Play’s Republic

In an earlier post on the blog, Michael discussed some aspects of the cheater/spoilsport distinction. I happened to see it lined up with one of the sidebars, which had an article talking about one of the other variety of spoilsports, Halo 3 To Have ‘Mute the Jerk’ Button. It raises the issue of another sort of spoilsport, those who follow the rules, respect the magic circle, but ruin other’s enjoyment in the pursuit of their own.
Trash talking, harrassment, and other similar behaviors have long been part of games. At times, they fit in well with the game at hand, especially in Caillois’ agón category. This direct competition, the confrontation of two parties, invites such reaction as people psych themselves up. However, it does not always fit as well with the other categories. Especially in mimicry, this behavior can disrupt the simulation, spoiling the game for other people. This is in pure simulation. Taunting the actors in a play would be considered runious to the performance. However, most games are hybrid entities, by Caillois’ classifications, and when this happens, it becomes harder to condemn the taunters.
Online multiplayer games can almost always be considered simulations. You are pretending to occupy some other role, in some other world. Most are also competitions. This creates a conflict, because people being behaviors and expectations from one class of game into another. This has led some games to try and take steps to limit this behavior. Some restrict the names you can choose for your character, and some try to reward ‘in-character’ behavior. These can work for role-playing games such as World of Warcraft, but how do you deal with games in which the simulation element is not based on an extended world, but on the environment in which you are competing?
This is the problem which Halo3 is attempting to address. You can’t establish rules on what people can say in game chat, aside from attempts to restrict language people can use. Even if there are rules, the instant nature of voice chat makes it impossible to technologically police. (text chats can be dealt with by having pattern recognition censor the offensive words) The way that Halo3 is addressing it is a community based reputation system. This only works if people care about their reputations. For people who already engage in trash talking, this may not be enough of a disincentive, they still can derive enough enjoyment from playing with people who ignore their reputation score. It will allow people to segregate those individuals off from the main playing population. Assuming, of course, that those individuals do not make up the bulk of those playing the game.
Trash talkers are certainly not cheaters. If they are, this has nothing to do with their verbal conduct. However, are they spoilsports? The rules of the game do not necessarily prohibit their behavior, but it may violate the culture that grows up in the game environment. Here the conflict between the two categories of games comes to light. Agón-ic games have rules which limit what is within and without the game. Mimicry-type games do not. The flexibility allows for more rules to come up through the game, but in a game where people are involved to varying degrees (time commitment, skill, degree to which the game is agón or mimicry to that individual), not everyone will agree, or even be aware of, those unspoken rules.
It is not clear how to deal with this. Some people will just stay away from online multiplayer games. Others will join, but will feel the need to be circumspect regarding the games they play. Perhaps community oriented solutions will work, but I suspect that there will always be a large number of individuals who will obey the laws of the technical game, while ignoring the other levels of the game that they are playing.