Fun with hate mail

Recommended Videos

mirage202

New member
Mar 13, 2012
334
0
0
Eve hate mail best hate mail.

Just go blow up somebody in their shiny new cruiser or first battleship, the things that get said will keep you warm throughout winter.

Sadly I have no provable examples, my piracy days were before the mail system changed.
 

Kargathia

New member
Jul 16, 2009
1,657
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
I'm not a mod, I'm the managing editor. So most of the hate mail comes from me having opinions about games. Or just being female.
Oh don't worry: the mere act of existence seems to be sufficient to elicit hate mail.

OT: I'm no console gamer, so nobody uses to e-mail to declare their undying hate (or love, for that matter), but my somewhat unusual tactics in Shogun II have been getting me a bit of hate lately.

Makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

EDIT: just remembered. Single most hilarious instance of hate mail / chat.

Some WoW Guy said:
u are stupit
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
My old college roommate used to troll people on Halo 3 back in the day. It was good fun as most of the people deserved it. We had a very, very angry Hispanic man freak out on us during a game and he and my roommate started sending messages back and forth. It ended with my roommate telling him to, "mow my lawn" in Spanish.

I've gotten some over the years in different games, but I don't remember much of it. Most of the messages I would receive after a game were things like "GG" and what-not.
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
Boudica said:
Every single time I have played a shooter online (with random people) where a woman made her presence known (usually simply by saying something within the context of the game like, "help me cap this") they have been called out. Either bullied because women "don't belong here" or sexually harassed. When was the last time you saw someone bullied online because they were a man? I never have.
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
Boudica said:
Fappy said:
Boudica said:
Every single time I have played a shooter online (with random people) where a woman made her presence known (usually simply by saying something within the context of the game like, "help me cap this") they have been called out. Either bullied because women "don't belong here" or sexually harassed. When was the last time you saw someone bullied online because they were a man? I never have.
Are you sure that's not hyperbole?

You know, I just noticed, you're in the U.S. and Phasmal is in the UK. The people I play with are all Australian, as I only play on Australian servers to avoid lag. I wonder if the different online cultures is relevant here. Perhaps people on Australian servers are less inclined to act as you have described? That would explain why myself and my friends are never in that position.
It is quite possible. It also depends on the games and platform as well. I was speaking strictly from an online console FPS perspective. There are plenty of games I have played online where women don't face that kind of harassment.
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
Boudica said:
Fappy said:
Boudica said:
Fappy said:
Boudica said:
Every single time I have played a shooter online (with random people) where a woman made her presence known (usually simply by saying something within the context of the game like, "help me cap this") they have been called out. Either bullied because women "don't belong here" or sexually harassed. When was the last time you saw someone bullied online because they were a man? I never have.
Are you sure that's not hyperbole?

You know, I just noticed, you're in the U.S. and Phasmal is in the UK. The people I play with are all Australian, as I only play on Australian servers to avoid lag. I wonder if the different online cultures is relevant here. Perhaps people on Australian servers are less inclined to act as you have described? That would explain why myself and my friends are never in that position.
It is quite possible. It also depends on the games and platform as well. I was speaking strictly from an online console FPS perspective. There are plenty of games I have played online where women don't face that kind of harassment.
Console? Ah! That could also be it--I never play on the consoles, as my Xbox broke and my PS3... I just don't like much :p
My experience is also limited to roughly 4 years ago as I haven't really played any FPS' since then. My WoW days saw some sexism too, but it wasn't nearly as bad.
 

Charli

New member
Nov 23, 2008
3,445
0
0
Not going to even start. I'm a woman who at one time played FPS's and had a hand in managing a n MMO guild.

The math is obvious.

It's too depressing, I like moving on without remembering how strangers on the internet think I should be raped or die, or get back in the kitchen. I do have a thick skin, I just don't acknowledge them, so going BACK to them feels like a step backwards.


I'm now in a lovely guild, and I don't play FPS's anymore.
 

Lionsfan

I miss my old avatar
Jan 29, 2010
2,842
0
0
Boudica said:
Phasmal said:
Boudica said:
I don't really know what someone could be doing to garner the attention. Just a hypothesis. I remember in an episode of Law and Order: SVU (my second favourite show) a detective said that women that are raped, are twice as likely to be raped again by a different person, so something must be up. Her partner took offense and retorted, telling her she was blaming the victim. No, she said, but if some people are targeted more than others, there must be a common behaviour present among them.

Whether it's intentional or not, genuine or idiotic, something some women do must be the reason they are given so much more negative attention than others in the same situation. It could be something reasonable, like just being overly chatty and annoying others. Or it could be something silly, like their username. I'm pretty sure all the women reporting this problem aren't raging hooligans, going out of their way to be spammed. No doubt there's some people out there that just treat the opposite sex differently. If we could work out what the women do have in common, we could best devise a way to fix it ^^

You seem to be trying really hard to argue that it's gotta be our fault somehow, and that's just depressing. Nobody asks to be harrassed.
As I said before, I have been harrassed literally just because someone referred to the fact that I'm a woman. I was not even involved in that exchange, so I'm not sure how there was anything I could do.
I'm pretty sure I would 100% avoid harrassment if there were no people harrassing anyone.
No, mam. As I said, it's unlikely everyone being harassed is harassed because they deserve it (if that's even possible). But a certain aspect of their behaviour online is clearly the trigger, if you will, to the issues. For a silly and extreme, but simple example, imagine someone talking to their friends about their new car, when all of a sudden someone starts shouting insults at them because they hate cars. It's not the person's fault the angry person went off and they didn't deserve it, but their actions caused it.

I don't really believe simply being a woman is a good enough reason, because it doesn't explain why other women in the same situation never receive the attention. It seems fairly cliche to assume the sole motivation for the instigators is you being female, too. I don't particularly accept that women have it as rough in the community as some suggest. There's certainly evidence that seems to suggest girls are targeted, but with no one I've ever personally known having been the target of such attacks (friends, family, guild mates, etc.) it's hard for me to believe said evidence.

I'd also argue men have it worse than women, as I've seen and heard many guys insult, ridicule and otherwise bash other men. In fact, I'd be willing to bet at least half of the time spent in certain games, is backdropped by men bullying one another. Either there's much, much fewer women to explain the difference, or guys are assholes to guys more often than to girls. I've also known of many women getting special treatment because they're women. It's even spawned something of an internet cliche, with men playing female characters to "get free stuff."

Ultimately, while I have my share of issues with the gaming industry, all my personal experience and research rebuffs what I hear in forums like this. Again, leading me to wonder if my friends and I are doing or not doing something that's keeping us harassment free.
Hold on, your premise is that just because it (verbal abuse) doesn't happen everytime, then it can't be because they're female? You even say "But a certain aspect of their behaviour online is clearly the trigger, if you will, to the issues." and that online behavior is being a female. I agree with you that it seems cliche to say, "Oh I get abused because I'm female", but a lot of the time that is the case. Just because it hasn't happened to you or people you know personally doesn't mean it's not true.

And as for "men have it worse than woman", I'm going to have to go with Fappy, I've never heard a men get called out for simply existing like I've seen with woman
 

Sonic Doctor

Time Lord / Whack-A-Newbie!
Jan 9, 2010
3,042
0
0
Not really hate mail, but was playing Halo Reach big team battle and when the game started one of my team members kept shooting me and I ended up dying a couple times to the other team because of him. So I made it to where he got the last shot and team killed me, then I booted him. Then two of his buddies on the my team that apparently partied up with him, started attacking me in the same way, so I worked it so one of them killed me and I booted both of them too.

After that I got a message from the last one I booted, "So and so wants to play Halo Reach", obviously he was one of those Halo players that when you anger them, they want to do a one on one or one against the friends game "To show their superiority". I messaged back that "I didn't want to play with team killing ****tards", in Red vs Blue fashion, though I worded it a little nice so I didn't get reprimanded by Live.

There was one time I got verbally thrashed by a guy over the mic when playing Risk Factions. It was down to me and two other guys, and on my turn my strategy was to sweep the board in that turn to win. I picked the guy with the most cards to start off so that when I beat him I could turn in more cards for armies. When I attacked that guy, he started spouting off how I was a moron(in a more colorful way), how there was no reason to attack him, that the other guy had attacked me more, yada yada yada. He said he was going to laugh when I ended up loosing.

After I took him out, he stayed to watch and keep yelling on how stupid I was and he was going to love watching me lose. He finally stopped and left when I brought 88 armies down on the final guy's last territory that had 5 armies left. I obviously won and the final guy set me a message congratulating me.

Susan Arendt said:
I don't have to play online to get hate mail, I get loads of it for doing my job here.
Keep up the great work. My favorite thing is when you go on your tell it like it is rants in the podcasts.

It is weird, but when you do that, I imagine it as something like the scene from The Raiders of the Lost Ark, except you're talking and all the haters faces are melting away because they can't handle the awesome truths.
 

Fijiman

I am THE PANTS!
Legacy
Dec 1, 2011
16,509
0
1
I don't get a lot of hate mail so I don't really remember much of the few messages I have received.
 

sethisjimmy

New member
May 22, 2009
601
0
0
I remember the very first time I played halo 3, it was a swords match, and (obviously) I got destroyed. Then I get this message. The #1 ranked guy in the game sent messages to everyone else in the game saying how trash they were and how they should quit the game and whatnot. I mean damn, this was the first match I had ever played! That to me is the very definition of "sore-winner".

Also my Xbox Live rep is pretty abysmal. Something like 70% avoided me, with the largest factor being that I quit games before they're over. Meh.
 

Girl With One Eye

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Jun 2, 2010
1,528
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
I don't have to play online to get hate mail, I get loads of it for doing my job here.
That sucks, I'm sure the majority of people on here (including me) think that you are doing an awesome job :D

But yeah being a woman and playing online don't mix well.

The usual messages include:

"Are you a girl?"
"Are you hot?"
"Are you single"
"Is your boyfriend playing for you?"
"I will rape you"

......yeah
 

Rastien

Pro Misinformationalist
Jun 22, 2011
1,221
0
0
Whilst i can't compare to the shit you get for being female and gaming :(

I do get alot of abuse just more of the death threat kind or claiming i'm noob for using a certain item/weapon/armour.

My usual response is:

"you seem angry?, upset?, are you... whats the word"

Pause for dramatic effect.

"so what your saying is you mad bro?"

Or my personal favourite

"Don't be mad cos im stylin on you"

This usually just makes the other person flip their shit because:

What the fuck does it mean to style on someone? and they get more mad about this as they don't understand.

Should further insults come apply the following statement:

"Man even my nan has more style than you and she old."

If a torrent of insults follows this? mission accomplished leave the game with your head held high. Not only did you school someone but they got so mad at your childish combacks they esploded.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Sonic Doctor said:
Susan Arendt said:
I don't have to play online to get hate mail, I get loads of it for doing my job here.
Keep up the great work. My favorite thing is when you go on your tell it like it is rants in the podcasts.

It is weird, but when you do that, I imagine it as something like the scene from The Raiders of the Lost Ark, except you're talking and all the haters faces are melting away because they can't handle the awesome truths.
Thank you! I get quite a bit of hate mail for the podcast, yep. Some people really, really cannot handle a woman speaking her mind. Even about silly stuff like movies and videogame characters.
 

McMullen

New member
Mar 9, 2010
1,334
0
0
Sp3ratus said:
Susan Arendt said:
I don't have to play online to get hate mail, I get loads of it for doing my job here.
Really? I can't believe that people are:
a)taking stuff on here seriously enough to actually write hate mail
and
b)not being smart enough not to spew whatever BS they're spewing at mods.

Actually scrath that last one. I'm in customer service, so I know how vile people can be over even trivial things. I'd assume most of the hate mail you're getting is from people who've been banned and/or gotten a warning and stuff, right?

EDIT: And like the others, I of course appreciate the work you do in keeping the place tidy.
She's not kidding. I once got a warning for doing something I didn't actually do. In my appeal I was not very kind to them, suggesting that perhaps the reason the Escapist was having financial problems was because the people running the business and the site didn't know what they're doing or how to do it.

They thanked me for being so civil. I replied that if that was what they considered civil, they had my sympathies.