Poll: The 12-year old Screaming Kid Myth

[Zontar]

I remember playing a match of MW2 years ago that had a kid on it who couldn't have been more then 8, probably closer to 6. The kid had his microphone set all the way up and kept saying long 'hello? hello?' that was pretty much like screaming into my ears compared to the voices of everyone else. I responded by saying 'kid, shut up' in as neutral a tone as I could (kid still started crying, I'm not sorry for it though, it's a rated M game).

I've also come across quite a few children in my time on TF2, and I have to say I have had quite some fun with friends annoying them, giving backhanded compliments, trolling, and general assholeishness unbecoming of a civilized person (basically the typical experience for M rated online play). Part of me feels I should be ashamed of doing that, but at the same time I remind myself these are children playing M rated games so they shouldn't even be there in the first place.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

It is somewhat of a stereotype, but stereotypes don't become stereotypes without some basis in reality. From my own observations, Halo lobbies tend to lean more heavily toward the 'screaming child' scale of things, whereas CoD gets more of the 'homophobic teenager' crowd. Both games get both types, of course, but there is a noticeable difference between the two.

Timing has much to do with it as well, strangely (or perhaps not). There is a definite 'witching hour' that occurs on XBL when the community goes from 'not that bad' to 'I must mute everyone for the sake of my sanity' which generally occurs at around 10pm GMT. This is because the immovable object that is the drunk European 20-something gets home from the pub just as the unstoppable force that is the smack-talking American schoolkid gets in from class. *shudder*

 

[happyninja42]

It is somewhat of a stereotype, but stereotypes don't become stereotypes without some basis in reality. From my own observations, Halo lobbies tend to lean more heavily toward the 'screaming child' scale of things, whereas CoD gets more of the 'homophobic teenager' crowd. Both games get both types, of course, but there is a noticeable difference between the two.

Timing has much to do with it as well, strangely (or perhaps not). There is a definite 'witching hour' that occurs on XBL when the community goes from 'not that bad' to 'I must mute everyone for the sake of my sanity' which generally occurs at around 10pm GMT. This is because the immovable object that is the drunk European 20-something gets home from the pub just as the unstoppable force that is the smack-talking American schoolkid gets in from class. *shudder*

I've also noticed an upspike in this type behavior when it's Saturday morning here in the US. The kids are off school, and up early for breakfast and cartoons, and then they get on the video games. Also on holidays where the schools are closed seem to have an upspike as well.

 

[Evonisia]

I barely encounter screaming 12 year old kids whenever I play CoD or when I used to play Halo. If I encounter ragers or trolls, usually it's people sounding like they're in their late teens so at least their balls have dropped. I imagine said late teenagers are the reason I don't encounter many 12 year old kids.

But yes whenever that insult has been hurled I always just shrug it off, given how very little I encounter it despite playing those games so much and so frequently. Kids show up more during peak times like weekends and holidays, obviously, but never to a massive affect.

Plus I think it's easier to tolerate them than like 20-30 year old smug pricks on the likes of TF2 and that hurling the exact same insults at each over as a child would or criticising you for making a slip-up.

 

[snappydog]

My fiancée's little brother is one of these and has been since he was about 11, being 13 now. It's astonishing; I didn't think they were real, but he is a genuine screaming, swearing child who plays CoD.
Annoyingly, he's also very good at it, since it's what he and his friends all spend most waking hours doing. I'm not kidding, I've known him to wake up at 8am and play CoD until 11pm. Breaks for toilet and food and that's it. It's incredible.

 

[Booklover13]

One of the most surreal experiences of my life was when I babysit a 12 year old. We played Call of Duty, all I could think afterward was 'they do exist.' That said I was at least better his mother(points to her for trying to play with him), but CoD and the like are not my usual preference. I think I did start to instill in the kid some game-play manners.

 

[Mikeybb]

Never, but I know of experiences others have had with them.
I don't mean from the ever exaggerating internet, but people in my life away from the monitor (however limited in scope that may be).
My case is one of rare fortune I think, an odd exception sitting along side evidence of their existence.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I encountered a lot of child-like adults, but I rarely encountered annoying children. That said, it is very hard to deny their existence given YouTube videos, but I'd say that they aren't as prevalent as people make them out to be.

 

[Elfgore]

Never had one myself. The only person I've had that was bad was in Battlefield 3 and the person sounded like he was around 18-25 years old. He started bitching at my friend and I for sniping. I enjoyed shutting him up by taking two points by myself shortly after.

 

[Shadow flame master]

I don't really notice the voices of people I'm killing/getting killed by in online multiplayer. Call of Duty or otherwise. To be honest, I don't really care that much but most of the time it's just core losers of all ages that are the screamers.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

It is somewhat of a stereotype, but stereotypes don't become stereotypes without some basis in reality. From my own observations, Halo lobbies tend to lean more heavily toward the 'screaming child' scale of things, whereas CoD gets more of the 'homophobic teenager' crowd. Both games get both types, of course, but there is a noticeable difference between the two.

Timing has much to do with it as well, strangely (or perhaps not). There is a definite 'witching hour' that occurs on XBL when the community goes from 'not that bad' to 'I must mute everyone for the sake of my sanity' which generally occurs at around 10pm GMT. This is because the immovable object that is the drunk European 20-something gets home from the pub just as the unstoppable force that is the smack-talking American schoolkid gets in from class. *shudder*

I've also noticed an upspike in this type behavior when it's Saturday morning here in the US. The kids are off school, and up early for breakfast and cartoons, and then they get on the video games. Also on holidays where the schools are closed seem to have an upspike as well.

True. Saturday mornings/afternoons are not great times to head online for that very reason. Truth be told, I hardly ever venture out of 'party chat' anymore. That way you can still have good banter with your mates whatever game they're playing and you're spared the torrent of expletives.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Other people are the reason I don't play online anymore. I hated it. Bunch of anonymous rude twats whom I wouldn't normally socialise with. I rarely found a game where I would play with light-hearted nice people, and when I did I realised that trying to talk to strangers whom I can't see whilst trying to concentrate on actually playing didn't fit with my natural cadence so I would just turn all chat off when possible.

And yes... as part of those rude twats, a whole bunch of them were spoilt whining children constantly telling people they were playing incorrectly or accusing others of various heinous things.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've definitely run into a small handful of pre-pubescent boys online, and yes, almost without exception they were screechy, although it is difficult to ascertain if they were screechy because they were obnoxious little shits or they were screechy because they were small children and small children are screechy by their very nature.

Overwhelmingly though, the unpleasantness I encounter online is at the hands of 18-?? year old men. I'd say 18-24, but the upper edge of the range is hard to determine. This is the "online jackass" demographic in my experience. Naturally, this is also the largest demographic period, and also contains a lot of perfectly lovely and entertaining gentlemen, but it also contains virtually the ENTIRETY of the insufferable blight on humanity population. If there are young women and elderly men and jive-talking aliens on the internet also being insufferable blights, I've been fortunate enough not to interact with them in online games. I presume they ply their trade elsewhere.

 

[Sable Gear]

Weird caveat:

I HAVE, but I've seen these people IN PERSON (public gaming place) because I myself don't do multiplayer anything in any capacity. So, poll answer: Yes, but technically I don't do online multiplayer.

 

[Xman490]

A few times in Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, but that game IS kid-friendly, so no surprise. Maybe once in a CoD: Advanced Warfare match during its free weekend.

 

[Signa]

I got another applicable video to share:


Personally, I've only seen a few ever, but I know they exist. I don't do a lot of online games, and I certain steer clear of the games that are mainstream enough to get that kind of audience.

 

[baddude1337]

I encountered a fair few back when I played Xbox online years back. It was mainly CoD, but not as frequent as people say. I never encountered any in Battlefield 3 on Xbox, which was bizarre. If anything, the most common thing was people with broken/dodgy mics or ones that picked up loads of background noise. I usually used party or private chat though so never really dealt with that.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I used to play a lot of Call of Duty multiplayer on both X-Box 360 and PC. Yes. I've encountered a lot of screechy children. That said, I mostly just found them funny. Whenever my friends and I encountered them, we'd go out of our way to hunt them down in-game and destroy them, but never actually engaging with them in voice chat.

The gamers that I encounter that I actually find truly unpleasant are generally the 16 to 30 male gamers who play either the 'internet tough guy' role or the 'my ego can't accept that someone's better than me, so they must have been cheating' role. These people, as a whole, can kindly go fuck themselves.

 

[SoreWristed]

I've encountered them, and i've seen them in real life. Both my nephews turn into these when they play games. Not online multiplayer, because their parents won't let them.

I've encountered the occasional screamer, but they're mostly not as vocal as people seem to believe.

To all those who say they've encountered one, are you sure it wasn't a squeaker?
I don't know who coined the term, but i've seen it floating around some message boards back when i played CoDBlops intensively.

Squeakers are youtubers, or just people who want some giggles for themselves, who'll modify their voice and complain loudly. There are apparantly a lot of these if you'll look on youtube for 'screaming 12 yo in *game*'.
I've once encountered an absolute horror, squeeky voice, loudly complaining, and at the end of the match, another player announced his channel where you could find a lot of these videos. Always with the same voice and script, in different games. So probably two players working in tandem to create these videos.

 

[Fijiman]

I have come across many small children while playing multiplayer over the years. Although I though they were always referred to as 10-year-olds, not 12. Then again I suppose there isn't much difference between the two ages so I guess it doesn't matter.