User blog:IronFreedom/An issue I want to talk about

This wikia has a blogging option, that't interesting.

I'll just make this short and sweet, I want to talk about gaming and behavior. I realize this is a message that most will ignore, but I want to speak up about it anyway. All too often I see so much hate on the internet. The protection and anonymity of a screen and a keyboard is more powerful than I think most of us realize. Without the human connection of a face, a name, or a voice we make assumptions and draw faulty chains of logic that lead to equally faulty conclusions about the people we interact with. As a result it becomes very easy to verbally abuse and mistreat people in a way that may be contrary to your nature.

It is sad to see people thriving off of this kind of behavior, ruthlessly frustrating and hurting others to parasiticly feed off of the anger of players. We as a society and as a species need to wake up to how we behave to others online in an effort to make the internet (and the PlanetSide 2 community and gaming in general) a better place. It doesn't take much, just a simple apology or a kind word. Lending a hand to a new player or answering their questions. Or even simpler things like not getting angry at that guy who just teamkilled you with his MBT (most likely by accident).

When we sit behind a screen we lose one of our most important things; our humanity. The little voice inside of us that reminds you that at the end of the day we're all the same. If all of us would take one moment to consider the bigger picture instead of getting caught up in the moment we could realize that the actions we take and the people we play games with are real, whether we ever speak with them or not. The things that I'm sure all of us (including myself) have said to other players are things we would never say to a person standing infront of us. Why not? It's the same person! We have no fear of consequences because quite often there are none. We don't do those things in real life because we know those things are wrong and can lead to a reprimand or punishment. If a criminal is never charged with the crime, does that make it any more legal than if he was sent to prison? Of course not! '''We are not animals and should not act like them simply because there are no consequences. '''Treat others as the human beings they are and the communities we particiapte in and the world can become a better place, one small act of kindness at a time.