Are gamers "nicer" people?

[scorptatious]

While I know that there are plenty of nice people who happen to be gamers, we are most certainly not a nicer people than others.

Pretty much every forum I've been on, (including this one) has had it's fair share of elitists, sociopaths, assholes, and overall jerks. Including myself on certain occasions.

Not every gamer is like that though thankfully.

 

[davogovernor]

games don't make people more of an ass hole, there are nice people who play games and nice people who don't play games

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Wow. Before I get the subject of this topic, I feel compelled to analyze just how nonsensical the OP is. Buckle up, kids, it's time for some over-analytical, nitpicking bullshit fun!

I know, your going to laugh. But perhaps the question is not so much gamers, but "nerds". Now, I know these are HUGE spectrums with many different definitions but I am going to try and make a point.

Now for me, this is all personal experience, but I want to know what YOU think. A "true" gamer for me is someone who doesn't just play one genre of commonly played mainstream games, it's someone who plays and tries out a variety of new games and platforms. Now I would say most people on The Escapist are definitely true gamers, considering the chavs on Xbox Live probably don't even know what a forum is.

Well, why does it matter if they go on forums or not? Your very own defintion of a "true gamer" (there is no such thing, by the way) only requires that the person in question play games of a variety of genres, on a variety of consoles. Even by your arbitrary definition, forums have nothing to do with anything.

For example, most people who I have met on Xbox Live are complete dicks, this is understandable as the Xbox 360 is more of a casual gaming experience and pretty much anyone can pick up the mic and chat shit.

However, I've had Steam for a few weeks now and I have made friends with some really cool people - none of them seem to be dicks at all (0/31). Now this isn't really a valid comparison, but honestly I feel like these are the type of people who in a real life situation e.g. Them seeing someone getting mugged would help out regardless of their physical strength.

OK, hold the fuck up! What the flying hell does MUGGING have to do with anything??!! You're talking about people you've chatted with over the internet, and you already feel comfortable judging how they react in a real-life crisis situation?! For fuck's sake, I doubt I could make that kind of judgement with any authority about people I've known for YEARS. And anyway, you're right. It's NOT a valid comparison. Even if everyone you met online was channeling Ghandi, that wouldn't say anything about the general gaming population, casual or otherwise. All it would prove is that you met some nice people on the internet. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now my comparison is the general public of Great Britain. I go to a High School in England and I can say 90% of the people in my school would just walk by or maybe run away in fear that they would get mugged- because they aren't 'nice' people.

Actually, you can't say that. For several reasons.
.....
Glad you asked. First of all, unless there's under, say, 100 people in your school, I seriously doubt that you know every last one of them all that well. There are likely hundreds of kids who you haven't even MET attending your high school. And again, judging how someone would react to a nearby mugging is not like guessing "cat or dog person". It's a pretty big statement, and you should really get to know someone before you make it. And anyway, even ignoring all that, your high school is NOT the general public of Great Britain, thank god.

All of the "Gamers" in my school under Year 11(11th Grade in America?) are shit talking tryhards who play nothing but Call of Duty and Fifa, who go on the mic and belt insults at people they don't like. However, in Year 11 there are some pretty nerdy kids who also have some pretty beefy computers and they are actually pleasant individuals, who actually don't talk shit on voice chat and have marginal gaming skill.

So, in your experience are gamers nicer people?

Oh, this one just makes me laugh. It's so perfect, I felt the need to bold it. You say "belt insults at people they don't like" like it's this horrible thing, while AT THE EXACT SAME TIME, YOU ARE BELTING INSULTS AT PEOPLE YOU DON'T LIKE. The irony is just....Ah. It's just great. Thank you for that. AND WE AREN'T EVEN DONE. All you're saying here is that "Some people who play casual games are dicks, while some of the more hardcore gamers are nice." While this statement is technically true, it has absolutely no relevance behind it, as the statement "Some casual gamers are nice people, while some of the more hardcore gamers are dicks" is every bit as valid. Because some people are dicks, and some people aren't. But whether you're a dick or not has absolutely nothing to do with what kind of videogames you enjoy.

TLDR: Whether you're a dick or not has nothing to do with what kind of videogames you enjoy.

 

[Risingblade]

An asshole is an asshole, gamer or not.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Every game on every platform ever will have a massive amount of cunts in it.
And before ya'll start going "what about PC gaming?" just go look at the MOAB scene.

Yep. The MOBA scene for PC games is like the CoD scene for consoles, but much worse.

And this comes from an avid player of both. Most people you encounter on CoD or Halo are just silent. But you're lucky to find someone on any MOBA game who isn't constantly insulting everyone.

Maybe we're "Nicer" in real life (though I doubt it,) but we're certainly not that nice online.

 

[The Invisible Goldfish]

In my experience,gamers and nerds aren't nicer, or meaner, people. The fact you haven't really noticed many that aren't nice means you hang around with the right people.

 

[Freyar]

I'm betting Paul doesn't think gamers are nicer people.

 

[Guffe]

Just like with everyone else.
There are 2 types of people, nice people, rude people and the people in between.
Then there are 2 types of gamers, nice gamers, rude gamers and the gamers in between.

 

[severtson]

No gamer is nice.lol. Especially when he lose.

 

[Wintermoot]

some of them yeah you got the shit heads with mics but some gamers are really nice people all of my friends are gamers and I rarely see trolling on the Escapist.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Real gamers are in most cases introverts. Introverts don't give a fuck and are more intellectually mature then extroverts who just wanna party and play multiplayer CoD with their friends while Limp Bizkit is playing something stupid in the background.

Well nice to know that because I'm an extrovert I don't get to be intellectually mature. Oh well guess that just means more beer for me right?

Seriously I don't get this stigma; the stereotypical nerd is socially awkward and so anyone with social skills becomes a jock douche who drinks all the time and plays COD with all his friends with a gamertag like l337c0ck or something?

Let me blanket state something now so that we're even. Its bullshit statements like this that make me think that nerds are just as much assholes as any other social label you cite.

Here's my profile link in case you want to see what I play on Steam and XBL to argue that I'm not a real gamer just for you [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Lost+In+The+Void].

Fuck sakes and people think the jocks are the douchebags...

 

[Akimoto]

I've had my fair share of good and bad, but mostly I find off-line people better. But that could be cause the online interactions are from DN and COD - lots of bad experiences there for me - but I still play. Guess I'm a sucker

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

I rather doubt it.

If gamers/nerds really are nicer people on average then it's only because they lack the requisite self-confidence to be dicks.

Pretty much this. You get us in a chatroom and your average nerd will very quickly become one of THE biggest dirtbags you will ever meet.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

It's a more extreme position than I usually take, but I've a theory that a "true" gamer really is less likely to be a dick, not because of any inherent "nice" behavior, but because of having greater patience. I believe that video games are a good way to teach someone patience, by having them deal with failure over and over. After all, anyone willing to continue playing in spite of

Spoiler: all of the myriad variations of these:

is going to be someone who doesn't fly off the handle at minor obstacles like someone acting in an annoying way.

 

[The Mehster]

Well, most of my friends who are nerds/'hardcore' gamers are kinda on the weird side, though that's obvious. I do have a friend who has a very acute temper, but I don't usually think of him as a dick, even if he's into polygamy. Blah blah blah.

TL;DR
Yes, I do think most gamers of my caliber are nicer, although that's because we're mature.

 

[PureIrony]

Its my philosophy that everyone is a dick sometimes, and everyone has a trigger that just turns them into a raging cock. If you're a gamer, and that trigger is game-related, and you have to deal with that trigger on a regular basis, you're going to be a dick sometimes.

I know this sounds like a justification for allowing people to act like asshats, but
a) I also believe that how we handle out personal security being violated is important, and if we are responsible, mature people, we can deal with that trigger without resorting to flaming
b)really, I'm just trying to be fair. Lets face it, we've all had our moments where we were not stellar people.

 

[arnoldthebird]

There are good one's and there are bad one's, from the dickish pre-pubescent children to PC elitist's, the gaming community has it's fair share of ass holes. Same as every other place

 

[Dreamer of Theaters]

Epic speech right there about tolerance and acceptance.
And I know this is gonna surprise some people, but honestly, I have hardly met that many dicks on 360 chat. Mostly, people don't like to speak over the mic as you would think. I have only ever met one or two dickheads on Halo or COD once in a blue moon, but they didn't even really ruin the game. Either I muted them or vice versa.

That said, I find it incredibly hard to maintain any sort of friendship over the 360. And it's not because people are assholes. It's because people are either anti-social and like playing on their own (single player or not chatting over multiplayer) or they just don't feel like making friends, and would rather play with their actual friends. (people they know, or exceptions) The so-called "friends list" FOR ME is just really a list of people who thought you were being a nice person at the time. It's only a "friends list" when I know those people in real life.

Of course, this could be considered a little biased as my social skills aren't exactly on the level of "a people person who makes friends easy."

 

[Don Reba]

On average, gamers are same as normal people, but if you look closer, you will see that they cleanly split into two groups: the PC gamers, who are, truly, Gods among men and cannot be faulted, and console gamers, who are all corpse-humpers and griefers.

Or that's what I heard, in any case.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Are gamers nicer people? Hardly. Coming from the female perspective, both me and my sister have repeatedly been called, among othe things, *****, whore and slut (and that's ignoring the non-PG13 insults that are far more common) while playing games on the internet or in internet cafés. We've been "propositioned" for intercourse, offered to perform fellatio and asked to undress and take pictures. Gamers we've played with have firmly requested that we prepare their meals or insinuated that we should return to the kitchen. Other gamers have suggested that they would have intercourse with us against our will and yet others have hinted that several members of a specific ethnic group would coerce us into involountary groupsex. Many others have also made assumptions about my sexuality, my weight, my looks and occasionally all three at the same time.

If this really is your idea of what makes a nice person, then I would hate to see what kind of abusive enviroment you've grown up in.