Fat, Ugly or Slutty?

As part of the first generation that truly grew up with video games (2600 4 Life!), I spend a lot of time trying to convince my contemporaries that gaming is more than a kids' pastime. I truly believe that there are more than a few games that are worthy of occupying an adult person's time.

Hell, I stand my ground in the face of a society that thinks, as one friend of mine does, that it's perfectly acceptable to make Two and a Half Men appointment viewing while mocking me for spending time playing Red Dead Redemption. Come on. We should be better than that.

Sometimes, however, I can see what leads some people to think this way. It's the same reason I don't play too many online games with people I don't know: bile-spewing dudes behind a shield of anonymity.

With that in mind, I'd like to take a moment to address all of the young men who make a site like Fat, Ugly or Slutty necessary:

Fuck you. Fuck every last one of you, right in the poop chute.

Case in point

I think I'm speaking your language, except that I spelled everything correctly and I forgot to include any gender, racial, or ethnic slurs. Sorry about that.

And sadly, that blog is only showing the misogynistic part of online gaming. Whoever you are, expect to receive a sound tongue-lashing featuring the worst slurs you can imagine if you have the temerity to be better than a stranger at Modern Warfare 2. "Faggot," "nigger," and "cunt" seem to be among the most popular choices, presumably because they are more likely to get the speaker the most attention, which is the whole point.

Trash-talking is part of competition, but when people are face-to-face, it takes on a more good-natured quality. On the Internet, the shield of anonymity makes men mighty!

Gabe and Tycho put it much more succinctly: