I love my clichés, generalization and stereotypes. A common conception is that:
normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad
Naturally this isn’t true in all cases, if it was there would be no such thing as MMO’s. A teacher once told me that in life I would “meet a few people I liked, a few people I disliked and a whole lot I didn’t care about”. No matter how cynical this might sound, there is a lot of truth in it. In MMO’s however, things seem to be slightly different. In my experience it’s more a case of “meet a few you like, quite a lot you don’t like and a whole lot you won’t care about”. I find this very intriguing. Why do people generally act more like arsehats online than in real life?
A large part of it is probably the lack of consequences, which the cross server PUGs seem to have made even less significant. Being almost midget sized I wouldn’t walk up to a guy twice my size and tell him “fu u sux gtfo!”, not unless I wished to know how a melon sized fist to the face feels like. It takes a real knobhead to get a bad reputation on a server, getting one cross servers is pretty much impossible. And the worst case scenario for the knobhead is nothing more than a few ignores, perhaps a guild or two refusing to take him/her into PUGs and if you’ve really been a class A knobhead, being the joke of [2. Trade]. It may affect your game play some, but I’ve still seen some really bad players (skill and personality wise) get into what many would consider “respectable guilds”.
While anonymity certainly makes it easier and more tempting, it doesn’t really explain why some people decide to act the way they do. If they behave the same way in real life they are bound to hit a wall at some point and will most likely end up nowhere. The first thing that comes to mind is that it may be a way to vent some frustration and built up anger, but if that’s true WoW should come with a coupon for anger management courses. Another way to look at it is that a lot of people play games, read books, watch movies, act, roleplay etc. to get to imagine being someone else. While I’m sure most people don’t consciously “role play” being a bastard, there might be something to it. Perhaps the quiet guy subconsciously feels like being the bully, but doesn’t dare to in real life? I should probably stop now before getting way over my head. Moving on.
Now let’s turn things around. Some time back while chatting in guild chat I discovered that several people saw me as the Nice Guy™. I must admit I was a bit surprised. If you were to talk to any of my real life friends I’m pretty sure none of them would label me as a bully or a twat, but not the Nice Guy™ either. I’ll try to say this without sounding like I’m bragging, but it dawned on me that I tend to do the direct opposite of what I talked about above. Instead of coming off as a bigger twat than I really am, I try to “hide” my bad sides, especially while in guild and to some degree in PUGs. As Tam mentioned in a post a while back, guild chat is very much like a large classroom (or something like that) where everyone can hear every conversation. There are certain things you wouldn’t just yell out in a classroom full of very different people since there is a good chance you’ll offend someone. In PUGs I’ll admit that I tend to be a bit more unfriendly. I won’t call anyone names or use excessive cursing, but I can’t help my self from making sarcastic and subtle (or at times not so subtle) remarks since the chances of any negative consequences for me or my guild are slim. I’d like to think these are outbursts of frustration and that I’m not like some of the people I’ve met, but what do I know?
There are better ways to vent your frustration. Like killing gnomes!
This is where I should have come up with a conclusion, but I haven’t really got one. I wrote this post to come closer to an answer to why people behave the way they do online, but I ended up with more questions than answers. I might be missing the point completely, approaching it from the wrong angle, I dunno. It just fascinates me how some people put on their Internet Masks and turn into completely different people. Perhaps we all do to some degree?
PS: Windows Movie Maker is evuhl! Evuhl I tells ya! …*cough*. Metamorphisos episode 2 ought to be coming some time within the next two weeks. I just need to decide which editing program I’m going to use (WTB suggestions) and learn how to use it.
For movie editing, I’ve tried both Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas, both of which are very powerful and relatively easy to learn – then again, you might not need all that power. If you want something free or simple I’m sure the internet can help you.
As for the topic of the post: I don’t know why people tend to act worse online, but it’s pretty depressing that they do. Maybe they feel so repressed in their life at large that they need this as, as you say, a vent. In any case it’s pretty telling that the culture we live in produces this effect.
This is my philosophy for conduct online: anything I say in-game, I should be able to say if I were to meet that person in real life. Then again, my behavior is definitely altered in some ways, like talking to more random people in-game. It’s paradoxical, in a way the distance between people may be shorter in the game. since you’re not constantly confronted with their otherness in the form of their physical form and their faces. Avatars allow you to project and imagine what other people are like to a much larger degree, and makes communication perhaps more transparent. Does this mean online communication is more telling of a person’s “natural” inclination and thought pattern (if there is such a thing) than real-life communication?
That’d make for an interesting post, actually. Do you think your real-life friends know “you” better than your online friends, or vice versa?
Adobe and Vegas were the ones I had been thinking about as well. I’ll do some more research before deciding on which one to use. Thanks for the tip!
How we approach people and how a game changes the “distances” between people is something I’ve thought quite a lot about, but it’s never occured to me to blog about it. That’s definitely something I’ll write about in a later post. I was about to go ranting about it here, but I won’t, but save it. Again, thanks for the tip!
I think what you’re describing is something all people do, IRL and in-game. I know I act differently with certain friends than with others, and there are sides of me that a partner sees that others, like family members, would be amazed to see.
Now when you add in the additional realities of the internet where, as you say, there is a lot more ability to control how you are presented, that kind of ‘personality compartmentalising’ becomes exaggerated. Nobody knows anything about you other than the information that you yourself provide. In some cases, this means they can act like the arrogant muppet that they never get to express IRL for fear of reprisals; or as in your case it means that people think you’re a really nice guy because you only show your nice side.
That said, Erc, you should realise that the guild considers you a nice guy, *because* you’re a nice guy. Sure, for all we know you may go slaughtering geese on the weekends, but if you have those nice traits, then you’re a nice person. Accept it.
So very, very true. I’m pretty sure people wouldn’t ever come up to me and go “Omfg, your shit” in real life. Mainly through risk of bodily harm and because it’s a face to face confrontation.
How you act towards each other can actually be explained by Ervin Goffman’s Dramaturgical model (I knew this optional module in Sociology would come in handy). He basically thinks that people put on an act, to be socially accepted but because your behind a computer, this doesn’t apply anymore due to the fact it’s not an inperson meeting.
However, it can apply for people joining a new guild. For example, when I log on I’m pretty sure I could greet the guild with “Alright, gays.” and not have anyone think anything other than I’m being my usual, jokey-self. But if a newly joined member where to do that, it would seem strange as we dont know them.
The longer you’ve known someone, the more you feel comfortable around them and you actually “act” less.
Oh and yeah, you’re the Nice guy Erc and you wont argue, because you’re nice.
As usual, i am late to the show. Still, the topic you scratched will always offer more questions than answers. Somehow, i do not believe that the question really can be answered.
Or well.. correctly answered. Here is why :
- we are talking about sociology. It is not the most exact science, when you look at individuals. It mostly works on “statistically sound numbers”.
- Everyone has their own reasons for doing (or not doing) things. And while they are similar, i doubt they are really the same for many people – which means a statistically correct answer will be close to the majority, while not matching to anyone.
- Few people are truly honest with themselves, let alone others, when discussing their reasoning for behaving in a way which in hindsight they consider dishonorable.
So, looking at it from the broad view, you have a system where the incoming data has a high variation, and a significant risk of contamination. What is left is that you get reasonable models for large numbers only.
Ok, i am going off on a sideline, here.
As to Jakkru’s response – i do not quite agree that the Dramaturgical model no longer applies. It still applies, but the rules have changed. “Socially accepted behaviour” in a “virtual” context differs from “non-virtual” context. There are similarities (your example of the guild introduction being one), but i would still say that people do put up an act. It is just a different one.
Oh.. and yes, Erc, you are the nice guy. And that is nothing bad. It also does not mean that you may not have non-nice traits. But the nice ones win out, at least when considering the subset which can be transported through the net (and WoW).
Well, for what’s it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a nice guy, I think you’re a total dick….okay that’s not true at all. You’re just fun to have in guild chat, which I guess makes you a nice guy. I was a bit shocked to hear somebody say Temi was a nice guy the other day – and Temi is horrid
I think the thing is there are only two types of people in WoW – the people you think are nice and the people you think are cocks, and there’s actually little room for sociological grey areas.
“I think you are a nice guy”, I suspect, I less about about how you come across than whether people like you or not, if that distinction makes any sense at all.
Interesting post though