Gamer Racism

My online multiplayer experience may span over 10 years but the games I play are limited in scope; consisting of Halo, Mortal Kombat, Gears of War, Forza, Titan Fall and Injustice. Halo easily being the franchise that has the most hours spent playing under my belt. In fact, Halo 2 is the very first game I played online with others.

With online multiplayer gaming, I got to interact with other players ‘in game’ and chat with them via a headset. This was newer technology at that time and before the social media explosion. 

Just like within face-to-face competitions, online matches have a lot of trash talk, which is to be expected when interacting with other males. One thing that was instantaneously noticeable was that many times the trash talk from White males was overtly racist. It didn’t matter their age…from kids to adults.

I do give the kids a pass though. When I was a kid cursing or “using bad words”, was taboo and a no-no. So when I was at home by myself, I would say curse words out loud just because I could. Once I realized my mother wasn’t going to magically materialize and smack me across my mouth, I continued to cuss whenever I wanted, outside of the ear shot of adults. For me the n-word is a curse word, so I give White kids a pass for irritatingly saying the n-word over and over and over again through anonymity of their headsets. Kids acquire questionable habits inside and outside of the home and using the n-word is no exception.

Regardless of their age however, once I grew tired of hearing it, I would just as much mute them or just take my headset off. I quickly grew content with playing without the headset and still happily engage in trash talk through instant messenger. Needless to say, I’ll occasionally get a racist message or two.

Recently I had a strange thought or one could even say, ‘feeling’ once I read my opponent’s comment where he unleashed his level one racist weaponry after losing consecutive matches in Injustice 2. Here is the pic I took with my phone of my television screen. 

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“Pussy” or “Spammer pussy” is casual banter within online gaming. I even would’ve been cool if he said, “bitch ass nigga”, which is just as common a saying now in America as is eating sushi for lunch or dinner. Oh no…ole’boy gotta go and hit me with the combo move and call me a nigger coon. I’m not just a nigger but also a shuck’n n’jivin coon…

tenor

I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF!

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First, everyone spams and has a character they spam with. Second, why does it seem like the n-word is the instinctual go to insult for many White people? Third, (this is where my strange thought comes in) is it me or that due to their recent over usage and saturation of the word as their go to insult, that not only is it losing the sting they think it still inflicts but it has now become lame like those who still do the ‘running man’ dance?

Its Stephanie Tanner on Full House saying “don’t go there”, or “talk to the hand”, level 23 lame.

steph tanner

That’s why when I saw that dude took the time out to put the periods between the letters to an already lame insult; I had no choice but to laugh. Maybe it was because I was imagining the ‘claps hands together’ emoji between the letters and thinking, “oh he meant that”.

While acknowledging the insult, I was not to be distracted from the facts that lead to this back & forth and highlighted it in my reply…I’m a WINNING nigger coon! I beat his ass with Aquaman. Admittedly my retort was just as lame with the ‘devil’ on the end. I mean was I channeling Farrakan or some shit? I also want to add that the voice actor for Aquaman in the game is voiced in by the super talented Phil LaMarr…a Black man. So yeah I may be using a white character but when I use Aquaman, I’m playing like I’m fighting for my ancestors. 

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Closing, I want to provide some advice to the racist White male gamer; please get creative with your racial slurs. Below are a few real racial slurs that you should add to your lexicon of online multiplayer insults. This way you can feel superior when you confuse the hell outta your negroid recipients.

Gable
Golliwogg
Mosshead
Nig-nog
Powder burn
Sooty

And the double combo…
Smoked Irish / Smoked Irishman (intended to insult both Blacks and Irish)