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.