Urgent! Don't be a jerk

| Sunday, April 5, 2009
So, forum thread.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16137705489&sid=1
Basic idea: raid is going for undying, someone intentionally commits suicide and wipes them on KT. I stopped watching after the wipe because I hate listening to vent conversations.

A response in the thread really bothered me.
"Kudos to Evilturkey.
Teaching hardcores that, congratulations, the game you play is still just a game, and shouldn't be taken so seriously."
Wrong. It's not about serious or not. It's not about hardcore or not. It's a simple matter of being an ass. This is really not much different than wandering into a pickup basketball game, grabbing the ball, and stabbing it so it deflates.

"Just a game" does not imply "it's okay to ruin it for everyone else."

Here's another terrible post:
"Whoa dude. You take this game way too seriously. You are saying people who find this funny (I am one of them) are horrible human beings who like to see people hurt?

Wow. You are a freaking loon. I find this funny the same way I found LEEEEERROOOY JENKINS funny although this video isnt anywhere near as funny. You are getting so nerd raged over this video, it screams of deep sided psychological issues.

Have you ever stopped to consider why you care so much about this game? You should reevaluate your behavior. And probably seek some help.

I thought this video was funny, and the fact the people in the guild chat got sooo mad made it even funnier. Now if you'll excuse me Im going to go back to eating kittens."
Again, someone that cannot see that game does not imply totally unimportant and trivial. People invest time in this game. They invest emotion. That isn't bad. It's good, it means it's a great game that it can draw people in so well.

To intentionally screw up something in which people have invested so much, is wrong. It's funny in a cruel way, but it's not funny enough and it's not teaching a lesson. It's just being an ass.

Even if the Leeroy video wasn't staged, it's not even comparable. Sure UBRS was serious business back then, but even still, a wipe there wasn't a huge deal compared to screw with an achievement run that takes hours of near-perfect gameplay.

The fact that things like this happen disturbs me. Are people really this immature and cruel? Or are people so unwilling to see the importance of games? I always thought I was on the casual side, the type that mocks hardcores for min/maxing and thinks they're doing it wrong. But this, this goes far over that line. It's one thing to be semi-anonymously judgmental about how someone else chooses to play when it has no effect on my own play* but to actually go ruin their play is terrible.

[bad person] is a terrible person. It is times like this that I wish WoW had a more tight-knit community, the sort that has the internal strength to hold him accountable and at the least force him to get a new account just to escape what he did. It is terrible that someone can be so horrible and still get away with it. But even worse is that people praise him. He is no grand idealist showing the true meaning of life or even a vigilante fighting for justice when the system fails. He's just an ass and to regard him as someone good** indicates something wrong with the mind.

* Actually it does in the sense that hardcores tend to set a trend for how to play, but that's beside the point.
** This is based only on actions in this video. Perhaps he's actually a magical being who feeds only on joy and happiness which he harvests by bringing puppies to orphans and reveling in their delight.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

:(

What a shame. On the one hand, yes it is a game and we need to keep that in perspective... but on the other hand, that doesn't mean it's a free for all to be a jerk.

It'd be different if people were really upset about someone making an honest mistake that prevented them from getting the achievement, but it's another thing to purposefully sabotage it.

I mean, why even go with then?

~Syrana

Kiryn said...

Ugh. That's awful. This is no different than ninja-looting, if a raid spent hours of time and effort working on Sarth+3 just to have someone ninja the drake mount. Except worse, because here, they don't even get their title for all that work. The fact that people can applaud this sort of behavior makes me all kinds of angry about the state of the human race.

Of course, I already think 90% of the humans on this planet have less intelligence than the average feedlot-raised bovine, and getting worked up about something that's basically par for the course is a waste of time and effort.

...But at the same time, I've always had this spark of hope that someday, people will prove to me that they are fundamentally good and caring... and that spark gets a little dimmer every day.

Ruhtra said...

Regardless of feelings on hardcore or casual or soft or whatever other tags we can come up with, that was plain wrong.

Yet to some degree this guy is getting what he is wanting, attention. So unlike other things that annoy, me I shall not inform anyone of this incident as I refuse to spread this players name or antics.

So sad.

LarĂ­sa said...

It's aweful. And it's nothing different to someone intentionally for instance spoiling a movie for other people, screeming, shouting and talking non stop. They've invested time and money into the movie and their experience is destroyed. Destroying a raid in such a manner is the same. It's rude and not funny at all.

Stabs said...

I thought it was quite funny actually.

Sure he's an ass and I wouldn't ever want to raid with him.

And yup it would probably annoy me intensely if I were the victim.

I can't justify it in anyway but I do find this, various ninja looter videos (whether genuine or a piece of Nhym's inspired machinima) and the Onyxia wipe guy great fun to watch.

Guess that makes me some kind of schadenfreude-seeking voyeur.

Klepsacovic said...

@Brian A child being ignored will do anything for attention, any attention.

@Kiryn I think people are fundamentally selfish, but in a cooperative sort of way We look after ourselves but know that together we can get more than we can alone. Some people unlearn that and over generations that is passed down by poor parenting and useless communities. Actually on my way over here I was thinking about the rise of 'emo music' and how it's probably related to parents who aren't parents anymore.

@Ruhtra I removed the name from my post but kept the link for context.

@Larisa For lack of better letters: QFT

@Stabs Sometimes the pain of others is amusing, but that is a dangerous thing to give in to, for you never know when the cycle will have almost completed the loop.

Me said...

Are people really this immature and cruel? Or are people so unwilling to see the importance of games?

How old do you think your average WoW player is?? Seriously?

Not saying what this person did was nice or right. If it were a guild run he should be /kick. I'm just learning not to expect much maturity from other players. It's depressing, but true.

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