simple64 said:
Bashfluff said:
Nobody is speaking out against Trash Talk. They are speaking out on abuse of terms. There is trash talk, and then there is harassment, and making the community a sorry place to be in. It is because people cannot simply "cut loose" without swearing all sorts of racist, homophobic things in the mic. While you can mute them, they are still breaking their agreed upon terms.
What's amusing is that you genuinely believe that first bit.
See, the problem with 'Trash Talk', as you put it, is that what is mild trash-talking to you may well be verbal harassment to another - you just don't know, because there's such a vast variance in terms of how people define these vague concepts.
So, YES, people ARE speaking out against trash talk, depending on what your definition of 'trash talk' actually is and whether or not you find it offensive/discriminatory/sexist/derogatory/etc.
I should note here that I DO tend to find most forms of 'trash talk' offensive to some degree and, if given the opportunity, I likely WOULD utilize avenues to eliminate it - and those who partake in it - from the community; however, I don't believe I (or any other player) should have that sort of power in the first place, as I don't support the idea of one person being able to eliminate another from the community for taking offense at their opinions/statements.
I can see where you're coming from though - if rules are clearly stated and you violate those rules, you should be subject to the consequences and have no real position to argue against it.
And that would be the case if 'the rules' were something that could be easily, clearly and universally defined - which, in the case of offensive statements, let alone something as vague as 'sexist comments', just isn't the reality.
There is trash talk, and there is harassment, and the two are in no way mutually exclusive in all instances and/or from all perspectives.
And, frankly, if you think the community is a sorry place to be in due to the few jerks therein, you need to wake the hell up - go out to a public place and actually interact with people, and realize that its not nearly as bad as you seem to think it is in comparison to the rest of reality.
Can you get thrown out of a bar/restaurant/shop for swearing or harassing another?
Yes, you CAN, but that certainly doesn't mean that you WILL - far more likely, you would be asked to keep quiet (ie, muted), because you are a paying customer and they want your business.
The only reason these devs feel they can get away with permabanning you in this scenario is because YOU'VE ALREADY PAID, and thus they really have nothing more to gain from you (and even if they did, you as an individual are such a small drop in the pond as to be insignificant to their concerns) - in fact, they may actually make MORE money from your expulsion, by forcing you to purchase a new avenue to access multiplayer content.
Look, the world is full of scenarios where we as individuals are required to deal with people who act, speak or behave in ways that we may personally find objectionable, but we have to deal with the circumstances ourselves because there isn't a babysitter standing off to the side to come and hold our hand while berating the offender - and that's a good thing, not a bad.
If you're the type of person who is 'scared off' of multi-player video games because the other people MIGHT be mean to you, to the point where you won't even take part in the game despite being able to mute (that is, effectively ignore entirely) anyone who offends you even remotely, then you really need to get some counseling because that's psychological dysfunction on the verge of a anxiety disorder - and others catering to your dysfunction is NOT going to help you in the least.
Compare this to a real-world scenario - if you're afraid to enter a store or bar or restaurant because you're afraid the people therein might say something offensive to you and the management might not back you up, then you're going to miss out on a lot and you have nothing to blame but your own cowardice in the face of adversity.
I'm certainly not blaming the 'victims' for their own harassment, but I am blaming them for their inability to deal with such meager forms of harassment (far removed and easily ignored).
I hate to be quite so harsh, but the fact is that society should not cater to political correctness and neither should a free community - if you don't have the self-confidence to defend yourself against those that would attempt to offend or berate you (or don't have the basic psychological fortitude to ignore things you don't like and move on when given the option) then you are unlikely to be a particularly valuable asset to the community, to ANY community, and giving you disproportionate power to control the discourse of others is not a step in the right direction.
In short, if you can't have fun without harassing others, well, that's on you, and that is not the type of people wanted here.
I suppose that's your opinion, however, I don't personally share it and I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment.
From my perspective, if you can't have fun without harassing others, then you should be denied the ability to do so - relatively easy given the technology at hand, several rational aveneues of undertaking such measures having already having been laid out in this very thread - NOT denied the ability to participate altogether
And, beyond that, if you are so overcome with entitlement issues that you can't enjoy a game due to a few jerks in the community - who you are fully capable of effectively eliminating from your experience - then that's on you, and you really aren't the type of person I want to have anything to do with, online or in-person, as you are a prime example of everything I dislike about the modern politcally correct culture that feels they have the right to police the lives of the many to protect the feelings of a few weak-willed individuals who refuse/are unable to ignore the occasional encounter with offensive material.