Is there something about e Sports that gets under your skin? Makes you want to spam the mic, or maybe it is that you want a tactical advantage in an important game? Banter can play a huge role in whether or not you and your team can win at LAN, but isn’t necessarily the nicest or coolest way to do it. Some people will say anything and most get carried away once they start. Let’s have a look at how bad banter has become and what banter is like in the E sports scene today. This is what I think of it:
All in good fun
Some people would argue that a bit of friendly banter is part of what makes E sports special and that it’s all in good fun. However, there is a line which shouldn’t be crossed and that’s when the swearing becomes out of control and threats start getting made. People can find banter like this quite intimidating and upsetting and it definitely can affect how you play. Like this one time when I was playing certain Pro Counter-Strike player. The game started like normal, but when I started winning and taking the advantage, the owner of the server turned on team speak and this pro-gamer was able to banter me out of the competition. I didn’t think this was fair at all and demanded a rematch after I had lost, but he wouldn’t hear anything of it, content in his ill won victory.
Worst offenders
I think the worst offenders have to be the Call of Duty crowd. Some quotes from the European call of duty championships? Players can be heard yelling things like: “Look at score bitches!” “Look at the F^&$*&# score.”, “Ahh! Wooh! I’m the F&$%^#* daddy man!”, “You’re 17 and you look like you’re 30 you dickhead”.
You have to ask yourself, what would their mothers think about this kind of behavior? Is this the kind of thing we want people to consider when they think about playing E sports? The answer is no, we really would like people to take a more professional approach. Not only do you make yourself look incredibly immature and lame, it reflects badly onto the whole of E sports and makes people less likely to get involved. People need to start thinking how they would like to be treated and act like that instead of all this childish nonsense.
Excuses
People like to excuse away banter saying that it exists in every sport and that there is a lot of money on the line. There is no excuse. Banter is a form of cheating which allows people who have no morals to dominate and take advantage of people who are just there for the sake of friendly competition. If you have to resort to banter to give yourself an advantage, then you’re probably not all you’re cut out to be anyway. Just because banter is so prevalent doesn’t mean it can’t be eradicated. People should stop making excuses for it and start condemning it before it tarnishes E sports forever!
Gamer Rage
There is a big difference between gaming rage and banter that is used during competition. Rage can be extremely funny but is often confused with banter. Gamer rage is all about exploding at yourself and getting mad because you have failed or you have lag.
Resume
There is something definitely wrong with E sports when people feel like it’s OK to take out their frustration in the game on others and manipulate opponents using banter. It’s up to all of us to create a better eSports scene where people respect each other and their ability. That doesn’t necessarily mean sitting there in silence, but making a complete ass of yourself on camera isn’t doing anyone or the industry and favors. Do we really need to cram everyone into soundproof boxes?
If people can start changing their ways then more people will want to get involved with E sports, especially the ladies, and this will make the scene a lot better for everyone. So next time you are at a LAN and some jerk is yelling his face off at you, be the bigger man and just ignore it, saving yourself from this distraction will actually help your game a lot more and help you distance yourself from the emotions that can surround a competition.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my article. Please visit my website if you want to know more about me
Joshua Forbes
