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Comment by hourago | Hacker News Reader

> So voice chat must now be turned off by default for all children across America? Should everyone playing a game be required to upload ID? And what is the gate between on and off by default? A single button press?

When you go to the shop to buy alcohol you need to show an id. So, adults are free to buy alcohol but not children. Why is this any different?

I understand that the problem comes from the amount of chat abuse in on-line communities. It not just swearing but the constant harrasement as soon as someone is losing a match, or even if they are winning.

I understand your concerns, but ignoring the chat problem paints a partial picture of the situation.

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Somehow that wasn't an issue the last two decades, comparing it to alcohol is absurd, you dont go to the epic cornerstore and talk to the epic fortnite clerk to unlock voice chat.

This war on "toxicity" at the expense of basic communication is insane, the match ends and it all supposed harassment ends.

Children in voice chat has been an issue for decades, maybe you just didn't notice?

what was "the chat problem" ?

The fact that online gaming chat is really really toxic. It's one of those things where christian mothers were right about video games but wrong about why. It turns out that artificial violence and guns and sex aren't some big corrupting influence but hanging around assholes for the majority of your leisure time and social activity absolutely is.

Online gaming where the only communication between players is jumping and canned voice lines is a wildly different experience.

Or maybe this is exactly the same as those christian mothers, in the sense that it's "think of the children" hysteria from modern day puritans?

Oh no, it's "this shit is bad for absolutely everyone regardless of age and in some cases worse for adults, particularly young men, but it's politically infeasible to do anything to stop it once people turn 18."

The irony is that the people I find to be most toxic in video games are the children. To the point that in a lot of "Looking for Group" Discord channels you see people saying "18+ only".

It's almost like people without fully developed brains don't have very healthy social interactions in a giant soup of similar kids who don't know how to have healthy social interactions and the 4chan-ness of it just encourages being as angry and toxic as possible.

It's actually probably the same problem drivers face. When driving, your brain kind of ignores that other normal humans drive the other cars, and therefore you are extremely judgemental of their actions, because you expect them to be perfect. This is why so many people road rage.

I don't share your experience at all. In fact the the majority of online gaming chats I've been in have been relatively enjoyable and low drama.

It's generally the ones that have children in them that get toxic - I would guess because children have less developed social filters and act out their negative emotions more readily than adults.

> It's generally the ones that have children in them that get toxic

That is the problem. Kids are learning from each other to be harmful and hateful as there is no consequences for that behaviour. In other spaces they will be called out by adults, but game chats become a learning place for the worst behaviours at the same time that this games are rated as "apt for children". Rate them 18+ or kill the chat, it is all about not lying to buyers.

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