08-28-2026

humanity online

this isnt the first time anyone reading has heard this, but team fortress 2 is a pretty damn good game.

player interactions in tf2 feel incredibly unique. this may be due to its role as a time capsule for a gaming culture that started almost 20 years ago, when the internet was still a frontier and gaming was still new. it may be due to the absurdity of the game’s humor softening up what might otherwise be a sweaty playerbase. or, maybe, it’s not tf2 at all. maybe tf2 is an example of what happens in communities of humans on the internet.

the impetus of this post is that friendly behavior is exceedingly common in tf2. in few other games do people lay down arms to hit a wall with a pan because it makes a funny noise. more universally, theres the friendly “crouch” motion, holding a melee weapon, and other ways of saying “i am friendly” for whatever purpose. these friendly moments in competitive shooters are how online friends are made, how fun is had, and how bonds are formed between our online selves, however fleeting.

these friendly behaviors are inherent to our corporeal selves, not just our online selves. during WWI, a war that was not chosen by the people, but was fought by them, european soldiers laid down arms and exchanged supplies and played football :) being forced into situations where one must fight for a long time yields a longing for peace. be it between soldiers on the same or opposing side, this longing is expressed nonetheless.

war is not quite the same as a competitive shooter. so why does the same sort of behavior occur? in both there are opponents, and in both particular cases, the fighting is less important to the men on the ground than peace. something beautiful happens when people are pitted against each other and given tools of friendly communication. despite all the horror that conflict brings about, there is a glimmer of hope in our very social nature.