How did that happen?? How did we let that happen!? ;)

Don't engage. Do not engage...

Trash-talking in sports picked up momentum in the 60's and has been snowballing ever since. Now, it's actually an encouraged tactic for victory, even so far as getting the fans involved. It's gotten to the point where people don't seem to care about respect anymore. How do you give millions of these same types of people microphones in dark rooms, and expect them to behave?

When I was in school, they used to give out a trophy for good sportsmanship, and while it wasn't the most sought after award, it was at least a public recognition of competing with honor. The NBA started handing out such a trophy in the mid-90's, the NFL has a similar award that's been around since the mid-80's. I think rewarding good behavior is positive approach, and video gaming has the best environment to promote this. In-game items, achievements, titles... all can be tailored to promote good gaming behavior. Riot Games' system, mentioned in the video, is a prime example. Giving in-game badges in multiple fields to help promote helpfulness and friendliness is a start.

Personally, I use the mute button if the game has one (and most do these days), or play without a mic. I hate to say it, but I think Nintendo was the wise one in all of this. Only allowing online interaction with someone you choose to play with could be the best solution. It kills the matchmaking aspect of every online multiplayer game, but maybe that's the kind of overhaul that needs to take place?

I've been struggling a bit with Jamin's attention to the Bystander Effect, and how relevant it really is to the issue (Jamin states that it's the biggest problem that he's seen regarding this issue). How would you even know if other players were remiss in their duties as gaming citizens to take action against abuse? What are the paths of action we can actually take as gamers witnessing this type of abuse? We can report it (probably the most prominent option available), or we can actually make a stand in the chat/game space to defend the victim, or try to diffuse the situation. I don't think that anyone has a problem reporting abuse. I'll bet that most people have done it at least once, and a large chunk of people do it often. Intervening, however, can be tricky, and I'd argue that, in this situation, doing nothing could be much better than doing something that could totally backfire, and perpetuate more abuse. Regarding the abuse toward females, white-knighting it is largely looked down upon these days, and is just asking for more abuse. In the nastiest cases, I've been in chat spaces where all you have to do is open your mouth and you're a target for abuse. Again, it seems like the mute button is the best option. Jamin also mentions that witnessing positive behavior has an area effect of altruism, but I don't know how relevant that is to gaming, either. Maybe in some games it's easier than others, but in the games that are garnering the top abusers (let's face it, it's the FPSs), there isn't really a way to act as a Good Samaritan (or is there? anyone?).

Are there alternatives to abate abusers outside of muting, reporting, or stepping in?

That's awesome! Some of my most favorite Happy Meal toys have been by Nintendo, whether it was the Super Mario Bros. figures way back in the day or Pokemon figures that were out only a few years ago.

Maybe you can forgive me for my proof-reading eye, but I just found an error; "we have seen a very significant jump in the pages Google google now holds.." Do you see "Google google?" Oh, there's another; "It's hard to say how significant right now..." Do you mean "how significant that is right now?" =)

Well, you've created an awesome website and I think you've done a wonderful job with it! I think it's cool, too, that you're sharing this kind of information with us. One phrase I saw often in this post was that "Google loves it." I'm glad for that, I love Google! I'm also glad to see that the site is attracting more positive attention.

Recently, you posted on Facebook about how the site is getting targeted by hackers. I thought about posting a video of the song, "It Wasn't Me," by Shaggy. Hahahaha. Anyway, I hope those hackers have laid off of their attempts to bring this great site down. Although, I'm into computer technology and many aspects of it, I don't really know what you could do to prevent hackers from messing up this site. I do wonder what the status of that is though, if you've thought about things you can do to make this site less susceptible to hackers.

Keep up the good work and thanks again for an awesome website! =)

=) I kind of hate pointing things out that I see because I'm afraid someone would take it personally or think that my intentions are to make one look stupid and myself smart. That's definitely not the case. I guess I feel like a natural proofreader. That said, Facebook is so damn annoying because people really seem to have no knowledge of the proper usage of the English language, including grammar and spelling. I think it's a bit ironic that many Americans will say, "you live in our country, you should speak our language," yet at the same time those people who say such things don't seem to have ever taken any elementary or remedial English courses in their life time. I recently saw a picture on Facebook of one person who had a sign that read something like, "you live in are country, speak English." Here in Virginia, a lot of people say "I seen," which gets on my nerves! Which reminds me of another Facebook post I read that said something like, "if you say 'I seen," then I assume you have never seen the inside of a book." HAHAHAHAHA. Anyway, I think typos and minor things such as I pointed out to you are just a part of the writing process. It happens and doesn't mean someone is stupid. Hahaha. After a while of posting on this site, I decided to re-read everything that I've written before posting so that what I've written makes sense and is free of error. I think it's just the part of me that's always been a writer.

Thanks again for an awesome website! Keep up the good work!

I just had an idea that will perhaps change the way I create headings in my future posts. I noticed that the URL for my Fallout 3 post included the original heading I created. Neither the original heading nor the current heading contains the game's name and therefore is not reflected in the "friendly" URL. So I was thinking, what if the post's URL included the name of the game. Although, I also realize that it might be more simple for you if we included the name of the game in our headings, so you don't have to re-work the "friendly" URL. I think that will also help generate some results on a search engine.

Ok, that's cool. I was just looking at the friendly URL.

a.k.a. The Tim found the sound effects episode. :P

I promise not to abuse my power in future episodes.

Yeah, Tim, I thought it was a brave and victorious move. You've taken us to a new level. Like, we could be ready for endorsements and shit. I wish you would have jumped in sooner, when I was drowning in my own beverage ;).

I'd hate to steal the lime light from you during your special moment. :P

Such a special moment :)

"That wizard came from the moon."

That's why it's so difficult to work as an artist, with someone looking over your shoulder, or in this case, show a small sample of your unfinished project. You have to expect that the viewer/player will go off the rails from time to time, and lose a bit of perspective. I'm glad that Bungie took it in stride :).