Whatever Happened To Good Sportsmanship And Respect In Games?

[Razade]

Sorry to say, it's just a symptom of the greater sickness.

What sickness would that be?

[Mister Tom]

It still exists in most games in some form: if you haven't checked out the 2019 cricket world cup final, you definitely should.

Fwiw, I my own random thesis with self selective evidence (hey, I'm human) is that good sportsmanship is mostly caused by a sense of the game, and the society it sits in, being part of an extended self: and while that sense is generally less than it might have been in De Coubertin's time, at least among participants that history bothered passing on to us, there will always be instances that buck the trend.

[The Fury]

This isn't a firsthand account, and for that I'm sorry. But my second cousin who played gridiron football in highschool picked rugby later on and ended up greatly preferring it. One thing that he's told me about the sport is that there's something of a tradition of courtesy associated with it. Such as the winning squad buys beer for the losers and taking penalties calmly and without argument.

Not sure how true that actually is, but if it's true, it seems almost surreal in how sportsmanlike it is.

[Vinyadan]

Womens World Cup: the US women beat up Thailand 13-0.

Should the Americans have played differently after being up 8, 9 or 10 goals?

Or would it be worse to try not to score?

It's a world championship, with the best players from each nation. You show respect to your peers by crushing them like a walnut in a hydraulic press, if that's how strong you are.

Unless you are saving your energies for a following game, of course.

[veti]

One thing that he's told me about the sport is that there's something of a tradition of courtesy associated with it. Such as the winning squad buys beer for the losers and taking penalties calmly and without argument.

That sort of courtesy seems unlikely to survive the arrival of big money, in a team sport. Fortunately, rugby has never suffered from that.

[halfeye]

That sort of courtesy seems unlikely to survive the arrival of big money, in a team sport. Fortunately, rugby has never suffered from that.

There are two rugbys, which one are you talking about?

[DragonMF]

Its about the value system. What to people put at the top of their value pyramid thats the question.

If someone is placing being first above the fair play then all kinds of bad things will happen. But if someone's main goal is fair play and then possible victory then we have a good situation. The thing is all it takes is one idiot.

I watched recently a documentary where a cheater in boxing was using tempered gloves and he won the battle seriously ruining the life of the losing boxer... Thats because he valued winning more than sportsmanship.

[darkrose50]

What sickness would that be?

I will try my best not to politic up the place, give my opinion, or pass judgment.

There was a point when being polite in politics was demanded . . . maybe it was the right amount, or maybe it was just too much . . . and than it stopped somewhere around the 1980's. The stopper is honest and open about the stopping, spells it out, and this stopping is not argued over occurring. We likely at some degree follow the examples of our leaders.

[Aiatokko]

It never existed. Competition is about proving superiority, being able to extricate that from your interactions is beyond some people.

Strong disagree. Sportsmanship died with dedicated servers. Anyone remember duels in Jedi Knight? Not a single person would attack on sight during the duels. It was always a bow from both players, then the fight. Playing First Person Shooters, namely Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, I can remember a single instance of someone coming to our clan's server and calling names/being rude.

Before that I remember sniping in Team Fortress Classic with 3 second ping. I would be trying to acquire targets in the middle of close-in fights and since I was effectively harmless, most people left me alone for the most part to try to get a lucky kill.

Queuing to play a 'competitive game' where you don't know anyone, noone knows you, and the only goal is domination of the other side for a rank-up, killed civility in games.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It was happening long before video games made the scene. I can remember kids mobbing a downed player in 8YO Soccer when I was younger. It was a standard tactic, one the coaches encouraged.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I feel like they're a lot of bad sportsmanship and trash talking to any kind of games. I know one of the players he was trash talking my opponent in Pokemon Showdown he told me that player is trash but that player beat me to a very close game. I just don't understand what it with the disrespect and poor sportsmanship.

Showdown is Smogon, for most intents and purposes. You're not a real Pokémon fan untill you have been banned or chased off by Smogonites. They just take themselves way too serious and react downride toxic to anyone not living by their rules.

They make great tier lists though.

[Anonymouswizard]

There's plenty of good sportmanship and respect in games. You just don't get it reliably in certain circumstances (e.g. videogames with randoms on the internet), and memory being memory the worse instances stand out.

The amount also greatly varies between different games, because each game has it's own culture. Even then it can be difficult to determine what exactly is good sportsmanship, in Chess I tend to resign once I have reason to believe I can't win in order to let my opponent play against somebody they'll have a more fulfiling game with, but I know people who disagree with this practice and insist that every game should be played to checkmate.

This isn't a firsthand account, and for that I'm sorry. But my second cousin who played gridiron football in highschool picked rugby later on and ended up greatly preferring it. One thing that he's told me about the sport is that there's something of a tradition of courtesy associated with it. Such as the winning squad buys beer for the losers and taking penalties calmly and without argument.

Not sure how true that actually is, but if it's true, it seems almost surreal in how sportsmanlike it is.

Rugby is somewhat weird, and from my experience of rugby players the winners buying the losers a round wouldn't be too unusual. You also do not argue with the referee, IIRC doing so can get you sent off the pitch more easily than losing a leg does, and you also just suck up your minor injuries and continue playing after getting a plaster.

Like in all seriousness, the rugby games I've been to probably had the first aid kit brought out every ten minutes or so, and everybody just allowed the injured person to get patched up before they continued. And there is fairly big money in rugby here, considering that it's the traditional sport of upper crust schools, although nowhere near as much as in association football.

The saying is 'football is a gentleman's sport played by hooligans, rugby is a hooligan's sport played by gentlemen' and it is remarkably accurate.

[snowblizz]

The saying is 'football is a gentleman's sport played by hooligans, rugby is a hooligan's sport played by gentlemen' and it is remarkably accurate.

The real gentlemen play snooker .

I used to watch it a lot on Eurosport and you could honestly see the sportsmanship being on display.


I'm sure someone already posted something like it, but what little sportsmanship existed was probably killed by the facelessness of online gaming. Like many aspects of our culture that has moved online it's harder to be a jerk in person, especially when your surroundings disapprove. Not that "in person" solves everything, that last part needs to exist too.


In table top miniature gaming there were tournaments that rewarded "soft" aspects (sportmanship, painting etc) of the hobby and those that did not. The latter would generally be much more unpleasant experiences for the average participant. Though for some reason even the most hardcore gamer types insisted it wasn't sporting when I threatened to break their legs with a baseball bat. Suddenly, "anything to win is ok" didn't mean the same anymore.

[Peelee]

They just take themselves way too serious and react downride toxic to anyone not living by their rules.

Ooohhhh, so you're saying they're a fan community! Always preferred Bulbapedia myself, but I like play the way I want to, so that explains that.

The saying is 'football is a gentleman's sport played by hooligans, rugby is a hooligan's sport played by gentlemen' and it is remarkably accurate.

Ah, the time-honored sports of Headbrick and Super Headbrick!

Also, what's soccer? A hooligan sport played by hooligans?

[Anonymouswizard]

In table top miniature gaming there were tournaments that rewarded "soft" aspects (sportmanship, painting etc) of the hobby and those that did not. The latter would generally be much more unpleasant experiences for the average participant. Though for some reason even the most hardcore gamer types insisted it wasn't sporting when I threatened to break their legs with a baseball bat. Suddenly, "anything to win is ok" didn't mean the same anymore.

I didn't get into competitive Magic for this reason (also because I'm terrible at building decks, despite being a pretty decent player).

Ah, the time-honored sports of Headbrick and Super Headbrick!

Also, what's soccer? A hooligan sport played by hooligans?

No, football is a gentleman's sport played by gentlemen. American football is a hooligan's sport played by hooligans. Australian football is a hooligan's sport played by reformed and productive members of society.

Also don't knock Headbrick, my university was a leader in the sport. Students were found to be more skilled at it than the previous sport of Canerear.

[Peelee]

No, football is a gentleman's sport played by gentlemen.

Yeah, you said that, but what about soccer? You can't paint a house, rent it out, and then pretend you don't know what color it is.

[Fyraltari]

No, football is a gentleman's sport played by gentlemen.

Played by hooligans.

Yeah, you said that, but what about soccer? You can't paint a house, rent it out, and then pretend you don't know what color it is.

What is this "soccer", you speak of? Is it the american name for handegg?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Ooohhhh, so you're saying they're a fan community!

Worse. They're a fan community for a game series aimed primarily at 10 year olds who see themselves as a university except they take themselves more serious than an actual university does and they don't get paid for putting up with people who are still learning.

You can ask the most reasonable question in a Showdown chatroom, someone will start talking about you rather than to you about what a [making love] [slur for the mentally challenged] you are. That's called getting Smogon'd.

[Willie the Duck]

Also, what's soccer? A hooligan sport played by hooligans?

No, football is a gentleman's sport played by gentlemen.

Can we just call what Anonymouswizard wants to term football and Peelee term soccer the technical term of Association Football and nip the whole 'which one's football?' back-and-forth in the bud? Once people start flipping between usages mid-response to each other, all you are doing it confusing the reader over what we're even talking about.

[Peelee]

What is this "soccer", you speak of? Is it the american name for handegg?

Nah, it's a British name that they like to pretend is American.

And while I love the name handegg, headbrick is just more fitting, IMO.

Worse.....You can ask the most reasonable question in a Showdown chatroom, someone will start talking about you rather than to you about what a [making love] [slur for the mentally challenged] you are.

Ooohhhh, so you're saying they're a fan community!