5.2 Reproach in chat and Xbox game

A reproach episode according to Wallace is made up of three episodes. The first one is when the offense takes place, the second one is when the reproach takes place and the third one is from the offender who will ‘apologize, [make] some excuse, or [dispute] the charges.’ During the reproach the offender is criticized or corrected by another participant or even a leviathan. I have witnesses several reproach episodes online, but the two that stick out the most happened, first, in a poker chat room, and the other in a multi user game that my cousin was playing.

Online poker, where you can play with other people from all over the world, was a fun thing to do during my senior year in high school. On this site you can play poker and chat with nine other participants at the same time. Most of the chat space is delegated to people playing on the table who want to talk to each other about the game and the moves that were made. However, one night when everyone was playing calmly, a person started typing vulgar and insulting comments in the chat. This could be classified as the first episode according to Wallace. Instantly, other players on the table started chatting with the offender and told him to calm down or leave. Instead of apologizing, the offender did not listen to them and kept on cursing. Finally, the table administrator (leviathan), the person who opened that table, kicked the offender out of the chat room. As you can see, the norm of staying calm and just talking about the game was breached by the offender by insulting the other players. This type of offense is classified as Inappropriate language by Wallace, where the offender used course language and insulted the other players. The reproach from the other participants on the table was unsuccessful, and ultimately, the offender had to be kicked out.

Another reproach episode took place with my cousin playing a multiplayer game on his Xbox 360. During this shooting game where he can talk to other players through the internet, my cousin purposely started cursing and insulting the other players. After a few minutes of him talking, the reproach came in the form of a warning that if he did not stop insulting other players, then he will be kicked off the game. Immediately, my cousin apologized and was allowed to play the game. The norm in this case was that the players only talked about the game and the trash talking was very minimal. However, the Inappropriate language offense committed by my cousin was met with a very successful reproach from the other users.

In both the cases, the offense was greeted by a calm reproach episode and the virtual eyebrow was able to restore conformity to the norm.