quitting, is modding/hacking and peps who exploit game bugs.

Light trash talking and sometimes quitting isn't going to end. I'd be lying if I said I never did it. Every one of us is unique, we aren't robots. I understand it can get annoying sometimes. To me there is a difference between rage quitting, and quitting.
Rage quitting is when someone rages, then quits, and quitting is when someone doesn't want to be in the game. It is wrong to force someone to have to stay in the game. This is why Microsoft doesn't penalize you for carrying out such an action.

Not everyone strictly plays to the objective of a game. Sometimes they may want to have some reasonable fun. It is a game after all, not an exam.

Xbox is meant to be a fun thing to do in our free time. Some peps are good at behaving themselves, others not as much, but you can't always expect perfection out of anyone.

I'm glad you haven't been a party with some of my other friends. 1 of them she was like an angel, until something went wrong in Minecraft then she started raging and swearing and killing that I really wanted to kick her out of my game and party and was being
nasty to other friends both mine and hers and almost felt like a need to file a complaint. 3 of my friends defriended her and I understand why, yet she always tends to be nice to me.

We should all try to be considerate of each other. But you shouldn't expect perfection.

 

Interpersonal relationships require a certain amount of "thick skin." IMHO as long as mothers aren't brought into play (take that imagination) I am fine with a little trash talk. However I am not opposed to not trash talking when the recipient is not feeling
up to it. I must admit I maybe read one sentence of the above.

 

Thank you for the replies, guys! For those of you who didn't take the time to read the articles, you're missing out on a good read.

Some of you make good points, some of which I anticipated. For example, saying that players need to grow a thicker skin. I can partially agree with that sentiment. I think that a lot of players have to realize that yes, it is just a game and when someone
takes it seriously enough to start hurting other players' feelings, then the so-called victim needs to detach themselves from that situation and say to themselves "I play games to relax and have fun and will not allow an emotionally out of control person to
take control of that." However, it's more important for the attacking player to realize this. In life, many things need to be taken seriously - video games, however, are not one of them (unless, of course, you happen to be a professional gamer).

Some of you brought up the idea of real life taking precedent over gaming and that that is why many gamers quit early. It should be obvious that real life is more important than playing a game - that is an undeniable fact. When it comes to quitting early,
I personally don't mind if someone has to leave if something comes up such as needing to go to work or school, do homework or chores, or to spend time with friends and/or family. That stuff is important and should be seen as such. However, I think that the
person leaving the game needs to be courteous enough to take the few seconds of time to let the other players know that they are leaving and why. This way the other players aren't left in the dark wondering. For example, I eat dinner with my family every evening
to discuss the day's events. I tell my friends when I leave to do this every night and they've grown accustomed to it as a result.

As far as rage quitting goes, it is never okay for the reasons stated above - if you let your emotions get out of control over something that is supposed to be considered fun and/or a hobby, where else might you lose control of your emotions that might be
a more serious life-impacting moment? If you're not careful, losing yourself can cause you or someone else to end up hurt, in jail, or even dead.

For those of you who took the time to read my articles, I just wanted to say thank you for doing so and I sincerely hope that you take something from them and share the common sense knowledge I have expounded upon you with others as you keep it in mind.
For those of you who shared your opinions, I also would like to thank you for expanding upon the subject matter and broadening the other side of the issues that may not have been as present in the articles. For those of you who didn't read the articles, I
urge yet again to please do so. It only looks like a long read, but really isn't. Besides, if you're going to let something as simple as a few words on a page stop you, what else in life are you going to let stop you? If you have to, break it down into smaller
parts (I even separated the paragraphs for you).

I hope to hear more responses from others, so if you haven't yet participated in this discussion, please do so as everyone is welcome to do so.

 

IMO

Firstly you have to define competetive.....to me competitive games are leagues, ladders, inter clans, clan v clans, anything where both sides know they are playing for a goal agreed by each other before hand.

Public lobbies in objective team games are not competitive, and as such cannot have the same rules and regulations.

I also thing GG has glossed over the reasons why people play, there are a lot more reasons than that, and one persons fun, is another persons loath.

There are millions of levels of trash talk, from very personal to friendly banter, personally i think its down the education, theres a thing called a mute button, and the amount of people that seem to refuse to use it is truly astonishing, people seem to
think they have the right to talk to people online however they want and not have any consequences, the sad thing is, there are very little consequences, and very few companies willing to take a stand.

Rage quiting.......rage quiting is a term for ego's to feel good about themselves, anyone can quit when they like, it might surprise people but its a game, if I am in the park playing with my mates, I can leave when i want, if I am a board game with my
family, I can stop when I want.

A lot can be built into the game developement, eg if you don't quit games often be put with other people who don't quit often, if your verbally abusive in lobbies put them with other verbally abusive people in the lobby, build in effective ways to quit and
resign games, offer areas for more competitive type game play and design them properly.

TBH the topic is to complex to reply without some real thought and a lot of writing, but thats enough for now.

 

My thoughts on article one...The only time I trash talk is with close personal friends that I've known for years. The only time I don't mute "Trash Talkers" is if they are amusing.

Now on to article 2...It's a game, ONLY a game, and never rage quit/quit early (Unless one of life's necessities comes up.).

If you base your accomplishments/worth on a entertainment device, like some I've played with, you might need to re-evaluate your priorities.

Peace, J.R.

 

I don't see trash talk as inherently negative. Most of the time it is just friendly banter to poke a little fun at an opponent.

The problem is that an increasing amount of people seem to be having difficultly seeing the line where trash talk become abusive language.