Why is the gaming community so reactionary?

[Questionable]

I don't know if this belongs here but it's somewhat technology related. A mod can move it if it's not appropriate.

Why is the modern video gaming community so reactionary in their political outlook? Looking at the politics sub-forums of major websites like GameFAQs, those places are fucking disaster zones. It's just a clusterfuck of liberals who will apologize for anything Obama does, Ron Paul fanatics, and occasionally you get people on the far side of either spectrum, but admitting you're a communist brings nothing but ridicule and rejection, and far-rightists are much more common anyway. I just looked on GameFAQs after not being there for multiple years and found a topic talking about how Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) was militantly anti-gay yet had been chosen to write for Superman comics. The two main sides were liberals saying things like "I'm all for freedom of opinion, but come on guys!" and then right-wingers of all flavors who said that being against hate speech was "censorship" and "just as bigoted as being against gay people." I was the only one who took the stance that hate speech should never be tolerated under any circumstances because fuck bigotry, and I was promptly called a troll be everyone else participating in the debate and my views were more or less ignored.

The games themselves are even worse. Anyone who has the least bit of experience with online gaming knows the rampant racism, sexism, and national chauvinism that infests game communities. Some individual game serves have rules against the more extreme examples, but those are exceptions. Most servers for games like Counter-strike or Call of Duty are just lawless hellholes full of people calling each other "retarded nigger faggots" when they get killed. Women who make their gender known are either hit on relentlessly or condemned as being "attention whores." Players with foreign accents who use a microphone to communicate are usually mocked by their peers. And God help you if you do anything to suggest that you are a homosexual.

I know it must seem like I'm focusing on the worst parts to someone who is not familiar with online gaming, but this shit is seriously commonplace in every game I've played.

I've thought that it's possible most of these people are succumbing to the temptations of pack mentality and internet anonymity, and possibly aren't as bigoted in reality, but as I've said, the actual places where gamers discuss politics aren't much better. The official forums for games like Civilization or Hearts of Iron usually attract players who are more knowledgeable about history and wordly events, but even then you get the "communism can never work human nature capitalism is the end of history hurr hurr" shit most of the time.

So what is it? Is it the class composition of the game community, the fact that it appeals to better-off layers of society? Or is it something else?

[GPDP]

A lot of it does boil down to the tried and true dictum: Normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad. Many people act as degenerates because they can do so without consequences. And as for those that actually believe what they spout, it again comes down to the fact that saying such things in public is unacceptable or looked down upon, so the internet is seen as a safe haven for their reactionary ideas.

As for the misogyny and homophobia, well, let's just face it, internet forums and particularly GAMING forums are boys' clubs in the truest sense of the word.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Gaming online, especially games like Call of Duty, are completely filled with people who say things just because they can get away with it. They know calling some random dude from across the country won't be able to track them down or anything so they'll come up with the stupidest, most bigoted things they can come up with just to piss people off. I usually just ignore it or go with it to piss them off more. "Wtf faggot you suck dick, hardscoper, hardscoper."
"Hell yeah I'm a faggot cocksucker, a faggot cocksucker who just kicked your ass over and over again. You lost to a faggot cocksucker like myself, god damn you suck!" Then just keep agreeing with them about being a homosexual, or an Arab, or a Jew, or whatever stupid thing they say and keep bringing up that I am that and I killed their asses at least a dozen times. Eventually they shut up.

Once in a while I'll actually find someone who's cool and not talking shit. I add them as a friend and when they're playing whatever I am I'll play with them so at least I know one person will be cool to play with.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

As other comrades have said it is a combination of factors which make people say ridiculously bigoted things. This is combined with the fact that capitalist society is intensely reactionary to begin with (even under "progressive" leadership). The two compliment each other in a profound way. This then fuses with concepts such as masculinity and the warrior mind-set, especially when playing war-games, to result in a chorus of harmful slander when the game doesn't go someone's way. It is, I think, one of the natural conclusions from the combination of these factors.

I actually recently wrote a Kasama article detailing gaming in-depth but they haven't gotten around to publishing it yet.

[Futility Personified]

Ingroups and outgroups. The ingroup: angry young men who refuse to believe that a multi million dollar piece of software can possibly be right if it results in them dying. The outgroup: anyone who has ever been hated on ever and thus is a second class citizen. Although I do hasten to point out, a lot of the time it is trolling, trying to be offensive rather than actually being reactionary and to be completely frank, ahem, some people are noobs, yo. I wouldn't employ the terms leftist but i'd certainly use accepting and open minded to describe some of my friends from where I originate, upon being killed multiple times descended to employ the word faggot more than they actually fired bullets.

Part of it is regrettably gaming culture, as it were, without a doubt it needs changing. But I do feel that while a lot of gamers will employ epithets, it's as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, anonymity + audience = prick, A large amount of people will do it because they can get away with it and just want to be offensive to defend their noobish egos, than because they are out and out bigots. Not defending this incidentally, just pointing out what i've witnessed in clan gaming in the CoD franchise since MW first came out.

[Ocean Seal]

Hint: You are describin 99% of the people on the internet.

[Conscript]

GameFAQs is a terrible site to begin with.

[TaylorS]

I think a lot of these people are edgy teenage boys and adult men with the emotional maturity of a teenager. They want to be shocking and "un-PC" because they think it is form of rebellion, having completely bought in to the popular delusion about the "PC Liberal Establishment".

[sixdollarchampagne]

I worked at an engineering university in southern New England for over three decades, and, on a lot of weekends, there were lots of classrooms occupied by video game enthusiasts, and those people looked like the most unconnected, a-social, strangest folks anyone ever saw. It was appalling. The question ought to be, why is the "gaming community" so unbelievably weird?

[Jimmie Higgins]

So what is it? Is it the class composition of the game community, the fact that it appeals to better-off layers of society? Or is it something else?I don't think the gaming community is anything seperate from communities at large and I don't know if they tend to me more reactionary (or express more reactionary views in their forums) than most other general (by which I mean not specifically politically oriented) audience on the internet.

Maybe there are some demographic issues at play when it comes to hard-core gamers, but for the most part, video games are an industry bigger than films and so it's a huge and diverse. The niches within gaming may also be a factor because whereas players are now much more diverse in terms of geneder and social background than ever before, some niches are much more directed towards young middle class males (even if that it only a fraction of the total audience). Because the industry wants to target certain valued demographics (to ensure a recognizable market for their investors) games tend to be very loose in depicting sexism, totally anitomically impossible women, machismo, etc. This may embolden people with these views because they feel that it is acceptable and "not a big deal" as it's reflected in the games (or any media, the same could be said of "fan-boys" of Sci-Fi movies or some metalheads).

So back to the internet issue, I think one part of the broader phenomena of awful misogneny, misanthropy, racism, and elitism sometimes expressed in general internet forums, is not necissarily because these views are held by more people, but that they have become acceptable expressions online (whereas most of the time they are no longer acceptable in daily life). Conversly, it's the people who bring up the racism/sexism in this or that decision by a film-maker, novelist, musician, or game francize that get the heavy shaming and are dennounced for "politicizing" things. And people don't defend the sexism/racism made by some commentor (or the game itself), instead they defend "free speech"... by trying to bully and shame others into shutting up.

Like comedians who make rape-jokes, the posters will say they are just being funny or provacative (which there's nothing wrong with offending people for a joke or being provocative in the abstract, but when you see all the social pieces together, it's easy to see this isn't some random joke, but a regualr occourance of shutting up certain views and people), but really it's a battle over what's considered normal and acceptable. In other words, sexism and racism are fine as jokes, mentioning sexism or racism are unacceptable for discussion. The result is that people who are legit scum feel entitled to spew their venom on everyone, people who are just ignorent might mimic the same sorts of jokes but anyone who is offended by it is the problem and feel shamed and so less people feel confident to raise objections; so one view is represented more and the other is silenced.

[Bostana]

Not really. I consider myself part of the gaming community. (Although I am not part of any game forum). Most gamers just don't give two shits about politics and whenever they do express there opinion they're on the far left.

The games themselves are even worse. Anyone who has the least bit of experience with online gaming knows the rampant racism, sexism, and national chauvinism that infests game communities.
Not really. I've never encountered this on any mmorpg. You mainly get that idea from tv shows. Kind of like a stereo type kinda deal



Most servers for games like Counter-strike or Call of Duty are just lawless hellholes full of people calling each other "retarded nigger faggots" when they get killed.
True which is why everyone in the gaming community hates call of duty. It is a terrible game and online game. Most people who are considered gamers hate call of duty.



Women who make their gender known are either hit on relentlessly or condemned as being "attention whores."
No. Not really. Again you're going off of what you hear not what you have experienced.


Players with foreign accents who use a microphone to communicate are usually mocked by their peers. And God help you if you do anything to suggest that you are a homosexual.
People with foreign accents aren't judged because just no one gives a shit where you're from. And same thing if you're homosexual. People could care less about your sexuality let alone judge you for it.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I have long noticed that there is something about the glow of a computer screen that just brings out the absolute worst in humanity. I have known people that are quite cordial and fun-loving on a face-to-face basis, but can be absolute bastards online.

It's weird, because I've always made an effort to be cordial and polite in online conversations. To me it just made sense. I'm basically the same person both offline and online (wit the addition of a socially-crippling southern drawl).

[LeonJWilliams]

I've never noticed personally. I sometimes post on the Star Trek Online (STO) mmorpg forum, the people seem fairly normal. Mostly apolitical.

[Aleister Granger]

There is a difference between being a reactionary and an asshole on the interwebz.
When a revolution breaks, I don't think I'm going to IP hack a random person's account, report them to the NKVD, get them renounced as violent counter-revolutionaries, and have their muscles torn through brutal work and brains blasted onto the walls just because they were immature sadsacks with a fondness for using slurs when they were sure they couldn't get in trouble.

[ANTIFA GATE-9]

Most don't even know what they are talking about on the FAQs, they just memorise some bullshit they think sounds cool and say it. I usually stay away from the FAQs. They wouldn't dare say that face to face. That's how most gamers are, they find the oportunity to be assholes on the FAQs when no one knows its them.

[Comrade Jacob]

It's simple...the gaming industry is reactionary, you know, the constant "Kill the reds, support the "free-world", go 'MURICA" bullshit, so it is no surprise that a community built around these types of games is reactionary as well.

[MarxSchmarx]

I want to suggest a slightly more nuanced but I think materialist perspective that hasn't been raised.

Gaming generally, especially online gaming, requires a certain amount of capital investment. Most people who play games, at least in the global north (with the possible exceptions of S. Korea and Taiwan) do so in the privacy of their homes (another exception are active duty soldiers, but I don't think people should be surprised at their reactionary nature, at least in NATO+ states). That means they must have, at a minimum, regular internet connection, electricity, a television and a console. They must also be able to afford regular rent and the like. TV and console or even a pc are not exceptionally expensive, but the rent and utilities can be quite expensive. That means that these people must either make enough money to live reasonably comfortably to pay these regular bills, or be students.

Now in much of the global north, the working class has a strong reactionary element, and the middle and upper classes more so. Young boys from the latter two classes almost universally played video games from an early age, and, anecdotally, largely seem to continue to do so into at least some stage of adulthood post university.

Within this mileu, most of those people who are reactionary tend to see themselves as unique individual heroes - precisely the sorts of people who videogame narratives serve and market to. They see themselves as more or less "making it on their own", albeit imperfectly, within the capitalist system. Is it therefore any wonder that the gaming community seems slightly more reactionary than the general public? It is worth mentioning, also, that most gamers are men, who, in the global north, tend to be more reactionary as a group.

Finally, I am guessing we are talking mostly of english language gaming. For instance, in places like Latin America or China, where a lot of gaming takes place in internet cafes, I am not nearly as confident that the same reactionary tendencies hold. I think all these theories about the unique nature of the screen and the lack of physical contiguity are interesting, but I think require a cross-cultural comparison to be credible.

[Hrafn]

I want to suggest a slightly more nuanced but I think materialist perspective that hasn't been raised.

Gaming generally, especially online gaming, requires a certain amount of capital investment. Most people who play games, at least in the global north (with the possible exceptions of S. Korea and Taiwan) do so in the privacy of their homes (another exception are active duty soldiers, but I don't think people should be surprised at their reactionary nature, at least in NATO+ states). That means they must have, at a minimum, regular internet connection, electricity, a television and a console. They must also be able to afford regular rent and the like. TV and console or even a pc are not exceptionally expensive, but the rent and utilities can be quite expensive. That means that these people must either make enough money to live reasonably comfortably to pay these regular bills, or be students.

Now in much of the global north, the working class has a strong reactionary element, and the middle and upper classes more so. Young boys from the latter two classes almost universally played video games from an early age, and, anecdotally, largely seem to continue to do so into at least some stage of adulthood post university.

Within this mileu, most of those people who are reactionary tend to see themselves as unique individual heroes - precisely the sorts of people who videogame narratives serve and market to. They see themselves as more or less "making it on their own", albeit imperfectly, within the capitalist system. Is it therefore any wonder that the gaming community seems slightly more reactionary than the general public? It is worth mentioning, also, that most gamers are men, who, in the global north, tend to be more reactionary as a group.

Finally, I am guessing we are talking mostly of english language gaming. For instance, in places like Latin America or China, where a lot of gaming takes place in internet cafes, I am not nearly as confident that the same reactionary tendencies hold. I think all these theories about the unique nature of the screen and the lack of physical contiguity are interesting, but I think require a cross-cultural comparison to be credible.

I don't see why you confuse gaming with having money. The period of my life that I played the most games, was my by far poorest period. The people in my life who game a lot are all unemployed, as a matter of fact. There is nothing "having money" about being able to scrape by rent, or simply having someone let you live at their place. Nor is there anything such about affording electricity or an internet connection. As for consoles, yes, but PC's can be extremely cheap if you know how to do it, and games can be saved up to or pirated. All of this especially applies when you live in some form of supposed welfare state.

I'm also bothered by the accusation that the 'global north working-class' is somehow more reactionary than the 'global south working-class'.

[Red Flag Waver]

Have you seen this?
Kb5ev2Dp4I0

[MarxSchmarx]

I don't see why you confuse gaming with having money. The period of my life that I played the most games, was my by far poorest period. The people in my life who game a lot are all unemployed, as a matter of fact. There is nothing "having money" about being able to scrape by rent, or simply having someone let you live at their place. Nor is there anything such about affording electricity or an internet connection.


Of course there are exceptions, like students or people who have a social support network (e.g., their parents' basement) to fall back on when the going gets tough. But the fact is, gaming remains a luxury, not a necessity. Being able to afford this luxury implies a certain amount of financial wherewithal, and that is why the young men of the middle and upper classes more or less universally engage in it.

Poverty is relative, I get that. And I am sure there are poor people who live very precarious existances who play games. But being substantively involved in gaming generally takes a lot of time, which implies a certain stability in income or at least a state of being to afford a luxury like this. Of course there are exceptions, and plenty of people who game are leftists despite these benefits. But we are talking about generalities in this thread, and I think these kinds of trends demand a materialist analysis.



As for consoles, yes, but PC's can be extremely cheap if you know how to do it, and games can be saved up to or pirated. All of this especially applies when you live in some form of supposed welfare state.


I think "extremely" cheap is relative. You can probably build a computer for less than 100 USD and a used laptop goes for those prices, but few people who play PC games like call of duty or what have you, at least in their own homes, use such computers. The operating system alone costs more than that (some games run on linux, but you'd be surprised at how few mainstream blockbuster games do).

Moreover, with the exception of a few markets (like Germany) the dominance of consoles I think indicates how few people think investing the time into building a cheap PC worth their time.

Piracy is not for everyone, and I suspect, when it comes to gaming, the vast majority of gamers (at least in the global north) eschew it. Otherwise, companies wouldn't bother.

I grant that casual web-based games like angry birds or even spider solitaire or something are major market games that could be played extremely cheaply. But I was under the impression these are not what is talked about when this thread discusses the "gaming community".



I'm also bothered by the accusation that the 'global north working-class' is somehow more reactionary than the 'global south working-class'.

I don't believe I said this :confused:

[synthesis]

Being able to afford this luxury implies a certain amount of financial wherewithal, and that is why the young men of the middle and upper classes more or less universally engage in it.

More so than, say, a heroin addiction?

[Hrafn]

Of course there are exceptions, like students or people who have a social support network (e.g., their parents' basement) to fall back on when the going gets tough. But the fact is, gaming remains a luxury, not a necessity. Being able to afford this luxury implies a certain amount of financial wherewithal, and that is why the young men of the middle and upper classes more or less universally engage in it.

Poverty is relative, I get that. And I am sure there are poor people who live very precarious existances who play games. But being substantively involved in gaming generally takes a lot of time, which implies a certain stability in income or at least a state of being to afford a luxury like this. Of course there are exceptions, and plenty of people who game are leftists despite these benefits. But we are talking about generalities in this thread, and I think these kinds of trends demand a materialist analysis.



I think "extremely" cheap is relative. You can probably build a computer for less than 100 USD and a used laptop goes for those prices, but few people who play PC games like call of duty or what have you, at least in their own homes, use such computers. The operating system alone costs more than that (some games run on linux, but you'd be surprised at how few mainstream blockbuster games do).

Moreover, with the exception of a few markets (like Germany) the dominance of consoles I think indicates how few people think investing the time into building a cheap PC worth their time.

Piracy is not for everyone, and I suspect, when it comes to gaming, the vast majority of gamers (at least in the global north) eschew it. Otherwise, companies wouldn't bother.

I grant that casual web-based games like angry birds or even spider solitaire or something are major market games that could be played extremely cheaply. But I was under the impression these are not what is talked about when this thread discusses the "gaming community".



I don't believe I said this :confused:

Does the alcoholic being able to afford large amounts of luxury items, the alcohol, imply he or she is wealthy? It does not. Gaming can be an addiction just like anything else. Gaming is a very good escape from real life. Etc.

Also this whole time issue - has said, a lot of my friends who game a lot
are unemployed. They take money from their welfare checks to buy games, and they spend their free time - which they have much of - with escapism.

I think you underestimate piracy - as well as severely misunderstand the ability of the poor to "afford" gaming, money-wise and time-wise.

Also - no, you did not say it. You heavily implied it.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Have you seen this?
[Video]

This is precisely why I believe in the continued relevance of the SCUM Manifesto. These worthless neckbeard shitstains need to be strung up by their balls until gravity rips them off and the die from the bleeding holes in their crotches.

I sincerely believe that serious displays of violence that undermine the confidence of men to do these things without fear of retribution is absolutely necessary.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Finally, I am guessing we are talking mostly of english language gaming. For instance, in places like Latin America or China, where a lot of gaming takes place in internet cafes, I am not nearly as confident that the same reactionary tendencies hold. I think all these theories about the unique nature of the screen and the lack of physical contiguity are interesting, but I think require a cross-cultural comparison to be credible.

This isn't true. The entire culture of that mysoginist, pedophile, rapist, apathetic, racist fascistoid basement dweller shit that you see bubbling up on websites like 4chan comes directly from Japanese messaging boards. It's almost a complete crossover of outlook. And they have the videogames to match. My best guess is that some japanophile neckbeards starting trawling through aforementioned repulsive forums and brought the bacterial waste into the english speaking world when they returned.

Now if you want to see a gaming community that is absolutely fucking rancid, take a look at Japan. Your eyes will develop tumors. The same crap goes on in Korea. The most widely grossing genre are date simulation games. Let me run that by you again in more detail: games where cartoon drawings of teenaged girls of ambiguous age who are set up on a screen into neat little ultra-sexist caricatures of women, are then pitted against the creep main character who tries to get them to burst their capillaries blush enough so that they will suddenly want to have sex with him, are some of the most widely grossing media in Japan. It doesn't take a genius to guess the opinions of the playerbase of these games.

Far from being 'different' or 'better', I'd say the reactionary opinions of gaming communities are even worse in far-eastern, non english speaking countries.

[Quail]

Have you seen this?

Ugh. Wow that is bad on so many levels.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Have you seen this?

[video]

I had to watch this video after reading TGDU's reaction. Jesus fucking Christ. "When I think supervillain I automatically think of a woman"? Don't these people ever fucking stop and listen to themselves? "...being single" - Better get fucking used to it, you creep.

I love video games, but I don't hang around video game forums and I don't consider myself a member of the "gamer culture" except in the loosest possible sense. But I don't want one of my favourite hobbies to be tarnished by association because shitbags like those cretins in the video are given a platform from which to broadcast their profound lack of awareness and totally unwarranted privilege.

So what causes this? Because if that is known, then it might be possible to make the world a marginally better place to live in by addressing that cause. With prejudice, hopefully. I don't agree with MarxSchmarx's analysis, because from personal experience I know that gaming on the cheap is definitely a possibility.

[CECE]

I had to watch this video after reading TGDU's reaction. Jesus fucking Christ. "When I think supervillain I automatically think of a woman"? Don't these people ever fucking stop and listen to themselves? "...being single" - Better get fucking used to it, you creep.

"They do what they're good at, they overreact."

Probably one of the more annoying quotes in the video, at least for me...

I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume these aren't their real opinions and thoughts, they're just trying to be comical but... I can't help but get the feeling of scum :glare:

[Red Commissar]

I think the problem with gaming forums is much the same as we have with forums in general. Communities tend to attract more well-off individuals and do not have an *accurate* reflection of the whole base- we can say the same about our forum as an accurate representation of the whole left or more broadly "radical" scene in the US. Online it is indeed the case that gamers are often from more comfortable backgrounds and are the loudest on the internet- consequently they tend to shape the direction of the developers in making their product.

As such I do not think it is a stretch then to say that people in this background tend to overlap with unsavory political views. We've all either lived in the suburbs or know people from there and can see how this plays out on people who otherwise think they are somehow progressive, but will hold shit views on minorities (especially when it comes to immigration), women, the poor, what ever even if they just write it off as humor for shock value's sake. Developers who style themselves as "independent" aren't free of this either as the video posted on the previous page either.

On the ground of course there are plenty of people who play video games, and I don't mean just stuff they have on phones now. Consoles especially helped to let many people of different SES experience gaming especially as the 2000s rolled on (greatly helped by the cheap price of disc media), where as before gaming was heavily driven by PCs which were often pretty pricey (at least those that could run a game in its intended quality, be it a boxed computer or made by the user). Even consoles then like the SNES and Genesis did not have the kind of adoption by the public that their counterparts do now. When I did some work in at need schools (defined as a majority of the student population on free or reduced lunches) here it wasn't uncommon to hear children even there talk about video games along with other hobbies of there.

I think gaming now more than ever is a lot more broad and hard to categorize as merely a pleasure of one particular class, the problem is that it continues to cater to the loud fanboys on the internet (who I've described earlier) or the spoiled kid pushing their parents to buy a game. This is because they are generally the ones going to be day one purchase compared to others who might hold out until it comes down in price, as many if not all games tend to start at $59.99 plus tax in the US. Add to this that many will preorder both on digital and physical stores so developers tend to cater to that group of people.

The problem here is that those who are outside this mold don't get worked up by some of the crap in the gaming scene because they either A. Don't think it's very important compared to other issues or B. Don't really think of these implicit themes in video games (we can extend this conversation to any form of popular culture).


This isn't true. The entire culture of that mysoginist, pedophile, rapist, apathetic, racist fascistoid basement dweller shit that you see bubbling up on websites like 4chan comes directly from Japanese messaging boards. It's almost a complete crossover of outlook. And they have the videogames to match. My best guess is that some japanophile neckbeards starting trawling through aforementioned repulsive forums and brought the bacterial waste into the english speaking world when they returned.


I see what you are saying here and it is true, but there are also cases of communities which have also largely grown outside of the 4chan mold or any interest of certain Japanese niche games or what ever. I know looking at some game communities that cater heavily to western FPS or RTS, you generally don't find the 4chan types here who will usually aggregate more in other game genres like RPGs.

[RedHal]

I assume people who spends so much time on videogames are similar to people who spend too much time watching TV, not very well informed.

[Halert]

The most widely grossing genre are date simulation games.

Can i have source on that claim? i googled but can't find it.


Let me run that by you again in more detail: games where cartoon drawings of teenaged girls of ambiguous age who are set up on a screen into neat little ultra-sexist caricatures of women, are then pitted against the creep main character who tries to get them to burst their capillaries blush enough so that they will suddenly want to have sex with him

You are aware that these games are made about guys as well? in these game you play a girl and you can date and have sex with any of the hot guys int the game. they are called otome games.

It's not misogyny that thrives sales for these games. It's loneliness, people in japan have fewer relationships and have less sex than people in the west.

[Sea]

dThey're usually male shut-ins, and the spawn of either liberal or conservative parents. These are all qualities that tend to fester when left treated.

Don't worry though, we all die eventually.
These worthless neckbeard shitstains need to be strung up by their balls until gravity rips them off and the die from the bleeding holes in their crotches.There's probably a game in which this can be done, actually. Just wait until Surgeon Simulator 2014 comes out!

[Glitchcraft]

Far from being 'different' or 'better', I'd say the reactionary opinions of gaming communities are even worse in far-eastern, non english speaking countries.

Do you think there are a higher percentage of reactionaries or just that their behavior is just far more offensive? It's hard to tell. There is so much hentia or whatever that seems to totally glorify rape and other disgusting acts. I have a hard time believing that the billion hours of rape anime out there is just for a tiny niche group. But yet I also feel uncomfortable saying "all those Japanese are misogynistic, chauvinist assholes". They do hunt whales... maybe whale meat makes them crazy.

omg that video, I just remembered why I stopped playing video games.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I see what you are saying here and it is true, but there are also cases of communities which have also largely grown outside of the 4chan mold or any interest of certain Japanese niche games or what ever. I know looking at some game communities that cater heavily to western FPS or RTS, you generally don't find the 4chan types here who will usually aggregate more in other game genres like RPGs.

I'm not familiar with the communities, I just play the games, but if I were to guess then I would say that in the FPS and RTS genres the reactionaries are more in the mold of NRA-types and wannabe dictators, respectively.

[Philosophos]

Finally, I am guessing we are talking mostly of english language gaming. For instance, in places like Latin America or China, where a lot of gaming takes place in internet cafes, I am not nearly as confident that the same reactionary tendencies hold. I think all these theories about the unique nature of the screen and the lack of physical contiguity are interesting, but I think require a cross-cultural comparison to be credible.

Sorry but the last part made me laugh, not your fault. The internet cafes ARE MY LIFE. I've been in more than 50 and all in Greece. I know what is going on in there and it's not any better. People swear, hit computers sometimes, rage-type, scream unimaginable things to others and so on. They curse god, christ, his mother, your mother, your father etc etc while they don't even care if they hurt your feelings.

A lot of people can't see the biggest problem here: authority issues. I don't know if I express it well but most greeks have this issue. I've seen countless times people cursing me and telling me what my mother does in her bed just because I gave them a fucking tip for the game!!! With no rage or bad attitude at all. These people always believe that whenever somebody tries to even imply that s/he is better than them they go crazy, they think they give them orders. The gaming rage is only natural when you don't know how to handle your emotions or when you don't have different ways to let off steam.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

A lot of people can't see the biggest problem here: authority issues. I don't know if I express it well but most greeks have this issue. I've seen countless times people cursing me and telling me what my mother does in her bed just because I gave them a fucking tip for the game!!! With no rage or bad attitude at all. These people always believe that whenever somebody tries to even imply that s/he is better than them they go crazy, they think they give them orders. The gaming rage is only natural when you don't know how to handle your emotions or when you don't have different ways to let off steam.

That doesn't sound like authority issues, that sounds more like "being an actively anti-social raging dickhole" issues.

Or perhaps a maturity issue. Even if one thinks that one is being given crap advice, how exactly does screaming like a spoiled brat help matters in any way? If nothing else, it's wasted energy that could have been better spent, you know, actually playing the damn game!

[Philosophos]

That doesn't sound like authority issues, that sounds more like "being an actively anti-social raging dickhole" issues.

Or perhaps a maturity issue. Even if one thinks that one is being given crap advice, how exactly does screaming like a spoiled brat help matters in any way? If nothing else, it's wasted energy that could have been better spent, you know, actually playing the damn game!

Let me put it in a different way. In Greece we never had this "the state is working for the society" or "we all have to help to make things better" or "the politicians are on your side". No we always believed, since 1830, that the state/politicians/authorities were against us. Not in a revolutionary way. We liked this system but we didn't like the guys that run it. We were always looking for ourselves and our families.
Even my parents have the same view and it has been lots of years since the first time we got our own country. "Oh my God did you hear what happened to mister A? His fields were ruined by the weather. Thank God it was his and not ours" or "Thank God (there's always something with god seriously) our daughter got hired in the mayor's house because we voted for him" even though everyone knew that he was stealing money or doing shit like that.
If for example I've been running with 150 km/h while the max speed is supposed to be 70 and the police officers cut me a ticket, I'm supposed to start yelling and saying that the officers are not doing their job good and that there are even more serious crimes out there to take care of and not cutting a ticket to a lawful good GREEK citizen.
The exact same attitude takes place while someone is doing the exact opposite of what he's supposed to do in a game. There are even people that keep playing LoL while they keep mambling that there are too many OP characters or that the matchmaking system sucks and they wanted changed right here right now like it's something easy to do. Why the hell don't they fix it themselves then? Anyway whenever I try to give them other games like LoL so they can see and decide which is better, they don't want to even try because they don't want to change their "favorite" game but they want the whole god damned game to change as they fucking please.
I know what you are trying to say with the immaturity but this happens everywhere with anyone so we can't have 11+ millions of immature people ;)

[MarxSchmarx]

I guess there are a couple of issues brought up, which I want to take in turn.

First, I agree that a strongly reactionary element to the gaming community is not restricted to the Anglophone gaming community. My point was merely that a lot of the evidence offered up in this thread seemed based on English-language gamers. A lot of the misogyny Star Linn, for instance, notes of Japanese gaming are, I would argue, not particularly unique to gaming. Japanese popular culture, just like Anglo-saxon popular culture, has long been plagued by mysogyny, and just as in the English speaking world, mysogyny is not the only form of reactionary ideology manifested in Japanese gaming. For instance, Japanese military strategy video games can be frighteningly militaristic, right-wing, and frankly fascistic. But again, I don't think these tendencies are particularly unique to gaming culture both in the Japanese language gaming world and in the Anglo-Saxon world.

Wuzhengfu I get what you are saying, and I agree that a lot of poor people play games. I suppose the most I can claim is that there is, to my knowledge, some evidence that gaming appears to be incredibly popular among the upper classes:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wealthy-men-play-videogames-survey-shows-1.1368919
but that similar studies have not been conducted among the systemically poor.

Is video-gaming comparable to substance abuse? Perhaps, as there are for instance people in South Korea who die from playing a video game non-stop. But I don't think the evidence so far is as compelling that video gaming has led to the same sort of social dysfunction that, say, alcohol or narcotics.

And just to clarify, when talking about the working poor in the global north, I guess I wanted to highlight that I don't think we really know as much about the working poor in the global south as we do about the working poor in the global north, so I didn't want to claim any special insight on how reactionary workers in the global south may be.

I didn't mean to imply that the workers in the north are more reactionary. My point was merely that we know workers in the north can be quite reactionary. By contrast, we know comparatively little about how reactionary workers in the global south may be. If they are just as reactionary, well, so be it, but my point is that we just don't know and anybody claiming otherwise is over-stepping their bounds. That is all.

As to piracy, I concede I may underestimate it, but I don't think anybody really knows. For instance, this Danish study:
http://www.digital-digest.com/news-63661-Prevalence-of-Game-Piracy-Questioned-In-New-Study.html
concluded that that piracy is basically a scare-tactic employed by the game developers to impose onerous controls. Again, I think conclusions such as these are pretty restricted to the global north. But whilst as a default I tend to agree with the study's apparent anti-corporate skepticism, I happily admit that piracy may be the primary means by which class distinctions in the video game arena are altogether erased. But I suspect that there is little hard evidence beyond anecdotal cases supporting this view.

And let me throw in another factor that is consistent with my thesis: in America, at least, probably the most economically advantaged ethnic group are Americans of Asian descent (http://www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/new-research-suggests-asians-are-in-fact-the-super). According to one study http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2011/06/media-usa-youth-wartella.html:


Asian youth spend more time in recreational computer use: nearly 3 hours a day (2:53) compared to just under 2 hours for Hispanics (1:49), nearly 1-1/2 hours for blacks (1:24) and slightly less for whites (1:17). Again, this is just the trend in one country and it is probably worth noting that Hispanics and blacks in America tend to be worse off than white Americans.

Finally, to further underscore the point that video-gaming tends to attract those in socially dominant positions, two points that have not been particularly discussed are (1)gender differences, and (2) who publishes most mainstream video games (huge corporations often staffed by highly educated children of the upper-middle and upper classes).

Taken together, the evidence to me seems to fairly consistently indicate that "gaming culture" tilts towards the sensibilities and preferences of the currently dominant class.