Project 3
Video Games and Manners
So many of my friends and I are dorks. That's just how it is. We're so dorky that we have a weekly XBOX gaming night and a private/secret Facebook group to coordinate it.
Usually, we play Halo because it accomodates our large group sizes. On a typical night we have around 5 to 8 people playing together. It's nice to play with people you know. Some strangers, especially kids based on their maturity level and the sound of their voices, seem to enjoy making life difficult for teammates or chattering incessantly over their mics. Other times, we run into professional groups, the teams that compete together in high-level tournaments. These guys are super professional and often don't udder a single word to outsiders.
The tone of an online game of Halo starts in the launch screen. For a brief while after suitably matched players have been found and before y'all enter the actual game, the two teams can talk to each other before the game starts. Usually, there is considerable shit talk. Sometimes the two groups laugh about someone or something. Some players try to encourage others to veto or approve different map and game choices. The tone continues in game play but, depending on the exact settings and game variations, you often can't hear the other players on the team speak unless you're very close to them. Still, you can hear players on your own team and they are sometimes just as likely to curse at you. After the game is over, the two teams can again hear each other until a new game starts or the group leader back us out.
Thinking About These Issues
Clearly, the rules that govern manners in video games are different than those in the real world. Video games themselves allow people to follow different rules than in real life. You can do things in games that you wouldn't be physically able or actually permitted to do in real life. You can also do things in video games that many people would consider immoral in real life. By their very nature, then, video games are disruptive in these ways.
These games also have their own codes of etiquette that participants in multiplayer variants are expected to follow. But the rules are distinct to gaming, and sometimes to the particular game. They are distinctly different from real world manners. For my project, I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose traditional, high society manners from early in the last century with those in video games. The two are quite different and sort of on different ends of some undefined spectrum.
A Side Note: Gender
I am often the only girl in our group. I didn't grow up playing video games and I'm not as good as nearly everyone we play with. It's interesting to see how people on other teams respond to me. Sometimes, they just think I'm a prepubescent boy because based on the sound of my voice. Other times they play differently against me when they learn I'm a girl. Sometimes, they're easier on me. Other times they intentionally seek me out and target me for picking on.
I also touched upon gender in my project. Very few video games let you play as a female character. When games do include women, they're either overexaggerated (ie, Lara Croft) or barely any different from men (like in Halo). Game makers think of guys as their main audience-- but how self fulfilling of a prophecy is this given their lack of female main characters and the oversimplified way in which they often cast supporting characters or random citizens you happen upon? This is somewhat of a tangent, but I think you can definitely see that this was in the back of my mind as I approached this project.
Final Product
The Flash element below is my project. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and I hope you enjoy it.