I recently signed up for Xbox live because I like online gaming like Dirt or Modern Warfare 2. I confess I have loved video games since Pacman came out. I used to blow a roll of quarters at the arcade easy.
I was shocked to find out that at least in the realm of people playing Modern Warfare 2, racism and racist language is not only present, it flourishes. If you have a weak stomach or are offended by the mere mention of foul language, don't continue reading.
What is sad is that it sounds like many of these people mean it. They say the words with force and emphasis. They query before a match starts if there are any black people on line, as if their presence would deter them from the racist rant they are about to engage in.
It is rare to get into a game and not hear some gamer call another person a dirty rotten nigger, or spic, jew, kike, fag, and then later on say "oh I am not a racist." Those are the nice words they used. The ease with which these gamers spew this racist vitriol is shocking. Sadly, judging by the voices of the gamers, most of them are in high school and many of them are barely in middle school.
It is sad and depressing to hear a 12 year old boy (that's how old he said he was) yell at another gamer that he was going to come to the other person's house and curb stomp is ugly black nigger ass and lock him up in chains then rape his sister and cum all over his mother's back. I signed off at that point. I wonder where a kid like that learned the words much less feels free to say such things out loud. I get that anonymity allows people to be freer than they might otherwise be, but I wouldn't dream of saying such things no matter how angry or drunk I might be. I think it has to say something about a person that they can still feel good about themselves after uttering such things.
I used to do online gaming with a computer game but the hosts had moderators and most of the communication was typed out. If anyone so much as cursed, much less launched into a racist tirade, they were summarily booted and banned from future games.
Don't let anyone tell you racism is dead. It lives and breeds in young adolescent and teenage boys (and girls) and comes out and rears it's ugly head when it thinks no one is listening or cares.