The line between acceptable & unacceptable behavior

Is that the way things are these days? Nice My parents never bothered to keep up with anyone ever :P N64 was a few yrs old before I got one..... and thats only because my bro's God father got him one :P

~prime

Is this a very thin veiled attempt to invoke some sense of irony?

No, I was just pissed after (yet again) being have to spam target call for half an hour for my team to notice monk happily healing their target.

1. Under what circumstances does it become acceptable to abuse another player?

~ Abuse is never acceptable, though it is extremely common.

2. When is the line crossed from being angry to abusive?

~ When you actually say what you are thinking.

3. Does animosity and lack of consequence of such behavior provided through the internet perpetuate abuse or is it the lack of monitoring children by parents?

~ I think it's that false sense of security. "I can call this person a fag and there is nothing they can do about it" suddenly everyone has a big S on their chest and they can do anything they want.

Frankly I'm getting tired of it all, if it weren't for finding a group I wouldn't mind if the game had no talking at all. Today for example, some mental degenerate was spamming the local chat with weapon sales (bad ones at that) I simply pointed out that there was a trade window for that to which he responded "bite me pal" I don't know why but I sudden had the urge to find out where he lives and bash his head in.

Actually, yes

You see, the nice guys in GW actually kick ass in real life. Because our outside lives aern't so miserable, we don't act like jerks in games. We can perfectly own anyone in the real world.

The jerks in the game are losers in real life, so to compensate for their misery and short penises, they are what they are online. But we all know that the next day when he goes to school, he's just gonna get beaten up by some guy just like me.

The the cycle repeats itself when he goes online. More jerkish behaviour and the next day he gets his ass kicked in real life.

Ahaha, how novel.

It's not ok to abuse other players, because as it has been pointed out, there is a real person controlling the character you're laying into. If they started it, it's one thing, but aside from telling them to shut up or leave other people alone, it doesn't help anything for us to become abusive in return. In fact, that's usually what they want, so it only makes it worse.

I suppose we should feel sorry for people who are jerks, the fact that they're trying to hurt people's feelings or ruin someone's fun at playing a game is a sign that they are a miserable person. Just like the boss who terrorizes his employees to deal with the fact that he isn't respected at home in his off time, people who are jerks in-game do so to feel powerful and feel free to do so because nobody can punch them in the face like they'd get they acted like a jerk the same way in person. Instead of the boss telling his wife to stop driving him crazy, instead of the miserable online jerk standing up to the bullies or abusive family members, they go find someone who can't defend or protect themselves and take it out on them to feel better. And shame on them for taking the coward's way out and making other people miserable in the process.

Granted, some people come off like jerks because they have poorly developed social skills and don't understand that certain things are rude, or there are cultural differences that one person may find something acceptable and another person may find it to be the most vile and offensive thing ever. "Dude, what is your problem?" works a lot better than "STFU you ----ing retard" when someone offends you, offensive comments are not always intentional and being offensive in return doesn't get anywhere. Imagine how much better it would be if everyone remembered we're playing this game to have fun.

Post of the day.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

only hing that bothers me is that since my lil brother started playing GW he became much more rude and start swearing.

not good

Im gonna second the welcome to the internet. Incompetent players in coop missions piss me off, and if I call you a dumb newb after explaining 50 times why we shouldnt rush hoards of mobs, maybe, just maybe, you are a dumb newb.

Note for those of you who are new to the web (which apparently some of you are...) newb doesnt just mean you are new to the game, it is a way of saying 'Good Sir or Madame, your incompent display has vexed me to the point of outburst, and despite many attempts to assist you in our mission you continue to display a monstrous level of douchedom. Please dump a glass of soda on your keyboard and call it a day, thanks for playing!'

Now, if you are not or were not acting in said newbish ways, they are not worth your attention, you can choose to ignore them, or give as good as you get, just remember one thing: Arguing on the web is like the special olympics, even if you win, you are still retarted.

can we say as@@@@@! your probablly the type of guy that beleives woman shouldn t be in the work place either right.

never ever ever is it ok for anyone to say what they want when they want no matter were you are. there is this great thing in the u.s. called freedom of speech but there is also an amendment to that. it is against the law for anyone no matter were you are to abuse others physically or verbally. i had a racial incident within gw in which anet did not take care of properlly but the law has. just because you think you are hiding behind a computer were no one can reach you, think again.

this is just an idiot who probablly is someone who in game would be thee abussive person. plus also he or she is 12. it is also the type of comment that would make someone beleive that you think it is ok to just be an a@@ in a game because it is just a game.

Ok, so basically everyone has stated that abusive behavior is NEVER acceptable. Well, I have to admit that on the rare occasion I have been "abusive" to other players. I guess this isn't very mature of me; however, there are players out there that we've all played with one time or another that just goes above and beyond stupidity. For example, the infamous "I'm Invicible and nothing can kill me" wammo that continously ignores the pleas and requests from the team to stop/slow down/be patient/don't aggro everything sort of thing.

While I do agree that abusive behavior is immature and I'm guilty of it in these circumstances, but when a player's gameplay is constantly a detriment to the team then I have absolutely no qualms about telling them off. I don't get downright vulgar with them, but I will say things like, "Slow the f--k down <placeyournamehere>", or "Stop damnit! Let casters recharge!" or "What in the hell are you doing <placeyournamehere>???".

So call me what you will, but I don't like to play a mission over and over and over just because some idiot doesn't have good teamwork even when he's been asked to do things that will help the team. I know it is just a game, but it's my hard earned free time I'm wasting at the expense of some scrub who either A)Has no concept of teamplay or B)Is a jerk who just wants to do his own thing.

Disclaimer: I'm speaking more specifically of the late game missions because by this time in the game players SHOULD have developed some sort of basic skills of teamplay. For the earlier missions (pre-Southern Shiverpeaks) I would give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, it's rare that I do say such things and I don't jump on someone until they've repetitively ignored suggestions and done stupid things that the team has asked him not to do.

Not that I agree with calling anyone a newb but your post is damn funny. I too have been vexed in this game and other by players who just don`t seem to have a clue or plan to get one anytime soon but we must remember we were all there at one time or another. Next time take a deep breath, find a different group and mumble my matra "Everyone here`s an idiot but me!"

Yeah... and if only those colored people would get back in the field picking fruits where they... oh wait...

I'm one of those colored people.

And I was raised by a single mother.

And somehow I got into one of the top law schools in the USA, my brother is a doctor, my other brother a physicist, and my sister tri-lingual (and on her way out of college so we don't know yet where she will land).

Yeah... those nasty uppity women who dare to put on shoes, stop being pregnant, and start getting jobs. If not for them, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere - I'd probably be in the hood or the field were people like you probably think people like me belong.

Darn shame the world isn't run by stodgy old anglo men anymore isn't it?

LOL. True, some people are dumb and no amount of helping them makes any difference. Is railing on them going to make them play any better? No, but some people do it anyway. It's just not worth it, especially if you get a temporary ban for being abusive. Tell them 'gw.gamewikis.org - read it and learn how to play, I'm tired of wasting my time'. If you're lucky they'll read it and be less stupid

By the way, did I mention that the game would be much more enjoyable if the Ignore feature were expanded? There's sooo many people who need ignoring. If they had a District Ignore list, where you click someone's name in the Chat window and choose Ignore in District, as long as they're there you see none of their stupid spam or insults or annoyances. Most of the time whe you want to ignore someone you don't need them to be ignored for a long time since they leave or you leave eventually so that's the kind of ignore list we really need - a large short-term list. Then if you move districts or towns you start with an empty District Ignore list that you hopefully won't have to fill up. If someone is a stalker, put them on the Permanent Ignore list. Thank you, have a nice day.

I must admitt on occasion I have an in game flip out moment. These moments are usually brought on by a lovely little aggro drawing caster. They refuse to kite and just stand there soaking up heals. Then when they die, they ask why they didn't get any healing. I flip out!!! I say random weird things that make no sense other than to say I am pissed off that they didn't see the little blue numbers appearing over their head every 3/4 of a second. Picture monk with rabies!

Somehow I have still never managed to call someone a newb or actually be a jerk. The closest I have come to being a jerk was trying to kill Glint. We went specifically for the bonus, and when we get there it was all headless chickens! So 20 seconds after picking up the egg we finish loading Droks and I say "worst bonus group ever," and leave. No n00b calling or anything, I still felt bad a few minutes later. I was mad, but that doesn't justify saying anything rude to people.

I just chalk it all up to living in a time where a seemingly vast majority of people (kids and adults) take much of what they have for granted. We have generations walking around with notions of "freedoms" and "rights", that don't realize these things are merely conditional priveledges that can be taken away. I wouldn't blame this lack of realization on parenting, or a scapegoat such as society, but rather on the individual themselves. If a person is literate the only excuse for ignorance is lazyness (in my opinion). We make choices, as individuals, in how we act & react in every situation. As such, I find the individual to blame rather than their dual-income parents, or the Liberal shift in governments, etc., and so on. I think I would be hard-pressed to believe, even for an instant, that it was possible for a person with access to the internet, the cognitive ability to game, and the physical skills to type, to have a viable and valid excuse for their behaviour that was not directly a result of their choices. Wether we see or experience negativity, does not immediately preclude that we will BE negative (or vice versa for so-called positive behaviour). As Pepsi would say, the choice is ours.

My 2 cents on the topic.

Seeing you have a long list of threads as it is, I didn't feel like reading.

As to the point to send in screenshots:

1) If its sexual or harrasment- A.nets response- Use Ignore List
2) If scammed- Screenshot -> A.net cannot refund items
3) Bots- Selling guild wars keys -> A.net will look into it
4) Offensive name - screenshot -> short suspension and name change

True many immature people are in the world, just wait for life to come around and hit them back.

1. Never

2. When you direct your anger at the person, rather than their actions. Or when you direct your anger at a person, because you're upset about somthing else.

3. Both. Annonimity is also a huge factor, abusers face no real world consequences. They also face no in-game consequences, or very little in-game consequences. With the most severe abusers, even harsh in-game consequences would do nothing, as they're only playing the game to abuse others, for whatever reason.

No it does not, even if the justification for excusing the behavior is rock solid.

Unfortunately, as a community we can do very little to stop it from persisting. The only to make it stop is to provide fitting consequences for such behavior, or remove the reason for the behavior. The gaming community can not do either.

If you were in a postition to stop such behavior, yes. Again, there's very little that can be done in-game to stop such behavior.

If only.

The groundwork has already been laid. The decay of values and morals in society is just another example. We live in a world where almost anything is acceptable, as long as it can be justified with an excuse, or is apologized for, and there are virtualy no repercussions, or greatly reduced repercussions after said excuse or apology is made. An example being(American legal system only, it does vary by state aswell) you comit a crime somone, plead to a lesser charge because you're "sorry." You recieve reduced time off of the lesser charge that you plead to, then you are released when 2/3 of your 'minimum' sentence is complete.