How gamers in SA portray themselves.

Whisper

Whisper

New member
This is going to be something of a rant, but I just feel like getting it off my chest while it's fresh in my memory, and it's also something I've been thinking about lately. If you plan on replying, please don't do so unless you've read the entire thing; that will help avoid pointless/stupid arguments (this forum seems to be full of them, for some reason, and I'd rather not get involved in another, if possible) This particular incident just drove the point home and serves as a good example.

Today I came across something rather astonishing (if only for how utterly random and inane it all was); I was playing a game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and doing pretty poorly, as usual (I'm about as good at this game as I am at being an actual Counter-Terrorist, so in other words, pretty "kak", as you would say), but it was a fun game, because the people were all quite talkative, especially one in particular called "TR@$#^C@N". He was a pretty good player, and clearly knew it, since he spent most of the game bragging about how he was in the "top 12", but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, there was another girl in the game besides myself (no one knew I was a girl, which suited me fine), and this TR@$#^C@N guy was constantly harassing her and making lewd comments. Now this isn't a problem per se, since he seemed to just be playing around, and she seemed to be reciprocating a little, so that's not what this is about, but I still feel it's worth mentioning. Both of them were talking Afrikaans every now and then, which I ordinarily have no problem with, but the following map, I found myself on TR@$#^C@N's team, and he was barking orders in Afrikaans. I said that I didn't understand what he was saying, so both they, and some of the other players started getting defensive for some reason. They said that I was an idiot for not understanding, so I told them I'm from the US. They started insulting my username (Kimitar) for some reason, telling me that is a shitty name (This is a nickname that my mother used to call me when I was younger). Not sure what prompted that, but there it is. Anyway, nothing really changed, the Afrikaans kept up, so I just decided to do my own thing, since I didn't get all of the banter. I actually did okay score-wise, but nothing special.

After about 3 more maps, I decided to try a different weapon, one I didn't use very often. I was actually pretty decent with it. It's a semi-automatic sniper rifle called the "SCAR", or something to that effect. TR@$#^C@N was on the opposite team. Anyway, I was doing really well, but there was banter going around about how someone was using a "noob-cannon". I had no idea what that was, so I assumed they were talking about something else or at least someone else, and that it didn't concern me. After about the 5th round, when I'd managed to get a decent score, one of the guys started calling me a bitch (ironic since he didn't know I was female), and suggested to TR@$#^C@N that they should hunt "this bitch". TR@$#^C@N said something about how he didn't care about people that use "noob-cannons", and would just deal with it his own way, by using the regular sniper rifle. Unfortunately for him, I easily beat him, because I used my surroundings in a much better way than he did. I also got several kills with my pistols (dual pistols), but that was completely ignored, apparently. As I killed him, he got angrier and angrier, and started calling me a bitch as well, and that I was a noob for using the "noob-cannon". At this point I realized it was the gun I was using that people took offense to.

Now about roughly 5 of the 6 or so enemy team members were insulting me, telling me "go the fuck back to America, bitch, we don't want you here", and similar delightful suggestions about what to do with myself. I said that I actually found it easier to use the regular sniper rifle than the SCAR, since it's hard to consistently get yourself into a position to use it effectively, because the gun is terrible for close or even medium range combat, whereas the regular sniper rifle is much more forgiving, since you can kill an enemy in one hit. At that point the gloves where off, they kept telling me I was pathetic, a noob etc. One of them kept talking Afrikaans, but he kept saying my name in there somewhere, so presumably he was cussing me out me in Afrikaans or something, I have no idea.

The following match, I used different guns, and still did well. I told TR@$#^C@N that I was "new to the game and that I have no idea what guns random asshole #1 on the internet didn't want me to play with", so I asked if using the shotgun (which I'd just killed him with) was okay. At this point he just said "shut the fuck up, bitch". So I decided to cut my losses and leave, since I clearly wasn't wanted.

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TL;DR: A guy acts like an asshole because I'm not South African, and because I used a gun in a video game that he didn't approve of.

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Now with regards to the "Afrikaans thing", I'd love to say that this was a contained incident, but I've had something similar happen to me in Team Fortress 2; when they learned I couldn't speak Afrikaans, they started mocking me. I actually learned what the word "poes" means simply from playing online games in South Africa...

I'm definitely not saying that all South Africans are like this, I've met some great people here, online or otherwise, but I just don't get the hatred for non-South Africans that some of you have, especially the Afrikaans-speaking people. It comes across as bigoted and xenophobic (or is it just Americans that they hate? I don't get it).

As for the rest of it, I know that there are a lot of assholes online in general, but I'd just like everyone to be aware of how you might come across with stuff like this, and the image you're portraying, both about yourself, and your community (and this goes for everyone, not just South Africans).

You can't expect everyone to know everything about a game, and you can't expect everyone to play the way you want them to. I genuinely liked TR@$#^C@N before the "noob-cannon" incident, despite the odd approach everyone took to the fact that I was not South African. How on earth is a new player supposed to know that they would garner such hate for using a gun in a game? If they'd asked me politely not to use that particular gun, and gave me a valid reason as to why, hell, I'd probably have done it.

The same thing is true of people who, for example, don't close off their bases (basically you build your buildings at the entrance of a base to close off access) in team games of Starcraft 2, and heaven help you if you don't, since your ally is sure to share his extensive knowledge of dirty words with you. Instead of giving people crap for not playing the game the way you want them to, suggest an alternative, or at least attempt to explain what the issue is, or gosh, I don't know, help them learn? I had an encounter with a guy from this very forum; I had asked for help with getting to grips with Guild Wars 2, and he offered to meet me in the game. I asked him to explain some of it to me and show me around, but he stayed in place, and just seemed to get annoyed at my ignorance. I asked what the point of certain things in the game were, and he basically just got obnoxious about it and told me "it is what it is, if you don't like it, leave", which I was about ready to do, since what little he explained made almost no sense, and his rudeness seemed indicative of the experience I was going to be getting, if I played with people from his server (I actually switched from that server to a different one, because of that jerk). This is the kind of attitude I don't get. Fortunately, another kind soul offered to help, and actually took the time to explain things rationally, and show me how stuff worked. Now I'm level 60 and going strong, and I love the game.

The same sort of thing goes for "rush" tactics in strategy games, which people generally hate, in a very "loud" and obnoxious way. Using Starcraft 2 as an example again, the rush tactic is generally somewhat risky. If you don't pull it off well, you're going to end up paying for it, but if it does work, it typically means your enemy wasn't paying enough attention, and yet somehow that is almost always your fault. Prepared to be called a lot of colorful names, should you ever choose to "rush". Anyway, the point is: if you're able to do something in a game, within the scope of what the developers intended, it really shouldn't be something you're not allowed to do, or be ostracized for doing, right? Especially in the case of games that get regular updates like CS:GO and SC2. If it was a problem or "illegal" or whatever, surely they'd remove it?

That's my opinion on the matter; I'd love to hear yours, and I'd like to get some discussion going. If anyone is offended by anything I said, that wasn't my intention, but please try to understand the message I'm trying to get across.
 
You should revise the topic name of this thread. You have incorrectly used the word "portray" and the thread name is therefore nonsensical. Once you've revised that I can provide an opinion, until then: I'm not certain what it is you want to discuss and I can't help you.
 
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Well, your main problem is playing Counter-Strike, that is so 2001... just joking. But seriously, the SCAR is a semi-automatic weapon!?

Unfortunately where you get people, you will get situations like the above mentioned. And its not just South Africans, or even Afrikaners. I play Call of Duty mostly on international servers nowadays and have to say the nation that wins the douche bag reward is the French. The Germans are probably the best people to play with, in my experience at least.
But you will always get the rotten apples in the bunch.

This is the internet, where you will have to have a rather thick skin in order to survive. It doesn't make what people say right, but unfortunately there is little to be done about it. Your tears will only feed them.
 
RaFi said:
Well, your main problem is playing Counter-Strike, that is so 2001... just joking. But seriously, the SCAR is a semi-automatic weapon!?

Unfortunately where you get people, you will get situations like the above mentioned. And its not just South Africans, or even Afrikaners. I play Call of Duty mostly on international servers nowadays and have to say the nation that wins the douche bag reward is the French. The Germans are probably the best people to play with, in my experience at least.
But you will always get the rotten apples in the bunch.

This is the internet, where you will have to have a rather thick skin in order to survive. It doesn't make what people say right, but unfortunately there is little to be done about it. Your tears will only feed them.
Click to expand...

Truth, they speak it.
 
This is one of the main reasons I tend to enjoy the singleplayer side of games more, some people think they can act like pigs just because they have a nick(and a few thousand miles) to hide behind. Imagine this happening face to face...

BTW I am Afrikaans and this kind of thing is definitely not cool hehe
 
You sound like a very high-strung individual. The internet isnt always a nice place and bitching about it is not going to change it. You will always find some asshole telling you how crap you are at a game, so what if you like it play, IGNORE them.

Now count to ten and say "whoooosaa" and be off on ur merry way :D
 
I did actually read the whole thing (whew!) and I agree. It has nothing to do with thick skin and what not, the SA community are by and large a bunch of assholes and most threads that point this fact out, will have those self same assholes in here telling you it's all ok. I left the FPS 'community' behind because of the bullshit, no big loss.
You'll also find that the 'higher' someone is (in their fantasy standings) or how many more sycophants someone has, the bigger of a twat they are. One just has to look at 90% of premier division teams in BF3 or CoD4 to see that they are full of those types.

At the end of the day, yes, ignore it and either report them if the function exists (admins and mods) or move along to another server.
 
I'm also told allot by international players how SA players are rude,i have not come across them allot and those that i do come across are usually under 16 years of age.

Still if you get harassed you can either ignore them or join another server,i have been harassed countless times in BF3 when i join someone clan server and wipe the floor with most of the players (these are usually the newer clans that don't have many skilled players)

If i had CounterStrike than i would have hunted this TR@$#^C@N down.:p

Do note that this isn't just a problem in SA,lots of times i would get insulted by (mostly) Swedish and Romanian players in their own language.Trying to talk back in English is useless because the Swedish guys just keep talking their language with my name mentioned here and there and the Romanian players insist that everyone should understand Romanian.
 
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1. Noob tube generally refers to a weapon that has some sought of grenade launcher on it that u just right click and explodes on impact. (Correct me if im wrong guys). But in my case i couldnt give a flying hoot when i play FPS (which i rarely do) if the gun is in the game, you can use it to the full extent (unless server specifically says no x gun, always follow server rules). And as u said if it was illegal they would remove it.

2. It just depends on who you play with, you will always get jackass' that thinks that their shit smells like roses, but when u start beating them they try and find something else about you to nit pick on. Just ignore them and as mephisto says report them and go to next server. You will eventually find a server that doesnt take kindly to that kind of behaviour.

3. Unfortunatly this isint how all SA gamers are, just the majority of assholes that give the minority of well behaved gamers a bad name.

4. Thank goodness u havnt seen the MOBA guys, i think we a bit worse than the FPS guys :D

5. If another afrikaans dude tunes u shit, tune "Gaan spiel met jou klein piel man"
 
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_Caboose_ said:
1. Noob tube generally refers to a weapon that has some sought of grenade launcher on it that u just right click and explodes on impact. (Correct me if im wrong guys). But in my case i couldnt give a flying hoot when i play FPS (which i rarely do) if the gun is in the game, you can use it to the full extent (unless server specifically says no x gun, always follow server rules). And as u said if it was illegal they would remove it.

2. It just depends on who you play with, you will always get jackass' that thinks that their shit smells like roses, but when u start beating them they try and find something else about you to nit pick on. Just ignore them and as mephisto says report them and go to next server. You will eventually find a server that doesnt take kindly to that kind of behaviour.

3. Unfortunatly this isint how all SA gamers are, just the majority of assholes that give the minority of well behaved gamers a bad name.

4. Thank goodness u havnt seen the MOBA guys, i think we a bit worse than the FPS guys :D

5. If another afrikaans dude tunes u shit, tune "Gaan spiel met jou klein piel man"
Click to expand...

spiel = speel :P
 
_Caboose_ said:
But in my case i couldnt give a flying hoot when i play FPS (which i rarely do) if the gun is in the game, you can use it to the full extent (unless server specifically says no x gun, always follow server rules). And as u said if it was illegal they would remove it.
Click to expand...

Exactly! I don't get this, why complain about someone playing the game within the rules. (In this case choosing any of the weapons that are available.) If you have a problem with it, play on a server that doesn't allow it, or if the case is the gun is unbalanced complain to the dev team who made the game and have it fixed.
 
I love being called a noob, I get it all the time. Imagine what it must be like for "mr/mrs pro gamer" to be killed by a noob.

Any insults flung across the internet should not be taken to heart, its completely meaningless. I'd also bet that they would never say those things to your face. Its just the power of anonimity and the fact that there are no repercussions for being ridiculously rude.

Also, continue to noobtube, noob camp, etc. etc. play how ever you want, if the server allows it. Its allowed.
 
That sounded like a pretty standard game of CS to me :P

Sad though... I think it's a maturity issue. Some people are socially maladapted and take their frustrations online.
 
Raging hormonal teeangers :/ unfortunately this is the way gaming is its not just south africa, I play team games or beta games on the pure fact that either im with people i no or like gaming with or im playing a game where the point is to try find bugs

If a weapon or something is over powered people in a beta dont rage(majority of the time) because they understand that it can change. team based games are all i play or solo 1v1 games just to not deal with stupid people. "awwwww u hate the desert eagle that i used to shoot u in the head? Shame!!!! what are u gonna do CAPS ME TO DEATH" "whistling:
 
Often people on the internet act like douchebags. It's hardly uncommon although to be honest I don't think I've come across it all that much. I guess I just tend to ignore people who try to start thing, engagement always seems to spur them on since they now feel they have this untouchable platform from which to spurt insults from. The main thing is that you can't let them get to you because that is exactly what they want.

As a side note associating this person's behaviour with 'SA Gamers' is rather unfair since like other have said you get D-bags in every country, just go play on XBL(any mplayer game) with your headset on and listen as the insults stream in.
 
I tend to enjoy the game more the harder people rage at me, that is when you know you are really working on their nerves.

I generally keep quiet and try and kill them every chance I get.
The more you do that the better the rage builds :P

You also need to choose the servers you play on, certain servers are admined more strictly than others and by taking screenies and submitting it with time and details to them may cause a temp ban or a warning on first offence.
 
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