#4

[Mangue Surfer]

"This is bullshit. I am a pussy hunter in real life, of curse I will a virtual pussy hunter."

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You see, for some strange reasons jerks always get more attention on the internets. Certainly, some people will think: "If I get all that attention in the forums being a sucker, of course I gain attention in online games acting the same way."
This can also be one of the causes.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

I've said this once and I'll say it again. It is not simple dis-inhibition, nor is it a return to our "natural states". The whole "natural state" thing is simply absurd. Human beings, and this is largely backed up by most of the findings in neuroscience, are more or less tabula rasas. For something to be biologically inherent it must be heavily genetically coded. The vast majority of Human behaviors are too complex to be encoded genetically, we can only associate very basic emotions with levels of certain neurochemicals, but it is likely that even these are heavily regulated by environment. The human mind is plastic, it adapts to its environment, that is what has made it successful. Thus the behaviors in video-games are every bit an adaptation as our behavior in real life. There may be some overflow of frustrated psychological drives from real life which can be explained as disinhibition, but the majority of the behaviors should be seen as positive adaptations.

Now, what I think causes the offensiveness of video game behaviors is not simply an outflowing of what the person secretly thought throughout the previous day. Rather, videogames, due to their lack of restriction on behavior bot only allow offensiveness, but create a juxtaposition with real life that causes a sense of absurdity. It is, I believe, largely this absurdity that people are enjoying when they are offensive. The more overt, random, out of context, and uncalled-for and offensive remark is, the more absurd it is and therefore the funnier it is. In fact, this theory would much better account for why even people who aren't racist and are mild-mannered engage in such activity, whereas the disinhibition theory must assume all such people have, (at least latent), racist attitudes.

If my theory is correct, then such behavior is often little more than liberating humor, although there certainly are those who are racist/sexist/homophobic. Since the anonymity of videogames means they do not have a direct impact upon one's social life, it would be pointless to try to regulate these peoples' behavior. And even if one were to do it, it would not change their nature and make them good people, it would simply make it to difficult for them to act bad.

As Nietzsche put it, "I often laugh at those who think themselves good because their claws are blunt."

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

@Epoetker

Ahhhh... Evolutionary psychology. Mostly useless. Its problem directly relates to my comment above. But to put it more plainly it is this:

Premise 1) Most complex human behaviors cannot be encoded in genes, only general dispositions and even in those cases the environment usually overpowers them.

Premise 2) Natural Selection and Sexual Selection (i.e. what you refer to in your first paragraph) only apply to genes that are passed down.

Premise 3) Being a "dick" on the internet is a very specialized, social and complex kind of aggressive behavior.

Premise 4) Behaviors that are not genetic must be learned.

Conclusion 1) It follows by Hypothetical Syllogism from Premise 3 and Premise 1 that being a dick is not a genetic trait, although general aggression may be.

Conclusion 2) It follows by another Hypothetical Syllogism from Conclusion 1 and Premise 2 that being a dick cannot be selected for.

Final Conclusion) It follows once more from Syllogism from Conclusion 2 and Premise 4 that being a dick is a learned behavior.

Since this is a learned behavior it may be true that some people do it to pick up chicks, but this is an accidental property of dickishness. The fact of the matter is that evolutionary psychology at best offers possible explanations for behaviors. However, given that the basis for these behaviors must be genetic, evolutionary psychologists can only prove their theories with the physical brain. Unfortunately there is no supporting fossil record for human brains like there is for, say how whales evolved from ungulates. And unfortunately for evolutionary psychology the more we study neuroscience, the more we find the brain to be almost completely plastic, even for things that would at first seem to be genetic like say LEARNING HOW TO WALK. It turns out that everyone learns how to move differently based upon their natural strength. Some have over-activity in their muscles and learn to inhibit those impulses, others have to learn by volitioning movement. I suggest reading "Being There" by Andy Clarke as he explains how the human brain is primarily plastic and functions in coordination with its environment. This is actually a principle of evolutionary parsimony; why would organisms evolve to internalize processes that they can just as easily rely on the environment to provide. The environment in the case of humans is Society, and it is society that provides us the vast majority of our behaviors.

There are many different ways to be a dick. I can pretty much guarantee you that Bernie Madoff was not a Bully in high school. Each person learns to be a dick for different reasons, bullies may do it out of some insecurity they get from their home environment, or they may do it to get lunch money, or to establish dominance and keep others from messing with them, and Wall Street swindlers do it to get money. Indeed very different psychological types may underly the same behavior, so we should probably be suspicious of any sort of generalizing.

One final thing I might add is that you seem to be committing the descriptive/prescriptive fallacy. I may be wrong but your comment as a whole seems to argue that "online competition is, in fact, real life competition" in some sort of quasi social darwinist stance. While I am, for reasons I shall not elaborate here, not unsympathetic to social darwinism (sans the hard genetic determinism that early social darwinism assumed {social darwinism died out somewhat unsurprisingly after WWII due to its role in Nazism, and thus never had the chance to adapt to findings in neuroscience), it is a mistake to think that simply because natural selection occurs that it should be our guiding ethical principle. Even if all these behaviors ARE due to natural selection, (as I believe I have sufficiently proved that they, in fact, do not) it by no means follows that we should therefore endorse them. I would amend you stance by stating that it is by SOCIAL SELECTION that these behaviors occur. After all, the idea of natural selection really stems from the laws of thermodynamics, i.e. in any open system (closed systems burn off energy until they reach equilibrium, our source of perpetual energy is the sun) where there are limited resources, different self replicating forms will appear, the forms that use the same resources will compete, and the fittest form will be selected. This applies not only to nutrients in the environment but to the minds of individuals within society. Competing beliefs or value systems either drive each other to extinction or specialize by dividing individuals in a society into separate subgroups (equivalent to competing species developing different niches). And they are selected for based upon several different factors that may sometimes compete; i.e. psychological gratification (like belief in an afterlife or heavenly reward), or due to technological benefits (like the physicalism/naturalism that the scientific method assumes in its inquiry that holds that everything must have a cause that is in principle observable, which in turn emboldens curiosity). The question we must ask, then, is what selective processes cause dickery, and whether these processes have a benefit, or are necessary for the functioning of society. And even if they don't we may still abstain from trying to eliminate them as it may simply be a violation of free will. See; "Clockwork Orange".

But I will agree with you on one point. Dismissing dickish behavior on the basis that it is always an act of overcompensating by pathetic individuals seems to imply that the "truly strong" people are the passive polite ones. This is, itself, a laughably pathetic and mistaken view. A great man once said that Honor is having the power to abuse those weaker than you but instead showing restraint. This is because you do not GAIN power by using it on those weaker than you, the only benefit is to FEEL powerful, which is something that is done by someone who IS overcompensating. However, this also implies that the powerless are incapable of honor, which they are. Powerlessness is NOT something to be idealized. Cursed are the meek. And, as I already quoted in my comment above, "I often laugh at those who think themselves good because their claws are blunt." Those who were indoctrinated to be politically correct are no better people than Germans who were indoctrinated to be Anti-Semites by the Nazis. Indoctrination is indoctrination. Ethical judgment depends upon agency, and agency depends upon choice.

 

[Howlingwolf214]

I think the reason that some gamers act like Dicks on the internet is because when they switch on the computer they become instantly detached from the norms and laws of society. This doesn't, of course, apply to every gamer. Some Gamers delight in joining Guilds which have their own sets of rules, with a kick as a punishment. Although I have seen Guilds that seem to delight in collecting Dicks.

I think the first reason why this detachment causes dick-ish behavior is because when you're on the internet you're effectively anonymous. When people realise they're anonymous, they realise that they can say anything without having to feel any real consequences (what I like to call the '4Chan Syndrome'). Let me give you an example. If you walk up to someone in the street and start verbally abusing them you know something bad is going to happen to you (probably ending in a few broken teeth) and this foresight keeps most people from doing it. Unless they're blind drunk. However in gaming there are no lasting consequences to being a dick (unless you are a massive dick and get banned but even that wont last as long as a broken nose) so people are more likely to express their dick-ish side.

The second reason, tying into the first, is that being a dick often helps release Adrenalin. When you're in real life you're constantly shaped by people's expectations, being told to say 'please' and 'thank you' for example. When you've grown up around these manners all your life, it can be a thrill to go against them. I like to think of myself as a nice person (mostly) but when I'm very bored I often think of ways to fight back against the rules of society that have put me in this place. I think that is why you find so many internet Trolls these days. It's the same thrill that people get when they graffiti the side of a brand-new building. People find it fun to be annoying. Not that I'm suggesting you do it. It often leads to worse consequences for you down the line.

There will, of course, be exceptions to my theory. For example people that are a dick in the real world and the virtual one. But I think it's the release from the Cause and Effect Laws of society that has caused the steady rise in dicks these days. There are millions of Players but only a few mods, so people can speak without using their brains and still get away with it. What's the (virtual) world coming to?

 

[geizr]

Only solution that I can think of for this problem is that people need to work more at being aware of their actions, the context for those actions, and the effect those actions have on others. Despite the remoteness and anonymity, when online, you are still interacting with other human beings. So, the requirements of civility, mutual respect, maturity, and social etiquette still apply. As for the problem of younger people online being jerks, realize that, being younger, they are simply imitating what they see and reflecting how they are treated. Thus, it falls upon the older crowd to establish the atmosphere of maturity in the virtual world and make it clear that particular behaviors are inappropriate.

At the bottom of it all, in my opinion, we just need to act like the human beings that we are. What separates us from wild animals and monkeys in the trees is not only our ability to reason but also our ability to directly choose and govern our behavior. We are capable of choosing our emotions, actions, and responses to various situations. We are capable of defeating our animalistic impulses to act more rationally to a given situation. Obtaining and developing this self-control, self-awareness, and the awareness of the nature, mechanics, and fullness of one's interaction with the reality outside oneself is what maturity is about. Philoosphers have struggled for years trying to determine the nature of man. In my opinion, the reason they haven't found it is because we don't necessarily have an inherent nature; we keep, by our own choice, changing it.

 

[wonkify]

Thank you for enumerating the primary reasons behind this misbehavior so well, Doc.

I notice how consistent the content of much of the abusive verbiage people report is about the most politically correct hot-button issues; gay, ethnicity, male-female, etc.

I do think that game designers taking into account encouraging "our better angels" is a worthwhile goal. Encouraging isn't forcing, mind.

Last, I do agree that the really noxious content comes from a tiny, overly loud minority.

Time and again when playing RPG's like Mass Effect, people are drawn to playing the "Paragon" and have to consciously force themselves to play a "Renegade" type character. It is striking how common this is and how at odds with the abusiveness elsewhere.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I think it has to do with how the individual is suppressed in real-life groups and situations, stuck in the sub-conscious mentality that they're "not alphas" or some such and online they don't feel constrained by these same social rules, so they act like complete bastards.

So, anonymity is the main reason, I would wager.

 

[anon_10]

Online however, there are no consequences. There is no incentive to act like a normal human being therefore people don't. You can be as rude, sexist, mean, or stupid as you want and there is little anyone can do to find out who you are or to punish you for it. Imagine if there was a police of the internet who fined you if you sexually harassed people! I just think it's interesting to see how incentives work. The internet behaves just like it should since it is anonymous!

my thoughts exactly another fine example of internet anonymous-ity would be the well known chat roullette site!
the explanation of my point would be in what the site is famous for...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

On a secondary point to the Anonymity = Douchebags theory; notice how many people get their inner fetishes brought out by Anonymity. Especially well known ones like Poison from Final Fight or Brigitte/Samus.
That leads me to believe that Anonymity is a release rather than a catalyst.

So I'd actually argue that offline, rather than online is the source of these outbursts; and its online that STOPS us becoming freaks like David Koresh, Raoul Moat or others.

 

[RvLeshrac]

What the vast majority of posts here seem to have missed completely is that dickish behaviour in the real world is typically rewarded - the dick at work always seems to have the better office, or the better hours; the dick at the bar always has the hotter girl on his (or her) arm.

The minority of posts which get that point, however, are missing the fact that the real world punishes dickish behaviour which has gone too far. If you're too much of a dick, you'll lose the office; if you're too much of a dick, you get kicked out of the bar.

The limiting factor is what's missing from gaming. While it only takes a few complaints to have a dick removed from a public venue, it often takes hundreds or even thousands of complaints to have a dick banned from, say, WoW or XBL.

The reason, of course, has nothing to do with anonymity, and everything to do with money. Blizzard and XBox/MS have no vested interest in banning people for being dicks. People clamouring for a dick-free environment aren't leaving en masse, they're putting up with it. Banning a dick just loses a subscriber, with no upside.

The real-world example: Everyone claims to hate gold-spammers and RMTers, yet Mythic and Turbine's hard-line stances against RMT have earned them absolutely no respect (and, more importantly, money) from the community. Instead, they've lost thousands (in Mythic/WAR's case, hundreds of thousands) of subscribers (the gold-spammers and those who buy from them).

Basically, as gamers, the majority have stood on their chairs and shouted "BRING ON THE DICKS!"*

*I had some more, but you've gotta stop on gold.

 

[Tears of Blood]

Short response:

Dr. Mark, I believe that part of it is simply the desire to do things in games that we cannot in real life, which is the point of them for many people. That would include acting like a total jerk for many of us.

Now, this extends to the multiplayer as well. There may be other people on the other side of those avatars, but I don't think a lot of us fully realize it. It feels more like a part of the game. We don't have to see their faces, see the effects that we are having on them when we are being hateful toward them, so nothing is stopping us. Plus, we know that they can't do anything about it, due to their distance from us, and our anonymity.

Think of it this way: Would you be more likely to throw a brick at the face of someone you knew, or would you be more likely to throw it at some nameless, faceless entity that you know nothing about?

 

[Necrofudge]

I see this a lot on Starcraft and battle.net in general. Unfortunately most of the people spouting racial slurs are usually angst-y twelve year olds with poor spelling. They don't win very often, but hey, at least they have a nice vocabulary of 20-30 socially unacceptable words to use at every opportunity.

Most of them can barely form a coherent sentence so It's best to ignore them. They will usually just shrivel and die if they aren't given attention. It could be said that these people are early underdeveloped "trolls" practicing their trade.

The real concern would be the people in their 20s or late teens who still do this. It's not as common, but they're usually the more annoying ones.

 

[copycatalyst]

The absence of non-verbal social cues seems to me the most important thing. A couple good friends of mine are perfectly friendly toward strangers they meet in the real world, but can be major trolls in games online. I'm convinced the reason is that they don't have to meet someone's eye giving them the "why are you being such an asshole?" look.

Another factor is the transitory nature of the encounters. People seem more likely to be jackasses if they don't expect they'll ever come across you again. Guildies, or, in the FPS world, people who frequent the same servers tend to be nicer, right?

 

[tetron]

Now I like to think I'm a swell guy in real life. I also like to think I'm quite an upstanding member of any online community.

But I don't take the internet, or anything said on it, seriously. So sometimes I just like to vent. Some people like to verbally rage at someone, as opposed to people who like to physically rage and hit a pillow, or god forbid a person. I'm one of the people who will vent by raging at everyone. Now I know some people take their 1s and 0s quite seriously, and when I'm being my normal self I respect that.

Also some people, like myself, think it's fun to barrel around being an overall prejudice asshole. Just because it's kind of accepted. To be honest, the ability to be a total asshole online with almost no repercussions is a big reason why I enjoy it so much. It gets old being nice all the time, and I don't want to be mean to people in rl because that just makes me feel bad. So why not let the online world know how much I hate everyone and everything ? People call me an assholes, fuckwad, every bad thing they can think of, most of which indicating that I'm the scum of humanity. I just sit back and think to myself, 'I bet they wouldn't even consider doing for their friends what I've done for complete strangers', and with a knowing smile I say, "Well wtf you gonna do about it nub ?!" I do still have boundaries, kinda, mostly concerning kids. I don't mess with kids, that just makes me feel bad no matter what.

In summary: Lol, did my 1s and 0s piss you off ? Suck a cock noob !

 

[gamer_parent]

If being an asshole online to other people something you enjoy, than I'm sorry, but you're not as upstanding of a member as you think yourself to be.

 

[Vortigar]

I like the discussion this article has brought up.

And got reminded I hate the way humanity's social structures work.

Again.