Joe Rogan and Ari Shaffir explain how ‘gamer rage’ became mainstream
Joe RoganJoe Rogan spoke briefly about the exaggerated gamer rage that can be found online during an episode of his mega-popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
Joe Rogan is no stranger to the world of video games. In a recent episode of his show, he talked at length about his previous addiction to video games, saying “I wish I wasn’t such a simpleton because if I could f**king just play for like one hour and stop… I cannot.”
He’s spoken previously about his love for Quake, and how he’s had to stop playing video games because of his inability to put them down. Rogan said that going cold turkey on gaming is the only way he can live, as even just a small taste will make him addicted again.
Episode #1686 featured guest Ari Shaffir, a comedian who created the Comedy Central show ‘This Is Not Happening.’ In the episode, the pair spoke about their feelings on public displays of anger that happen online and “gamer rage.”
Timestamp: 1:46:27
Ari says,”It’s like gamer rage. You know how they’re like ‘I hope you get AIDS and your mom dies in front of you.’ And regular people caught on with that.”
Rogan responds, “Right, the gamer chats, when they would say things in the chats. It was like fun to say.”
Shaffir replies, “I think all the e-rages are just like, a couple people talking and then far more, like a hundred, a thousand times that people weighing in on what the small amount of people actually (say).”
YouTube: Joe Rogan/Unsplash: PHDGamerRogan agrees, saying, “There’s also a lot of cowards out there. A lot of cowards, and those cowards are the ones that virtue signal because they want to make sure that they’re on the right side of your rage. They want to be with you while you attack other people. And when it turns on then, it’s horrific.”
Gamers raging is not a new subject, and there’s plenty of people who associate a typical gamer with instances of taking their matches way too seriously. Many communities in gaming have struggled to curtail their most toxic members who damage the reputation of the whole.
Joe and Ari see the toxic elements of “gamer rage” coming through in discourse online. Rogan believes that some of the aggressive energy channeled in online arguments is similar to gamers when they rage at video games, saying the most hurtful things they can think of in the moment.