Blogpost 5: PVP Bullying

      

   PVP or player versus player is a special feature online games promote, especially MMORPG's. Nevertheless the genre of your game, PVP between your friends is always the seasoning of your gaming life. In this system, players can kill their co-players without causing any real physical harm. But the thing that PVP gives to gamers is more than their avatar's pain, sometimes it spreads through the gamer itself and turns into an act of cyber bullying. How to classify if you are bullied? How to know if you are bullying somebody online? PVP is fun but here are the factors to consider.

           According to the article “What is Cyber Bullying?” by Michelle New PhD, “Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. By definition, it occurs among young people. When an adult is involved, it may meet the definition of cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking, a crime that can have legal consequences and involve jail time.” This electronically inclined topic boomed when social media became popular. Little did us know, cyber bullying also aired in the depths of the gaming world. Most of us gamers start by being the “noob” or “newbie” in playing, thus making us look like little ants crawling to the strong players. I'm not saying that all high-level players are bullies but some of them tend to overpower other players by means of Pking or player killing mercilessly. Some games allow Pking to low level players, some not. But regardless the level and power of your character, the most grieving part is that the “trash talk” and harassment they do. There was this MMORPG I used to play long before, and Pking is one hobby of the higher level players. One way to know if you are bullied online is when your avatar is being killed by another avatar for no apparent reason. Also add the fact that they are broadcasting online words that punctures like different types of curses and blames.

              Those are the signs of being bullied, but what are the signs of bullying?

           According to Meghan Casserly's article “Are You A Bully And Don't Even Know it?” of the site www.forbes.com, “In social systems with a pecking order it’s natural for higher-ups to exert power over subordinates. That behavior, he says, however unpleasant it may be for assistants round the world, is normal.” If you are actually bossy around your guildmates, and make them do things against their will is probably signs of being a bully. Although the article says that it is natural to the superior to overcome the weak, harassment is a different situation. In gaming, trash talking is one example of overboard superiority or bullying. Sometimes when the heat is on, PVP battle against your mates and suddenly you typed out words like “You call that skill? Probably the weakest one I saw!” or words like “F*ck You.” Sometimes, aggression towards killing your co-players is also another kind of bullying. Some MMORPG games promote killing sprees, thus making your character kill anyone and as may as you want.

             Though this is not reality, words can hurt somebody's feelings. It is sad to hear that in social media teens who have been cyber bullied came to the point of killing themselves. This scenario most likely would happen in the world of gaming pretty soon. Now that the era of world wide web and internet is becoming essential to our life, restrictions and prohibitions to bullying online could get harder to manage.