Yea, I like to shoot people

So I used to like to shoot people. All the time. It was always fun and excellent. And most the time, they were actually real people.

Of course, this was online.

There used to be something fun about gaming online. Back before Xbox and Playstation 2 had online capabilities, there was another system that dominated the interwebs. The PC. Holy shit. I know, it's crazy. This was the ultimate gaming platform and usually had mature, smart people that played games with others. It was less of a social event than it is now, but it had one huge advantage:

There were no fracking kids.

When I say that, I do not mean that I don't like kids. I just don't like kids that feel the need to play online games that are above their age range. It might be a little hypocritical to say that now, because I played over-the-top violent games when I was younger. Doom: check. Starcraft: check. Half-Life: check. Quake III: check. There were times when my screen would be covered in viscera and gore. My mom hated it. I loved it.



I even played online (which might make me the biggest hypocrite), but there was no, or limited voice communication. Essentially, the communities of players were better.

You might want to turn your speakers down for this.


Now, there's an infestation. All these kids that come home from school go straight to the Xbox 360 or PS3. They fire it up and jump right into a match of Modern Warfare 2. They also never forget to put on their headsets. And that's the worst part. These little frackers spout some of the most vile and despicable things I have ever heard. I wouldn't be so made is their lexicon of profanity had only four words and various transformations.

You can get a terrible version of whatever song they have on their stereo. You might hear a parent in the background yelling at them to do something (which is my personal favorite). They never, ever forget to tell you how much better they are than you at that specific game and what you can do to their favorite part of their body. This could be during the game or in the game lobby. No matter where, it drives me crazy. I'm not saying that I am entirely innocent of language getting out of hand, but as I've gotten older, I've stopped speaking like that.

I don't know what it is. Maybe mom and dad aren't home so they can say whatever they want. Maybe mom and dad suck as parents. The game is rated by ESRB, but clearly, parents don't give a frack. I have recently came to the opinion (especially as an essentially lifelong gamer) that these ratings are usually a good thing.

Single player games that are rated M tend to have more mature themes. I don't know if a 13 year old would fully understand what Mass Effect 1 and 2 (best stories in a game) are about. They wouldn't catch some of the deeper meanings that they story is giving the player. Someone that age probably wouldn't fully understand the full story behind Grand Theft Auto 4 or Red Dead Redemption (some of the most fun to be had in a game). That said, I believe that a 13 year old would understand the story of Halo. This is just an age and maturity level issue. Granted, there are people my age that probably wouldn't understand about these meanings as well.

ESRB tells the player in the boot screens that the online content is not rated by them. If it was, every single multiplayer compenant of games would be AO, or Adults Only.

I guess that I'm mad at a few groups of people that have essentially turned me off to multiplayer shooters, something that I used to love. I only play with friends now.

I hope someone catches the references in this.

For such a long fracking post, here is something really awesome.

Play both of these videos at the same time.


Mute this one and watch fullscreen: