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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 6871504" data-attributes="member: 18182">Like many here, I've been gaming for a long time. I'm in my mid-40s now and I started in elementary school. And, I've encountered my fair share of socially awkward folks who were young, and socially awkward folks who were older. At many times in my life, I've been the socially awkward one.That does not excuse bad behavior.I'm a middle school teacher, and I see a LOT of bad behavior in my students. They say and do a lot of horrible things to each other, and they don't react with much resilience (or "grit" as is more buzzworthy today) when subjected to it themselves. A large part of why they do this is because they are teenagers awash in hormones, and subject to poor examples from mass media, poor parenting, and peer pressure. I understand why some of them do the horrible things they do.But that doesn't excuse their bad behavior.In my school, and I'm sure every other public, private, and charter school across the nation, the adult staff works hard at modeling good behavior, calling out bad behavior when it happens, and enacting consequences for bad behavior . . . all in an effort to teach our young charges that being kind, courteous, respectful, and to not harass or discriminate against anyone "different" is the right choice. It's an uphill battle sometimes. But what is the alternative?I act they same way with adults, in my gaming circles and elsewhere in my adult life. Because sadly, many of those teenagers who got into the habits of bad behavior carry that with them in adulthood, despite the best efforts of their teachers, coaches, and (hopefully) parents. I don't excuse bad behavior, regardless of the background of the actor, I try and model good behavior myself, I try to call out bad behavior when I see it (even if it means making others uncomfortable by not staying quiet), and when I am in a position of authority I enact consequences for bad behavior.Bad behavior is very human and goes back to the dawn of time and we will never truly be free of it. And many folks who exhibit bad behavior themselves were victims of it earlier in life, or grew up thinking it was acceptable. But it is never acceptable, and we must never give up the struggle to correct it. And while we'll never truly eliminate it, we can reduce it's prominence and influence in our society.</blockquote>

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