Trying to get rid of trolls when playing any game is inevitable. One is bound to come face to face (rather screen to screen) with one annoyingly obnoxious troll. To be honest, while playing Guild Wars 2, I didn’t come across any trolls. I think I paid more attention to the tasks and missions than the chat box. However, I’m no stranger to trolls.

Years ago, I was playing Call of Duty on my Xbox 360 live. I was playing with the online players, who were mainly young boys. The live feature allows you to converse with teammates using the microphone on your headset so you can strategically plan each move and get as many kills while remaining alive. I generally didn’t participate, but on one occasion, I spoke out. I don’t remember what exactly I was discussing, but I assume it was about gameplay and positioning of each team member. After I finished (it took me less than a minute to go over the plan), there was a brief silence. Then one of the boys sarcastically asked, “Is that a girls voice I hear or have you not gone through puberty yet?” I didn’t know what to make of it… I guess I had assumed that there would be other females who were also playing the game live; but according to the response I received, it seemed none of them had participated in such an encounter. So I spoke back. Stating that I was indeed a girl playing. I could hear some saying things like ‘she must have just joined or traded places with someone else, ’cause she can’t actually be this good.’ Then one of the boys said, “hey, why don’t you go play with barbies… you know, something for girls. This is guys stuff, we don’t need you to play like a girl and make us lose.” I was fuming by this point. I wanted to scream over the mic and tell them that girls too could play and that it hadn’t been an issue up until the point it was detected that I was a female. I also wanted to use some harsh profanity and put them in their place… but I didn’t.

I did none of those. Instead, I simply stated that I’d continue playing like I previously had. I made sure they heard me well and said, “I guess we’ll see how much like a ‘girl’ I’ll play.'” I ended up getting the highest score to which the other boys cheered on but also ended up picking on the one who spoke out. Now he was the target. But what they said to him also irritated me. They basically told him that he got ‘schooled’ by a girl,’ followed by bursts of laughter. The boy, upset I assume, quit the game and logged off his livestream.

I often think about that moment along with victimhood as well as the transition between victimhood within gaming. I’m sure there are many worse cases out there of trolls who have gone above and beyond to make someones life miserable. Due to anonymity, people on the internet have more freedom to say obnoxious and vulgar things without thinking about the consequences. Had it been an in person scenario, I highly doubt such words would be stated.