Halo, Taunting, and Getting Butt-Hurt

[BustaMike]

For a while now, my friends and I have tried to make it a habit to play a few Halo CTF and deathmatch games every Wed. We usually manage to grab 8 or more people, and the games are generally good.

When I asked one of my friends whether or not he was coming last night, he said no. He said he wasn't having fun because the rest of us need to grow up. Apparantly, he wasn't happy with the level of taunting going on last week. I find this ridiculous. While there was trash talking going on, it was all in good fun, and in no way intended to be malicious or mean. For example, someone gets killed trying to steal the flag and whines that their ghost (vehicle) got stuck. So we yell back something to the degree of "waaa waa waa I died and I need an excuse." Over the course of several hours there were probably 2 or 3 exchanges like this, by my standards relatively low trash talking for a competitive game.

So my question is, what do you guys think of trash talking? Is my friend just being a big baby like most of ust think he is, or should a game like this really be played with no taunting?

[Harry Seldon]

When we play Halo, we scream things about each other's mothers, wifes/husbands, threaten to kill each other, etc. I can think of only once when it actually came to blows. After a few minutes we were all happily playing again. If your friend says you need to "grow up," I'd translate that as "I'm getting my ass kicked and I don't like to lose." You're better off without him. Taunting is integral to all MP games and many times a successful strategy for keeping your opponent off-guard.

[BustaMike]

Originally posted by Harry Seldon
When we play Halo, we scream things about each other's mothers, wifes/husbands, threaten to kill each other, etc. I can think of only once when it actually came to blows. After a few minutes we were all happily playing again. If your friend says you need to "grow up," I'd translate that as "I'm getting my ass kicked and I don't like to lose." You're better off without him. Taunting is integral to all MP games and many times a successful strategy for keeping your opponent off-guard.

That is exactly what I think . Maybe he needs to play a noncompetitive game like Mario Sunshine or something .

[General Ludd]

Some people play for fun, some people play for ego.

[Harry Seldon]

What are you saying? That being competitive is playing for ego? Or were you just defending Mario Sunshine?

[Traianvs]

me thinks he's a ***** if he considers that trashtalking

I know a lot worse.. in my fav online game SoF1 there's arseholes spamming the server constantly, stfu-ing, omg-ing and **** you wallhacker-ing nearly 100% of the time I play...

I think he hasn't got much experience with multiplayer games

[Zero]

Trash talking is fine in competitive games.

I personally dont trash talk. I actually do the reverse and trash talk to myself about how crappy my performance was and how gay that execution happened to luckily hit the opponent etc.. while im flawlessly defeating my opponent. My friend is the opposite, he trash talks you to death, even if he just got humiliated, he will find a way to trash talk to you and find a way to lower yuour ego.

Either way, one should have freedom to do whatever it is they want to do when playing the game. If it bothers you, maybe you suck or you shouldnt be playing with that individual that bothers you.

half of the fun in MP games is mind ****ing. Banning trash talk takes alot away from mind games.

PS more ppl get annoyed by me than my friend.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Harry Seldon
What are you saying? That being competitive is playing for ego?

Yes, obviously.

EDIT: If that's what you want to call competitive, anyways. You don't have to act like an ass to "play competitively". There is such thing as being a good sport.

[DinoDoc]

Re: Halo, Taunting, and Getting Butt-Hurt

Originally posted by BustaMike
For a while now, my friends and I have tried to make it a habit to play a few Halo CTF and deathmatch games every Wed.

Play Rockets on the Prisoner Map.

[Harry Seldon]

Why would you play anything but rockets? That is a good one, though. I also like to play Battle Creek and Rat Race with rockets, too. Don't forget unlimited grenades!

There is such thing as being a good sport.

I accept my humiliation in defeat and am more than willing to help a less skilled player. I don't think trash talking has anything to do with being a good sport. Go back to Mario Sunshine.

[BustaMike]

Rockets are ok. We usually play shotguns and warthogs on Blood Gulch or shotguns and ghosts on Sidewinder. As long as sniper's are off it's all good (though I wish there was a way to take away sniper rifles and keep the pistol).

I accept my humiliation in defeat and am more than willing to help a less skilled player. I don't think trash talking has anything to do with being a good sport. Go back to Mario Sunshine.

Ha, seems I don't even need to post new stuff since I can just agree with you . Right on!

[DrSpike]

Sounds to me like your friend should play the Sims or something similar.

[rah]

As long as it doesn't become personal, taunting and trash talking is one of the enjoyable aspects of MP games. Trash talking or gloating to an AI, is not quite as satisfying.

[DrSpike]

Though it is somewhat scarier when the comp tells you to stfu you stupid n00b.

[rah]

There were a couple of games that were programmed with some decent insults for the player when they lost or did something silly. Always humorous.