Online Hate

Baxter Cranch

People who play video games are often pretty opinionated and entire communities of gamers can often seem like cesspools of hatred. The most caustic opinions are often blurted the loudest and can actually have quite an effect on some games.

                I've tried several times to get a couple friends into the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) community. Usually they give it a try like it and then proceed to play on without me. That's when they end up quitting. You see, there's a general assumption that everyone in the MOBA community is an ass. For the most part this is actually true, at least on the surface. You see MOBAs, which include games like League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients, are competitive games and as such discussions on the characters, items and strategies available are constantly happening, except they aren't so much discussions as they are shouting matches. Spending time on the official League of Legends forums is painstaking users berate each other for one different item being used on a champion and so help you if you don't know something about the game. You won't be taught how to play (unless you get lucky), in fact people will probably tell you to stop playing (Which you shouldn't). But this is a limited audience and people have a habit of thinking they're better at the game than they actually are.

                The general League forums are a place where one loud opinion will be met with another. You can stay away from sites like it though. Sites like www.reignofgaming.net where reasonable discussions actually take place and new players are introduced to the game as it stands. Another interesting thing about sites like this is that people from the development team actually show up to talk about their process of design and how champions function as well as their thoughts on patches. Places like these are often smaller communities because the most users will have a couple bad experiences with one side of a community and because of this refuse to delve deeper into the game.

                Naturally this problem isn't limited solely to MOBA's. So if you ever find yourself faced with a horrible game community take some time out of your day to research it. Chances are you find a nice little secluded forum where you can make friends and discuss and learn the game.