Since the day console videogames went online, bigotry has made its way into the multiplayer experience. The first generation of online games relied on typed words, which didn’t do much to advance the shadow. But the advent of microphones and voice support for online games has tainted the multiplayer experience for thousands of people.
We’ve all been there before. We’ve heard the racist slurs from gamers who think it’s cool or funny to belittle people based on the color of their skin. We’ve heard the homosexual jokes uttered with no regard for the sexual preferences of the others in the match. We’ve heard the “girls can’t play” mantra in the middle of a deathmatch game where females take two of the top three scores.
The rise of voice communications tools definitely has its positives (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, anyone?), but the scenarios above also show that those tools bring out gaming’s worst offenders. Part of the problem, if social experts are correct, is the anonymity that playing online brings. No longer do players have to gather with friends at a predetermined time; we can simply hop in a random online lobby — using an anonymous username — and start to play.
You think the anonymity connection is a fluke? Let’s look at Internet porn: How many people go into adults-only stores in real life? How many people go into strip clubs every week in real life? How many people watch porn movies weekly in real life? Yet in the online realm, Internet pornography is one of the few industries making money. It’s anonymous. Your friends can’t see you. You’re just an IP address and cookie, not a flesh-and-blood person who can be identified or “caught in the act.”
Next week, the Xbox 360 gets a new communication tool for gaming, one that removes some of that anonymity. Xbox Live Vision, basically a glorified Webcam, lets gamers share photos, engage in video chats and literally show their face to the people they’re playing with. So if bigotry is alive in games, what sort of impact will Xbox Live Vision have on the multiplayer experience?
With a big chunk of our anonymity removed, it’s tempting to think bigotry in all its ugly forms will start to go away. After all, if people can be “caught in the act” of acting immature, logic would say that those people will shut their mouths. But one lesson this weekend showed me you shouldn’t always give into temptation. While talking with another editor reviewing the Xbox Live Vision camera, I learned that when he started a game of UNO, the host asked rhetorically “what’s up with these f!@*ing people and their cameras?” He then booted our fellow editor from the game. For having a camera.
For having a camera?
For having a camera.
Although this was an isolated incident, it made me wonder whether removing gamers’ anonymity could actually make things worse. When people can identify who’s talking, when they can actually see a face, the talking person generally becomes much more reserved. Few people would walk into a grocery store and yell obscenities at a middle-aged woman who wasn’t moving fast enough down Aisle 4, but some people get stupid in an online world where they’re hidden behind a meaningless ID. So, theoretically, taking away some anonymity via Xbox Live Vision should make things more civilized.
But what if bigoted gamers actually start using the camera to their advantage? What if they start seeing the people joining their games and boot them accordingly? What if an African-American kid sees a Caucasian guy join his team and kicks him for being white? Or if a team of 20-something jocks boots a female gamer simply because she’s a woman? Or if that same team of jocks relentlessly teases an overweight person simply because, with the camera plugged-in, they can see that he’s overweight?
None of these situations is out of the question, but like all things immature, we have to hope they never happen. The potential is certainly there. Heck, Xbox Live Vision could even support a cottage porn industry. Seriously, how long do you think it will be before someone takes advantage of a camera, a “grrl gamer” and the “X” box 360? Again, let’s just hope people exercise some restraint.
Where Xbox Live Vision can actually help reduce bigotry is by empowering civilized gamers to take a stand. With our own anonymity removed, non-bigoted gamers can make a visible appeal for decency. If bigoted gamers can actually see our displeasure, maybe they’ll finally get the message: games are supposed to be fun — for everyone involved. With Xbox Live Vision, we’ve got all the communications tools we need; now we need to make sure they’re used to communicate the right message.
— Jonas Allen
