Harassment in video games is a sensitive topic for many because it seems to spark more outrage on whether or not harassment exists in a virtual space harassment in video games is a sensitive topic for many because it seems to spark more outrage on whether or not harassment exists in a virtual space rather than the harassment themselves. I’d like to propose a video showcasing actual harassment received during several regulated competitive matches of “Counter-Strike: Source”.

The video in question is “Phoon too much for Zblock”, a classic bunnyhopping montage showing various clips of the titular player “phoon” using the ability to bunnyhop, a speedrunning tactic that tricks the game engine into believing you are perpetually in free fall by repeatedly jumping before the game can register you as grounded. “zblock” refers to the ESEA’s cheat detection plugin that recognizes if players are running scripts or not. Phoon wasn’t running any, just being good at timing his jumps perfectly and flanking the entire enemy team before they can make a push. This upset a lot of his opponents, most of them writing false reports to the ESEA in attempts to get him banned from competitive play, the first couple seconds of the video is a montage of the harassment he received “This kid pushes like a fucking idiot dude.” “I honestly hope this kid dies in his sleep tonight.”.

I believe this stems from a bigger issue in which toxicity exists wherever competition is. The addition of a screen name gives others anonymity, giving them a sense that they are separated from anything they say or do online, which is hardly true. This combined with the highly competitive nature of Counter-Strike and you have an extremely toxic environment that promotes poor teamwork and crying over a game instead of encouraging others to get better at it. I feel the way that phoon deals with it is extremely professional and positive, opting to make them eat their words by flying around the map “like a speed demon” and making a compilation of those same people trash talking them being swiftly shut down by both him and the ESEA admin who sees nothing wrong with phoon’s play. I believe we can all use “phoon too much for zblock” as a guide on how to properly deal with harassment in a game as opposed to retorting back with name calling and stooping to their level, or complaining about it online.

Source: https://youtu.be/SNvDUO42Hys