Over the years we’ve all read our share of forum threads spouting hate in any and every direction. I believe these threads can be summed up in two words: everybody sucks. CAL sucks. CEVO sucks. CGS sucks. Straws suck. The only things that breach the surface are like Neo and Trinity in Matrix Revolutions; they’re above the muck for only a moment, basking in the sunlight, before they descend back into suck-i-tude with the rest of us.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. The word “sucks” doesn’t capture the pure anger in most of those posts. People will rage about a single issue, building it up until it’s the end of the league, eSports, and the world. Every issue is a catastrophe.

My question is this: why don’t we see things like that in other mediums?

I don’t know why, but it seems like people reserve their harshest criticisms for eSports. The MLB has more juicers than a Tropicana factory, and people look at it, condemn it, then go right back to watching baseball. The public outcry doesn’t seem nearly as sustained or vitriolic. There is no troll character spamming a URL like a trained monkey. There’s nobody saying that the MLB should just go away and die because it’s ruining baseball and the way it’s meant to be played.

In the NBA, Tim Donaghy was just sentenced to fifteen months in jail for taking bribes. He was an official during multiple NBA Playoffs. There was a public outcry there, too, but after almost a year the story is barely in the news, even on ESPN.

Compare that to eSports, where people still find it necessary to flame Source, posting the same tired videos over and over. It’s alright to not like the game, but I think that debate died in 2005. Nobody has anything new to say. People regurgitate the same arguments for, seemingly, no other reason than self-gratification. This would be alright if it wasn't totally pointless.

The Cami/sWoozie tandem was not long for this world, unfortunately.

It’s not just the longevity of the hate that’s impressive. It’s how swift the complaints snowball into an avalanche, too. Marcus Graham misspeaks a few times and he instantly becomes the worst announcer in the history of shoutcasting; firing him would be an act of compassion. Cami comes on camera and people go nutty, calling for her termination after a single show. The CGS is still the worst thing to plague eSports since myg0t because they chose Source over 1.6—an unforgivable sin for a surprisingly large number of people.

The important question is simply “why?" Why does everything in eSports escalate into a major disaster, or an EPIC FAIL, while we consistently turn a blind eye toward issues in other sports – or, if not turn a blind eye, at least seem to have less passionate responses during horrible scandals? Why are reactions in eSports so over the top, and reactions elsewhere so muted, by comparison?

Anonymity

People’s first answer to that question will probably be the anonymity of the Internet. It’s the go-to reason for everything that plagues webpages, from pirating to forum trolling.

I think an explanation like this goes a long way toward explaining flame wars between people and comments like “player X is washed up and terrible.” People don’t bother to moderate themselves. They’ll exaggerate, use hyperbole, and say anything just for the shock value. They want to get a reaction so they take their base emotions and amplify them.

So while this is part of the answer for explaining the harsh reactions in eSports, I think there are two reasons why it doesn’t explain everything.

First, and perhaps most obviously, there are plenty of other sites, like ESPN.com, that feature comments. They aren’t filled with rigorous mental debates that stretch the limits of the human imagination, but they’re definitely nothing close to the forums we’ve come to know and reluctantly read.

The other thing anonymity doesn’t explain is hate toward leagues. Being anonymous and hiding behind a monitor only removes the disincentive for saying things. It doesn’t change those base opinions. Somebody might be more inclined to flame away when there are no repercussions, but I don’t think being anonymous changes the way they feel about news. And that seems to be what we’re dealing with, in my opinion. It’s not just that there appears to be a stronger, and more prolonged, outcry against any perceived injustices or slights, it's that people take strong offense to things that barely register in other leagues.

An Illusion?

This is similar to the last point; maybe the seemingly stronger reactions in the eSports community are just a mirage. Forums allow any old joe-schmoe to have a voice, and have that voice appear on the frontpage of a major media outlet, regardless of how valid, rational, or popular the topic and conclusions.

In other words, perhaps the problem isn’t that reactions in eSports are more hyperbolic, it’s that there are just more outlets for those reactions. It just seems like people overreact because the responses are featured more prominently.

We can’t totally ignore that possibility, but I don’t think it holds up to scrutiny, either.

If it’s really a matter of exposure, digging further into non-eSports media should reveal similar nuggets of haterade. This hasn’t been my experience. Just like in the last section, “troll” characters, while still present, aren’t nearly as dominant. Most people are actually rational, or at the very least aware that other people are entitled to their opinions.

Betrayal: the Real Culprit?

To be honest, we could make a pretty long list about reasons that answer half the question but don’t quite fit. Let’s cut to the chase: I think people respond more passionately in eSports because there’s a totally different relationship between the fans and leagues, media, and players.

Can't get enough of the rivalries. But pure hate? That's another thing, entirely.

To put it simply, every gamer has a stake in competitive video gaming. It’s easy to follow your favorite teams. You see them up-close and in-person during LANs. You can even play with your heroes on ESEA, random servers, or in open tournaments. If you want to meet your gaming idol, or at least have some kind of interaction, it isn’t hard to arrange.

This has the practical effect of bringing people closer to the action. It’s one thing to be a fan on the outside, looking through a pair of binoculars from the nose-bleed seats just to get a brief glimpse of Brett Favre’s gray hair (of which there is plenty.) eSports doesn’t have nearly as much of a buffer. People aren’t limited to just being part of “the fanbase,” where they’re miles away from the players. They can reach out with one hand and directly touch almost anything in competitive gaming.

This creates a totally different level of engagement.

To illustrate that point, let’s take a slightly different angle. When a big corporation rips you off, you get ticked off. The dryer shrinks your clothes. Your XBOX dies. You accidentally get the wrong thing shipped to you. These are all reasons to be frustrated.

But when somebody you know, somebody you’ve come to trust, rips you off, you hold a grudge. You refuse to support them any further. One of your teammates talks smack behind your back. A friend tries to put the moves on your girlfriend, etc. Those people are basically dead to you.

Basically, sports fans alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) feel unimportant, aggrieved, angry, and frustrated. But when fans disagree with something in eSports, they feel betrayed.

I want to stress that word as much as possible because it contains a personal element. It takes a special situation for somebody, or something, to really betray somebody. There’s an implicit level of trust, understanding, or agreement that is suddenly broken. It’s not the age-old enemy you’re striving to fight, but an ally that suddenly stabs you in the back. There’s a completely different emotional response.

When I read posts like “I wish the CGS would just go away and die” through the lens of betrayal, the pieces start to fit. The gamers are emotionally and practically invested in eSports; everybody has an opinion about competitive gaming because they’re so close to it. When the directions go in line with their thoughts, they’re happy. If something they’ve looked forward to and hoped for turns out to be a pumpkin in disguise … they’re downright betrayed.

To be honest, the negative responses are fine. Nobody is under any obligation to like or support the CGS, CEVO, CAL, or any other league. But at the same time, there’s strength in diversity. If everybody took the same approach and offered the same services and products, the competitive gaming scene would not only be boring, it would be severely threatened. What if all those leagues operated under the same assumptions and none of them had it right? That’s a scary thought, indeed.

When leagues, teams, and people take different approaches, use different games, and even make wrong decisions, we gain a little more knowledge. When we look at the same problems from different angles and offer different solutions, we gain a better perspective on the depth, complexity, and problems the issue presents.

In other words, just because you don’t agree with a decision or direction doesn’t mean it’s the wrong one. You can have your favorite. But it’s not going to be everybody else’s, and in the end the thing you hate might just be the thing you need, because nobody knows the answers.

We only hope we do.