Hey all,
I’ve noticed that there’s been a great improvement in our eGO family’s methods of dealing with bullying over the past month or so. We’ve cracked down much harder on pubs (and members) for bullying, and, in my opinion, we’re doing a much better job on a day-to-day basis of ensuring that our members, young and old, are getting to participate in a fantastic gaming environment where they don’t need to worry about being discriminated against based on accents, age, or other arbitrary factors.
For this, I commend you all. Keep up the good work, and let’s continue to do even more to maintain a bully-free atmosphere on the forums, in game, and in ventrilo.
To further this cause, I’ve put together several miniature interviews that I’ve conducted with old friends of mine from steam. Some of them chose not to participate, and others had no experience with bullying. But, some were willing to share certain experiences that they’ve had in the past related to being bullied online, specifically during CS:S games. I’d like to show you those “testimonials”, if you will, to make more real the impact that bullying has on any one individual.
What follows are the responses that various gamers (none in eGO, and none have ever played on an eGO server) gave to me when asked the question, “have you ever been bullied in CS:S, and what impact did it have on your life?” The names of these individuals are omitted to maintain anonymity. Any profanity has been censored.
RESPONSE #1:
Person A: “i dunno, it wasnt really that big a deal, you know? Like i was talking over my mic and some ***hole started talking to me back, saying like that i had a really high voice. I was 13 at the time so my voice hadnt deepened yet. I brushed it off cuz I didnt want to start any trouble on the server. but he wouldnt stop, and he kept making fun of me saying **** like i was a little ****** that shouldnt be playing a big boy game. eventually i stopped talking because i didnt want to deal wit him anymore. but even after i stopped, other players joined in saying that i was just a little ***sy and should leave lol. i was like w/e and i disconnected. I didnt talk with my mic after that since i knew that even if people werent saying it, they were thinking the same thing. but w/e i still play now lol.
RESPONSE #2:
Cyanide: Hey, Jeff, how's it going?
Person B: Hey Damien, long time no see. How're things?
Cyanide: Everything's great; listen, I was hoping I could ask you for a favor. I'm doing a quick survey of people on my friends list to determine who has been affected by online bullying on CS:S, and what impact that bullying had on their life. Mind if I ask you a question related to that topic?
Person B: Shoot.
Cyanide: Have you ever been bullied in CS:S, and what impact did it have on your life?
Person B: Well, not in recent memory, no. But a few years back I logged onto a server and started playing, I think it was nuke or something, and these guys started teamkilling me and stuff. It was pretty bad because they kept calling me a "stupid" and stuff, which as I'm sure you can empathize, is pretty serious. Unfortunately, the whole team started doing it, and before long they were flooding the chat with really racist things and saying how if they found me IRL they'd string me up a pole and stuff. I left after that. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I cared what some *****es say about me on some stupid game, but it really ruins the fun when I'm trying to relax to get confronted with that kind of **** when I'm least expecting it. You know, I'm there to have fun, not deal with racism. I guess that'd be my experience. That answer your question?
RESPONSE #3:
Person C: yeah, there was one time in particular...i remember that i had been playing on this one server for a long time and i started using my mic after my dad got me one for christmas. after i started talking they all thought i was really young lol, but i didnt really care...so this guy says somethin glike 'you sound like ur 5 years old kid', and then everybody got in on it and kept going on. i eventually had to stop playing there cause it got so bad. it really hurt irl for a while too since i felt like it was my fault for being too young ya know? it hurt more cuz id go there after class to relax and stuff and then i had to stop. i stopped playin cs:s for a while after that but i play now more.
The other responses that I received were either talking about how they hadn’t been bullied, or telling me they didn’t want to participate. In any case, these three responses are more than enough to make real the impact of bullying.
Please take particular note in how these players were disappointed that they had to deal with that kind of bullying on a game where they were supposed to have fun, and how the impact could follow them into the real world.
I didn't find an example when I asked these people on my friends list, but certainly there are also people out there who come to CS:S to escape bullying that happens to them in real life as well. For them to be bullied in-game as well is just cruel, and is very serious.
These stories were only meant to serve as a reminder of the seriousness of bullying, particularly in an online setting. Again, I'm very happy to see that we're doing a better job now than we were before at keeping bullying out of our community. Let's continue to improve and foster that family atmosphere.
Keep up the good work everyone!
I’ve noticed that there’s been a great improvement in our eGO family’s methods of dealing with bullying over the past month or so. We’ve cracked down much harder on pubs (and members) for bullying, and, in my opinion, we’re doing a much better job on a day-to-day basis of ensuring that our members, young and old, are getting to participate in a fantastic gaming environment where they don’t need to worry about being discriminated against based on accents, age, or other arbitrary factors.
For this, I commend you all. Keep up the good work, and let’s continue to do even more to maintain a bully-free atmosphere on the forums, in game, and in ventrilo.
To further this cause, I’ve put together several miniature interviews that I’ve conducted with old friends of mine from steam. Some of them chose not to participate, and others had no experience with bullying. But, some were willing to share certain experiences that they’ve had in the past related to being bullied online, specifically during CS:S games. I’d like to show you those “testimonials”, if you will, to make more real the impact that bullying has on any one individual.
What follows are the responses that various gamers (none in eGO, and none have ever played on an eGO server) gave to me when asked the question, “have you ever been bullied in CS:S, and what impact did it have on your life?” The names of these individuals are omitted to maintain anonymity. Any profanity has been censored.
RESPONSE #1:
Person A: “i dunno, it wasnt really that big a deal, you know? Like i was talking over my mic and some ***hole started talking to me back, saying like that i had a really high voice. I was 13 at the time so my voice hadnt deepened yet. I brushed it off cuz I didnt want to start any trouble on the server. but he wouldnt stop, and he kept making fun of me saying **** like i was a little ****** that shouldnt be playing a big boy game. eventually i stopped talking because i didnt want to deal wit him anymore. but even after i stopped, other players joined in saying that i was just a little ***sy and should leave lol. i was like w/e and i disconnected. I didnt talk with my mic after that since i knew that even if people werent saying it, they were thinking the same thing. but w/e i still play now lol.
RESPONSE #2:
Cyanide: Hey, Jeff, how's it going?
Person B: Hey Damien, long time no see. How're things?
Cyanide: Everything's great; listen, I was hoping I could ask you for a favor. I'm doing a quick survey of people on my friends list to determine who has been affected by online bullying on CS:S, and what impact that bullying had on their life. Mind if I ask you a question related to that topic?
Person B: Shoot.
Cyanide: Have you ever been bullied in CS:S, and what impact did it have on your life?
Person B: Well, not in recent memory, no. But a few years back I logged onto a server and started playing, I think it was nuke or something, and these guys started teamkilling me and stuff. It was pretty bad because they kept calling me a "stupid" and stuff, which as I'm sure you can empathize, is pretty serious. Unfortunately, the whole team started doing it, and before long they were flooding the chat with really racist things and saying how if they found me IRL they'd string me up a pole and stuff. I left after that. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I cared what some *****es say about me on some stupid game, but it really ruins the fun when I'm trying to relax to get confronted with that kind of **** when I'm least expecting it. You know, I'm there to have fun, not deal with racism. I guess that'd be my experience. That answer your question?
RESPONSE #3:
Person C: yeah, there was one time in particular...i remember that i had been playing on this one server for a long time and i started using my mic after my dad got me one for christmas. after i started talking they all thought i was really young lol, but i didnt really care...so this guy says somethin glike 'you sound like ur 5 years old kid', and then everybody got in on it and kept going on. i eventually had to stop playing there cause it got so bad. it really hurt irl for a while too since i felt like it was my fault for being too young ya know? it hurt more cuz id go there after class to relax and stuff and then i had to stop. i stopped playin cs:s for a while after that but i play now more.
The other responses that I received were either talking about how they hadn’t been bullied, or telling me they didn’t want to participate. In any case, these three responses are more than enough to make real the impact of bullying.
Please take particular note in how these players were disappointed that they had to deal with that kind of bullying on a game where they were supposed to have fun, and how the impact could follow them into the real world.
I didn't find an example when I asked these people on my friends list, but certainly there are also people out there who come to CS:S to escape bullying that happens to them in real life as well. For them to be bullied in-game as well is just cruel, and is very serious.
These stories were only meant to serve as a reminder of the seriousness of bullying, particularly in an online setting. Again, I'm very happy to see that we're doing a better job now than we were before at keeping bullying out of our community. Let's continue to improve and foster that family atmosphere.
Keep up the good work everyone!
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