Some video games like COD or WoW have millions of followers around the world. This form of entertainment is practiced by people of all ages, but preferably by the youngest. A video game player needs a console or a computer and wants to have fun in the virtual experiences that allow him to be an active protagonist of fiction.
Video games as an online activity offer the possibility of interacting between several players and for the game to proceed through the correct channels, a notice appears at the beginning of the game indicating a series of rules of behavior that must be respected. Thus, those players who do not comply with the rules will be expelled from the game. However, some gamers discover ways to bypass the rules and restrictions, as they are expert programmers and know the ins and outs of video games perfectly. Well, these experts who know how to break the rules are known as rat children.
What a rat boy does
The rat boy is just another player in a game, but not just any player, since he tries to "mark his territory" by attracting attention in unsympathetic ways, and at the same time taking advantage of design gaps or shortcuts.
This character not only wants to win a game, but also makes fun of the opponents and ridicules them, since we must not forget that they all contact each other through microphones.
In this way, he becomes an uncomfortable player for others and a threat to the normal development of an online video game. He has something of a saboteur, a joker and a provocateur.
Ratchildren are "hated" and admired. They are hated because they play with an advantage, but at the same time they are great specialists who are recognized for their ability and dexterity.
A reflection on rat children
The rat child acts in this way because it makes him morbid, that is, he feels a certain pleasure in humiliating his rivals. In the context of video games, the figure of the rat boy can be valued as a character that gives color to the show, someone who breaks the rules of the game. We could say that he is the "bad guy", a character who does not provoke indifference.
Online video games cannot prevent the intervention of the human factor in the game and in this way the rat children are dedicated to annoying others or, in more current terms, to trolling other players (the word trolling is already in the DRAE and is defined as the action by which someone sarcastically mocks another).
Photos: iStock - COSPV / Valeriy Lebedev
