Poll: The 12-year old Screaming Kid Myth

[The Random Critic]

Age is not the measure for an idiot, idiocy is.

Pretty much this...

When playing online the thing that bothers me are not people who are really loud/obnoxious voice wise. (And I see them pretty rarely anyway, usually can be muted too) But the snarly self important type who think they are right at all times, and they wishes you to understand about it.

Admittedly I do perform the latter from time to time, but I usually try to keep it to myself.

 

[Brenton Keedle]

encountered one 5 mins ago. i love the option to mute.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I see more kids trying to fit in by beating memes to death and trying to be as "edgy" as a pre-pubescent kid can be. Genuine rage is a rarity.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Oh yeah it's a thing, but a lot of stereotypes are rooted in some kind of truth or else nobody would hear about it. I hear a few of them on Titanfall when I play it the couple times a week that I do. The problem isn't that any of them are pre-pubescent, it's when said people communicate entirely through screaming, insist that everyone else is doing the thing wrong and must listen to their orders, or hurl insults/racism/misogyny.

I play about 50/50 PC/Console, and I would say I encounter this creature in the wild far more often on console, and far more often on 360 as opposed to the PS3. I don't have that big of a problem with them, I try to be "boring parent guy" and cool them down. I have a WAY bigger problem with any person who blares music into their headset, and crank my anger past 11 if said person is singing along to the rap music that is blaring over everything.

 

[EHKOS]

I've heard little kids complaining and using mics, but I haven't heard them "scream". I've heard them talking to their friend and their voice is annoying for whatever reason, probably the stigma.

 

[The Choke]

I gave up online multiplayer a couple years ago because I realized that the sheer volume of harassment was just draining my energy. These days, a solo campaign let's me actually immerse in a game without having to put up with someone dealing with their temper tantrum by screaming at me to show my tits and then get back to the kitchen to make them a sandwich.

Because it only got funnier after the four-thousandth time.

 

[Belaam]

Yes. It's a large part of why I don't play online multiplayer games any more.

The first time you get a kids voice screaming profanities at you when you kill them, it's kinda funny. The 200th time, it just makes you log out in annoyance and never return.

Of course, this was well over a decade ago.

It's possible that they have either been replaced by a new wave of whining 12 year olds, or that they are now obnoxious 25 year olds.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I definitely ran into my fair share when I used to play CoD and Gears of War online all the time. Now really the only place I run into little shit heads like that are on League of Legends. I try to avoid multiplayer for the most part but my friend and I enjoy playing LoL together and the large population of ass hats unfortunately comes with it. Still, I think it's mostly a problem for console players since there aren't that many 12-17 year olds who either care about or can afford gaming on the PC.

 

[The Squid King]

I barely ever play online but I have seen multiple people in person do this (generally siblings of friends). It definitely does happen but it probably isn't as common as everyone says it is.

 

[Joshua Claydon]

PC: Play some G-Mod. TTT, Slender, prop hunt. These are where the squeakers are.

Console: Pretty much any competitive multi with lobby chat/team chat squeakers are abound.

 

[Bat Vader]

Back when I played COD4: Modern Warfare on X-Box 360 I ran into a few tweens that I would mute right away because either their voices were annoying or they were whiny/bratty kids demanding their parents do something. Most adults that I played with or against didn't act much better.

 

[chadachada123]

One criticism some people love to throw at CoD, and sometimes even consoles, is that they are full of screaming 12-year olds insulting your parents/sexuality in online multiplayer games. How did people even decide on age 12? Why not 13 or something, a teen age? I for one I have never encountered even one of these types before. I now want to see if this is a valid criticism.

EDIT: Wow, based on the results I'm surprised I still haven't met any squeakers yet (Apparently that's what they're called) Oh and, damn, you guys are literal! I just called them 12-year old screaming kids because that's what I thought everyone called them. Obviously you don't have to know that they're exactly twelve, just too young to be playing the game, or plain annoying because of factors related to their age.

I have one very important, and relevant, question: Do you play Call of Duty? Because that is where probably 75% of the screaming, swearing, and racism that I've seen online came from. Another 20% or so came from Halo.

I suppose that means, in my personal experience, 95% of the worst I've ever seen online has been Xbox 360-based. Maybe it's a console shooter thing, iunno.

 

[lunavixen]

I've met the occasional squeaker and manchild online (the latter more than the former), most of the time I just take my headset off or tell them to shut up (or kick them if possible). I just don't play multiplayer anymore though, saves me the headache.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

One criticism some people love to throw at CoD, and sometimes even consoles, is that they are full of screaming 12-year olds insulting your parents/sexuality in online multiplayer games. How did people even decide on age 12? Why not 13 or something, a teen age? I for one I have never encountered even one of these types before. I now want to see if this is a valid criticism.

EDIT: Wow, based on the results I'm surprised I still haven't met any squeakers yet (Apparently that's what they're called) Oh and, damn, you guys are literal! I just called them 12-year old screaming kids because that's what I thought everyone called them. Obviously you don't have to know that they're exactly twelve, just too young to be playing the game, or plain annoying because of factors related to their age.

I have one very important, and relevant, question: Do you play Call of Duty? Because that is where probably 75% of the screaming, swearing, and racism that I've seen online came from. Another 20% or so came from Halo.

I suppose that means, in my personal experience, 95% of the worst I've ever seen online has been Xbox 360-based. Maybe it's a console shooter thing, iunno.

I played all the MW games and AW, a bit of Halo, some CS Source and GO, and a lot of Battlefield. Still no kiddies. There was this one guy who was a bit whiny, but never too much.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

PC: Play some G-Mod. TTT, Slender, prop hunt. These are where the squeakers are.

Console: Pretty much any competitive multi with lobby chat/team chat squeakers are abound.

Wow is this your first post?

 

[Starbird]

One criticism some people love to throw at CoD, and sometimes even consoles, is that they are full of screaming 12-year olds insulting your parents/sexuality in online multiplayer games. How did people even decide on age 12? Why not 13 or something, a teen age? I for one I have never encountered even one of these types before. I now want to see if this is a valid criticism.

EDIT: Wow, based on the results I'm surprised I still haven't met any squeakers yet (Apparently that's what they're called) Oh and, damn, you guys are literal! I just called them 12-year old screaming kids because that's what I thought everyone called them. Obviously you don't have to know that they're exactly twelve, just too young to be playing the game, or plain annoying because of factors related to their age.

I think it's a mindset more than a specific age/gender/type. Anyone can be a screaming 12 year old online .

Generally I find these people are:
- Unhappy IRL leading to far too much investment in a game.
- Lonely IRL leading to wanting attention, even if it's negative.
- Just straight up jerks.

 

[Starbird]

One criticism some people love to throw at CoD, and sometimes even consoles, is that they are full of screaming 12-year olds insulting your parents/sexuality in online multiplayer games. How did people even decide on age 12? Why not 13 or something, a teen age? I for one I have never encountered even one of these types before. I now want to see if this is a valid criticism.

EDIT: Wow, based on the results I'm surprised I still haven't met any squeakers yet (Apparently that's what they're called) Oh and, damn, you guys are literal! I just called them 12-year old screaming kids because that's what I thought everyone called them. Obviously you don't have to know that they're exactly twelve, just too young to be playing the game, or plain annoying because of factors related to their age.

I have one very important, and relevant, question: Do you play Call of Duty? Because that is where probably 75% of the screaming, swearing, and racism that I've seen online came from. Another 20% or so came from Halo.

I suppose that means, in my personal experience, 95% of the worst I've ever seen online has been Xbox 360-based. Maybe it's a console shooter thing, iunno.

I think it's all shooters. I remember the servers for Blood 2, Quake 2, Unreal Tournament etc. being complete cesspits. Once you add unmoderated voicechat it gets even worse.

This is why I generally avoid these things unless I have several people I know with me.

 

[laggyteabag]

I used to, yes, but I have since discovered the wonders of the "mute all" button. I just cannot be bothered with people talking over the microphone. Is it anti-social? Yes. Is it the opposite of trying to be a team player? Well sure, but most of the time A) Nobody talks, and B) If they do, they are usually talking out of their ass/ it is just a lot of background noise going through their £5 potato microphone. If I want to talk to someone, I use the type chat, but I usually hide that too because of admin spam and the aforementioned talking out of one's ass.

 

[Schtoobs]

I don't have nearly as much experience on console recently but despite this I have noticed more people being dicks over the microphone when playing on console and usually they sound like young teens... I could be projecting perceived immaturity there, but the deliberately annoying one will set others off like dominoes (not the pizza). These defenders of the realm usually have deeper voices but quickly become just as unable to shut-the-fuck-up as the squeeker kid. IMO it's inexperience that causes screaming over the mic (we all get frustrated, particularly if we are losing against other people), that means it's more likely to happen on the popular consoles and more likely to be young people.

I have noticed some of the child anger over mic is caused by older people winding them up after they spoke with a young sounding voice. So it could be a myth that has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

tl;dr

Yes I have but not that much.