During the second week of this course, I really enjoyed our class conversation about trolling. The article that most of our discussions were based upon was “Under the bridge: An in-depth examination of online trolling in the gaming context”. This article gave the different perspectives and viewpoints that one can have towards trolling. Before reading this article, I thought about all of the times that I trolled my friends and even the random strangers online. I also thought about my reasons behind these acts. I came to the conclusion that most of my actions were carried out because I wanted to annoy and get a funny reaction out of the targets. However, after reading this article, I learned that some of the things that I did not consider to be trolling actually are!

According to the article, which was written by Cook, Schaafsma, and Antheunis, some of the types of trolling are verbal, trash-talking, flaming, misdirection, spamming, inappropriate roleplaying, behavioural, inhibiting team, contrary play, and aiding the enemy (3329). For me, the most surprising type was definitely trash-talking. I found this act surprising because it is something that I can admit that I engage with almost every time I play sports games. One game in particular is NBA 2K. I frequently trash-talk my opponents and even my own teammates about their myplayer. A myplayer is a personalized character that represents you in the game. In the more recent 2K games, there can be different archetypes of myplayers, such as lockdown defenders, sharpshooters, shot creators, etc. You can make your myplyer better by playing in actual NBA games and making VC (Virtual Currency). As you play, you can unlock and upgrade your myplayer in different levels. For me, the best part of the game and the place where most trash-talking occurs is called the Park. Here, you can bring your myplayer to a basketball court and play against strangers. You can also play with your friends as teammates in a three on three or you can even play a stranger one on one. Sometimes, the opposing team can have their microphones connected, which means you can hear them talking. When this is the case, I connect my microphone as well and I trash-talk, just for the fun of it. Some of the things that I would normally say are “Your player is trash”, “Your player can’t even get a rebound”, “Play me one on one”, etc. Now I will admit, I have said these things, but, they were never meant to hurt anyone in any type of way. However, after reading this article, it is possible that some people could have taken these comments in many other ways. As a result of this, I have now made it my goal to stop this form of trolling when I play sports games. There are many other appropriate ways to engage in social conversations over gaming platforms. There is no need to make fun of others, especially if they did not start the trash-talking.

Another point of the article that I wanted to tie in with my personal experiences deals with trolling as a group. Cook et al. quotes, “As it stands, trolls are aware of one another and are often connected to other trolls, forming at the very least a loose community. In fact, many members of our sample reported trolling more often in groups than alone. Historically, trolls have been treated largely as individuals (see Buckels et al., 2014)” (3337). This quote shows that there are times where multiple people engage in the act of trolling at once. I think that this shows that people basically like to create their own forms of the game within the game. Trolling itself might be a reason why people even log on and play a game. Although there is no real way to stop people from trolling, what can be done is educating the video gaming world about the different types of trolling, and the choices they have to combat the issue. Whether they want to ignore the trolls, report the trolls, etc., that is completely up to them. Overall, instead of trolling back, there are many other peaceful approaches that can end things. With that being said, if trolls are not finding their way to sensation and interactions, they might not last that long after all.

– Andy Kissoon