When I was in undergrad (which seems like a decade ago), I discovered online gaming. I had been planning to buy an Xbox 360 for a long time, but I could never muster up the funds to purchase one. I won a few mall gift cards in a raffle, and a few weeks later I went to purchase it. I signed up for an Xbox Live account and began to share a slew of Social Slayer Matches on Halo 3 with my suitemate. Sometimes, we would play until the wee hours of the morning against each other and then against others around the world.
I was deeply into the trash talking, and almost fully submersed in the online world of Halo 3, but I began to pull back after an ‘incident’. I was playing a match with a group of guys who sounded like they were younger than fifteen. Of course, I didn’t care because I was giving directions for where my team should set up a distraction since I saw an opening for a sneak attack.
Anyway, I was working with five other players. I had not been listening to the conversation my teammates were having, but I can say that it was something that I wouldn’t have cared about. The next thing I knew, I was in complete shock as I played the game. A word was floated into the conversation… no… it wasn’t floated. It was flung into the conversation as if it was the new thing to say to keep the talk going. The dreaded N-word was dropped in reference to what race of people the kid hated. He said, and I quote, “I hate n*****s. Are you a n*****? Well, if you’re not, then I don’t hate you.”
Again, I was shocked. In my day-to-day life, I am aware of racism, but it’s always in the back of my mind. These instances are so far and between for me that when they happen, I nearly shut down because my brain overloads when I try to think of how I should react. Should I say something? Stand up for myself? How do you handle racism like the issue it is?
Needless to say, I kept my distance from Xbox Live for a bit, but not before I committed a few betrayals on the kid who was dropping the N-word like Fox drops enjoyable television shows. For the next few days after that, I went into my head and thought of ways to react to this. Initially, I was going to leave the kid a message telling him how offended I was and how he is so ignorant to how hurtful and degrading the word is.
My ancestors and predecessors; activists, freedom fighters, and all of the above pushed forward and fought inequality so that I could work in the same place as a person with a lighter complexion than mine. I have to say that it’s an honor to be able to walk down the street and not be mauled by a police dog for being black. And as those images of the open racism of the past ran through my head, an interesting thought came to mind. The world has changed a lot in the passed sixty years, but will prejudice (racial, sexual, etc) ever go away?
A lot of gamers online are overly obnoxious, immature, and overall offensive to their fellow human beings because that’s just it; online. A gamer can say whatever they want without any real ramifications, and it’s comforting to be able to air their prejudices on the air, so to speak. In a group of eight to sixteen players, I constantly find myself in a cesspool of offensive language and derogatory comments.
And because players can say or do anything they want, it encourages others to do the same. It also poses a dilemma to others that may not be offended, but want to defend someone else’s honor. Should they say something? At some point during a conversation mid-game, someone will say that they hate African Americans or some other ethnicity. It’s gotten to the point where I put my entire team on mute just so I can enjoy the game.
I understand that it’s a free world out there, and that when you’re online, you feel free to say or do whatever. Who can stop you? The video game alone is a fantasy world in itself. While some may be based on Earth, it goes without saying that they are alternate realities where things exist because certain situations occurred in the past that led to the future. In terms of Halo, it’s a science fiction game set over five hundred years into the future… come on people! We’ve got plenty of time to develop warp drive tech!
Right now, I’m ranting, but I feel as though I deserve to. I come online to play a nice game and enjoy some soldierly camaraderie, and there is that one player present that is over-the-top obnoxious. Can I have a decent online gaming experience without having to mute my team? I think only time will tell. Play on!
~V
