You know Dexter17 really is wonderful. Here’s another guest piece from him on teenagers.
What does the term “teenager” mean to you? For me it serves as a positive indication, but I know that many members of the online gaming community would hasten to highlight their contrasting connotations. For many online players the mere contemplation of a teenager comes with an expectation of abuse, immaturity and ignorance.
[drop]But when the average gaming age is twenty three, aren’t these stereotypical images to be expected? As a teenager myself, I am all too aware of the ungracious comments that fly around online lobbies on a daily basis. Some serve to provoke attention, but some are simply the product of ignorance and the unjustifiable air of confidence that makes being a teenager both daunting and exciting. Generally, a response to these tirades most commonly results in an unpleasant argument that proves excruciatingly irritating for you and the rest of the lobby. When you have switched on your PlayStation with the aim of relaxing it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and even if you can utilise the powers of a mute button you can’t help but think that someone, somewhere, is cursing your name solely because you decided not to tolerate their verbal grievances.
I have always accepted the fact that members of the human race will naturally become braver behind anonymity, but I have come across a worrying trend recently that I personally find quite offensive. It now seems to be that the general online consensus is that if a game is full of the younger generation, then it simply deserves to be discarded and another game found. Many a time I have heard (and read, on internet forums) that if a game is full of thirteen to nineteen year olds, then it is a foregone conclusion that no one will play properly and that the lobby will suffer from lengthened abuse, made even worse by the use of the PS3’s built in voice changer.
I cannot even explain how angry these sorts of generalisations make me feel. I don’t deny that there are teenagers out there that actively search for arguments and make online lobbies hell, but aren’t there adults that go about executing similar practises too? I can confidently say that I venture into every online game with a friendly attitude, and when I have disclosed my age, the players at the other end have seemed genuinely surprised. Why? Because due to their past experiences they are under the misguided impression that the typical teenage gamer is frothing at the mouth and doesn’t know how to string a sentence together without a inserting a few four lettered words.
Frankly, these stereotyped ruminations need to stop. A brief flick through the comments section of this very website may highlight a few teenage comments laced with immaturity, but I’m betting that if you wanted to you could find several more teenage comments that are not only articulate, but funny and informative too. The teenagers of today are the developers and writers of tomorrow, and if they are tarnished with the same brush without a fair crack at the whip, then the videogame industry stands no chance of evolving into something better. So the next time you are in an online lobby and having to tolerate the ramblings of a teenager, look at the sixteen other players in the lobby without headsets. Sure, some of those sixteen are likely to be adults, but in amongst them, are teenagers who ultimately, want exactly the same thing as you; a challenging and enjoyable online experience.
minerwilly
The 2 most popular games in my country are Fifa and CoD , these are infested with casual as well as hardcore teenage gamers . As much as i loathe those 2 games i also have a lot of respect for them because they keep the idiots away from other games (games that suck because they aren’t CoD of course ! )
TheChaosGamer
I’m a teenager, so sometimes it gets on my nerves when people stereotype me, but most of the time I fully understand, there are quite a lot of idiotic teenagers out there who act half their age and probably wouldn’t know what half of their age is.
MXZ
I almost dont want to ask where you got the inspiration for this article…..
but that aside.
I think that teenage gamers are just as bad as adult gamers, both can be angered and vein, but also immensely entertaining. there is no difference unless you look at specific teens and adults.
im 16 and i dont play games while using a headset (due to my terrible speech impediment)and it is for that reason that i mute every other player, so ive never personally heard another player complain (but i have seen a lot of online videos about people complaining while playing)
yes it is true, teenagers are not grown ups, but they are growing up.
things that teenagers face on a daily basis (like sexual cravings and immense peer pressure)are worsen by the fact that most teenagers are not used to these feelings, where as most adults have already been able to control these feelings
that is why most adults feel that teenagers are below them. education and self control can make some people pretty smug (and i honestly cant blame them)
all throughout my Three teenager years ive been able to control my actions, much better then some of the teenagers i go to school with and its for that reason that i feel a slight smugness around my classmates (as if i think im better then them) when in reality i know im far from it, im just older and wiser (by a few months)
most of my classmates are 14 just turning 15 (while ive been 16 since Christmas) so i do feel like theres a huge age gap between me and my peers (an age gap which is sometimes disturbing)
i mean im constantly hearing news stories about young teenagers drinking, smoking and having sex with there classmates and i think to myself, what type of pussy teenager am i? when people younger then me are going to parties and having fun and doing illegal, insane and deadly things. im sleeping!
and i cant exactly have sex with my classmates (even if they were willing) because im far too old in comparison, even thoguh ive known some of these people since kindergarten and ive loved one of them since the first day i saw her 10 years ago
and i cant try anything with the year above me because they see me as a child BECASUE THEY DONT KNOW ME, yet i was supposed to be in their class (if i didn’t have to repeat pre-school)
hell, when i hang out at lunch and recess i hang out with the kids in year 11 (16 year olds) because im closer to them then my own classmates, because i should be in their class!
(destiny truly screwed up for me)
but i digress.
some teenagers are more mature and more boring then you may think, so please dont generalize.
now that thats out of the way im going to enjoy easter (chocolate away!)
:z
Deathbrin
Just be thankful that there’s no idiocy measures like a forced age group block, use the players met feature to play with the players you like and be happy with you games.
Foxhound_Solid
Teenagers are little bastards, I know, I used to be one. Simples.
freezebug2
There’s good and bad in all age groups and I don’t think that teenagers are by any means the worst group. I think that teenagers are more switched on nowadays than they were a few years back and the stereotyped, council estate chavvy gangs that the media like to show them as are really just a tiny minority.
Teenagers like to be seen as Adults, and Adults like to think that they are still teenagers :P
Los Havros
I don’t think anyone tarnishes teenagers as a whole with the same brush, it’s just the immature ones. As Roynaldo mentions, you’ve got some situations in which you’re playing online against 14 year olds on an 18-rated game like Call of Duty. I’ve heard enough obscenities over the years so as a result, I mute everyone.
stueeeee
As long as everyone in the game acts relatively mature I don’t mind what age they are. I do often use the mute button though, but it annoys me that some games tuck them away so u can access them quickly. Like when you’ve got people of all ages shouting down the mic, or babies crying in the background, or music thumping away as well.
I would prefer these teenagers that shout and swear to carry on doing it rather thn standing on street corners in gangs waiting to stab or attack.
I’m proud to say I’m part of a community like TSA, where just some of these comments prove that many teenagers aren’t the same as the rest.