Learning to properly be an asshole while playing online games takes years of training. First, it’s essential that every vestige of the empathy and good sense we use to govern our everyday behavior be discarded. Second, constant contact with the worst examples of humanity must be studied, internalized, and kept on hand as a sort of constant, jerkish switchblade to be sprung at a moment’s notice.
One wonderful boy, still holding on to the same social mores that govern his daily life, defies this conventional wisdom. As seen in a clip showing him and a few friends playing the massively popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, even the most triumphant moments of virtual combat can’t shake the kindness of our hero.
A bit of background: Battlegrounds, being an online game, allows the player to say something into their microphone that another, real person may hear. Most take this as an opportunity to cut their defeated opponents to the bone with homophobic, racist, or sexist slurs (as is custom in the post-apocalyptic landscape of the multiplayer shooter).
Our hero, though goaded by friends to “Talk shit!” after a clutch victory, takes the higher path. Reaching for the nastiest insult he knows, this murdering sweetheart only offers a quick, hesitant “You’re bad…” to the utter delight of his pals.
Far from being embarrassed, this markedly polite digital murderer should be proud of himself and celebrated for the beacon of hope that he so clearly represents. There is enough cruelty in our world and, though we may enjoy playing games simulating dog-eat-dog killing competitions, that doesn’t mean we have to add any extra meanness to it.
We salute you, gentle gamer boy. You’re an inspiration and role model to us all.
[Via Digg]