By baiting, I mean posting deliberate dog whistles, often as crude proxies of what they fear and hate, and set off what is sometimes hours of chud barking in that area, whether it's a game's lobby chat or Discord or whatever.

Examples I've seen include old and exhausting shit like "did you just assume my gender" and "check your privilege, shitlord" 4chan greentext-tier staleness, but sometimes they can get slightly more cunning and insidious, such as portraying themselves as farcical LGBTQIA+ people then announcing an intent to do (conspiracies/crimes that chuds accuse LGBTQIA+ people of here) and keep up the whistling until every chud is barking across the site.

I do play some online games and calling out bait sometimes works, but it's still exhausting when a cooperative game shuts down because some chud starts a hate rally and effectively shuts down the game's cohesion for a while. joker-gaming

      • Goadstool [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Realistically though in in-game lobbies and stuff where you can't post memes or whatever, I usually just say something like "you should talk less" or "you talk too much" and leave it at that, don't respond to anything else they say. Admonish them and disengage so they have nothing to sit with but flat, straightforward, stern disapproval.

        Don't give them anything to argue with, or try to stir up more shit. Just tell them to shut the fuck up in a less basic and dismissible manner.

        • T34_69 [none/use name]
          ·
          1 month ago

          Yeah and I usually block them unless I want to watch them flip out, or sometimes clown on them

  • ReadFanon [any, any]
    ·
    1 month ago

    I like to go all-in and ruin it for them.

    It's only funny as a dogwhistle when they get the pavlovian response from their shitheel audience.

    If you pretend that the joke is really funny and clever but especially original, and you ask where they came up with the idea for that joke it kills it for them because they are forced to confront the fact that they're rehashing a punchline without a joke that has been circulating for over a decade by this point.

    They can't call you on it and say "Are you stupid? This joke is so old that you must have been in a coma if this is your first time hearing it." because then they're admitting that the best humour they can muster is a joke that is so tired that it's not even a joke anymore. [Insert Nietzsche quote about truth here]

    Leaning into it kills the joke because it reveals the uncomfortable reality behind the joke that they don't want to acknowledge.

    For extra points, if you are stuck in a small space with people like this, repeat the same joke over and over to run it into the ground and absolutely spoil it for them permanently, like a dad intentionally misusing terms like rizz so their kids will find it cringey and they'll immediately abandon using those words from that point on.

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      For extra points, if you are stuck in a small space with people like this, repeat the same joke over and over to run it into the ground and absolutely spoil it for them permanently, like a dad intentionally misusing terms like rizz so their kids will find it cringey and they'll immediately abandon using those words from that point on.

      Holy shit this is based. If people generally don't like leftists, we can take whatever they do and make it "uncool".

  • corgiwithalaptop [any, love/loves]
    ·
    1 month ago

    I don't do online games often at all, maybe with IRL friends once or twice a year, so I largely see that shit on social media.

    My go to is: "shut up nerd"

  • 2812481591 [any, it/its]
    ·
    1 month ago

    "Wow, the west can't be saved" closes tab and go back to looking at pictures of Hunan mountains

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    ·
    1 month ago

    This is why I always make sure the game has some way for me to directly punish them

    Like in Destiny, I tell them I'm kicking them and then I do

    I don't cotton that shit

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    1 month ago

    I've yet to run into any chuds but that's because my online gaming is mostly done on private servers I try to vet before joining.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 month ago

      Sometimes, I consider doing that, too. I play some games with big communities at the moment, though.

  • allthetimesivedied [they/them, she/her]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Low hanging fruit: “Lol,” “I don’t care,” etc.

    Higher-order stuff I call out directly: “I know you don’t actually give a shit about [x y z],” “You’re trying to gaslight,” etc.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 month ago

      That's been my go-to in some online games that had sufficient chuddery.

  • buckykat [none/use name]
    ·
    1 month ago

    The only online games I play are FFXIV and the recently created hexbear minecraft server and this isn't a problem for me.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 month ago

      You may be on a different data center than me; Ul'dah zone chat can be outright frothingfash at times where I am.

      • buckykat [none/use name]
        ·
        1 month ago

        Limsa is my preferred idling spot and most of what I see is just people advertising their totally-not-erp clubs

    • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      1 month ago

      ExCuse ME?! Eating meat is natural and good and something something, you're wrong morally for some convoluted reason! I'm taking this as a very personal attack, how dare you remind me of my bad habits!

  • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Well chuds on a game have an obvious in: their gameplay. So ill check and unless theyre top k/d or dps or whatever that's my in. it's quicker to distract them by ignoring their bait and laying down some for others to pile on with too. If I get into paragraph battles everyone else is afraid to jump in so i like opening up a new vibe and setting out chances for people to use easy cliches like "cry moar"...theyll use em.

  • chungusamonugs [he/him]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Straight up just tell them they're an uncomfortable person and offputting and disengage go the extent possible. Most people acting like that on the internet are seeking approval or validation from others and think those views and opinions are the way to get them. If they don't get the response they want, they'll change how they behave until they do.