Topical Tuesday: Rage

[Spinwhiz]

Topical Tuesday: Rage

As gaming continues to become a bigger part of everyday life, the probability of annoyance increases dramatically. From impossible bosses to loud-mouth brats over chat channels, everyone has their breaking point.

Welcome back to Topical Tuesday! Every week we ask the community a question related to our weekly magazine topic. Our goal is to begin an intelligent discussion based on a topic that's uniquely relevant to us as gamers and nerds, and the industry we love. Opinions are welcome, but please justify your claim with support - such as quoting information from one of our featured articles - even if that requires a little research before posting. Please use examples to back-up your opinion.

The first videogames were designed to give the world digital fun. As the videogame industry started to take form in computers and consoles, the most upsetting things that could happen was your friend beating your high score or not having the proper hook-up for your TV. As time progressed and the industry blossomed into the Goliath it is today, more ways for rage to build developed.

Since each person is different, we would like to know what flips your rage switch, which leads up to today's Topical Tuesday question.

What is it in gaming or the internet that just drives you batty?

And to add to the discussion, feel free to participate in our poll "What Do You Hate the Most?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102508-Poll-What-Do-You-Hate-the-Most] Go over and vote for your least favorite and there may even be a badge in it for you.

 

[Onsheka]

Oddly I can endure all the mongfish on chat, the impossible battles, idiot AI helpers, the platform crashing and constant death. What I find annoying is the age-old human spectator, this guy always comment on poor play, give 'helpful' hints, point out enemies I spotted 5 minutes go, bug me to get the crate/star/barrel. A sub-group of this creature is the guy who's already finished, ruins the plot twists, tells you how to defeat a boss. No-one likes a back-seat driver.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Some games could have been gems, if it wasn't that after watching a bunch of gameplay vids and interview etc, you start to realize that the gaming companies have grown so much that (most of them) they don't care anymore about the FUN factor, nor about prolonging the gameplay possibilities, instead they keep their ideas for DLC launches (whether it be for maps gameplay modes etc...).

And that's when you realize they don't "reward" gamers for their fan-attitude about a certain game by launching an Expansion which was almost like 1/3 more of new game content compared to the original game.

Moneymakers CEO's have never been so despicable, in the way that if you finished a game, you will want more about it, (if you liked it), and so they use it to manipulate your pulsions against yourself.

 

[BlackJack47]

Not a lot gets to me, except when a person challenges me because they see me as weak that always makes me flip.

 

[Flames66]

PC gamers. smug assholes the lot of them!well, at least in my experience. the worse part of it is when i say i don't like PC gamers they think I'm trolling. because apparently their too awesome to be hated. bastards.

I'm a PC gamer myself and I have no problem with you criticising it. As long as you have no problem with me disliking console controllers and lack of mods I think we can get on fine.

Anyway, the thing I hate is how everything wants you to set up an account before you can use it. The best multiplayer in my opinion is the type that you just install the game and play it. You don't have to make an account, pick a unique name, get achievements and what ever else. I have said many times now that I will not sign up to anything else to access my games and I cannot play GTA 4 (which I picked up in the Steam sales) multiplayer for that reason.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Anyway, the thing I hate is how everything wants you to set up an account before you can use it. The best multiplayer in my opinion is the type that you just install the game and play it. You don't have to make an account, pick a unique name, get achievements and what ever else. I have said many times now that I will not sign up to anything else to access my games and I cannot play GTA 4 (which I picked up in the Steam sales) multiplayer for that reason.

First of all, I felt this was damned important to point out. I don't want to sign up for seven permanent accounts to play your game. Starcraft 1 did it nicely. You make an account. If you don't show up in 3 months, account it gone, no harm no foul.

Anyway, the biggest thing that makes me angry at games now is sometimes the downright forced story. The love interest that will obviously fall for you, the guy who will ultimately stab you in the back, the cool guy who will die in the first 5 minutes...I want to see some damned actual twists that I wouldn't notice. That weak annoying character who seemed to be designed to make my ears bleed? They died? Awesome! I didn't see that coming!

 

[Blueruler182]

The assholes who badmouth their team mates for no reason. I've joined so many games just to get in an argument with someone because he decided to call some kid a fagot and the kid was getting irritated. Or when they've started badmouthing me for no other reason than them misreading my name as the french word for "thank you."

 

[Leviathan_]

FPS's can make me rage so easily. Bad Company 2 for example: Whenever the knife doesn't work, when the C4 doesn't do any damage or simply doesn't detonate, when you shoot someone with the 40MM shotgun in the head but it doesn't register the hit, getting killed by a 40mm grenade launcher from up close after your shotgun doesn't work, AN-94 spammers who sit in the back with their Magnum ammo and 4X scope, People who instantly use their Carl Gustav whenever they see something move, idiots who block stairwells and doorways, retarded tankdrivers who back up full speed after getting hit by a pistol round, people who wont drop ammo or health, people who revive you in front of a group of enemies, when I don't get any points for capping a flag, when everyone is just sitting in the back as recon during rush, when the game crashes for no reason, when you try and spot someone but it doesn't work for some odd reason, when getting insta killed by a sniper from up close after a knifebug, etc.

I never really rage over voice chat as people are too thick to actually listen to anyone, so I keep the rage for Vent.

It seems like I rage more when playing shooters though, I cannot recall me ever getting really enraged at an RPG or RTS game.

 

[RYjet911]

When games lie to me about how a person killed me.

Damn you Modern Warfare 2 for making my blood pressure double within minutes of playing, but also for being so damn addictive that I can't stop playing it until my blood vessels explode.

Also, games that have glitches that really should have been found, considering they are sections necessary to progressing through the game. I'm looking at you, STALKER.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

As for the internet, I am a firm believer that 4chan should never be discussed outside of 4chan. It's got a distinct "no soap, radio" thing about it, particularly with those stupid, pathetic memes that they keep spreading. As much as they'd like to believe that a joke continues to be funny when it's repeated for the thousandth time, it really doesn't.

Firstly, u mad.

Secondly, one of my (only) sources of e-rage comes from this forum's insistence that we are, for some reason, the only intelligent place on the internet.

Protip: I'd consider some 4chan boards more intelligent (sorry Rak)

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

Firstly, u mad.

Secondly, one of my (only) sources of e-rage comes from this forum's insistence that we are, for some reason, the only intelligent place on the internet.

Protip: I'd consider some 4chan boards more intelligent (sorry Rak)

I don't consider this forum "the only intelligent place on the internet". However, I've been in forums far more cerebral than this or anything that I've seen from 4chan. That's how I want the internet to be.

That last bit doesn't really make sense... what's how you want the internet to be?

EDIT: Also, just wondering, which 4chan boards did you go on? Some are... a lot better than others.

 

[Nickolai77]

Online play can really make me angry. Normally, in my day to day life I am very seldom angry at all- but the frustration of repeatedly dying on games such as Modern Warfare 2 really can get me to rage.

It's a lot harder to die on single-player mode, and you usually take down a small army of bots before going down yourself- and then you can work your way around the problem by adapting to the predictable tactics that the AI may use. (For instance, i may have died when a load of bots spawned behind me, but when i next get to that stage in the level, i can be ready for them.

On-line multiplayer is so much more difficult because everyone out there is your equal, sometimes you'll have the pleasure if outwiting them but sometimes, to equal measure, they will outwit you too. It's so much harder to predict the moves and tactics of specific enemies on-line. Sure, you know were the enemy typically go and the routes they take, but trying to predict the moves of individuals is rather difficult. That plus everyone has the same amount of health means that on-line multiplayer is so much more frustrating and challenging. But, because it is more challenging i feel that it is at least more rewarding when you do well on an on-line match than completing a level on single-player.

 

[Irridium]

What drives me insane is when games advertise player choice and whatnot but what they give is merely the illusion of choice.

Take Fallout 3 for example, very few choices actually matter in the story. All they result in is an NPC or two simply isn't there anymore. Whats more, at the end where the game should tell you what happens to the wasteland after your choices, it just recaps what you did instead of actually telling you what happens in the future.

And don't even get me started on the dialog where you have 3 responses but all lead to one reaction. Thats not choice or a good dialog system, thats an illusion of one.

Hell sometimes Fallout 3 doesn't even let you answer questions truthfully. For example, when you finally find your father, and he askes why you tried to find him, you can't tell him you tried to find him because the overseer went insane and tried to kill you. You can't tell him that.

Its complete bullshit and pisses me off to no end.

And as for most of the rage on the internet, I think Shamus Young answered that question quite nicely:

 

[Shapsters]

Why is the Escapist so insistent on things that make us angry? "What do you hate the most?" "What sets you into a rage?" Why not be happy? Talk about things you love and things that make you happy and forget abut bad things.

Things that make me angry? People who linger on little things that piss them off instead of focusing on all the good stuff.

 

[Shapsters]

Why is the Escapist so insistent on things that make us angry? "What do you hate the most?" "What sets you into a rage?" Why not be happy? Talk about things you love and things that make you happy and forget abut bad things.

Things that make me angry? People who linger on little things that piss them off instead of focusing on all the good stuff.

Somebody didn't take a look at the topic of this week's Weekly Issue, I gather.

No didn't but if its related to this topic then the point still stands. Why not write about happy things like puppies and rainbows?

Or double rainbows!!