Poll: Poor Sportsmanship in Online Gaming. How much of a problem is it?

[The Abhorrent]

Just something I've been noticing whenever I participate in online multiplayer games, especially those with competitive angle to them. Many, if not most, of the player lack sportsmanship. Sure, you're bound to have a few bad apples (vocal ones too) no matter where you go... but the prevalence of players who don't treat their opponents nor their teammates with any amount of respect is worrying. I understand full well that the internet isn't a place where people are generally nice, but I'm just thinking that online gaming could greatly benefit from people at least trying to be more sportsman-like; the games could be a lot more fun if people just made that little bit of effort needed.

This isn't to say players should cease to be competitive; you can look at many examples in professional sports where the players are doing everything they can to win, but as soon as the game's over they shake the hands of the players on the opposing team. Everyone plays to win, but they do so fairly (no cheating nor using otherwise cheap tactics/strategies) and don't sweat it if they lost. In essence, they follow the phrase "May the best man win" (no offense to the ladies, the principle should be treated as gender-neutral anyhow). In some sports players don't just frown upon unsportsmans-like conduct, but actively punish it; if you do something bad to a player on the other team, the rest of that team (if not your own as well) will do worse to you. Sports fan(atic)s get pretty viscious and unruly, but the players (generally) conduct themselves in a decent manner.

How much better would online gaming be if the players stopping acting like the unruly fans and more like the professional players?

 

[Leviathan_]

It's bad, but not to the extent that it's a major issue.

Yes it would be better if everyone was nice and if everything was just in good fun. But nothing is perfect, that's just how it is.

Just grow thicker skin and deal with it, I guess.

 

[lobster1077]

It would spoil the fun a little bit, for me at least. I really enjoy beating wastrels online, them having taunted every player in the game.

 

[btenkink]

I would add to this by saying it really depends on the game. Though even then the ones which are the worst for lack of sportsmanship are the ones in which you depend on your teammates.
EXAMPLES:
Halo is fun right up until you put the headset on and have to listen to your opponents/teammates.
League of Legends/DOTA is notorious for ragequitters and teammates who feed the other team just to throw the game.

The first (Halo) I can put up with cuz it's just ten-year-olds on a mic, but when teammates throw the game just cuz somebody said something about their mothers, where does that get fun?

 

[The Abhorrent]

Yes it would be better if everyone was nice and if everything was just in good fun. But nothing is perfect, that's just how it is.

Just grow thicker skin and deal with it, I guess.

I can understand that viewpoint, and believe me I've tried to simply ignore it. It's just that I've grown tired (after several years) of being one of the very few people who at least tries to be respectful; to be the only remotely mature person in a crowd of selfish & whiny brats will get to anyone eventually.

Besides, if the issue is never mentioned... how can anyone expect it to ever be solved?

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

it can't be sportsmanship if it's not a fucking sport

enforcing good behaviour on a hobby is going too far

 

[Legion]

It's bad, but not to the extent that it's a major issue.

Yes it would be better if everyone was nice and if everything was just in good fun. But nothing is perfect, that's just how it is.

Just grow thicker skin and deal with it, I guess.

This.

People are arseholes if they can get away with it. You can't stop them and it'd be nice if they weren't but you just have to mute them and deal with it.

If their behaviour is game related and not chat related then ignore them if possible or find a new match to play in.

Besides, if the issue is never mentioned... how can anyone expect it to ever be solved?

It cannot be solved, you cannot change human nature.

Literally the only way you could stop it is if people were not anonymous online, and that's not going to happen, not for a while yet, if at all.

it can't be sportsmanship if it's not a fucking sport

enforcing good behaviour on a hobby is going too far

It's a phrase. The OP just means people should be polite and play fair, rather than being arseholes. That's not too much to ask really.

 

[Custard_Angel]

I've seen the ragers in every single game I've ever played online.

It's not a problem, because its hardly a new thin and the online gaming community has grown massively since its inception despite these apparent issues.

 

[Rock Beefchest]

I keep seeing threads like this, but in my experiences online even in games that are notorious online for bad conduct, COD and Halo and the like, I have not seen a problem. Sure there is the occasional bad actor, but on the whole I have had very few bad experiences. I think this is more of a self fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias. People think that the problem is overly abundant even rampant and so when they see an example it sticks out in the mind. Then the times when the perceived behavior is not present are not noticed. Over time it seems that only the bad events are present.

 

[CainOfNod]

All in all, I find poor behaviour simply frustrating. In certain games i.e. Left 4 Dead, an untimely rage-quit will ruin the game balance. I applaud the Valve team for their addition of the ability to kick players from your own team, as well as the inclusion of a handful of other majority mandated 'votes' to address similar issues. These voting mechanisms have added a great deal to address in-game issues of grieffing, rage-quits and TKers.

 

[Hop-along Nussbaum]

Depends on a lot of issues. The game, the platform, the size of the community, etc.

This generally happens is when adults are forced to game with 12 year olds, or people who act like 12 year olds.

 

[Sikachu]

you can look at many examples in professional sports where the players are doing everything they can to win, but as soon as the game's over they shake the hands of the players on the opposing team. Everyone plays to win, but they do so fairly (no cheating nor using otherwise cheap tactics/strategies) and don't sweat it if they lost.

I nearly fell off my chair laughing at this comment (last sentence in particular). Yeah they shake hands but that's just lip service. Cheating is rife in every highly professional sport, you clearly aren't a sports fan (e.g. football - diving, 'reducer' tackles, time-wasting, play-acting, exaggerating injury, all the tricks for conning the ref).

OT, I play CSS so I suspect I'm at the forefront of this kind of behaviour, and honestly? I couldn't give less of a shit. If someone behaves like that I'll get on the mic and take the piss out of them for being a pussy for not winning properly, but other than that I don't care. Everyone plays the game like they want to, and if I don't like, I can always leave. If I conduct myself 'properly' and have fun playing, I couldn't care less about anyone else.

(example: in gungame (more or less the only kind of public CS I'll play) often you get an opportunity for a knife battle at the end if it is one-on-one (you both vote yes and then health is restarted). Knives do 55 (of 100) damage so it usually takes two to kill, unless someone's been wounded. Sometime, the other remaining player will kill me with his knife knowing that he's got 2 hits of damage and I've only got one instead of accepting the knife fight and playing honourably (my opinion), and when this happens I don't get mad, I just point out his cowardice).

EDIT: Oh yeah, probably helps that I don't play games with the moronic 'modern' matchmaking systems.

 

[MetalMaz]

It can be annoying, but I usually find it hilarious. When I play I don't care if I win or lose, I play because I enjoy it (although I do prefer to win, obviously) so I find it funny as hell when people scream or cry at the end of a match.
I love being in a game lobby where some fool starts spouting off 'your momma/you suck/gonna own you/noob' remarks, and then gets slaughtered in the match. It's even funnier when they carry on afterwards too. If it gets too much you can mute them, but its fun to turn on the mic and wind them up them with a few witty remarks.

 

[larysalove]

I got it pretty bad when I started playing by myself being that a) I'm a girl and b) I was awful. I just tuned them out or played with my friends in parties. So I guess if you can't handle the talk, sit in a party by yourself if you have to or mute the mean ones.

I think the vast majority just want to play the game, but no matter what you do you're going to run into a jerk somewhere.

 

[Spinwhiz]

If I was ever a poor sport or even showed a minor bit of poor sportsmanship when playing sports growing up, my coach would have made me run sprints until I puked or I would have heard about it from my parents, which is worse. I don't think either of these things are currently available in online gaming.

I would also like to add this link which has to do with manners everyone should be taught before they are 9. Goes along with sportsmanship and lack of manners in general: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/25-manners-every-kid-should-know-by-age-9-2480238

 

[The_Night_Walker]

It could be easily resolved by making quitting painful for the quitters, if you quit you should have two losses added and be frozen out from playing online on the game for 20 mins, would make them think twice before quitting out of Fifa in the 85th minute at 2-0 down.

 

[Spygon]

It is not too bad but its starting to come up more often that is a shame i am more worried that compaines arent trying o cub this attitude they actaully supporting it.I am sure some games leave cheap tactics/weapons in so they have more people playing it.

Yes so am concerned but the problem is your playing with how many people and with anonmity of online gaming some players go well "i dont give a shit i want to win screw everybody else"

So i always try to play fair and punish people who dont but i feel i am in the rarity these days.Nut it will always be the fps that suffer mostly from it as they have most players on the same match and people can easily find ways to exploit games.In a perfect world things would be fair and they would be cheap options to use in games sadly thou we dont live in a perfect world

 

[Unorthodoxx]

I never really had a problem with this...But I will say that the PC lobby for Mw2 is a cesspool of idiocy. If people want to rage then let them rage, its just a game and the scores you rack up shouldn't be that important. We have to remember that we play games to let off stress and actually enjoy ourselves, or at least thats why I play.

At any rate, he who cries hacker is always the first one to leave.

 

[The Abhorrent]

I nearly fell off my chair laughing at this comment (last sentence in particular). Yeah they shake hands but that's just lip service. Cheating is rife in every highly professional sport, you clearly aren't a sports fan (e.g. football - diving, 'reducer' tackles, time-wasting, play-acting, exaggerating injury, all the tricks for conning the ref).

I'm certainly not a spectator of sports (I'd rather play them than watch them), and I'm aware that many professional sports can involve cheating. Still, there's at least one stand-out in the realm of professional sports where cheating isn't treated kindly: hockey. It's by no means a gentle sport, but feigning injury isn't something people get away with. If someone's hurt, but can still move, they'll get themselves off the ice. If a player's hurt badly, they don't move at all. A dirty body-check is will result in the other team being out to get you, which may involve throwing down the gloves. The players are respectful (most of them are Canadian, which might explain it), and it's an unwritten rule that they act that way. It's hardly surprising when one team says the other should've won; the opposition played better and they just got lucky. It's sad to think that many other professional sports no longer have a similar degree of sportsmanship in their ranks.

Maybe I've made the mistake of thinking how hockey players conduct themselves is the norm for all professional sports; nevertheless, it's the type of behaviour which would benefit any sport and online gaming.