Slurs
This one was a very personal story, I suppose. I felt like it needed to be told however. The problem is that it isn’t once incident. It is a collection of incidents that makes me absolute detest the online community, especially the online gaming community. However, I haven’t given up gaming. I will recount one story in particular that left an incredible impression on me.
This incident occurred shortly after I had lost a few games to the aggressor. After those games, I had beaten this person once with a different character than the one I had been using. The following occurred:
“Wow, you noob. You started running and lagging there,” This other person, while I forgot his name, let’s name him Eren.
“I really wasn’t doing either, but whatever you say,” I responded calmly.
“Hahaha, you’re just angry that I was beating you so much,” Eren mocked.
“Hardly,” I was slightly annoyed as I prepared for another game with this person. Whenever people win so much against me, I get very competitive and my desire to win gets stronger. I knew I was better than this person.
“Lmao, you’re so angry,” Eren said once again.
“Okay,” My only response.
“I can feel how much anger you much be feeling right now,” Eren tried to provoke me further. He started the game.
It was the same as before. Since I was more determined now, I had won the game and proven that my win previously was not a fluke. However, this person would not quit with their demeanor.
“You’re going hard now? I wasn’t really trying either. I guess it’s time to do that,” I was getting tired of seeing this kind of behavior everywhere, but I had to prove to him that I wasn’t just going to quit because of his cockiness.
Another battle ensued. This time, I won with much more ease than the other games with the character I was best with. Following this was another battle with his best character, as he claimed, where the battle was drawn out longer, but the result remained the same.
“It’s because you lag,” Eren accused me of that once again.
“I’m certain you will believe that no matter how much I don’t,” I answered him.
“Shut up, you f*g,” Eren started getting hostile.
“Okay, that’s just rude,” I was getting angry at this player for their prejudice, rather than their mocking.
“And you’re a r**ard,” Eren’s anger at me was clear.
“First of all, I’m a girl. Second of all, that’s very offensive,” This was just ridiculous.
“So you’re a tr*nny?” I was amazed at all the slurs he was throwing in such a short amount of time.
“No, just a girl. Quite frankly, you’re just being an a**hole,” Politeness wasn’t going to work on someone who acted like that.
“Shut up, b*tch. You’re just a f*cking noob who keeps lagging and winning these battles,” He was getting really competitive, “Ready so we can go again.”
I complied with that request only to come out with 3 wins and one loss. He gloated a lot when I lost that one time.
“You f*cking b*tch. I can’t believe I let a tr*nny beat me,” Eren was throwing around slurs like a ball during any sport.
“Are you kidding, please shut up,” I was getting a head-ache from the behavior.
“Well, that’s exactly what you are, you noob…” I was already out of the game. I had enough of being called slurs and treated like I was lesser because of my choices.
This experience taught me that treating people like how you wanted to be treated would only result in you being crushed. It also taught me to just have fun while playing games. That’s what is most important. A few weeks following the incident, I stopped playing games as much. Likely due to increased pressure from school. However, my hatred for gamers is ever strong.