We all hate the drones of Cheetos-munching adolescents that fester the world of online gaming.
Our ears still bleed from their never-ending flurry of uneducated homophobic and racial slurs that fill our headsets. For this is the battle cry of these prepubescent banshees, as they once again “no scope” your “gay face” and promptly sexually violate your digital corpse.
The ever-growing horde of immature, prepubescent teenage gamers, fueled by the anonymity of online services like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, continues to be one of gaming’s most heavily publicized and unavoidable pimple-faced blemishes.
But that does not mean you should go over to their houses and physically attack the kids for being annoying in a round of “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” especially if you’re a grown adult well into middle-age.
Mark Bradford, 46, never quite grasped that last part. The jobless father of three stood before a United Kingdom court late last week, after hunting down and choking a 13-year old neighbor after the latter had beat Bradford in “Call of Duty” and followed the victory up with extended gloating, according to UK newspaper The Daily Mail.
"He went on and on and I just lost it. I hold my hands up; I lost the plot. In a moment of madness I went round to his house. I didn't know what I was going to do," said Bradford, according to CBS News. He further noted it “wasn’t malice,” and he has since apologized to the child, and they have even gone as far to play online together once again.
There are really two ways to react to this event.
One is to take the position the vast majority of people would, with disgust and revolt.
“It’s pathetic that a grown man would attack a defenseless child like this,” said the mother of the attacked boy, according to the Daily Mirror.
The other way is to take the stance of someone who has been through the online trenches. It is to react with the post-traumatic stress disorder inflicted by volleys of vicious homophobic, sexist and racial slurs. It is desire for the rush Bradford must have felt, finally getting back at the high-pitched, wretched voice of homophobia and taunting that has tormented you and so many others atop a spoiled throne for far too long.
“But only Mark Bradford had the sheer will and determination to find this punk's address, get in his car and pour that little asshole a refreshing Choke-a-Cola,” wrote Justin McElroy of gaming blog Joystiq.
As an online gamer myself, I am fully aware of how tempting it is to take this stance.
Uneducated, socially underdeveloped kids spouting off homophobic and racial slurs they do not fully understand the meaning or context of, while playing video games featuring content way beyond their maturity or comprehension level, is a recipe for disaster, frustration and a lot of awkward high school years.
It gives the video game community a horrible image, one of stereotypical “geekdom,” that we’ve been trying to distance ourselves from since the ‘80s.
Yet, is the image of a community of reactionary adults, who “lose it” and attack children over virtual trifles any better?
I’m going to out on a limb here and say no.
Reach the columnist at dsydiong@asu.edu
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