“Nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel.” – Ivan Turgenev
Gaming has a reputation. Some call it racist—the racial slurs one hears on Xbox Live would serve to reinforce this claim. Others call it misogynist—be a woman in a video game online, and expect boys to hit on you, harass you, or otherwise attack your skill at the game you’re playing by shaming your gender. “Go back to the kitchen,” they say, as if there were originality in that most loathsome combination of words.
I reflect back on my experience in World of Warcraft, in which I partnered up with my friend Jessica. For good or ill, I was privy to near everything she experienced. Like many other openly female gamers, she faced a constant barrage of friend requests, gifts, and group invites from guys. I dislike to play on stereotypes, but I can only assume that the guys were horny and desperate for female attention, for I received not even half the amount of attention lavished onto her. If I sound bitter, I assure you I am not. I reflect upon the experience with some amusement.
In those occasions when she had the temerity to lead the raiding group, some players—the guys, not the girls—would find fault with her charge regardless of the success it brought us. “Bitch,” they’d call her, “I’ve done this raid a thousand times.” They would henceforth proceed to throw themselves into the fray like parodies of Leroy Jenkins and get themselves killed, ill-prepared for the challenges that lay ahead of us. She was a priest, and she penalized their behavior by refusing to buff, heal, or otherwise save their lives. It was one way to teach them. Some of them learned to behave. Those who didn’t, quit.
Instead of bemoaning the irrationality and immaturity of those players, my friend took the situation into her own hands and dealt with it as best she could. She could not wait for them to grow up—and neither should we.
There is little point in bemoaning their actions. We can either pity ourselves and regret that our culture is poorly perceived by the world at large, or we can do something about it. Following Jessica’s example, we have to punish their behavior when we’re in the position to do so, but it wouldn’t be prudent for us to wait for them to change who they are. That’s not going to happen.
By and large, immature gamers represent our hobby because of how loud-mouthed they happen to be. They do it with impunity. Many of us prefer to seclude ourselves in enclaves, free from harassment—we tell ourselves—while they, like Saxons, run amok and shape video game culture.
It may be painful to admit, but these gamers—the unhinged many—are a force of nature. Like the Turgenev quote, it’s plain to see that there is no reasoning with nature. Our human logic does not apply. So what can we do about them? We must outmatch and overpower them, like Charlemagne against the barbarian hordes—and provide a civilization for those who would be civilized.
Barring that, we could always give up and let them destroy what little we have.
