Editor's note: Andrew argues that new trends and technology in gaming will reduce the potential for online douchebaggery. Please be right please be right please be right. Lots more after the jump. -Demian

A classic Penny Arcade strip (pictured above) succinctly expressed frustrations many of us have had with online multiplayer games. How many times have you heard someone say "I only play with friends?" How many times have you heard a pre-pubescent voice call you a name-not-fit-for-Bitmob-even-if-Seanbaby-posts-here? This major barrier to online multiplayer is set to change with the introduction of new feature sets, market shifts, and distribution channels that have been the talk of the first half of 2009. I'll take a look at where major players in the industry are trying to steer videogames and how (or if) they will affect the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

First, how did we get to where online multiplayer game are today? It is a mean world out there, but it is something else entirely when you play a game of Halo 3 with strangers. It is vile, depraved stuff, and that's when it's good. To paraphrase Shawn Elliott: the Xbox headset is the worst thing you can put on your head this side of shotgun.

The prime example:

or

Shit talking and the like has always been a part of competitive videogames. Who (of a certain age) doesn't remember talking trash while standing at a Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat cabinet? Or a late evening with GoldenEye sitting on the couch, socking your buddy in his arm for looking at your corner of the screen? It's part gamesmanship, part friendly. The difference between now and then is that you knew them and it was all part of the experience, and you were accountable for your actions, so nothing crossed the line.

As the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory states, anonymity eliminates the good nature among friends. And with an audience...humor devolves to the lowest common denominator, cruelty, until it becomes cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

I don't play online multiplayer games. I don't have many friends who play videogames. And while I can say "With the little time I have for video games, I'd rather not waste it playing against a 12 year-old in God-knows-where just so they can kick my ass," this is becoming less of an excuse. There are online multiplayer games that have elegantly countered this, making your experience fun even if it's fraught with failure. Call of Duty 4's multiplayer mode in particular comes to mind, where it's alright to die all the time as you are still making some form of progress. The same applies to the beta of Battlefield: Heroes. And with the success of these modes, you can bet most games will attempt to incorporate these quasi-RPG elements into their multiplayer modes.

Unfortunately, even if the gameplay is fun in failure, it doesn't do anything to shield us from assholes.

Can this change? Will we ever be able to venture outside the comfortable confines of our friends lists? Three developing trends that may get us closer to a safe and hospitable online environment:

Trend #1: The Expanded Market

The above equation includes "Normal Person" as a variable, but I will say that this is a normal person in terms of videogames. When it comes to a hobby, there are normal people, at least in terms of the hobby. Golf, scuba diving, knitting...each have their own language, culture, and shared experience that sets enthusiasts apart from non-enthusiasts, at that's definitely true for videogames.

The 2009 E3 conferences showed a shift in marketing and product development, especially from Microsoft and Sony, in an effort to tap into the lucrative market that Nintendo has seemingly hauled out of nowhere. Simultaneously, Nintendo made even more strides to involve non-gamers in videogames with product specifically developed for middle-aged women, pre-teen girls, etc.

I recall a Saturday Night Live sketch from the mid-90s, where Mark McKinney played a character who was surfing the internet, speaking to a creep, but oblivious to the nature of the conversation.

"What are you wearing?"
"I'm in my pajamas!"

This naivety from a non-gaming, non-expert crowd could temper the ridiculousness of online gaming. As the SNL sketch implies, the internet was actually an innocent place where people met people because they liked people, where the exchange of ideas took place for the benefit of humanity! Or at least that's what they thought. Either way it was a nice place to be and not the cynical and ironic cesspool it has become.

Would the new market actually have an effect on the online community? The internet cynic in me has doubts, because, well...these formerly-non-gamers have access to the internet as well. The attitudes that contribute to a shitty internet and a shitty online community of gamers have also permeated conventional media: television, newspapers, magazines, radio. These days we're all jaded nihilists sick of LOLcats.

However, I will point to Animal Crossing. While you can only interact with friends, picture the same game plunked down in the middle of Xbox Live, with all of Nintendo's expanded market to go with it.

The only problem is, we'd have to play Animal Crossing. The actual penetration of these innocent videogame adopters would never make it into a ranked match in a game Bitmob readers are likely to find themselves. Maybe years and years of online bowling and fishing in Animal Crossing could create an "expert" videogamer online community willing to venture into hardcore games...but we'll have already broken their backs by the time they get there.

Prospects for change: not so much, but it could depend on a game's audience.

Trend #2: Social Network Integration

One major topic of discussion at E3 was the integration of social networks into our console and handheld personas. Linking gamertags to Twitter and Facebook is a first step in developing a "face and name" gaming community, where you are much more than a clever (maybe) reference and random string of numbers.

Incorporating your real-life identity (as much as real life gets on Facebook, which is leaps and bounds more than most social network sites) will make you at least partially responsible for your behavior online, simply by making you less anonymous.

While this is optional for the time being, I can envision a day when the more successful social networking sites become information standards. Already, you can use your Facebook account to sign up for other sites. Likewise for Google accounts and Yahoo accounts. Once upon a time, I had a Gmail address. And then all of a sudden, I had access to all sorts of Google services. With Microsoft in the videogame mix and stirring with a new dedication to its online presence, you can easily see a blanket account that will incorporate your online life, whether it be your email, documents, or videogame time.

One example of a "face and name" internet is found right here at Bitmob. Shoe and Demian, to their credit, created a site where usernames are invisible and every member gets a byline. So far, and this may be due to its small size right now, it is a great community with nothing but insightful and constructive feedback. The simple presence of a real name adds weight, consequence, and responsibility to your actions.

Of course, people are assholes at every level of anonymity, but tagging your real life (or the semblance thereof) to your videogame playing will stop the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory for many.

Prospects for change: pretty good

Trend #3: Server-Side Videogames

The talk of GDC this year was OnLive, a server-side method of distributing games. Essentially, you subscribe (or purchase access, or something) to games which are run in server farms, and the game -- the video of the game, to be more precise -- is streamed to the player. The technology posed more questions than it answered, and while plenty of doubt exists concerning this specific service, there is no doubt that this is the future of videogames.

It will have major ramifications for the entire industry, but for the purposes of this discussion, I am interested in one of its minor features. The fact that all the processing is on the server side allows for virtually unlimited spectators. At this point we reach the audience portion of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory and one would expect an even greater quotient of Fuckwadness should this system be adopted.

But this isn't the whole story. In the comic strip, the audience refers to a small segment of people with whom you are directly competiting or working with. What happens if the very nature of the audience is changed? What happens when you have passive spectators instead of gamers whose direct agency is affected by your assholery?

I think that this potentially larger audience will make players feel more responsible for their actions, while simultaneously lessening anonymity, even if your name and face are concealed.

Of course, I can easily counter this and point to professional sports, where sometimes being an asshole is an art (the NFL's Bill Romanowski and soccer's Marco Materazzi, victim of Zinedine Zidane's famous headbutt, are but two examples). As you would expect with the comic strip, the greater the audience, the greater the Fuckwad.

I tend to believe in the former instead of the latter, especially in concerns of potential sponsorship. If you can provide an audience, someone somewhere will advertise. Even if it doesn't reach the levels of Tiger Woods/Nike dollars (and with the "success" of competitive gaming as a spectator sport so far, this may never be the case), the lure of money, sponsored subscriptions, or even something as trifling as beta test access will encourage better sportsmanship. Perhaps even explicitly, written into a business arrangement between player and sponsor.

Regardless of sponsorship, I do believe that the net change will be positive. If you have a passive audience voluntarily devoting their attention to you, you will feel some burden to respect that.

Prospect for change: On the positive side, but could be a moot point.

On the whole, I would say that online multiplayer is in for a change, if small. And it's high time that it happened. For too long this insular world has been the haven of foul-mouthed youngsters, ignorant hate mongers, and simply silly silly people.

However, the greatest change can come from you. The average videogame player is what, 30 years-old or something? We're adults, we can act like them.

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