Observation Paper Revision

If you spend any time online interacting with strangers, you know that they can be rude and uncouth with little to provoke them, and for what seems like no reason at all. Or worse, people will be say things they know are morally, and socially unacceptable for the purpose of getting an outraged reaction out of others. I consider myself an “online junkie” and I have from time to time been guilty of unforeseen outbursts on the Internet. I know that the majority of Internet users are at least guilty of the same actions as me, albeit they are usually unintentional. I feel confident in saying that almost everyone on the Internet has encountered moral and socially unacceptable behavior at least once in their online experience. All rules of civility and respect seem to have no solid ground on the Internet. The Internet is a refuge from a world where one is held accountable for the things one says and does. I've seen housewives, parents, pet owners, doctors, lawyers, students – the list can go on forever – loose their dignity over text on a screen. I've heard grown adults screaming into their expensive, and sensitive, microphones over an intangible object in a video game.
There are of course, exceptions to the seemingly unspoken rule of anarchy on the World Wide Web. People have incriminated themselves through social networking mediums, such as Facebook. These occurrences have resulted in losses of anything from jobs to marriages. Some lucky contenders manage to land themselves a stint in their friendly-neighboorhood correctional facility. But usually people can say the most vile things –- like racial slurs – without ever having to face the consequences – an angry mob consisting of the offended.
One group of online users who are interesting to observe in this light are the online gaming community at large. Gaming communities are a little different, and I stress the use of the word “little”. I find that most of the time, the mature adults who like to indulge in online gaming are pretty civil. I believe that this is because in lots of popular online games, players tend to create a virtual representation of themselves through a character. The more time the player invests in the game, the more invested they become in their virtual representation. When one has invested years into a game, one tends to avoid the type of behavior that would get him or her undesirable consequences of reckless behavior. For example, it is common for players who violate Terms of Service (TOS) agreements to have their characters banned from the game. However, not all online gaming services guarantee protection from reckless behavior of players through a TOS agreement.
One example of a popular online gaming service that is more than a little lax on enforcing their TOS is Microsoft’s Xbox Live. This service allows Xbox gamers to connect online and play their favorite games with or against their friends and strangers. Xbox Live is for many different kinds of gamers, from the casual gamers, to the competitive gamers who end up playing games much more like a sport than a hobby. Microsoft rarely bans anyone for social misconduct; they only ban for cheating and hacking. Instead they place the burden of conduct supervision on the gamers. They accomplish this through a system designed to allow players to rate the people they play with as being good or bad players. You can avoid other gamers, or prefer other gamers, but this has no real consequence to the person being rated (outside their interactions with you). Even the most offensive gamers can continue gaming to their heart’s content all while spewing offensive, misogynistic, racial, hateful, and ignorant slurs to anyone they encounter. Even after being rated negatively. This also leads to some shocking, but amusingly offensive gamer tags.
Gamer tags are the handles in which gamers go by on Xbox Live. Think of it as your Xbox Live name. You can some times anticipate an unsavory gamer by their gamer tag. If you find yourself starting a match with someone by the gamer tag of “xxGreasyballsxx” , it is safe to assume you have a potential hooligan in your presence. The “x” in front of the name typically indicates that this person was not the first to think that “Greasyballs” would be an appropriate gamer tag.
In my time on Xbox Live I have tried to reason with these virtual delinquents only to receive unsavory results. One such occasion took place upon my breaching the subject one day, with one rather rowdy young man on Xbox Live. In response to my efforts at communication, he retaliated with a comment about my mother! My mother! Stooping to their level doesn't seem to phase them either. During one match one young woman relentlessly called me racial slur after racial slur, I lost my temper, and found myself without any control over my actions. I told her she sounded like a cow! To which she replied I sounded like a “fat negro.”. The temerity!
Another fallacy of social conduct that one may expect on Xbox Live is the concept sportsmanship. Your teammates can, and will, betray you at any moment allowing the other team to win! I have been shot at by a teammate because they did not appreciate my appearance. I have also been shot at because I found a shotgun, and my teammate wanted it for himself! These instances are not uncommon and
I have decided that the Internet as a whole is no place for any person who requires a sense of social decorum at all times. Xbox live is certainly a reflection of this assertion. In the end, it comes down to two options. Play with friends and family whom you trust, or be prepared to face the wrath of the Internet.