Smack talk - The art of fine conversation over the internet.
Some would argue sportsmanship is a privilege. There are others who see sportsmanship as unnecessary, maybe even a flaw. If one team can talk another into weakness and get the better of them, is that not a skill in itself? Some could argue it is unjust, unorthodox and most of all immature. Others could just as easily argue that "if you can't handle some typing you should quit gaming".
I'm sure many of you reading this have watched a match before where you simply thought "pathetic" having read one players comment. Some of you may have even thought that about what i've said on ETTV myself, but let's not get into that! Where is this borderline between good fun and things getting personal? Well, it's clearly subjective; some may find a simple "Great shot!" spam bind blasphemous, whilst others may need the more personal comments before their cage is rattled, some going as personal as looks, weight, race and on occasion worse. Crossfire's beloved mystic for example, considered by many to be one of the best players ever to have played the game is also recognised for his seemingly withdrawn character. Is he a better person than someone who throws in a few sarcastic comments to provoke a little anger? Contrastingly, there are many top players who struggle to keep themselves quiet when playing their game, but again, the question is raised, are they worse than someone who chooses to keep quiet?
However, the aspect of humour cannot be ignored here. One may easily amuse a teammate by flaming an opponent. Is this sadistic pleasure acceptable, and more importantly has it always been? The 'old-school' among you may certainly be contemplating the nostalgic days of Oasis and Battery 6v6's, where flame may have been more or less common; the same people may even be thinking that today's 'new-school' community is childish, with no self control or maturity. Do you consider the feelings of your opponent when dishing out smack talk, and if not, should you? Are we just a community being flooded with youth - a youth which purposely or not is guilty of arousing animosity?
So what happens when this smack talk goes LAN? The majority of you will have heard about the fight at CDC, the fruits of smack talk when most ripe. Are these LAN fights the product of a community growing increasingly worse, smack talk becoming less acceptable (consequently more serious), or just bad parenting? Despite the fight at CDC probably bringing many people entertainment and amusement, there are the few on crossfire who see it as ridiculous - gaming getting out of hand. I'm sure those fighting didn't consider how their titanic battle may affect future sponsors of the tournaments, the reputation of admins and maybe even the people surrounding them at the time, in the very same way that many do not consider the reputation of their teammates when hurling flame at their opponents, who will likely be tarnished with the same brush as them. Outside of gaming terms, we see the likes of John Terry and Jaime Carragher, sporting hero's, once described as "foul mouthed as it comes" - yet idolised by millions, but are they bad sportsmen for being "foul mouthed"? Many would say that it's just competition.
Is the better player allowed to hurl flame? If the likes of idle, uQ, dignitas and more chose to misconduct themselves in the same manner as those of a lower status, some might argue it would not be frowned up, however others may argue that it would be frowned upon to an even higher extent. In a similar manner to say, an older child being expect to set the standard at school for a younger one, should higher ranking teams show more sportsmanship than others?
Questions, questions.
Some would argue sportsmanship is a privilege. There are others who see sportsmanship as unnecessary, maybe even a flaw. If one team can talk another into weakness and get the better of them, is that not a skill in itself? Some could argue it is unjust, unorthodox and most of all immature. Others could just as easily argue that "if you can't handle some typing you should quit gaming".
I'm sure many of you reading this have watched a match before where you simply thought "pathetic" having read one players comment. Some of you may have even thought that about what i've said on ETTV myself, but let's not get into that! Where is this borderline between good fun and things getting personal? Well, it's clearly subjective; some may find a simple "Great shot!" spam bind blasphemous, whilst others may need the more personal comments before their cage is rattled, some going as personal as looks, weight, race and on occasion worse. Crossfire's beloved mystic for example, considered by many to be one of the best players ever to have played the game is also recognised for his seemingly withdrawn character. Is he a better person than someone who throws in a few sarcastic comments to provoke a little anger? Contrastingly, there are many top players who struggle to keep themselves quiet when playing their game, but again, the question is raised, are they worse than someone who chooses to keep quiet?
However, the aspect of humour cannot be ignored here. One may easily amuse a teammate by flaming an opponent. Is this sadistic pleasure acceptable, and more importantly has it always been? The 'old-school' among you may certainly be contemplating the nostalgic days of Oasis and Battery 6v6's, where flame may have been more or less common; the same people may even be thinking that today's 'new-school' community is childish, with no self control or maturity. Do you consider the feelings of your opponent when dishing out smack talk, and if not, should you? Are we just a community being flooded with youth - a youth which purposely or not is guilty of arousing animosity?
So what happens when this smack talk goes LAN? The majority of you will have heard about the fight at CDC, the fruits of smack talk when most ripe. Are these LAN fights the product of a community growing increasingly worse, smack talk becoming less acceptable (consequently more serious), or just bad parenting? Despite the fight at CDC probably bringing many people entertainment and amusement, there are the few on crossfire who see it as ridiculous - gaming getting out of hand. I'm sure those fighting didn't consider how their titanic battle may affect future sponsors of the tournaments, the reputation of admins and maybe even the people surrounding them at the time, in the very same way that many do not consider the reputation of their teammates when hurling flame at their opponents, who will likely be tarnished with the same brush as them. Outside of gaming terms, we see the likes of John Terry and Jaime Carragher, sporting hero's, once described as "foul mouthed as it comes" - yet idolised by millions, but are they bad sportsmen for being "foul mouthed"? Many would say that it's just competition.
Is the better player allowed to hurl flame? If the likes of idle, uQ, dignitas and more chose to misconduct themselves in the same manner as those of a lower status, some might argue it would not be frowned up, however others may argue that it would be frowned upon to an even higher extent. In a similar manner to say, an older child being expect to set the standard at school for a younger one, should higher ranking teams show more sportsmanship than others?
Questions, questions.
I mean, who can stand those 5min long warmups were no one in the opponent team rups without some fun flaming?:D
But when an opponent constantly whines and flames during the game with comments like "yeah, sure", "fuck your mum" or also a comment pointed towards me by some greek random: "I'm going to fuck you up at CDC"... than there is simply no fun in the match anymore. I play this game to have fun and not to get insulted. I am also not the guy who flames back, and if the person doesn't realize that, then it just makes me sad. Personally I don't think this has something to do with this very community, but with our society in general. People just don't have any respect left for others. It's also not limited to a specific age. I've seen 16 year olds ranting as well as 30 year olds. If you have fun insulting people, please do it somewhere else, but not in the game where I want to have fun, thank you.
not true. as far as i know the spec interrupted mama when he was playing. mama told him to gtfo but he didnt. then they started the fist fight.
Making fakeaccounts on crossfire to spam or playing with a fakename just to flame during wars is just pathetic.
the funniest stuff: if you dont talk at all you got flamed for being arrogant!! :D
Note - applies to flaming, which is different to joking around in good spirit or making the odd sarcastic comment when someone (usually madbone) does something loco on the server :)
I dont think it is far to blame a fight at a LAN on bad parenting.
As for the rest of the article. I dont think a degree of whine or flame is bad, as it is usually simply a result of frustration. However, I do think that as a team or individual become more well known, or play for a larger team, that they should uphold a degree of professionalism. I not asking for people to change their personalities, but to simply act in a professional manner as their actions are reflected on the team and furthermore their sponsors.