Razer's dig at Apple is not just in poor taste, it condones the worst spirit in gaming

If you’ve been following Razer for a while, you’ve likely stumbled into the little pot of controversy the company stirred up when it took an admittedly off-colour dig at Apple. First, a bit of background. If you’ve seen the new MacBook Pro models that Apple unveiled, you’ll note that there’s nothing “pro” about them . In summary, Apple stripped every port from the previous MacBook Pro and replaced all of them with USB-Type C ports. And no, they didn’t remove the headphone jack. I guess Apple ran out of courage. Razer, which makes what is arguably the best gaming ultrabooks around, took a dig at Apple, specifically targeting the SD card slots. The tweet, which has since been deleted, said, “You call yourself Pro? S my D.”  

The Tweet itself is childish and silly, but on the surface, it’s nothing more than potty humour. Razer took a dig at Apple. Boohoo. What’s the big deal? Razer’s tweet is in bad taste not because of what it said but because of the attitude that the company is condoning. Gamers, as a community, can be a particularly toxic bunch, especially when it comes to multiplayer gaming. Companies like EA, Valve and Wargaming have dedicated divisions just to deal with toxic behaviour.

Calling out other players, slights on their sexuality, racism, death threats and worse, these are all par for the course in any gaming community. If you’re a gamer, you just develop a thick skin and move on. If you’re a company like Razer, however, you don’t embrace or condone that toxicity. Think of it this way, if Obama goes around referring to Australians as “ abos”, even as a joke, he’s effectively condoning racism and enabling a community that considers that racism par for the course. Razer may position itself as a company and community “For gamers, by gamers,” but it needs to take a long, hard look at the attitude that it intends to project. Gamers are a fun-loving, competitive bunch of people. Isn’t that an attitude worth nurturing? Razer has since deleted the tweet and issued an apology.