Science Discovers That MMOG Players Are Jerks

[vladtehimpaler]

once again, people think they can be dicks online, because no one knows who they are.... Sad.

 

[D_987]

Kudos to David Myers for playing by the rules. He beat City of Heroes jerks at their own game (making good people angry) and did it the right way. I myself have never played City of Heroes, but I think his idea of playing by the rules AND making jerks angry with guerilla tactics and a nack for teleporting is quite a clever idea.

Your only seeing his very biased view on the subject... I wouldn't commend him until you understand exactly what he was doing (I'm not entirely sure, but he was effectively trolling).

Said tactic has also been removed from the game...

 

[IceStar100]

I'm sticking to LOTRO. Everyone there just the not talking to you anti social type.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Wow....and I was thinking about trying CoH/V too.....but if I can't even play the way the game says to....

Who says you can't?

Because it would suck to have to play all by myself because I would want to get rid of the villians?

 

[Tharticus]

This is same old. As long as internet exists we still have this around.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Wow....and I was thinking about trying CoH/V too.....but if I can't even play the way the game says to....

Who says you can't?

Because it would suck to have to play all by myself because I would want to get rid of the villians?

Why would you play by yourself? I mean, you can (the game scales enemy numbers based on team size), but CoH has an extremely good teaming and communication system, and a pretty friendly community. It's the only MMO where I'm willing to actually go out of my way to team.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I must say, I play WoW and I'm not a jerk, tho most people are...

Well nice to know there science, I'm sure something like this will help us save the world or cure diseases!

 

[Paragon Fury]

Wow....and I was thinking about trying CoH/V too.....but if I can't even play the way the game says to....

Who says you can't?

Because it would suck to have to play all by myself because I would want to get rid of the villians?

Why would you play by yourself? I mean, you can (the game scales enemy numbers based on team size), but CoH has an extremely good teaming and communication system, and a pretty friendly community. It's the only MMO where I'm willing to actually go out of my way to team.

Because I would do the same thing Twixt did - build my character up, then set about trying to exterminate every single villian in my server. Sans the whole "teleport enemy" thing. Not because I think its cheap, but because I would find having the robotic defenders doing my work for me boring.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Wow....and I was thinking about trying CoH/V too.....but if I can't even play the way the game says to....

Who says you can't?

Because it would suck to have to play all by myself because I would want to get rid of the villians?

Why would you play by yourself? I mean, you can (the game scales enemy numbers based on team size), but CoH has an extremely good teaming and communication system, and a pretty friendly community. It's the only MMO where I'm willing to actually go out of my way to team.

Because I would do the same thing Twixt did - build my character up, then set about trying to exterminate every single villian in my server. Sans the whole "teleport enemy" thing. Not because I think its cheap, but because I would find having the robotic defenders doing my work for me boring.

In other words, you'd PvP, but not be an asshole about it.

Well...I'm assuming you'd attack people standing around and talking, but that's really an acceptable (and widely accepted) hazard in the PvP zones, even to the point where the game itself warns you not to enter the zone if you don't want to take the risk. At most, you'll get meager and laughed-at complaints...and an ass-whupping if you attack a group of people by yourself. Keep that in mind: even Ice/Energy Blasters (or whatever's flavor of the month right now) shouldn't attack more than one or two people at a time without backup.

That said, much as I don't want to drive you away from the game (though if an obnoxious douchebag like Twixit could, that's probably not hard), City of Heroes doesn't have the best PvP in the MMO market. It was pretty much an afterthought, so the balance is still rather shot...in 1v1 fights, that is. Team battles can get pretty spectacular and are better balanced. Still, PvE is the majority of the game, and (if you ask me) easily the best part.

 

[Booze Zombie]

People are cocks, not just the ones playing MMORPG games.
Also, his "I am above this" dismisal of angry behavior as "medeval" hints at a level of bias in his writing...

 

[TheEnglishman]

I'd kind of figured that one out ages ago.

 

[nipsen]

Perhaps people should be asking what a media professor was doing winding people up for two years?

lol. Most common phrase in any university.

 

[The Great JT]

Wow, MMO players are jerks?! Who knew?!

Remember: Anonymity + Opinion = Fucking Asshole.

 

[Ashbax]

I put all the blame on the specific MMO, go on WoW, join a PVP server, then kill all the alliance (cause they suck) and sure you'll get yelled at by the alliance, but the horde will label you a hero.

Well, kinda because PvP is actually used fairly well in that game.

Battlegrounds, PvP city/town raids, duels, its all pretty fun.

Although its kinda F*cked up that most people only use it for a few weeks so they can get *Shudders* gear, which has sadly become the ENTIRE point of the game somehow.

Seriously, it makes sense! The whole game revolves around gear!

 

[saregos]

On some level, yes, the people were jerks to treat him like that.

On the other hand... he built a character very explicitly around griefing people, and did so in a very nasty way. I haven't really played CoH, but from my experience in WoW, I can tell you I'd rather be killed in-zone than be somehow teleported to a different zone. Yes, he was using game mechanics, but at the same time it seems as though he would move into high-value zones, park there, and lock the other faction out.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the players asked him politely to stop, and were ignored. He was playing the game pretty explicitly to piss people off, and while the level of response he received was inappropriate, he shouldn't really have been surprised that he'd be treated as a dick when he was acting like one.

Finally, his actions probably had direct, negative repurcussions on his own side, as well... again, using WoW PvP realms as a baseline, a lot of people who get ganked by a high-level character will respond by hunting down one or several lower-level characters of that faction and ganking them in turn.

Were the people online dicks? Yes. Did he perhaps go out of his way to draw their ire? Definitely.

That is mostly just speculation. How do you know that he wouldn't listen to "polite players?" The article doesn't talk about that. He didn't play to make other people angry; he played to take on the role of a superhero and fight crime. If I play a game using superior tactics, skill, and abilities and am able to defeat other players, am I in the wrong? No, I am better than them, and they are worse than me. The other players should look to him as someone to aspire to be, not someone to give death threats to.

Firstly, I didn't say I knew that he was asked politely and was ignored. I said I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Calling my statement "speculation" and intending it to be a brush-off is kinda pointless, I made it pretty clear it was speculation in the first place.

In a game such as this, which is effectively forced PvP in the end-game content, a lot of people would prefer to pit themselves against the PvE content as opposed to other players. That's why these unofficial truces exist in the first place, is so people can progress without having to deal with the hassle involved with constant PvP. If the guy wanted to prove that he was the best player on the server, fine. Take every person in the game on once. Keep a damned checklist. Don't constantly kill the same people over and over. That's not playing competitively, after the first time, that's just being a giant dick.

And yes, you're in the wrong, if you choose to take those "superior tactics, abilities and skill" and use them to make playing the game a living hell for as many people as possible. I fail to understand how you could possibly imagine otherwise.

 

[saregos]

Here's a fun experiment:

1) Buy World of Warcraft.
2) Complete the necessary stuff until you're character is made
3) Level to a decent level, around 20 or so
4) Duel someone

I guarantee that 99.9% of the time, whoever you duel, no matter what class you choose, will accuse you of cheating or will try to put "house rules" on you for playing your class correctly.

How DARE Paladins heal!
How DARE Druids use any form but X!
How DARE Rogues use stealth!
How DARE Hunter use...
And it goes in indefinitely.

Get to 80, and it gets worse. Unless you play this class with this gear with this spec with this these addons, you sir are a fucking FAILURE!

People suck.

That's actually the rarity. Nice try, though.

 

[Byers]

A lot of people here post about how he was a troll and ruining the game. I offer solutions.

1. Go to another pvp server, there's more than one.
2. Go to a pve server, grind, then try again to kill him. He died in-game, so he's not invincible.
3. Play another game. The obvious choice.

...he was playing City of Heroes, not World of Warcraft.

And you're completely missing the point. We're not complaining because he was ruining our playing experience. We're complaining because he's the MMO equivalent of a guy who crashes a party, drinks all the beer, sings too loudly, tries to feel up every woman he sees...and then complains when everyone calls him out for being a douchebag.

In other words, he tried to fit in.

 

[NeutralDrow]

A lot of people here post about how he was a troll and ruining the game. I offer solutions.

1. Go to another pvp server, there's more than one.
2. Go to a pve server, grind, then try again to kill him. He died in-game, so he's not invincible.
3. Play another game. The obvious choice.

...he was playing City of Heroes, not World of Warcraft.

And you're completely missing the point. We're not complaining because he was ruining our playing experience. We're complaining because he's the MMO equivalent of a guy who crashes a party, drinks all the beer, sings too loudly, tries to feel up every woman he sees...and then complains when everyone calls him out for being a douchebag.

In other words, he tried to fit in.

Sadly, he had misread his map and thought all the /b/tards had suddenly started putting on superhero costumes.