Trash talking: do we REALLY need it?

[Slightly Live]

On the bright side, we wouldn't have the holy MUTE function without trash talk.... hmm. We wouldn't need one without it either. Paradoxical.

 

[Roamin11]

I only trash talk when I'm drunk, so its usally when I'm at a friends house so no need to worry about my profile.

 

[Kontar]

I will agree with what most of the people above me said.

I never trash talk people in fighting games, even if I kick their asses, I was just a better player at the time that I played than them. It shows insecurity and a level of immaturity on their parts if they make fun of anyone. Although it does make it all that much sweeter when I beat the "trash" talkers in a fair fight and I don't say anything and they start to try to justify their loss with "lag, cheap weapons, shitty controller" etc.

 

[Raven's Nest]

There's nothing funnier than watching trash talk backfiring.

for eg, (in cricket) Freddie Flintoff(england) trash talks Yuvraj Singh(India) before Yuvraj bats an over... He goes on to smack out six sixs in a row. (the highest score possible in an over)

A truly humbling comeback yet Yuvraj didn't say a single word back at any given point. Pure class.

 

[josh797]

Are you playing games with real mates? Taking the piss is half the fun. Gay

LOL @ taking the piss. In the case with SF4 I was playing with real friends. Like I said, I don't mind losing but sometimes people need to learn when to shut up.

i dunno real freinds would be kinder i think

 

[reaper_2k9]

If its amongst friends then its cool because its with people who are on the same page with you and wont take it the wrong way. But if your playing a game with people you don't know and they get bent out of shape about the simplest mistake then its uncalled for.

In the end its just a game, its not going to hurt you real life in any way so there's no reason to shout obscenities at someone you don't know over a game.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

It can be fun...but it's usually over done.

Just about everyone else has said it before, it's down right annoying.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

I feel that trash talking is just for socially malnurished idiots.

ya, i agree

 

[Bofus Teefus]

I'll trash talk a bit if I'm in a deathmatch type game with a bunch of people who are also trash talking, but I try to keep it humorous, and look more for laughs than to piss anybody off. If we've got one of the racist idiots or sore losers, I might get a couple extra jabs in, but I never really smear wins in anyone's face...

...Well, I have been known to say something like "Someone needs to get that Bofus guy under control" if I'm really owning a deathmatch. I don't know. Play me and be the judge I guess.

I guess, like the OP, I don't like it when people get really nasty. Yeah, maybe that's my point.

 

[Shadowtek]

I only trash talk if Im playing with my friends, otherwise the only time i do it is if i give someone a beat down after they have been acting all big and bad the last few rounds. (yes, I tend to spectate before I enter matches)

 

[Spleeni]

I'll trash talk a bit if I'm in a deathmatch type game with a bunch of people who are also trash talking, but I try to keep it humorous, and look more for laughs than to piss anybody off. If we've got one of the racist idiots or sore losers, I might get a couple extra jabs in, but I never really smear wins in anyone's face...

...Well, I have been known to say something like "Someone needs to get that Bofus guy under control" if I'm really owning a deathmatch. I don't know. Play me and be the judge I guess.

I guess, like the OP, I don't like it when people get really nasty. Yeah, maybe that's my point.

I'll do much of the same, if there is a way to be classy when chatting, I'll sieze the opportunity to do so. There's no good way to be classy and hurtful; so I keep my hurtful comments where they're best kept. Inside my head.

 

[Antiparticle]

I really hate it when random people online trashtalk, I think it's rude and annoying and I never do it myself. But with friends at home is a totally different matter, I think it's perfectly fine then, as long as you don't take it too far. I've got this one friend in particular who I really like to make fun of when we play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, because he finds the most creative ways of dying. I guess there's just too much happening on the screen at once for him or something, but he keeps running into things, getting hit by things, losing sight of where his character is, blowing himself up etc. I try not to laugh at him, but it's just too funny. Fortunately usually he doesn't mind.

 

[Elurindel]

I'm prone to the occasional trash talk in skirmishes, free-for-alls, or Left 4 Dead, which just brings on my puns like mad, such as "Looks like somebody blew prematurely" when I kill a Boomer without it hurting anybody.
There's nothing wrong with a little smack talk, but when you're just saying somebody sucks, or going through the usual xbox live-style racism, homophobia etc, then it's going too far.

 

[Sarcastic Chimp]

My friends and me only trash talk when we get teams on COD4 or Halo 3 saying they will own us... even if it's a narrow victory to us, we all just make loud noise to drown out their pathetic excuses. Is it just me, or do others seem to notice that 10 year old Americans (only people I've noticed doing it) say "I let you win" when they lose?

 

[ulterior motive]

I feel that trash talking is just for socially malnurished idiots.

That's just a feeling, though. Statistically, it has been proven that Street Fighter II becomes 32% more fun with trash talking, while NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis's fun factor increases by nearly 47%. There was also a study done where, after an hour of playing Mario Kart, the subjects were then made to play without any trash talking, and a whopping 63% actually thought the Mario Kart disc had been replaced by a different game.

 

[Ionami]

If you want to trash talk, fine. But try and gauge other folks reactions, and if they don't seem to enjoy it, cut it out. It's fun to tease folks while playing, but there's no need to be mean.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

I'll give it back if my opponent gives it first. I'm not a fan of it though, especially online, although it has been know to make me do the gaming equivalent of hulking out. Not sure if that's a good thing, but I've never lost in hulk mode.

 

[vid20]

Trash talking is an integral part of gaming. Words cannot express how much I enjoy trash talking in a game just because of the rage it can generate. Seeing people get worked up over a game will never grow old for me. As long as people keep reacting to my bait I will keep trash talking.

I don't do it because I think I'm better. (In fact, I'm more likely to do it if I'm worse just to work them up.) I don't do it because I am angry (Gaming is a relaxing exercise for me; trash talking is just a part of that relaxation.) I do it because I can.

It may make me a horrible person, but other gamers don't need to be so emotionally attached to a game; I'm not.

 

[MarkusAurelius77]

I like a bit of trash talk, usually when on COD4. i'll give some stick to campers, usually along the lines of (after headshot) man, you take like you mother did last night, MONEYSHOT!! or telling my mates that they suck if they don't do well in team games. On the whole, I avoid generic insults though, no imagination.

Example: playing HC SAD, just been killed planting bomb

Me: bugger, didn't see that guy
Random Yank (on other team): just so you know, he's tea-bagging you.
Me: oh well, i guess you have to get your jollies where you can in a war
Random Yank: dude, you are so gay, he has his cock in your mouth.
Me: hang on, I'm dead, he is defiling my dead corpse. How exactly am i the gay person in this relationship? he could've bought me a drink first, maybe tried a chat up line??
Yank: OMG you really are gay!
Me: your team mate is a necrophiliac rapist with the manners and breeding of a baboon of dubious personal hygiene, and you are worried about MY sexuality??
Yank: OMG you're BRITISH! go brush your teeth, and drink some tea!
Me: how original. Since you are american, and its approx 2pm that you are a fat geek, with no social life and no carnal knowledge of women that aren't outside your family?
Yank: i hope your whole family dies in a fire (RAGE QUIT)

my team won the game as a whole.

I find a nice dose of sarcasm is the way with trash talking...or the mute if i can't be arsed

 

[atv_chic_18]

Trash talking is an integral part of gaming. Words cannot express how much I enjoy trash talking in a game just because of the rage it can generate. Seeing people get worked up over a game will never grow old for me. As long as people keep reacting to my bait I will keep trash talking.

I don't do it because I think I'm better. (In fact, I'm more likely to do it if I'm worse just to work them up.) I don't do it because I am angry (Gaming is a relaxing exercise for me; trash talking is just a part of that relaxation.) I do it because I can.

It may make me a horrible person, but other gamers don't need to be so emotionally attached to a game; I'm not.

I have to agree with your thoughts here. My brother and I are such trash talkers to eachother when we play any games against eachother. It was really bad when we played Guitar Hero. But it was all out of fun and just to have fun with the game. It's part of it. Like you said, it's not because of anger for either of us.

Today I went to the movies with a friend and even at air hockey I trash talked. Haha. My friend was amused by it. And didn't trash talk. So it wasn't half as amusing.