People are mean on the Internet.
We can go into the psychology of it – they don’t see other people as people, they don’t grasp that teamwork means taking your teammates’ weaknesses into account, and so on – but basically it boils down to the fact that some people are callous, unsympathetic, etc. to people they’ve never met in person.
This is a fact that extends beyond online gaming or even being online. It is an artifact of how our brains are wired (“Help the tribe first, above strangers”) which, while helpful thousands of years ago, is maladaptive now.
What I’m getting at is – this is a problem that a single gaming community can never truly fix, because it is endemic in man. Man’s inhumanity to man has been the subject of plays, books, poetry, etc. for thousands of years. Admins can ban those who display a magnificent lack of empathy, but in the foreseeable future, there will always be those people. It sucks, but you have to learn to not let them get to you.
Comments (6)
Tell me about it. About a year ago I had a total stranger troll me on about eight different blogging and/or literary review systems. On the internet people will take abvantage of anonimity and distance to unlease venom onto others they would fear to say “boo” to face to face.
well said.
I agree completely.
I read a random tidbit about how you got to water the flowers and not the weeds in life. In other words where you spend your attention- be it for the crap in life or the good in life. Other times when I am haunted or plagued by bad memories of other things and people I tell myself not to “rape” myself with bad stuff. Because I imagine thats how it is, in our thoughts sometimes… the bad things can run us over for hours if not years after the initial insult. Sometimes I have moments when I do better and I dont dwell. Other times its a struggle.
I see you are still using Xanga, since 2004. Maybe one day I will use mine again. I agree that there are mean people on the Internet. My web host was very kind in letting people have free hosting, yet people abuse this privilege and are mean to her. Now there are no more free hosting for new applicants. Well, that’s not the reason why, but she pays more than she makes when it comes to web hosting.
@midori_hitomi - Sorry to hear about your web host. The problem is common enough that economists refer to it as “the tragedy of the Commons.”
@theladyofabundance - Yup; accentuate the positive.
@consignedhearts111 - @QwkSylver - Thank you.
@darkoozeripple - “An armed society is a polite society.” The reverse is also true.