Worst Thing About Gaming is Other Gamers, Says NBA Jam Developer

[Logan Westbrook]

Worst Thing About Gaming is Other Gamers, Says NBA Jam Developer

Gamers should spend less time trash talking and tea bagging, says NBA Jam's [http://www.amazon.com/NBA-JAM-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B003KZJB2U/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286644938&sr=1-1] creative director Trey Smith.

It's not uncommon to hear people complain about the bad apples of the Xbox Live or PSN, and between the name calling, the racism and the homophobia, there's plenty of reasons to avoid playing online. EA Sports' Trey Smith is even less keen on it however, saying that the negativity online is one of the biggest problem facing gaming at the moment.

It wasn't every gamer that Smith had a problem with, and he felt that the facility to play online, especially co-operatively, was one of the best things to happen to gaming in recent history. Smith's issue was with those who spent their time "spewing ignorant hate on the boards and in online games." He thought that rather than spending so much time being negative and antisocial, gamers should be working to build welcoming communities around their favorite games, and used the PAX conventions of the type of positive community he was referring to. He said that there was no problem with a little smack talk now and then, but he wished that gamers had more respect for one another.

There's not many that are going to argue with Smith: having cohesive and positive online communities for our favorite games would be wonderful for all sorts of reasons. Sadly, figuring out how to get millions of largely anonymous gamers to be nice to each other is a puzzle that is yet to be solved.

Source: MTV [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/10/08/nba-jam-developer-pop-quiz-7/]



Permalink

 

[Irridium]

Agreed.

Sadly there's no way in hell gamers with anonymity will ever treat their fellow gamers with respect.

 

[SantoUno]

Yeah, we have been saying this for a long time now, and yet he states it like he is making the first PSA for peace within the gaming community.

Sadly, it's not gonna happen. A large majority of gamers are also equivalent to the large population of fuckwads on the internet.

 

[Valksy]

Stating the obvious IMHO. My main reason for quitting WoW was the filth that occupied the servers and any PS3/360 game sold on multiplay is automatically off my purchase list.

Way back in the day, playing a game like Star Wars Galaxies, the community largely policed itself - acting like a dickhead would tend to leave a person ostracised and unable to function and although we would PVP hard rebels v imperials, when it was over people would hang out for a chat.

Without a commitment to moderate a game/game service like Xbox Live then I am pretty much done with gaming after it being a hobby for me for some 30 years. Gamers deserve a bad rep - not for being basement dwelling losers - but for being putrid trolls with no concept of how to behave.

 

[mjc0961]

I will thank you for including PSN right up there next to Xbox Live as a place where gamers are dickheads to fellow gamers. Usually people only mention Live, but I see more than enough immature behavior on PSN as well.

I also I would like to add that along with teabagging and extreme insulting, team killing should also go die in a fire.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Here's an idea, make team work have gameplay or experince bonuses, like flanking a distracted opponet, passing the ball, or using a stun gernade on an enemy that your ally then kills gets you extra experince then just killing by yourself would. Forcing kindness is really our only option.

 

[bjj hero]

There needs to be moderation. In a private server the admin can ban the disruptive element. On consoles you have some random hosting so its not possible. I like the Halo thing where you can kick a player who TKs you. I wish COD would take that on board as I don't play Halo.

The other option is to take away some of the live warriors would be to link gamer tags to the person. If people know who you are and where you live you might show more respect. The sameway people don't insult me in the street. I don't have to be violent, the posibility of violence stops it from happening.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Couldn't agree with him more...

On the whole I can't stand gamers. It seems they are either immature squeaky homophobes, or school/college boys with a superiority complex who look down on people and complain about "losing faith in humanity" and all that snobby bollocks like you see on forums like this.

It's also why I never call myself a gamer and don't really have any friends who game either. I just find myself having nothing in common with most other gamers except for the fact that we all play games...

 

[Xanthious]

Ahmen to that! Xbox Live especially is a cesspool. The only reason I still have an XBL account at all is for Netflix.

However, I think M$ and Sony are largely to blame for these problems. Comparing the console online play to PC online play you are just randomly thrown in with whoever over and over when playing on a console. Where as on the PC you can find servers you enjoy that are largely free of idiot teenagers and return to those for your online play.

 

[Icehearted]

Precisely why I had a full year of Xbox Live Gold and played a total of approximately 80 hours with it before it expired.

 

[Brotherofwill]

So true. This isn't just a problem with consoles, it's everywhere. All the gaming communities mostly suck ass. Gaming websites (partially excluding this one), MMOs, Xbox Live, PSN, etc etc are all hostile places where insults are thrown around and no-one helps you when you're new. For every 100 shitty ones there's like 1 decent one.

You know why I stopped playing WoW after like 2 weeks? Because the community is shit. 'Newb' that and 'lawl noob' this, no shit I don't know what to do when I'm new you fucking miserable assholes.

However, maybe due to the overwhelming amount of shitty experiences out there and the conditioning it gives you toward not having constructive fun while playing with strangers online, the few positive online experiences I had were a blast. LBP and Demon's Souls were a awesome, but I mainly played with Japanese gamers in those games, so maybe they're just better behaved.

This is why anyone with sense will know: Nothing beats local multiplayer.

 

[SimuLord]

Captain Obvious, you have a call on line two, Captain Obvious, line two.

Gamers have a deserved reputation as antisocial misfits. Like the Extra Credits guys said, this community really needs to clean house.

 

[TLatshaw]

This is why anyone with sense will know: Nothing beats local multiplayer.

Absolutely. I could never imagine playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with anyone not in shoulder-punching distance.

 

[Terramax]

Sadly, figuring out how to get millions of largely anonymous gamers to be nice to each other is a puzzle that is yet to be solved.

Have one of those anti-swearing devices put around their necks like Cartman did in the South Park movie. You could give one free with every game purchase. Just lock them on.

 

[Buchichu]

I pretty much never play online because I'm sick of hearing the cracking, prepubescent voices of little boys spewing hate while I, an adult, want to play a game - hopefully with other adults. I'd love a way to keep kids out and to moderate language in online play. what's worse than the obvious annoyance is knowing these are little kids learning this hate and ignorance from somewhere and these are people we expect to become functioning members of society one day.

it may just be games but it's still a microcosm of how kids are talking to one another and treating other people. behaviour that needs to be immediately addressed.

 

[GrinningManiac]

All of this means that, eventually, anonymity will be a thing of the past on the internet

The only real way to stop all of this DEAD regardless of however many people participate in 'anonymity crimes', for want of a better term, is to make your ID known on the internet by law

We're the Wild West at the moment on the Web, but it's only a matter of time before civilisation encroaches

 

[KaZZaP]

The community is one of the biggest reason I don't like the Halo series. Great game, terrible community.