Violence and Vitriol: Answering the Call of Duty

As much as I’d like to tell you that any preconceptions you had of online gamers were misguided and ill-informed, I regret to say I cannot. Aside from a small handful of genuinely lovely folk, chatting online is tantamount to seating yourself amongst the opposition at a football match: unless you’re an emotional masochist or looking for a violent debate, I wouldn’t recommend it.

“You shit shit cunt, get the fuck off Search & Destroy you motherfucker.” one particularly tetchy player roars, as the team watches its last remaining member throw the round away. “what are you doin’; oh my God. Bellend.” he continues, vocalising his dissatisfaction. Most let out general sighs of disappointment and one player chimes in with the comically-formal “I also think you’re a motherfucker,” generating laughter from the rest. Another player begins to play an electric guitar into his microphone, firing up an argument about whether or not it’s a Christian rock song; it continues for five minutes – nobody wins – and climaxes with a new participant singing “Jesus is my superhero, he’s my star!” to the tune.