about "Extreme impoliteness"

[SpookyGhost]

I'm banned for seven days because I called someone a mongrel. I'm pretty sure he was a mongrel. And I doubt I would have gotten banned for calling him a noob instead. It seems truth statements are more offensive than pejoratives.

As for the rule against “extreme impoliteness”, I’m not sure what to make of it. It prohibits racism and trash talking only. What about the impolite dealings of leach following, triple laning at the beginning, feeding, ignoring ally chat, etc.? Shouldn’t they be counted? If not, then the rule doesn’t directly concern the enjoyment of players. And although I respect prohibition on trash talking, why end there? And why single out racism? It all seems kind of arbitrary.

The idea that "racism" and "homophobia" are evil is nonsense anyways. For the record, I generally like gay people, and probably most minorities. But it doesn't matter. Why is it impolite to state that some groups of people have less desirable attributes or abilities than others? It’s accepted on an individual basis. I can be told I suck at guitar, and I don’t really care. It’s not my problem. Either I can practice harder or accept I lack the talent for it. So what’s wrong with stereotyping in this way? Furthermore, what’s wrong with stereotyping only when you encounter individuals who match a stereotype? At that point it’s no longer a prejudice; purely observational. But fundamentally, it doesn’t matter. Truth can be impolite at times. But we need to hear it. We need feedback from others, even when we don’t want it. We need it for our own good and for the good of others. If the polite thing to do is ignore uncomfortable truths, then I don’t much care to be polite. If I didn't know any better, I might come up with a slanderous name for people who fear people like me rocking the boat a little.

None of us are in control of our “politeness” anyway. We can’t be nice all the time, because it’s contingent upon the subjective experience of us by others. If you tell a child Santa isn’t real, it’s really up to him to determine if that was a polite thing to do or not. At best we can anticipate our reception by others. But if you grant politeness as a rule, noobs should also be expected to anticipate how they will be received. They shouldn’t join if they can’t expect to contribute to the team. They should have some basic reading and writing skills, in order to communicate. They should heed advice. They should learn from mistakes. They should hug the tower. They shouldn’t double up center lane, etc. But some people just have crappy abilities and can’t improve. Their genes or something else restricts them. I don’t blame them for it, unless they try and deny their deficiency. It’s enough if a cripple wants to play on your basketball team, but if he then insists he’s actually a good and helpful player, and that you’re being unreasonable for asking him to leave after some time, etc., should you really be expected to take the game seriously at that point? If he can’t even be honest with the team about his condition, and has no capacity for learning, he’s wasting everybody’s time. There exists no right to play anyway, as evidenced by the fact there’s a banning system. So I don’t know why we make exception for these people. To respect their experience of the game is to disrespect everyone else's. I don't have anything against noobs, but I have a beef with those who don't communicate, don't listen, don't learn, feed continually, and then act like you're the problem. They won’t come back better players at any point in the future. They WILL ruin more games.

--END OF RANT--

[thomas.kacz]

Why is it impolite to state that some groups of people have less desirable attributes or abilities than others? It’s accepted on an individual basis.

why is it important for you to point that out to them in a fucking 10 year old video game called DotA.

[Palsgraf]

I'm banned for seven days because I called someone a mongrel. I'm pretty sure he was a mongrel. And I doubt I would have gotten banned for calling him a noob instead. It seems truth statements are more offensive than pejoratives.

I'm pretty sure that whomever you are talking about is not "a dog of no definable type or breed" (the definition of mongrel).

In any event, there is a time and a place for the so-called truth saying you value so much. That place is not in ENT games. The focus of our community is to make the gaming experience as good as it can possibly be on bnet -- and being free from the distractions of those with no sense of propriety.

I have a hunch that you do not value truth-saying so much as you value the ability to say such things in a semi-anonymous fashion that is free of the real world consequences you would no doubt have to deal with if you said such things in real life and in close proximity to the target. Many people feel bolder online than they actually are in real life, and that is precisely why we have a rule against such behavior and an enforcement mechanism to disincentivize giving in to such crude impulses.

[EdgeOfChaos]

You were banned for 7 days for 3 offenses - AFKing, impoliteness, and votekick abuse. 7 days is pretty fair for these.

I doubt you would have been banned only for your insults.