Does Starcraft Breed Bad Manners or Should We Blame the Parents?

Since I was introduced to the StarCraft community, I've seen more than I care to. It seems the majority of the players are a hateful, insensitive, cruel and ignorant bunch. At first I attributed it to the game itself and the immaturity to the age bracket of the players. But it's frightening to think that these people are OUR future.

I defended gamers when parents were, in my opinion, being unreasonable about video games. I made excuses for players who were bad mannered.I called off lawyers, when intellectually I knew that the NASL and Uservoice should have a suit brought against them for libel.

When I saw sexism firsthand on both GameReplay and TeamLiquid forums, I ignored it. After all it was simply a few small minds with dix to match, who probably don't get any; and if they did, wouldn't know what to do with it.

GameReplay was, at first, the lesser of the two evils. It felt to me like a closer knit community; friendlier, less hateful, more accepting of women. But when a Polish girl, who goes by the name of Effka, was the first woman ever to win a CraftCup tournament in a male-dominated arena, the forums on GameReplay were inundated with smut and sexist remarks.

Initially I came to the forums, trying to learn more about the game so that I could support a man whom I care about a great deal. There were always Avilo haters and he'd always tell me I'm too sensitive. There were always remarks about women and again I was told to just ignore it.

Recently, someone on GameReplay asked if I was avilo's mother. I responded as sincerely as the question was presented. Then, came the standard, "Pictures or get out." After which another small-minded, immature poster said, "Tits or gtfo."

I decided to not take this Blob guy's post seriously or be offended by it, so I posted to be funny. "Dick or gtfo...but wait, I have to get a magnifying glass." Yeah, I sunk to their immature level. Then, was shocked (whilst I shouldn't have been considering the mentality of this group)when a gamer that goes by the name of Solhei, responded by posting, "This is why girls in general are only meant to stick ur dick in." (Wonder if he feels that way about his mother. Wonder if he even has one)

How have these people been raised? Or have they been? Do their parents, their mothers in particular, know how their sons view them? Were they taught by their fathers to disrespect women in such a way?

It's not easy to "ignore" remarks like that and I guess that's why the more professional gamers stay away from the forums. That's probably good advice for avilo. I know that I've already seen enough of forums to know that there's nothing there for me to learn.

Yesterday, I read a forum thread on TeamLiquid about the NASL commentators and how rudely they conducted themselves during a game. They probably took lessons from the immature and sans testicles, Jim Raynor from GameReplay. (Wonder if he was raised by parents)http://lifeandotherfantasies.blogspot.com/2011/02/starcraft2-and-craftcup-tournament.html

The original poster took exception to their behavior, (guess he had a proper upbringing) but every comment thereafter threw hate at him. "It was fun." "They made me laugh." "Lighten up, it was funny." And that's the mentality of gamers?

Today, I once again defended avilo in Gamereplay, because I wanted to appeal to the "mature and caring" nature of gamers, if there was any. I wanted to prove parents wrong. I wanted to prove to myself that only a few of the gamers that post are insensitive and rude, I wanted to prove avilo wrong.

The responses I received left me sad for the future. I don't envy parents nowadays. Most parents do their best to instill a strong moral and ethical belief in their kids, but when do they have the time? Both parents work, most parents are stressed, some parents don't even know what they're kids are doing or where they are doing it. For other parents, it's just too late.

If all gamers are reflective of some of those in the StarCraft community, then all I can say is, parents beware.