Support NeoGAF

[vypek]

I guess I don't understand or have no idea but as a Black Man I have never really ever been identified online by voice, being identified as black that way in fact seems so weird to me. But then again I have been told I don't sound black? Something I didn't think was possible but...well I guess I don't. I mean my father who was black also speaks like me so I guess I never understood that black people apparently talk a certain way?

Am I the only one like this?

No, you're not the only one. Personally, it has been the same way for me. Apparently being black means you must speak a certain way. If you don't sound like a stereotype then you apparently "sound white" ... or something like that. I don't really understand it.

 

[Kade]

I've seen alot of people mention Nintendo online games as a way of not having to experience stuff like this. I didnt see/hear any of it in Pokemon X/Y or Pokemon Battle Revolution, but with a competitive shooter like Splatoon giving you lots of different skin tone options, I really hope it doesnt rear its ugly head there.

I was playing Smash Bros. (in online, Miis are visible) in For Glory and after beating a guy twice in a row, he changed his name to "NIIIG". It was pretty surreal.

 

[ExVicis]

No, you're not the only one. Personally, it has been the same way for me. Apparently being black means you must speak a certain way. If you don't sound like a stereotype then you apparently "sound white" ... or something like that. I don't really understand it.

See that's the thing. When I went to High school in Nebraska my friends constantly said "Oh, you are the whitest black guy ever" and it fucking bothered the hell out of me since i never sought to meet some arbitrary racial quota nor even thought about it. Suddenly now I was some sort of anomaly I guess? But to me it was just normal.

 

[zeldablue]

I was playing Smash Bros. (in online, Miis are visible) in For Glory and after beating a guy twice in a row, he changed his name to "NIIIG". It was pretty surreal.

I stand corrected.

Welp, sorry to hear that. I thought maybe Nintendo was immune.

 

[Foxy Fox 39]

The best communities for minorities are the fighting game communities and the sports communities. Everything else I don't talk because I will always be called the n word.

Neogaf isn't much better. Most people here think black representation is fine in video games out that there has to be a reason to have a black character when there doesn't need to be for a white character. Minorities aren't good enough of unless they're pushing a stereotype.

 

[SliceSabre]

My god that 'the whitest black dude I know' comment strike me right through the heart. I've heard that shit way too fucking much considering the hobbies I have.

When I had a 360 and played CoD and other games with my buddies, all of whom were black, we always stayed in party chat and talked because rest assured if we talked in regular lobby somebody was sure to call us niggers and such because I suppose our voices give us away. Course all of us are used to this shit by now so it wasn't a big deal we just started up a party chat and avoid that crap.

 

[Kyzon]

I stand corrected.

Welp, sorry to hear that. I thought maybe Nintendo was immune.

I completely forgot about that. I've seen it on smash as well. Idk why, but it actually made me mad where as usually not much bothers me.

 

[Reflex]

Is it me or does it seem like the acronym ' SJW' or 'social justice warrior' is often used to casually dismiss these topics?

I've noticed that bigots tend to be more keyword centric rather than context sensitive. The presence of a single word is enough to completely excuse their desired behavior. They wait for someone to use that keyword so that they can be apathetic/enraged.

 

[Mononoke]

I guess I don't understand or have no idea but as a Black Man I have never really ever been identified online by voice, being identified as black that way in fact seems so weird to me. But then again I have been told I don't sound black? Something I didn't think was possible but...well I guess I don't. I mean my father who was black also speaks like me so I guess I never understood that black people apparently talk a certain way?

Am I the only one like this?

I heard racial/sexist/homophobic slurs against people all the time, even if they weren't identified as any specific thing. That kind of abusive language was thrown around regardless if someone was identified and targeted specifically.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Yeah its truly annoying. My ex girlfriend at the time said "I should have been white", just because I speak a certain way and act "weird". God forbid a person of color can't shut down the stereotypes once and for all.

Excuse me for potentially sounding rude, but I'm glad she's an ex. Condescending bullshit like that gets under my skin so bad. When I was younger, it always bothered me when people would say that to me, and only as I got older did I fully realize how ass-backwards that line of thought was.

 

[Aces&Eights]

It just makes me sick to my stomach to know that people can be filled with so much hate and racism. The cherry on top is 90% would never say it in person because in addition to being a fuckin prick, they are cowards. Reminds me of the slimy guy in The Hobbit (3rd one) who was always being a douche until talking to the king at which point he acted all proud and loving. He ended up disguising himself as an old woman to get out of fighting.

I've been BLESSED to have grown up in a very diverse town. There were no minorities as we were all a mixed bag of rug rats. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to different cultures, religion, foods and philosophy. I feel so helpless when I hear this shit as I just want to expose them for the wretches they are but there is no easy way to do that.

If I was tech savvy I'd join Anonymous and make it my life's mission to post their I.P.s, addresses, picture, phone number and all personal data to pastebin for the world to see.

It just makes me so goddamn angry.

 

[Mononoke]

It just makes me sick to my stomach to know that people can be filled with so much hate and racism. The cherry on top is 90% would never say it in person because in addition to being a fuckin prick, they are cowards. Reminds me of the slimy guy in The Hobbit (3rd one) who was always being a douche until talking to the king at which point he acted all proud and loving. He ended up disguising himself as an old woman to get out of fighting.

I've been BLESSED to have grown up in a very diverse town. There were no minorities as we were all a mixed bag of rug rats. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to different cultures, religion, foods and philosophy. I feel so helpless when I hear this shit as I just want to expose them for the wretches they are but there is no easy way to do that.

If I was tech savvy I'd join Anonymous and make it my life's mission to post their I.P.s, addresses, picture, phone number and all personal data to pastebin for the world to see.

It just makes me so goddamn angry.

I'm curious what the actual age range is, for the majority of the people that talk shit on Xbox Live (that say racial slurs, or x slur/ abusive language). Age doesn't excuse it either way. But if most of them are teenagers, then what the fuck is wrong with their parenting? I could be a little shit growing up just like any teenager. But I never defaulted to using racial slurs, or any slurs to people online. I don't understand why so many people do this.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Is it me or does it seem like the acronym ' SJW' or 'social justice warrior' is often used to casually dismiss these topics?

Let me introduce you to this neat little thing.

 

[zeldablue]

If I was tech savvy I'd join Anonymous and make it my life's mission to post their I.P.s, addresses, picture, phone number and all personal data to pastebin for the world to see.

It just makes me so goddamn angry.

Err...just let them be. There are far too many people who harbor racist thoughts. Best to just try to gain more representation and viewpoints in our media for the next generation.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Let me introduce you to this neat little thing.

Morrigan... this is beautiful. Thank you.

 

[atr0cious]

What show would that be? Generally, I am more likely to see a negative stereotypes than a positive one, but it could be bias.

I have heard of causes where foreigners hate blacks solely due to watching all the negative portray of blacks on TV and movies.

Watch the show The 100. It's on Netflix, and it really feels like the casting director has an issue with colored people. By the 4th episode, blacks have been equated to a nightmare that must be stopped and they've all been killed or relegated to bad guy. Kind of upsetting how up front it was. On the flip side a white girl survives an attack that would've killed any red shirt, just to be the love interest for some one else.

 

[Heart of Black]

I actually still need to read it all the way through, had a busy day. But I appreciate Jess reaching out. Always a tough conversation.

I think Evan dropped the mic, personally.

 

[staticneuron]

The internet is why I no longer have a Southern accent. Changing the way you talk just so people won't start saying stupid things gets easier every time, just sucks that you have to do it. I get more jobs now, though. That second interview, when they match the voice from the phone to the person, you can see it in their eyes. Love it.

One of my great joys in life!

On topic, I used to care, then I simply stopped caring because gaming imo reflects many society and cultures. The racism is one of the main things I have come to learn to accept with being a geek because while it is more subtle in public and in person, it is a magnitude stronger on forums, comments on webpages and in gaming environments. I once made the mistake of using my likeness in the RB6V games forgetting about the potential responses I would get. Was quickly reminded about why I don't interact often in online MP games, especially on XBL.

Edit: I also want to point out that when speaking without slang in certain urban areas, gets you the label of taking "white" so the social circle of black geeks becomes even smaller because it isn't just other ethnicity that love to judge but blacks do it as well.

I guess I don't understand or have no idea but as a Black Man I have never really ever been identified online by voice, being identified as black that way in fact seems so weird to me. But then again I have been told I don't sound black? Something I didn't think was possible but...well I guess I don't. I mean my father who was black also speaks like me so I guess I never understood that black people apparently talk a certain way?

Am I the only one like this?

No, you're not the only one. Personally, it has been the same way for me. Apparently being black means you must speak a certain way. If you don't sound like a stereotype then you apparently "sound white" ... or something like that. I don't really understand it.

Seems as if this covered already.

 

[Mr. X]

I really hope to one day get in the industry on the executive/business side of things and actively push good games that promote diversity in the medium.

 

[Jabba]

Yeah its truly annoying. My ex girlfriend at the time said "I should have been white", just because I speak a certain way and act "weird". God forbid a person of color can't shut down the stereotypes once and for all.

I've had this problem also. Some people would say I was a white guy trapped in a black persons body.

 

[Heart of Black]

Key and Peele on White sounding black guys

 

[360pages]

I think the Whitest Black Guy thing is super irritating, and really hurts an individual. I was given a lot of shit (I actually wasn't picked on or anything, just some snickers from students) in highschool for not acting black enough and having a really light voice.

What makes this more irritating is the fact was it was mostly from the Black Students, most of my white classmates didn't give a shit. What's weird is the fact that I can still call those classmates friends/acquaintances despite that.

But it was annoying still...

 

[Snorlocs]

I'm Jamaican and most of the comments I get is either people love my accent or how I sound like some wierd Brit/Jamaican hybrid. (Thanksgreat granddad you old Tommy you)

As for the slurs don't say I run into it. I hear teams like "Nigga" a bit because I play fighting games and that crowd is very diverse, but then again I don't play much online games and I only play a select few. But from streams and listening to other chats I can tell in some games it's problem.

As to the dearth of black designers, it's a big 2 part issue, economical and social, is it considered a awesome job oppurtunity to people of colour? Of course not there are much bigger pies out there to get. Game development is a very technical field that needs quite a bit of education, it's something for more upper class people than lower middle class people, also it's a bubble, if you are in the development bubble things are out of sight out of mind.

I'm fortunate enough to have a opportunity to get a foot in the door (But I declined to work in Molecular Biology) but I know my background is different being from the Caribbean where things are a bit different and having a college educated parent and what not.

But I know the hurdles we need to clear to get participation up. However it's gonna be a lot of work.

I'm Jamaican too and the few times ive turned on the mic i got: "say wata", "Irie mon", "can you send me some weed", "Are you related to usain bolt?", "how do you get internet if you live in a coconut tree"(that one CRACKED me up), "do you have dreadlocks?" (...i do but thats besides the point). I found these questions hilarious but ive also heard the really bad ones (african bush nigger, etc.(i don't even live in africa )). I usually mute.

 

[Prevolition]

This stuff makes me sick to my stomach. I'm actually tearing up reading through this thread. It shouldn't be like this. Gamers need to unite. The gaming community should be about having fun experiences and clean competition, not having to put up with racist trolls.

 

[Jawbreaker]

Indeed, it is a reflection of our society. Great quotes, thanks for posting this.

 

[staticneuron]

I'm Jamaican too and the few times ive turned on the mic i got: "say wata", "Irie mon", "can you send me some weed", "Are you related to usain bolt?", "how do you get internet if you live in a coconut tree"(that one CRACKED me up), "do you have dreadlocks?" (...i do but thats besides the point). I found these questions hilarious but ive also heard the really bad ones (african bush nigger, etc.(i don't even live in africa )). I usually mute.

I grew up with my mothers side of the family and they come from Jamaica and they were here in the country only a few years before I was born. Because of this, I never recieved the speeches about the society and how they treat blacks nor was a taught there was a ceiling on my advancement. That is why my encounters with racism in America and also by people of power were very noticeable for me and not something that I was expecting before it happened.

After experiencing it, you learn to watch and become sensitive to mannerisms and what people say because sometimes it may not be hollow words or idle threats.

While the Joystiq comment section is not as vile as a yahoo or youtube commentary, it is depressing as expected.

 

[Snorlocs]

I grew up with my mothers side of the family and they come from Jamaica and they were here in the country only a few years before I was born. Because of this, I never recieved the speeches about the society and how they treat blacks nor was a taught there was a ceiling on my advancement. That is why my encounters with racism in America and also by people of power were very noticeable for me and not something that I was expecting before it happened.

After experiencing it, you learn to watch and become sensitive to mannerisms and what people say because sometimes it may not be hollow words or idle threats.

While the Joystiq comment section is not as vile as a yahoo or youtube commentary, it is depressing as expected.

I live in Jamaica so I don't see racism on a day to day basis. I usually brush it off (and then mute) when i encounter it on the net. Its not vile or reprehensible to me, its just idiots being idiots.

 

[War Machine]

IMO a good way to understand and hopefully improve this situation is by paying attention to/following some of the (too few) black voices in the industry. Shawn Alexander Allen from the article is a great follow.

If you want to find other Black voices to follow in the industry, check out this link: http://www.thecoli.com/threads/black-people-working-in-the-video-game-industry.237512/

 

[bootski]

i speak with a different accent now than i did when i was a child in the caribbean. when we first moved to canada i was 12 and the difficulty that people had with my accent and the overall pressure to fit in molded my accent to a pure canadian sound. not that there's anything wrong with that but i can feel the pain of someone being made fun of because of the way they sound. especially since now i can skate by without letting people know i'm not white and hear the casual racism that's present in almost every voice chat i've ever been a part of.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

One thing that always burned me was the wierd talk behind their back that the black people playing was that it was wierd either for them even doing this or out of their element.

This can't be good long term. It just can't.

This did have one benefit of helping me shop guilds easier. Hell, if they'd talk about them behind their backs (or worse), what'd they say about me?

 

[Snorlocs]

I guessing living in a predominantly black country has given me different views on the subject. Racism does not affect me in an "Omg how could he say that" way. I see it as more of a "hey, look at this guy try to be an asshole. Douche".

Let me explain myself. Being black and living in a black country has pretty much left me oblivious to racism against black people (I see racism against white, Indian and Asian people quite often where i live though so I know what it's like). It offends me more to be called a "shit noob retard" than to be called a "nigger". Why? cause I AM black and I live in a black country. They aren't saying anything untrue. I've been taught to embrace my blackness from the day i was born, so I do .I Know that they are purposely saying it to get a rise out of me. It tickles me pink to see them switch tactics or give up when they realize it doesn't work. I however do not classify myself as a shit noob retard (unless i reeaaallly suck at a particular game) so that, to me, packs more of a punch.

I know its a strange way of thinking but that (along with the occasional muting) makes being on the internet a lot less stressful for me.

Edit: My friends and I call each other "nigga" all the time as well so i mean...i guess i'm just really de-sensitized.

 

[staticneuron]

I guessing living in a predominantly black country has given me different views on the subject. Racism does not affect me in an "Omg how could he say that" way. I see it as more of a "hey, look at this guy try to be an asshole. Douche".

Let me explain myself. Being black and living in a black country has pretty much left me oblivious to racism against black people (I see racism against white, Indian and Asian people quite often where i live though so I know what it's like). It offends me more to be called a "shit noob retard" than to be called a "nigger". Why? cause I AM black and I live in a black country. They aren't saying anything untrue. I've been taught to embrace my blackness from the day i was born, so I do .I Know that they are purposely saying it to get a rise out of me. It tickles me pink to see them switch tactics or give up when they realize it doesn't work. I however do not classify myself as a shit noob retard (unless i reeaaallly suck at a particular game) so that, to me, packs more of a punch.

I know its a strange way of thinking but that (along with the occasional muting) makes being on the internet a lot less stressful for me.

Makes perfect sense. The few times I stayed in Jamaica, I could tell it is a different environment and how my mom side of the family just had a different outlook on things while I was growing up.

For people like me though the comments online I kind of take offense to, despite not really knowing where the poster really is from, not at straight racial baiting but more so about ignorance of society and how some frame it to seem as if people of color are only whining or bringing attention to themselves. The truth is that stateside, the complaints highlight problems that are already there just not widely talked about. So it makes it more difficult when people bring up numbers and statistics, only to be brushed off as baseless claims of victimization. it is hard to tell if it is people that are blissfully ignorant or if it is an effort by some who "know" there is an issue but just want to bury it. For those that are blissfully ignorant, if talking to them and showing numbers don't work then the only way they could possibly understand is to walk a mile in another persons shoes, and that isn't really possible.

So to see this the comments on Joystiq and matching my own personal experiences via online gaming on consoles and PC makes me think I will just continue sticking with personal parties and people I consider not to be offensive.

 

[spekkeh]

It's a bit odd that you think that television is indicative of real life

I didn't that's why I asked it. However I did notice a majority of black youth over here copying what they saw on television, i.e. appropriating a negative stereotype. So I wondered to what extent that was prevalent in the US. (fwiw we have no significant ghetto culture, just a few rappers from neatly kept suburbia pretending to be street and living the thug life, which is why it comes off as doubly strange)

 

[Yoshi]

Because a person's identity is automatically revealed when a person speaks, they are targeted. I call it linguistic profiling. As soon as someone hears how you sound, they engage in this practice. They hear how you sound and react based on that. So a lot of black gamers are called derogatory terms because of how they sound.

So most gamers have synesthesia or what? Of course you can get information about the sex of a person or an approximation of his level of education, but information about the skin colour from voice? How does this work?

 

[Dabanton]

As a black gamer I try not to mute an entire lobby. Modern games are quiet enough atm, but I do encourage other gamers in the lobby to mute the idiot doing it. Nothing hurts an idiot looking for reactions like the whole lobby muting them. I personally haven't really seen race baiting like I used to especially on FPS games,which I used to get called all manner of nonsense "fag nigger Jew" being a 'fave'

 

[Haunted]

Black runner, his black friends and some other black people get on camera, Twitch chat spams every black emoticon, N words and the many variations of it, etc. All this despite the fact that this dude was doing really good almost non-stop commentary and explanation while playing a game in a manner that requires extreme concentration and dexterity. There were one or two "HOW IS HE TALKING LIKE THIS/THIS MUCH AND NOT FUCKING UP?!" comments but it was mostly racist garbage. It was pretty bad.

Twitch chat is a fucking cesspool. Youtube comments, but live and spammed at 30 posts a second. It's fucking garbage and I can't believe there still aren't better tools made available by twitch to curb this shit. Hopefully the Amazon takeover will move things in the right direction there, because it cannot stand as is. The very first thing I do when loading up any stream is to hide the chat. It's also a major reason why I mostly watch vods now. Twitch chat is absolutely unbearable for me in 99% of the streams.

 

[detrimental]

I don't get to play online much anymore, but the only place I've heard blatant racism is on PC.

I've never heard racist stuff on consoles.

I actually think the overt racism is not necessarily an extension of societal culture, nor is it actual racism. I think it is a product of the "troll" culture that permeates the internet and all of its various platforms of communication. I think this is why I've never really noticed overt racism while gaming on console, but have noticed it on PC. People love to antagonize when they've got no face, and the easiest way to do that is to pull the race card; you'll also notice white people stereotyping each other "redneck", "nerd", etc based on linguistic recognition.

When you're on a PC - be it on YT, in a chat room, playing a game online, posting on a message board, or even social media... It's become all too common to both witness and engage in trolling. Apart of trolling is to recognize the characteristics of the person you're talking to and find the quickest way to enrage them. For a minority group, that's generally going to come down to race, gender, or sexuality. While some of it is definitely sincere, I also believe that a large portion of it can be traced back to the culture of "trolling".

 

[freethoughtbubble]

Recently was on SSB4 Teams For Glory when I encountered a player whose tag was "WhitePower." It was so disheartening seeing a young looking Mii associated with that filth =/

Back in my street fighter 4 days I would get pm'd racial slurs a lot. People assumed I was black mostly. (I'm a dark-skinned Latino male.)

When I was a kid I always used to get shit for getting good grades and using large words. People accused me of trying to be white. It used to make me so mad (and hurt) but now when I look back and think about the underlying assumptions these young children were making about intelligence, achievement, and their racial and ethnic backgrounds, it makes me sad =( And the fact that things have changed so little since then makes me sadder still.

 

[Vice]

So most gamers have synesthesia or what? Of course you can get information about the sex of a person or an approximation of his level of education, but information about the skin colour from voice? How does this work?

African-American Vernacular English most likely.

 

[wsippel]

My voice is all people usually need to call me that. I've even had people come into interviews for my job and to my face tell me "Oh... I thought you were white when we spoke on the phone." I speak intelligently, and I sometimes use bigger words as well, so people automatically assume I can't be black. I also used to get the "Oreo" name a lot as well, and when I was younger and ignorant to it I just went along and said, yup that's me.

Anyways, it doesn't really piss me off being called the "Whitest Black Guy." I usually respond with, "Because I speak intelligently, and carry myself in a positive manner?" That usually hushes people up, and if not I really don't care about their opinion further to pursue the issue with them personally unless they want to debate about it.

Oh, my voice for anyone interested in knowing what I'm talking about. Don't mind the actual "commentary" as I'm still learning how to do that properly for streams, lol.

The weird thing is that your voice does sound black. So some people apparently don't really pay attention to the sound itself - a black voice really isn't about sound to them.

 

[redcrayon]

I just mute everyone online that I don't know or haven't played a few games with first. It's just easier that way, I tried helping out in my early experiences with online gaming by reporting racist idiots, and insulting messages, but there were so many of them that it just felt futile. These days the only game I bother with online is Monster Hunter. Online gaming is fantastic when you are playing with friends (and it's great to make new friends through gaf) but it's disheartening to see so many young adults still talking such utter rubbish.

 

[Slayven]

I haven't used a mic in a game since launch year of the 360.

Whelp. As a non-American whose experience is mostly based on television, do you feel this has gotten worse over the years? I noticed in my surroundings in the nineties that the number of black people wearing ghetto outfits (typical 'jail chic') went from zero to almost hundred percent; mimicking rappers and I guess at some point it becoming a pervasive identity, like being black meant looking like a jailbird. That always struck me as odd. I'm not saying there wasn't widespread racism before but surely that mustn't have helped in perception.

Not all black people listen to rap or are into hip hip culture. Despite what the media would have you think

 

[detrimental]

I don't get to play online much anymore, but the only place I've heard blatant racism is on PC.

I've never heard racist stuff on consoles.

I actually think the overt racism is not necessarily an extension of societal culture, nor is it actual racism. I think it is a product of the "troll" culture that permeates the internet and all of its various platforms of communication. I think this is why I've never really noticed overt racism while gaming on console, but have noticed it on PC. People love to antagonize when they've got no face, and the easiest way to do that is to pull the race card; you'll also notice white people stereotyping each other "redneck", "nerd", etc based on linguistic recognition.

When you're on a PC - be it on YT, in a chat room, playing a game online, posting on a message board, or even social media... It's become all too common to both witness and engage in trolling. Apart of trolling is to recognize the characteristics of the person you're talking to and find the quickest way to enrage them. For a minority group, that's generally going to come down to race, gender, or sexuality. While some of it is definitely sincere, I also believe that a large portion of it can be traced back to the culture of "trolling".

I just want to add something to my post here:

The internet also removes the necessity for decorum and manners. Rather than engage in a [reasonably] polite and constructive discussion, we can simply resort immediately to ad hominem attacks and personal insults.

Now I see a very real connection between this online culture and the current state of much of the world. The impersonal nature of so much of our communication online has lead to an erosion in society - we are more segregated, we do not know how to communicate with the type of decorum and respect that we once did, and the effects to me seem to be cyclical. It's almost as if a vast portion of the world is suffering from some type of social anxiety.

This to me is the single great negative of the online and interconnected world that we live in.

 

[Opt1kon_]

Yea I almost exclusively only use party chat in mp games because I would rather not deal with the assholes in lobbies. The crazy thing is that I've become indifferent to being called a "nigger" but listening to people who are just plain pieces of shit is exhausting.

I can fully agree with this, i recently started just playing in Party chat all the time, and just inviting my Friends to play BF4 with me when I'm on that game otherwise i don't ever go into the in-game chat

 

[redcrayon]

I just want to add something to my post here:

The internet also removes the necessity for decorum and manners. Rather than engage in a [reasonably] polite and constructive discussion, we can simply resort immediately to ad hominem attacks and personal insults.

Now I see a very real connection between this online culture and the current state of much of the world. The impersonal nature of so much of our communication online has lead to an erosion in society - we are more segregated, we do not know how to communicate with the type of decorum and respect that we once did, and the effects to me seem to be cyclical. It's almost as if a vast portion of the world is suffering from some type of social anxiety.

This to me is the single great negative of the online and interconnected world that we live in.

I think it's the immediacy of it that makes it so quick for people to cause offence- even when selling things on ebay, it's amazing how many people don't even write basic pleasantries or allow the benefit of the doubt regarding response times before launching straight into a series of demands or a complaint. I had one guy demand a refund, call me a thief, then email me ten minutes later screaming in all caps about how his refund hadn't been processed yet (it was 10pm on a Saturday night). By the morning I had a series of messages from him, gradually increasing in both length and lack of coherence, My lack of response due to being asleep had made him feel like he was being ignored rather than the insults grabbing my attention, and that's what aggressive numpties usually want, acknowledgement that their offensiveness has hit home. This was over a £3 second-hand computer game. It would have taken five seconds for me to refund his money and ask him to send it back, but I thought his messages were disgusting, so I suggested he launch a dispute. Allowing me to delay his refund for 28 days and paste all of his messages together where both he and eBay could see them in the cold light of day. After that he apologised and I never heard from him again, but I still remember it as a disgusting tirade of abuse when a note along the lines of 'Hi redcrayon, I bought this by mistake, can I have a refund please?' would have taken less time and seen more satisfactory results for both parties.

It seems like a higher percentage of people either lack or completely abandon social skills when not moderated online, even compared to when I worked in retail as a teenager, where a minority of the people on both sides of the counter weren't always very nice. Maybe it's just that they don't have to look at a human being in front of them, so they don't have to see the consequences of their lack of empathy. Or maybe they feel that being aggressive/racist/homophobic online has zero consequences (for them).

Or maybe it's just that the internet allows arseholes to scream abuse at you in your own home so you remember it more.

 

[Nightbird]

I identify with the "Black Nerd" comment. I get some flak from my black friends, but even from my white friends. I'm now the whitest black guy they know. As if being educated, and liking intelligent topics, somehow makes me less black.

Oh God, i get this so much! This and the "I am more black than you"-Lines are so annoying.
Worst thing is: It doesn't stop. It is everywhere i go. When i went to High School i thought it would change because people there were older than the People i knew before, jokes on me, it didn't stop. Same thing when i started to go to College last year.
Once people start to get comfortable around me, the racial slurs start dropping.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

I identify with the "Black Nerd" comment. I get some flak from my black friends, but even from my white friends. I'm now the whitest black guy they know. As if being educated, and liking intelligent topics, somehow makes me less black.

Yeah its truly annoying. My ex girlfriend at the time said "I should have been white", just because I speak a certain way and act "weird". God forbid a person of color can't shut down the stereotypes once and for all.

That's our bane friend. It comes from centuries of being hit with accusation of being dumb primates, so that even certain sects of our own consider being educated being white. The script has been flipped where we(the black person)can only identify as being black by conforming to the negative stereotypes others have forced on us, so that we ourselves now conform to that stereotype.

I can't say i would fit in with your experience cause i'm about as far from sounding or looking white as possible on first glance, but its surely gotta be rough.

Wow these comments are so relevant to me, yet ive never really seen them talked about till now.

Being a burly tall "intimidating looking" black 11-18 year old in school who played in a rock band after school and was in a Jedi Knight:Academy clan was definitely a time where who I was was "weird" to almost everybody.

In college a very ignorant person I talkedd to told me "its weird, black people just like guns and drugs etc but youre so different". I was literally in shock. Couldnt talk to him again.

I also got comments from an ex. When we first started talking she would ask questions like " do you cheat" etc. If Is aid no she would say "wow are you some new type of breed or something?" Never really knew what she meant tbh. Then one day she just came out with the "youre not very black are you?" comment. Didnt really know what to say. One day we were watching xfactor or something and there was a sing off. Leona Lewis was singing a certain song and her comment was "she should just stick to her own kin-". She stopped mid sentence. It was weird. Turns out she wasnt for me lol.

In my later teens i decided to try and "be black" because apparently thats who im supposed to be according to freinds/family/gf/internet/politics and maybe i could fit in somewhere without people fawning over me as if my lifestyle decision was part of some freak show. Wasted a couple of years lying to myself but i did learn from that point that i dont and cant give a shit and im just me.

I used to think I couldnt be with someone from my own race because of how "unblack" i was but Im married to a jamaican with kids now.

Hopefully things will move on to the point where my kid doesnt have to follow negative stereotypes to be accepted when hes older.

/typing words

 

[JDSN]

So most gamers have synesthesia or what? Of course you can get information about the sex of a person or an approximation of his level of education, but information about the skin colour from voice? How does this work?

Essentially anything that sounds vaguely non-european makes you a nigger, it matters little from which part.

 

[Ramune]

I guess I don't understand or have no idea but as a Black Man I have never really ever been identified online by voice, being identified as black that way in fact seems so weird to me. But then again I have been told I don't sound black? Something I didn't think was possible but...well I guess I don't. I mean my father who was black also speaks like me so I guess I never understood that black people apparently talk a certain way?

Am I the only one like this?

Nope, not alone in the slightest. I even had my own Aunt call one time only to think she had the wrong number when I picked up since she was wondering "Who's this white guy that's on the phone?!" I'm trying to embrace my deep voice more this year than I have in the past. I was brutally teased for years in elementary school (95% of the time by kids of my own race), so even though I've since grown out of it, there's still some of that old thinking lingering in some ways.

My voice is hard to fit under a label. It's been called "Mid-western", "Californian Surfer dude" but mostly Radio DJ or Airline Pilot, and it's "Powerful" heh. So the few times I DO talk online, nobody can tell if it's "black" or something else other than it's REALLY deep considering the kind of avatars I play as and their demeanor. I tend to either speak a bit higher pitched so people can hear me as if I speak normally, in my mind, I come across as an angry black man. And I'm making it a goal to stop that thinking and embrace it. Wish I had some samples...

 

[Strike]

Very true. You can throw women into the mix as well. It's pretty much why I have my mic turned off most of the time when I'm in lobbies.