“It’s just a game”

“It’s just a game”

It really is. I’m not getting paid for this, you sure as hell aren’t either.

This has been a looong time coming to rant about this, this story was my tipping point.

Friend of mine, younger than me by a year, very much young minded but hey we’re 18-19 you determine how mature you wanna view both of us.

We play usually team based games together, overwatch and marvel rivals are our poison of choice. I’ve been playing video games since I was about 7 and team games since I was around 12. I have an androgynous voice, I’m black and I’m female (last I checked). That’s all the ammunition a stupid angry person could use… Yet, all in all, I have fun playing the games I play… but of course I’ve had some rough times.

I’ve been called things and slurs I genuinely don’t even think existed before they were said to me. My bloodline has been cursed, my location doxxed, my gender identity scrambled and invalidated, my image slandered… and worst of all… I’m unphased by it. You know why? Because it is approximately 30 minutes or less of my life devoted to pixels on a screen and a skill rating that does not affect me in the real world. Mama told me to only care if money is involved, seeing as it’s not, I will do my best to make the game better but if it is not a great day for me it’s simply not a good day and I wish you the best of luck in your next game.

Now back to my friend: We both grew up via our dads introducing us to video games, both of us lost our fathers and we play on their accounts as a legacy. I have never received a strike on my account, she has, several times. Why? Because she gets so angry at someone saying “hey you’re ass, switch.” Like they personally went to her in real life and slapped her upside the head.

A few days ago she got that kind of message in a rivals match and literally spent over an hour screaming about this person. Now, she gets very passionate about these kinds of games but I’ll be damned if I do what she does. So she gets told off by our teammate, not only does she yell for a match in the wrong voice channel (rivals players you know what I mean). When she finally switches to the correct one I’m just listening to her and our teammate yelling back and forth and this gentleman says: “I’m going to relapse because of you, I’ve been a week clean!” Mind you… mind you this isn’t ranked, not using that as a justification but what the fuck oh my god?? He tells her to y’know become a ceiling decoration, the usual. That’s enough grounds for her to report the voice right? Right…..? That should be enough… RIGHT? WRONG.

After the match she begs me to stop the game queue, finds the guy’s account, dms him on there as well and says “I hope you do relapse and ☠️⚰️!” It’s been an hour. she’s on her toes waiting for his reply. He just tells her to step on legos lmao

Yes, I’ve been distancing myself from her for a multitude of reasons. Yes, I am embarrassed. I cannot even fathom getting this loud and this angry at a game I’m not being paid to play. I love team based games, yes I have cried over them but I have never lost my mind with that much emotion.

I chalk it up to maturity end of day, if she loses her dad’s account because of her behavior that will be an unfortunate but good lesson for her. Wouldn’t let that shit happen to me though…