So, I recently did a Social Experiment of sorts.
I’m a big fan of Mafia-esque games, you see. To explain it, for those unaware, you and the other players are dealt roles— some evil, while the rest are potentially good or neutral. Nobody knows who is what; “Mafia” has to eliminate the “other” alignment. There’s several games that go after this genre— Town of Salem, Throne of Lies, Werewolf, Wolflord/Direwolf, and others that involve an equally-hidden traitor, such as Deceit or Among Us.
So, the impromptu experiment began, I believe, weeks ago. Town of Salem is my favorite Mafia-esque game, due to its extensive roles and less restrictions with choosing an in-game-name. As if to stave off quarantine boredom, I began to enter matches as “Donald Trump” and noticed intense anonymousity, my roleplay attempts as our President being met with hostility. People didn’t seem to care if I was a helpful role to the “Town” or not. Saying things like Kill Trump when we entered the matches. When I tried to rationalize and argue against the ludicrous behavior, all I received was “if you don’t want the hate, don’t use the name.” Like it was my fault that people targeted me, and there was nothing wrong for being targeted based on my name. One person even claimed the same would happen if I named myself Adolf Hitler. (Spoiler Alert: Nobody cared.)
On its own, this only told me people really hate Donnie. Like seriously. I could be a Crusader— a good, protective role for the Town, and they’d still call for my head. I recently tried a different name out, calling myself “Sheev Palpatine,” taking on the role of that calculative, Force Lightning-using Sith Lord. The hatred wasn’t as intense, but people were similarly irrational. A “Jailor” referring to me as suspicious based on a “feeling”; an unfounded feeling, as just another example of players acting based on the in-game-name I chose. Again told to just not call myself this if I hate the harassment. Again saying to them that I shouldn’t have to do that, and that decisions should be based on things besides the name I chose.
So, the result of my experiment? People hate Trump. Pretty sure everyone already knows that. But, no, I believe, based on the intense emotions, that people attach their personal feelings about a name to anyone using it. Their hatred of Trump went to me after I chose to name myself that, just as their understanding of Palpatine being evil made them also want me to die. Peope have trouble distinguishing between a pretender and the real person, willing to use the pretender as a scapegoat for any ill feelings they have for a real or fictional person. And, as far as I can tell, people can be irrational creatures, putting their feelings over logic.
Also, I would like to add that I was able to make someone understand my point-of-view. Realized I was just having fun with the name, and not to take it too seriously. So, there was a positive whilst experiencing all the negativity and words of people wanting me dead based on my name alone.
