Multiplayer Gaming

In case you haven't noticed, my poll for this week has to do with what kind of multiplayer gaming people prefer. I know which I prefer, but I don't want to reveal it until after the poll expires. However, I do want to talk a little bit about the good things that come from each type of multiplayer gaming without discussing the combination of the two.

First, competitive gaming in this context consists of games that directly match their players against each other as opponents. When on player does well, it is typically at the expense of another player. While players are assumed to follow a set of rules that describe the conditions of the game (assume hacks and cheating don't happen), humans are frequently capable of executing highly unpredictable behavior that can create a huge variety of experiences. A few examples of competitive games are Halflife 2 Deathmatch, Starcraft 1v1 matches, Street Fighter, and Super Smash Brothers.

On the other hand, cooperative games get a group of players and put them on the same team in order to overcome a shared opponent. Players who do well usually assist their team mates, causing them to also do well. Often the opponent or challenge to overcome is scripted, or has some predictable behavior that can be learned and overcome. Some cooperative games are World of Warcraft dungeons and raids, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Little Big Planet, and Contra.

Both cooperative and competitive gaming have good things about them that can provide varied and satisfying experiences. Both allow for social interaction, which I believe to be an important part of life. Many of my close friends live some distance from me these days, so it is valuable to my life to be able to continue to enjoy my friendships through multiplayer gaming experiences across the internet. Between the options of competitive and cooperative multiplayer out there, I'm sure there's a gaming experience for everyone.

Why does competitive gaming bring out the worst in people?

So today I started wondering about why the players in all of the competitive games I play end up treating each other like trash. I mean, we're all people, and in fact we're all part of a small subset of society that tends to be looked down on for isolating ourselves in our mothers' basements and playing games online all day. If anything, we should be supportive of each other and avoid causing extra hardship when there are plenty of other people telling us that we're wasting our lives away by playing video games at all.

Part of it may be that many players allow themselves to get too close to the game, and identify too closely with the character that they are controlling. It could be that the players stand to lose or gain something by the results of a given match, whether it be achievements, or points or whatever. Perhaps some players are just angry at life, and are happy to take out their frustration on strangers across the internet.

While these all might contribute to the irritability of many gamers, I think a huge part of the problem is that gamers forget to recognize each other as human beings. In some sense, many games present the opposition in a similar way that war propaganda would discuss whatever country happens to have a differing point of view to our own. For instance, when you choose to identify with the Horde, you immediately become a part of an endless conflict with the races of the Alliance, even if you have no idea what they did wrong. Pretty quickly, some Alliance member will pick on you causing your hatred to grow, even when there is not necessarily a cause for such hostility between a particular set of two individuals (I want to add that I think it is very good that opposing factions in World of Warcraft only have limited communication options to reduce the anger).

While competitive athletics also have some pretty hostile encounters from time to time, I think that the practice of greeting your opponents before a sporting event, and congratulating the winner after help to contribute to good sportsmanship. At least at some point, players are able to see their opponent as a relatable human being with similar interests. Tempers can still run high at times, but at least good behavior is encouraged by the rules of engagement. Youth sports tend to have coaches that ideally teach their players how to be a good sport, and a gracious winner (or loser).

If I could make a proposal for all competitive video games to at least consider in the future to attempt to improve the sportsmanship of their players it would be the following 3 things:

1. Give players a chance to hang out with each other in a non-competitive environment. This could be a lobby, or a cooperative game mode.
2. If possible, provide some sort of training to players that describes the kind of behavior that is good, and what kind of behavior is unacceptable. This should include rules that are clearly listed.
3. Enforce punishment for players that violate the sportsmanship rules. Even better than punishment would be to provide rewards to players that are good sports and increase the quality of the community.

Competition is frequently a good thing for people. Competition is often what keeps people working to improve and better themselves. Competition is the basis of the free market, and is a huge part of the world economy. While competition is an important part of life, everyone needs to learn to manage their anger and frustration and keep an eye on the good in every situation.