Sportsmanship in Games

[Epidemiix]

Now as the title suggests I would like to talk a little about the sportsmanship in games, or lack thereof. I am going to try not to use sweeping generalizations that "all games are unsportsmanlike". I know that I am going to use them so sorry about that.

What I am going to try is to have a little information about the topic, have a nice discussion about it, and have a little story(or more) to go with it. All good?

Good!

Don't worry here's a TL;DR :

Gaming seems to have a lack of sportsmanship, online and offline. Why do you think that is true? Why do you think that it is untrue? How do you think that it can change?
And if you have any experiences tell them!



And here's the "long version that I will type out because I can" one:

As online gaming or just regular LAN gaming takes off in popularity, on thing that I noticed is some professional players not really demonstrating good sportsmanship to one another. From the team trash talking the other team, to calling the other team a joke and partying the day before the game because you knew you were going to beat them, and finally to just general disrespect for your opponent. This has been shown many different times in online gaming also.

Want an example of this? The phrase GG has been transformed over time from a term meaning "hey that was a great game, good job!" to "games over, you lost" or worse (GG scrub. GG noob, etc.). Or terms like "GG no re" or "GG ez game" that show a complete disrespect of the game played. In some games after killing a person once or winning one round of many, some players After having one big play in a game that may have no effect over winning does not warrant a GG or that the game is over.

Again, not everyone who uses GG means the harshest one. I know many people that usually mean it when they say it.(I just type good game or great game) Maybe it is just because of the games that I play (*cough* Dota has the worst community *cough*) but it seems as though that it is just excepted that this is what happens. Being a complete jerk to someone over winning a game is not "expected" of the players.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Since playing Tribes: Ascend I come across the odd dick, whether it's some high ranker getting frustrated at his team for losing (luck of the draw, sometimes all the good players go for Blood Eagle) or sore winners, who insist on rubbing it in your face. But for the most part there's lost of compliments when someone takes an enemy out in a sweet way, usually by said deceased enemy!

I understand that games with a broader audience (trying not to specifically say 'Call of Duty' here) are more likely to have a bigger percentage of assholes and sore losers/winners ratio.

 

[Epidemiix]

I would hope that it seems more prevalent in games just because of a higher numbers of people. What really gets to me is the cycle that also often happens because of the disrespect of the people playing the game.

We can use the example of Dota or any other Moba game. They all seem to have terrible communities with no sportsmanship, and newer people that join into them either leave or say to themselves "well this is what everyone else is doing, I might as well do it also!" And the non-sportmanship (new word!) taht is also perpetuated by the way that the professional players of those games act during their games.

 

[HarryScull]

depends on the game, in games with large community's, especially ones were bad players are catered for like MW3 people are assholes, and although in small community's like RTW its still a problem although its not as prevalent, people know that if you are a straight up asshole you will be community blocked and if you find a player on your skill level they will happily play re-matches with you and allot of the time people will chat with you about the game and strategy and how you couldve done this better or that better. Most of the behavior is toned down, for example when someone is a sore loser they will normally just rage quit or say "GG i would've won but (insert bullshit excuse here)"

on FPS games i get this
derp: "FUCK U, U CAMPING DOUCHE BAG 1V1 U HAVE NO SKILL, NO LIFE U SUCK"
me: (troll mode engage) ok 1v1
after afew minutes if me humiliating derp
derp: FUCK U, U STILL SUCK COCK ****** 1V1 DONT PROVE SHIT I WILL MEET YOU IRL AND FUCK U UP U NIGGA PRICK JEW FAG"
me: /blocked

 

[GlorySeeker]

Yeah. I play alot of League of legends, and team mates, and the opponents will sooner crucify you for an error, rather than discuss it. Trash talking is a part of gaming, to a degree. I mean, getting under an adversaries skin can be a part of a strategy, but alot of people are just dicks. Id love to see a more polite gaming community, but with a still competitive attitude, especially for games such as LoL.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I think you will find there is plenty of sportsmanship in games however there are two accumulating effects that will always lead you to believe otherwise:
- people are generally 10x more dickish when anonymous
- you notice dicks 100x more then anyone else

Last game I played was World of Tanks and that community is 98% of extremely pleasant and helpful people, but the comments that always stick with me are the 2% of childish hate spewing.
Same goes for LAN parties, there are so many friendly people who want nothing more then a good time, but then there is always that one guy that inspires hate in everyone.

But I'll give you that gaming has one of the worst communities, it's competitive, anonymous, and because gaming is still considered childish such behavior is generally accepted and worse yet passed on to the younger players.

 

[pure.Wasted]

Not that I disagree - I don't - and not that I don't wish it were otherwise - I do - but the simple truth is that sportsmanlike behaviour requires something remotely resembling a sport. When you're out there playing in the muck, busting your ass off, and you can see that the other team is trying just as hard, it's a lot easier to feel like these are human beings who deserve your respect. If not respect, at least they don't deserve your hate.

Playing in complete isolation reduces people to their interaction with you. When that interaction brings you frustration, it's easy enough to imagine them as being complete douchebags who get off on ruining your day. And most of the time that's just not true... but by then you've already cussed them out, or they've cussed you out, and the time for civility is long gone.

If you want to play a game that's different, check out SC2. If you want to talk about how we can change gaming to make it a less hostile environment, I don't have any suggestions, but I'll eagerly listen.

P.S. I play without a mic/headset. In all my years with MF2 and BF3, I think I've been on the receiving end of verbal abuse... two times? Three? Maybe XBL is a different environment, maybe Halo brings out the 12 year olds more, but I find that staying out of trouble keeps trouble from finding me.

 

[BeerTent]

I've noticed a trend...

There's two different type of shooters... Thoughtful shooters, and twitch shooters.

Twitchy shooters have become DoDS, CSS, APB:R, CoD(fish), and Battlefield. Roughly 90% of games that have regenerative health, because the object of a regenerative health shooter is not to whittle and defeat your opponent, it is purely to "catch your opponent with his pants down"

Thoughtful shooters are games which require you to have a little more than dick-lock reflexes. Sure, reflexes will help you in Killing Floor, Left4Dead, Sanctum, Team Fortress, Natural Selection... But these games are about team-work, not kills. About working together.

Now... After downing 6 or 7 Monster energy drinks, how much better do you think you are at a Thoughtful shooter? What about a twitchy shooter?

These non-sportsmanlike wanks are this way because they truly believe that they are the shit. Quite frankly, because they see over and over, "Your doing great!" for doing so little as a snap-click. And for some vindictive reason which is billions of miles beyond me, they have absolutely no respect for "the lesser" players under them. But there's a catch, because if you give these people any other task than "twitch click," their skills are utterly worthless. It pisses them off, so these people gotta take it out on someone.

Either that, or these people are 6 years old and haven't learned how to communicate with others yet.

I dunno, that was ranty. It just blows my mind that people act this way, online, and offline. IMO, it's just a few steps below splashing someone on the side of the road. Back in my day, GG actually fucking meant "You guys did good." It used to be you got that in random games, now you don't even get it in clan vs clan matches. And this is primarily why I'm not in a clan anymore.

 

[Jodah]

Has to do with the GIFT. In sports there is accountability because the other player is across the field/table/whatever from you. So, in theory, they can smack you in the puss. Across the series of tubes that is the internet? Not so much. No accountability = no rules.

 

[Hemlet]

From my experience, sportsmanship in games with an online component depends almost entirely on the type of community that each game draws. Certain shooters that we all know about and shall remain unnamed are hyper competitive and thus demand a certain mindset of its community (win or you suck). A lot of MMO's require that you be adequately prepared for whatever an encounter may throw at you in an area, and what is considered "adequate" is often determined by the community of that MMO, be the encounter PvP or PvE.

A great example I've found of sportsmanship in games is from the community in Dark Souls. For those unfamiliar with the game, if you're currently human (as opposed to being Hollow) you can summon other players into your world if they've placed down a summon symbol in their world. These players gain humanity (a valuable resource) and souls (XP+Currency) if they help you defeat the area boss. The downside to this is while you're human you can also be invaded. To be invaded is to have a player force their way into your world from theirs so that they can attempt to murder your sorry ass. If they succeed they get humanity and souls.

The thing about invaders is that the vast majority of them understand that what they're doing is inherently dickish. Now, certain circumstances aside, it's not a matter of them being strictly out to ruin your day, but rather they just want some PvP or they feel like PvP is the best way to obtain humanity and souls for whatever they need. This is why that whenever I've been invaded, I've found that the person invading will actually stop upon seeing me and bow before attacking. Kind of like saying "sorry, nothing personal, but I need your shit".

 

[arnoldthebird]

Has to do with the GIFT. In sports there is accountability because the other player is across the field/table/whatever from you. So, in theory, they can smack you in the puss. Across the series of tubes that is the internet? Not so much. No accountability = no rules.

So much this!
Sportsmanship is present because if someone does the wrong thing, they can be accountable. If you bad mouth someone an official can be told and punishment can be given, there is no system big enough to punish every foul mouthed twat on the internet. The internet gives people the chance to be someone else, some abuse the privilege by being a dick to others

 

[Vault101]

bad sportsmanship offline? was it wrong of me to call that Banshee in ME3 ************? did I hurt her feelings?

 

[PuffyMuffin92]

I find that SC2 is pretty good in terms of sportsmanship. Terms like GG and GLHF are standard

 

[KINGBeerZ]

I rmember on Realm of the Mad God the online community was actually fairly nice, and a lot of people will just give you free good stuff if their class doesn't use it, I remeber one time a guy traded me an uber powerful set of priest gear and all he asked for in return was a potion. So I believe that good sportsmanship in games does exist, but is more prevalent in PvE thn in PvP.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Yup it good sportsmanship does exist, in fact I am a part of a small facebook group to prove it. (I will plop a link below)

Though admittedly there are still a lot of trolls on the net, which means there are a lot of trolls playing games online. Honestly I blame 2 things for this:

1. The I am the best, lone wolf mentality. Team games can be hard if you are not looking out for your team. And if no one is looking out for the team then everyone is a lone wolf. Which means your team screws you over, without even realising it. Which then means people begin to develop the mentality of "I don't respect my team-mates, why should I respect my opponent"

2. The fact that more and more gamers have their roots in the anonymity of the online scene. I am not particularly old but even I remember going to arcades and you waiting my turn. Then shaking the hand of the guy/girl who I was up against (win or lose), say "Good Game" then, in time honoured tradition the winner stays on (F.Y.I I remember doing this at the age of about 5/6). To top that off the first non-arcade multiplayer experience I had was with good old split screen. Playing with friends for fun, not so I can prestige for the nth time.

Link to the group if anyone is interested:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/142299935840615/

 

[Dandark]

I play LoL a lot, both with a pre-made team of friends and in solo-queue. The community is pretty terrible but there are still decent people there. I usaully try to be friendly and set a nice attitude for the game.

I'll pretty much always say Gl Hf(Good luck Have Fun) as each match starts and I usaully say GG and mean it as the game ends. If a teamate does pretty good then I will say Good job or Nice one, just something to congratulate them. I also try to avoid talking down to people that do badly, we all have bad games and if they are being cool and saying sorry for making these mistakes then i'll say "Don't worry about it, we all have bad games".
I've even been known to congratulate the enemy team if they get a good kill. Although I usaully try to ignore dicks I will ask them to be more friendly if they don't seem too bad, LoL can be an enraging game so most people who may not normally be complete dicks will perhaps be assholes without even realizing it.

The best part is that I have found this works. I usaully get decent games where at the very least there will be less flaming than usaul on our team. I have had games where it starts off just like normal with someone messing up and getting annoyed then maybe a teamate will say something that pisses them off but it's all been good and they calmed down then we enjoy the game win or lose, prefrably win but a loss doesn't cause massive amounts of rage like usaul.

Perhaps the worst thing for starting community rage and bile spewing are the people who think a teamate made a mistake then go in /all chat to complain with "This team...." or "This (Champion name)....". All this does is create a negative attitude for yor team and will likely result in insults being thrown.

Tl;DR
Attitude is important. Keep it friendly and people won't be dicks as much, be a dick and people will be dicks back.

 

[Wintermoot]

I sometimes complement opponents if they landed a tricky shot on me or killed me while they were on low health. it,s a game and it doesn't really matter if somebody is red or blue we are playing it to have a fun time.

 

[Monsterfurby]

I've noticed a trend...

There's two different type of shooters... Thoughtful shooters, and twitch shooters.

I can confirm this. Jedi Academy and its predecessors had a very impressive online community, with customs that underlined sportsmanship. Even in deathmatches, players wielding lightsabers would meet, deactivate their lightsaber, bow and only then attack each other. They would compliment each other on the quality of their fighting style and actually talk about their fights.
JA was a game that took its time and required a lot of patience and tactical thinking. It was not a quick-trigger experience like Call of Duty, the newer Battlefields and even DotA-clones.

Even within a game, this may vary: players in a Warcraft 3 roleplaying or tower defense map are usually more patient than DotA players and more positive about mistakes (yes, even in TD where it is easy to screw up if you are new).

So, yeah, I think the type of game and whether it encourages patience or punishes it has a lot to do with it. In the end, the game conditions its players to behave a certain way - and that affects the behaviour of the community.

Edit: Another VERY positive recent example I have found is Mount and Blade, especially the Napoleonic mods and expansion. I have seen games where only a single player of a team remained in hiding, and eventually declared that they surrendered. They would come out of hiding, drop their weapon and be then executed by firing squad in what was effectively a ceremonial recognition of their performance in the game.