How do I deal with male chauvinist gamers?

thegamer27

I’m a gamer and have been playing games since I was a kid. I’m no pro by any means, but I genuinely enjoy the whole experience. The camaraderie with other gamers, exploring virtual worlds, and just investing time and effort into certain games. However, what’s really ruining things for me is how some gamers can be real jerks online. They say derogatory comments like “women from USA are dumb and over privileged” or “women can’t really play games good enough”.

I’ve been gaming for YEARS and I know that these comments shouldn’t bother me, but coming from someone who genuinely enjoys playing and appreciates the hard work that game developers put into their product, it really does ruin the experience for me in many ways. How do I deal with this? I know I can block them and trash talking is part of the “fun”, but some of these comments are way below the belt to be considered jokes.

richardb70

I've given up playing online with "randoms" because it's all depressing. I either stick to single player or games where you can play exclusively with friends. The latter is far more fun than playing with unknowns anyway.

King Tones

Have you tried making them a sandwich ?

JabbaNut

Find women to play with

richardb70

I could be wrong but IDs like "LadyGamer314" are probably

                                                                                                                                               

thegamer27

As a huge Deftones fan myself, I was gonna say awesome avatar but I take that back. It's funny "men" can't make their own sandwiches, but hate on women that can do things that they do, better. Maybe come up with an original joke next time?

thegamer27

While it's true that playing with your friends is more fun, gaming is also a great way to meet new friends. Then again, it's better than having to deal with jerks online.

thegamer27

I do have a couple of female gamer friends, but thanks for the suggestion anyway

dms

I used to think you could shout the idiots down but it doesn't work.... the idiots seem to like tge attention it gives them and I've certainly witnessed a woman say "hi" and then had to put up with relentless abuse just for turning up.

What is sad though is occasionally you can make decent new contacts (he'll even friends) online when gaming and toxic idiots just ruin the atmosphere for everyone trying to have fun.

So advice?  Personally I run my own voice server and game server whenever possible.... so you just permban idiots on first offence but I wish it wasn't like that!  And if on public games (depending on type of course) if you have enough mates you just vote kick the idiots.... cause they may grow up one day but it won't be soon.

richardb70

It might be worth you telling us which platform(s) you game on, and which genres. In my personal experience, console multiplayer is much more toxic than PC multiplayer. I'm not getting all "Master Race" here but that's what I've found.

Still, there's so much single player / co-op content out there that I don't miss it one bit. I thoroughly enjoy the odd Borderlands 2 evening with mates currently but otherwise it's the likes of Zelda etc that fill my gaming time.