dartmonkey Posted August 18, 2014 I agree and have experienced this to a certain extent. CoD4 was my first real online multiplayer experience and I quickly muted other people. I had party chat enabled with a group of 3 or 4 friends (and even that took a little bit of getting used to) but the name calling was affecting me negatively. Each game seemed to have a tween with Tourettes. More often than not he was talking to himself because everyone else had muted him out. I too have used the 'headset lost' excuse to avoid talking with forum friends. For me, I wanted to keep them in that box, and actually speaking with them would have broken the spell. On a forum you have time to compose thoughts but in conversation they'd have quickly realised I was an incoherent idiot. I think this type of anxiety is common, though. My sister used to refuse to speak on the phone and I think it was for the same reason. If you're not good with smalltalk it's frightening to be forced to communicate with only your voice - each second of silence further confirms your idiocy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
heybeardo Posted August 29, 2014 I did a recent video on this very topic, exploring the reasons why I tend to play multiplayer games solo. I can relate to a lot of the experiences in this thread. Even when I played with a guild in Warcraft I stayed off voice chat and tended toward awkward penguin behaviour. A large part of me playing solo is related to selfishness, as I want to play games on my terms but another significant part relates to social anxiety and introversion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Irishjohn Posted August 30, 2014 I'm not a shy person usually, but I've had weird issues with online games for YEARS. I just started playing Dota 2 and I'm enjoying it, but I don't really communicate and sometimes I boot up the client, look at the "play" button and just fail to build up the courage to do it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
