"STFU, Noob!"

The term "noob" is short for "noobie," which comes from "newbie," a fairly standard online term for someone is new to a game or community. In RuneScape, however, the phrase has taken on a life of its own as a generic insult - you can be called a "noob" for doing almost anything, which really annoys younger players.

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As they proceed through the game, they discover that insulting and degrading other players is very common. Not all players are rude and nasty but a large percentage is, especially in the free version of the game where most kids play. The incidence of abuse has risen so much that it is now hard to ignore, and new players are the most common targets. This ensures that they "learn" this behavior and pass it on to new players that come after them.

Runescape players can report abuse and use chat filters to block objectionable language, but many players find ways around these tools.

Jagex has a chat filter in RuneScape that blocks common profanities and sexually-themed words, but players are resourceful and find ways around the filter with little difficulty. For example, Jagex blocked the word "sex," so kids instead started talking about "cex." That got blocked, so now "seks" gets the point across. You can't drop the "F bomb" in game, but "STFU" works. (Let's all pretend that we don't know what the "F" stands for...)

There isn't much actual "serious" sex talk, though I am sure a fair bit of that occurs privately. Most of it is the childish variety, often heard when players are doing something boring like fishing or woodcutting. It is routine to hear kids calling each other "gaye" and making taunting sexual references to each others' mothers.

Female players in RuneScape are subjected to nearly continuous harassment by the testosterone-overloaded teenaged hornballs who comprise the bulk of the game's players. This includes lewd comments, and being constantly asked if they "want a boyfriend." Many girls resort to playing as male characters just to keep their sanity.

Much of what you see in the game is reminiscent of schoolyard cruelty, but here the bullies are emboldened by their anonymity and the inherent distance of the Internet. The profound lack of sympathy for the victims of bad luck or scams is also very striking. As a typical example, in one of the many threads on the forums posted by someone who was scammed, nearly all of the replies were sneering or blaming the victim. Here are two of the more noteworthy entries:

• "lol nub i gawet scammed 5.4m but i aint cryin so stfu"
• "ha you lost stuff!!! lmao noob in your face"

("Nub" is an alternate form of "noob"; "lmao" means "laugh my ass off".)

Heart-warming, isn't it? Just what kids need to learn about how to deal with others.