Poll: "First World Problems"

[Ledan]

I usually use it on people just as a joke, to try and lighten them up.
It depends on context, but when I/my friends use it's more of a "don't worry, it's not too bad". It isn't meant to guilt people, or make slight of their problems, more of a reminder of how serious/not serious their problem actually is.

 

[2xDouble]

If an argument can be boiled down to "I paid for X, I should be getting Y", just stop. Caveat emptor, bitches.

If you have a legitimate concern the product is not "fit for purpose" (what it says it does, not what you assume it should do), then by all means, speak up.

Regards to the question of "ability" to complain: Complain all you want, just don't expect any sympathy.

captcha: dish fall sales event. Speaking of not fit for purpose...

 

[aba1]

Iunno seems like the new popular phrase to say . It's annoyig a fuck, but just wait for the fad to kick in . What i hate though is people that take stuff from the internet and say them in real life . I first person to say that to me in real life gets slapped and i will say " did that hurt? At least you didn't lose a limb , first world problems".

hahahaha that would be so funny... best idea ever!

 

[Something Amyss]

There are some valid applications, but people use it all the time because ponies. If someone's all "FML" because their daddy didn't get them a porsche, yeah. Usually, though, it's just douchebaggery.

 

[lacktheknack]

People complain too much. That's all there really is to it.

There are legitimate complaints and illegit complaints.

And many...MANY people seem to miss out on which is which.

This. As it is with everything.

Some things just aren't worth complaining about, and it's eleven or twelve different kinds of irritating when that's what people complain about.

See: Yesterday's "Wii Us can be bricked if you don't follow simple instructions!" debacle.

 

[Your Gaffer]

Who cares what other people think? It is a free country and you can complain all day if you like, just like other people have the right to say your complaints are overwrought and overblown.

 

[Callate]

I think I like it better when the complainer acknowledges a "first world problem" to head off the "well, that's nothing compared to what the price of rice is doing to poor countries in southeast Asia" comparison.

Seriously, no one is going to put a stop to complaining on the Internet; after pornography and videos of kittens, it's more or less the major function of the thing. But unless a "first world problem" actually relates to a more significant one (as might be argued to be the case with the recent "Conflict Minerals" article), the most that's required is tuning the complainer out.

 

[DoPo]

Err, I always thought that "first world problems" referred to people making an enormously big deal out of trivial shit.

Like someone spilling soda all over themselves and then declaring that their whole life is ruined and that they might as well just drop dead.

This would have been fine, and I actually think it started out that way, however, people use it ALL THE TIME. You can seriously go to a support forum somewhere, and say "This software doesn't work" and you can get someone going "first world problems". OK, that exact scenario is not that common but there is nothing stopping it from happening. The phrase can and is actually used in response to any mentions of problems that aren't about starving children in Africa and so on. That's what's annoying.

 

[Gylukios]

People can only understand what they've experienced. That is not intrinsically their fault, it is just the way we as humans work.

Do not blame the trivial complainer for his complaints. He speaks from his specific viewpoint, his understanding, his experiences, which are necessarily unlike any other. In the grand scheme of things his complains are trivial, but from the scope of his limited understanding they are important. Does that make them meaningless? No.

Most, if not all of the people touting "First World problems" as a response to complaints they see as trivial compared to "Third World problems" are just fools looking for a way to feel superior to their peers. It is just the voice of the ignorant, purporting to speak for those whom they do not understand to make themselves seem more worldly. It is that very ignorance, that lack of understanding while believing they do understand, which leads to much wasted effort to help the "Third World," if we can be so arrogant as to name something like that.

Until we can achieve true understanding without misconceptions, which may prove to be impossible, these types of issues will always exist. Do not blame the individual, blame human nature.

 

[kickassfrog]

People complain too much. That's all there really is to it.

There are legitimate complaints and illegit complaints.

And many...MANY people seem to miss out on which is which.

I was going to post, but this sums what I was going to say up quite nicely.
Say, missing the bus, or getting soaked by a car driving through a puddle and spraying you are fairly legit complaints.
That frame rate issue OP is on about is just fucking stupid.

 

[Mr.Cynic88]

First World Problems:

My 30mbs internet speed is hindered by my outdated router.

My 2005 car stereo doesn't have an auxiliary cable slot, but is modern enough that it doesn't have a cassette player either, which means I have to listen to my ipod using a somewhat staticy radio transmitter.

I hate waiting for a digital game purchase to download because I want to play it NOW!

 

[Zantos]

This is just some meme that you shouldn't get worked up about. Your friend isn't making some grand socio-economic statement on the entitled nature of consumers brought on by a comfortable standard of living for most people in MEDCs. They just think they're being funny. Ignore it. Or slap them, then ignore it if it really bothers you. It's nothing to get worked up about.

 

[Auron225]

Take whatever you will from this but when you have been to a 3rd world country - you go home and really see how ridiculous a lot of your "problems" were and realize how good you have it.

This doesn't mean all problems in the first world are first world problems. "I got fired and can't provide for my family anymore" is a serious problem that can easily happen in the first world but its a phrase thats reserved for ridiculous things like "why is the remote all the way over there?"

 

[Kenjitsuka]

People should be allowed to complain about stuff that really gets to them, whatever it's status in regards to other people on a global scale.

AFAIK there are a lot more people with clinical depressions in the first world than in the third. The fact that I don't have to hunt for food, but do have to buy food as cheaply as possible from an extremely small disability check is in essence about the same problem.
The fact that I might have more time to worry about making ends meet next month, then someone in Africa makes it equal parts misery for all around, in my view.

The West gets the luxuries AND the stress.
So yes, maybe a game not working properly (for a bit or long term) might not seem like much to an outsider. But for the person who wanted to play that game really bad to unwind after a long hard days work it can be a pretty big deal.

Speaking about not being able to play games at random times for reasons not your own, I'm looking sternly at you Blizzard!!!

 

[Dogstile]

The phrase pisses me off. "Oh, you've lost internet and your assignment is due in tomorrow? That's first world problems dude, people in Africa can't even eat".

Good for them, I don't give a fuck. This is a legitimate problem, just because someone else halfway across the world has problems doesn't make my problems any less of a problem.

 

[404notfound]

I'm going to go down the middle here and say that sometimes I think complaining is justified and then others it becomes priviledged people acting like knobs.

For example, I think if a game is released and it totally unplayable due to bugs or the multiplayer is unable to connect at all for anyone then those are legitimate topics for complaint, but things such as 30 FPS caps in games being complained about is just stupid IMO, the developers aren't obligied to pander exactly too what you want in a game and it's their game so they can make it how they want, just because you don't get that 30 extra FPS, which isn't really that noticable from what I can tell, is not a legitimate criticism for a game.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

People complain too much. That's all there really is to it.

There are legitimate complaints and illegit complaints.

And many...MANY people seem to miss out on which is which.

This. We're being pressured by so many marketing firms to believe that, oh, "Product X is the BEST THING EVER! WATCH OUT, 'CAUSE IT'S COMING AND WHEN IT'S THERE, IT'S GONNA BLOW YOUR FUCKING MIND!"

And then you find out that Product X is actually average. Mediocre, even.

We're being told that we're entitled to certain standards of quality without any regard for the ability or inability of the purveyor to actually go ahead and provide us with it, and we come to assume that these standards are immutable. If anyone so much as dares not to meet MY standards, then I am entitled to a shit-fit.

Ahem. No. No, I'm not. BioWare didn't trick anyone. It simply dropped the ball. "Tricking" implies a deliberate move, a Snidely Whiplash-esque determination to spread suffering for its own sake - the love of causing pain or various grievances. No company of any kind would openly try and hurt its customers; it's just very, very, very bad for business.

But, of course, it's so much easier to think that this or that corporate entity is evil, whereas that other one is good. It appeals to our sense of morality and makes things easier on an emotional level. We can comfortably say stuff like, I dunno, "Valve is unilaterally awesome and EA is the scum of the Earth".

Both are companies. Both are made up of human beings. Human beings are fallible and have base instincts and desires. Instincts like greed and the desire to be successful at all costs. Mistakes WILL be made, no matter how much you as a gamer find yourself hoping for perfection.

So yes, there are first-world problems for which I always thought some gamers should be scolded for daring to mention. The ending of a specific game pissed you off? Play another one, and maybe try and accept the fact that others might be satisfied with what they have. Offer criticism if you can, but the fact that howling rage is the only thing that will get developers to pay attention is just so damn shameful.

It's shameful for everyone involved. Those lodging complains in that manner and the company that receives them. I just can't wait for the day where gaming will have evolved as an art form to the point where we'll be able to discuss finished games in university seminars and to learn from past mistakes in a more academic fashion, instead of howling for reparation mere weeks after a game's release.

 

[trollnystan]

I tend to use that phrase when I myself am complaining about something. "Oh noes, I ran out of milk! D= ... Lol, first world problem! =D"

It's a method I use to get things in perspective so I don't drown in depression. You know, more than I already am. /emo

I am perhaps guilty of using it on my friends too, but sometimes they tend to get stuck on something that upsets them and then go on and on and on about it. I figure they need a jokey wake up call then. Or, you know, sometimes I just use it as a JOKE.

I will agree that when people just dismiss genuine grievances with it, or a similar phrase, it's bloody annoying. If everyone thought liked that - "Stop trying to change the way things are; STATUS QUO FTW!" - then we'd still be effing foraging for food on the savannah.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I appriciate the idea behind the statement more than the application of said statement. If I hear similar from some sanctimonious do-gooder raising money for African releif or trying to save the rainforrest, I might call them condesending, but at least I know it's coming from an honest belief that there are other problems to be solved first before we worry about online passes and day one DLC. On the internet however it pretty much comes off as "stop complaining. I can't argue with anything you say but you're bringing me down and harshing my fanboyism for game X, or company Y by making me acknowledge their imperfections and dick move cash grabs."

I've mostly written it off as people complaining about compalining, and laughing at the irony becuase having to deal with complaints is a "first world problem" in and of itself.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

#FWP CAN be a valid response.

But it depends on what the problem is, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HOW the person communicates it.

ex:
"X game won't run in widescreen and the settings keep messing up! What do I do?" (#FWP not valid)

"UGH my stupid resolution is messed up! Did they even test this?! FML!" (FWP valid)

"OMGTHISISHITMY!@#$INGRESOLUTIONISALL!@#$EDUPANDTHEDEVELOPERSARE!@#$INGMORONS!" (#FWP Valid and not even enough)

As you can see, communication is everything. If you're complaining and seeking a fix, or are merely stating your displeasure in a reasonable way, FWP should not apply. If you're being a whiny ***** about it (especially if it's a small problem), then "lol, first world problem" is a perfectly valid comment.