Monday, August 23, 2010

Done with online gaming

Okay, I think I'm done with online gaming. Yep, you read that right. I'm done with all the host quiting because they're going to lose. I'm done with teammates, and opposing teams, whining about who got host. I'm done with glitches and cheaters as well. Do you want to know what put me over the edge?

Yahtzee.

Yep, that favorite game that requires you to roll 5 dice and try to make sets or runs depending on what you need on your score card. I'm sure you've all played it in real life at some point. Now it's one of the games you can play in Family Game Night.

I was eating dinner last night and wanted to play something mindless and easy while I got my daily nutritional intact out of the way. What a better time than to play a game of Yahtzee. Now normally I would play single player by myself, but I was feeling adventurous and jumped into an online game. We had three players and the game sets up the turn orders randomly at the start of the game. Our lovely host was player number one. I was player number three.

For most of the game the host was leading the scoring. A couple rounds towards the end I was able to eek a little ahead of the host in overall scoring. On the last roll of the dice the host only had the Yahtzee score blank, but failed to get one so they had to take a zero. As the scores stood then (even without me having my final turn) I won the match. While the second player was taking their turn I got the "host left the match" message and I was back to my lobby. Come on. Really?

You're going to quit a game of Yahtzee because you didn't win? Is winning that important to you that you can't play fair if you don't win? I was fuming by the time I put in my Gears of War 2 disk to play with friends. I asked if we could do an "open mic night" so I could vent my frustrations out on the other team (instead of my teammates). Unfortunately they weren't in the mood until one team decided to be dicks about the last kill. We opened up the mics then but after the match was over we went back into a party.

But even though killing the enemies in Gears helped my mood, listening to teammates whine about the game didn't. I'm tired of hearing about someone's connection being host. At one point someone on my team started to bitch about someone on the other team being host and getting the advantage. I had to tell them I was host, but that didn't seem to matter. The response I got was "then he must be in your f*cking living room". Come on. Really?

Just because everything doesn't go your way in a match doesn't mean it's because someone else on the other team has a host advantage over you. Some times there are people just better than you. Or maybe more focused on the game they you were at that time. Or maybe they have a better game plan with their whole team. Whenever we start to go our own way we lose more rounds than we win. You should know that. And you should also know that the whole team isn't there to support just you. Other people can pick up the grenades. Other people can get the power weapon. And just because they do doesn't mean they're going to cost us the game because they did. I'm tired of all the whining.

I'm tired of all the glitching and cheating too. I've played some matches recently where the other team found a way to hide inside a wall so we couldn't see them but they could see us and shoot us while still being protected themselves. I've also played matches where there was some definite lag switching going on. One moment my gun is using bullets and I'm shooting someone, the next minute they are behind me and my gun isn't using any ammo. Come on. Really? Is that the only way you know how to win?

I'm just tired of it all. There's no fun and joy playing with whiners, glitches, cheaters and quitters. A loss is just a loss. It's a game. Getting one more loss isn't going to prevent you from getting a loan on a new car. Or getting that big promotion you want. A win, also, isn't going to get you money to buy groceries. It isn't going to pay your mortgage or buy you clothes for the new school year. It's just a number. Winning and losing.

The point of playing games is to have fun. Enjoy the story. Marvel at the realistic graphics if you like. But don't be a dick about an obsessive need to win all the time. If there were more games that got people to play together off of a server instead of a host console I'd be more inclined to play those. Or if there has to be a host console could they at least design a host migration tool into the game so if the host does leave the match can go on. Granted that might mean the next host has a lousy connection for everyone else but at least the match still goes on.

Will I play games online tonight? I don't know. Right not; not likely. That's not going to stop some of my friends from begging, pleading and bargaining with me to join them I'm sure. Will I give in to their demands? I hope not. A night or two of single player gaming might be just what I need to make me want to come back and play games online. Otherwise, I just might be done with online gaming for good.

11 comments:

Zenra Nukenin said...

All I can say is that I hope you leave feedback when necessary, and maybe you and your friends could limit yourselves to co-op for a while. Among the games that I see in your history:
Rainbow Six: Vegas (both)
Gears Of War (both)
Fable II
Borderlands
Left 4 Dead 2
Kameo
Halo 3
Sacred 2

(Damn, you've got a lot of games! I eventually stopped looking.)
I'd play any of those with you (I don't have L4D2). Although, the last time that we played together, there was a conncetion issue. I'll make a concerted not to complain. At the very least, I won't blame anyone. :D

Have I ever mentioned a little gem called Saints Row 2? I'll play that anytime!!

Zenra Nukenin said...

Things that I didn't mention before:

To be honest, the main reason that I was complaining about the connection in our last game is because I had just gotten FiOS and I was dissappointed that it wasn't the end-all-be-all that it was hyped up to be. I was so accustomed to being the slowest connection in any given room anyway, that it shouldn't really bother me.

I understand your frustration though. I've got a good bunch of people on my Friends List (and they have good friends to play with by proxy), but there are vast stretches of time where I just want to be alone.

I like your "host migration" idea. Like Halo. The best connection of the remaining players becomes host. I assume that it's a Bungie patent (or something similar), but it would be nice if Microsoft would require it of all developers. Maybe issue it as middleware?

Helll Weasell said...

I feel your pain.

I'm not oblivious to the fact that I whine/bitch/moan/etc. Sometimes I can be quite bad for it. But, the one thing I don't do is abuse team mates for game play. We have a certain mutual friend that I have been STRONGLY considering de-friending lately because of how he treats me, you, sneaka, and others. I actually want friends on my friends list. I don't talk to my friends that way and I would hope that they wouldn't talk to me that way.

And I don't quit early. If I get my a$$ whipped, so be it. I'll wait until the end of the match to switch games. If I jump out of a game it's because I lost connection or because I have a kid to attend to. I'm not that hooked on my stats.

If you want to do co-op whatever we have, let me know. I liked getting back to terrorist hunt. I actually enjoyed the RB6 multi-player last night despite my poor showing. It was nice for a change.

Pengwenn said...

Zenra I'd love help in any game I own. Especially the older games nobody plays anymore like Kameo. It's just hard finding time to play the story with someone when you get bombarded with invites to play online matches with friends. I WANT to play with my friends but I don't want that to be the only type of game playing I do.

Weasell, I just chalk up un-named friend's emotional outbursts to the heat of the game. Most of the time they don't bother me, but if I'm having a bad day it's harder to shake those comments off. I will say that if you leave the room and we still play he's a different person when your gone. Better? Not exactly. Just more open and personable. Maybe the two of you could have a grugde match and settle whatever differences you have.

As to your whining, yeah you do that sometimes (I'm guilty too) but you let it go and say "ah, well, what are you going to do" or "it's just a game". I can't stand it anymore when people hold on to those gripes the whole time. The other night someone on our team ripped into the fifth player on our team telling them they sucked. That person had more kills than anyone but we still lost. It's hard not to be in a party with the rest of your team so they might not know where someone is to pick up, but that didn't seem to matter.

I wish you would have talked more last night. I didn't know if you were silent because you were mad or what. But it was fun to kill friends again instead of strangers. I miss that. :) Would you be up for a 5 on 5 Gears match?

Helll Weasell said...

Pengwenn, your comment alone gives me reason to delete him. Clearly his attitude towards me is personal and not just the heat of the game.

I don't know what other people do after Gears matches, but if we have a decent teammate outside of the party, I generally send a "good game" message when we're done - win or lose. Some people takes Gears too personally.

I definitely wasn't mad last night. I guess I was a little too focused trying to re-learn the maps, the different style of gameplay, and the controls. I can count at least 3 times last night when I was killed because I messed upon the controls. Then, I'd respawn in the middle of nowhere and have to find the rest of the team while avoiding getting killed again. I think a few more nights are needed to get back in the swing of things.

It was fun killing friends again. A little friendly trash talk instead of what we've become used to is a good thing. I'd be up for playing Gears tonight. 5-on-5 sounds fun. Horde sounds fun. Co-op campaign sounds fun. I'd even go "old school" and play the original Gears for an evening. No promises as to what time I'll be available. I'm hoping for around 8:30 my time (6:30 yours).

Pengwenn said...

I think it's just a connection issue with him. He feels your connection brings everybody else's down so it makes it harder to win if we're all lagging. With me, it's all skill based. My .5 kill/death ratio doesn't help the team. Besides, for me, I think your effervescent personality makes up for any amount of lag that comes with your connection. :) We all come with baggage, right?

If either Zenra or Weasell are up for some Gears 2 campaign on Hardcore (not unlocked insane yet) or insane on the first one let me know. We'll schedule a date one night.

Zenra Nukenin said...

I'd be happy to play some co-op Gears, but unfortunately, my opportunities to play now-a-days are "any chance I get". It seems like the best chance I'd have to play anything with you would be the days that you work from home and play at lunch. The next time that we're online at the same time and I have a decent amount of time to kill, I'll throw my hat into the ring with all of your other invites. ;)

Anonymous said...

I started writing this morning and stopped because I got to emotional and started to take some of the things that were said personally.

I will be the first to say that I was the one who said the host was in your living room. I get frustrated when someone lancers me from across the map and I go down in one second. Sorry, I didn't relaize that I was being offensive. Next, the fifth person comment. We had a fifth person in the room that was not in our party. He was not helping our team get up if they got knocked down and was not initiating contact with the other team. Basically, he was hiding. So when someone pointed out that a person on our team had less kills than him, the comment was made that he sucked. IT WAS A JOKE!!!! You should have known that. He did!
I have been playing with the majority of players on my friends list for years. I would have to say that you, Pengwenn, have been on there longer than anyone else. We go waaaay back. So if I have offended you in some way, I am sorry. I don't really get like that except in GEARS.
But let's face it. I have a lot of sh*t going on in my life right now. These games are sometimes the only way that I can vent some frustration. If I didn't, I am sure I would have directed my car into oncoming traffic by now. I like having you as an online friend. I like everyone on my list... with the occasional exception of Pogue. I am certainly not going to "beg" anyone to keep me on their friends list if they don't want to be. If anyone chooses to delete me... so be it. I will understand... I will wish you well... and I will still play the game.

If my sense of humor (as warped as it is) offends you, please let me know. Sometimes I may carry the ribbing too far. I have no filter! But this is who I am. Take it or leave it. I AM EVIL!!!! :)

Evil Ric

Helll Weasell said...

Ric(k),

I can honsetly say that you are not the friend that I am considering de-listing. My comments were not directed at you. By now you should know who uses me as their "whipping boy".

Pengwenn said...

I NEED HELP HERE! Does that help identify?

I'm not raggin on you specifically, those were just a couple of examples of the general rule of late. Evil, you vent your frustrations. I don't. I keep them locked inside. After a frustrating day at work dealing with incompetent morons I just want to have some light, carefree, fun. Yes, Gears is frustrating (you've heard me swear) but sometimes all that angst/whinning compounds with my day at work and I get fed up. The night in question made me want to tell even Genghis to stick a sock in it because of his whinning (and you know where that comment would have gone).

I just don't know where all the fun went when we all played. It seems so much more serious now. I miss the days of private rooms and killing each other just for the hell of it. We'd talk about what was going on in everyone's lives and had a blast. Now when we talk about our days we lose focus on the game and lose the match....and then start whinning. Maybe we're not as young and carefree as we use to be, but I hope we can still have fun like the old days.

And Pogue has no idea how many times he's almost been deleted from my friends list because of his antics (a comment on facebook today almost put him over the edge again). Unless you become a mass murderer who stalks and tortures his victums, carving my name and some wonton innuendo into their body, I won't delete you as a friend. It would be like erasing many years of happy memories as if they didn't exist. And I'm sure there'll be many more....especially when you buy Gears 3 ;)

Zak said...

I also miss the private matches, those were fun. Thats how I met you guys, now If I can convince my wife to do my homework and test, then I will have more time to play. ha ha ha