This is probably nothing new to any of us... but been noticing this quite a bit lately. While there is the usual trash-talking/cursing from one team to another... I've noticed more and more, however, that there is a ridiculous amount of abuse being handed out to people on the same team.

Take my last match of the night, for example. I happened to have a great game (by my standards), going 19-8 in HC TDM, including a nice triple pred at the end of the match (not relevant, but I rarely get to brag about those ). Two other teammates also got 19 kills, so you'd think we'd won... but you would be wrong. We lost 6600-6900. Two of the guys who got 19 kills had double digit deaths, and the other three guys had negative scores, including one guy who went 0-6.

In the middle of the match, one of the guys who was doing well decided to call out someone on the team who wasn't. He started ridiculing the player, calling him "trash" and "garbage". As you can imagine, the player he was directing those insults at  didn't take too kindly to it. Needless to say, the rest of the game was basically a shouting match between the three lowest scorers on our team and the two guys on our team having success. They continued to hurl insults at them, while the struggling players argued "it was just a game".  It was truly like being on the playground with a group of five year olds.

I chose not to participate in this for one simple reason. I've been in those players' shoes. I've had games where things just didn't seem to go right. Where nothing I did worked. Where I got hit markers instead of kills. Where I would spawn and die. It happens, it doesn't mean you are trash, it doesn't mean you are garbage, it doesn't mean you "suck" at the game. It simply means you had a bad game.

That being said, I understand the other side as well. It can be frustrating to be doing well and fail because others weren't playing up to standards. I think part of being a good teammate is adjusting your game when things aren't going well for you. If you are a sniper, and you are 0-6, switch away to another weapon which might give you more success. If you are running and gunning and taking death after death, switch to a more long range class and slow down your play.

The biggest thing is, we all know how this game is. I don't think there is a player who's ever picked up a controller who can say there haven't been games in which things just didn't go well for them (if you've never had a bad game, more power to you... the rest of us are human). The guys on your team are trying, and if they are failing, there isn't any need to tear them down further. They are frustrated enough, and berating or belittling them just makes them not want to play hard for you. Be the bigger person, communicate to them, call out enemies, and try to encourage them. If they are just hopeless... just go ahead and leave the lobby once the match is over. They're your teammates... you're on the same side. Whats more important to you... your character or your stats?

And for those hopeless few who intentionally antagonize and detract from your teams' play? Go away... nobody wants you in the game.