Working with people you always learn something new. In the days I was lecturing gaming students, I learned something about the styles of playing and the national identities of the players; that there is a marked difference in playing styles between English, French, German, Norwegian, Polish and Russian players of Counter Strike.
According to my students, players from the former Eastern Europe had a much more aggressive and individualistic style of playing.
To join a team of Poles or Russians meant no team cooperation, and no communication in English. Poles and Russians communicates only in their own languages, even when they are part of an international team, unless when they shout abuse at you, was the general consensus from those of my students who had played CS in such teams.
It was quite different playing in teams containing gamers from UK, Germany, Sweden, or France. Here teamwork and communication in English was the norm, and the level of abuse was low.
I tried to find some reserach on this, but the only thing that popped up was «Competition vs. Cooperation in Video Games«, by Jamie Madigan Ph.D.
But even if there’s tension in online game matches, Gamers are good guys…
