Stifling the Competition

It’s easy to go after people on Call of Duty. You have the advantage of anonymity, making it easy to say the absolute worst things online. When some people go online, they suffer a major change of personality, like from Jekyll to Hyde. The nicest guy offline becomes the biggest jerk online, becoming a sociopath that will say things that would make him blush if he heard himself saying the same things. This is an issue that needs to be addressed.

I’ll be the first to say that some people need to grow a thick skin before you go online. People need to expect to be insulted and an ego bruised; it’s just part of the experience. Personally, if someone attacks you while playing an FPS, you should shoot them down. Seriously; you’re in a game that features high-caliber weapons, you have a gang that also has high-caliber weapons, and your reaction is to cry about the verbal abuse? I say that the easiest way to shut someone up is too shoot them down, literally. Nothing kills someone’s ability to talk trash like taking him out like trash.

That side, it’s easy to see why it happens. Some people take advantage of the anonymity that shields them from any enemies they may develop, and others figure that by verbally attacking someone they can create an easier target. You also have those that have a truly sucky life offline and take it out on those online. It’s weird how many people become different people when they go online; it’s weird how many shy kids become ultra-aggressive when they don’t have to worry about someone beating them up.

Although that’s not likely to change any time soon, steps do need to be taken about that. It’s easy to see it as cheap therapy and back it with the excuse that you aren’t hurting anything. The problem is that you are hurting someone, and you need real therapy. This is behavior that should be discussed with a counselor; there are some anger management issues that need to be discussed and dealt with. You have some serious issues that need to be dealt with, and the sooner the better.

I’m not saying that you have serious issues by any stretch, just that you have some issues that need to be dealt with. Odds are it’s just anger issues, and you think that taking advantage of your online anonymity is the easiest way of dealing with things. Eventually someone will want to take you down a notch, and that can lead to you getting banned if you are lucky, real-life violence if you aren’t. You need to talk things out with someone, and preferably someone who can help you work through those issues, even if it’s just a great friend, a cousin, or even…shudder…an adult.

At any rate, if you are one of those that virtually yell at others online, you need to take it down a notch. Life is full enough of jerks as it is without being a jerk yourself.