270: The 12-Year-Old English Kid Who Carried Us to Victory

[Unesh52]

Now that was a fun read. I wish there were more experiences like that in online FPS's. I was thinking about this while I was playing MAG on rent from Gamefly. There seemed to be a system that promoted certain players to positions of authority, which I thought was a great idea. However, everything was based on a level system specific to each individual, including who got the power, so not only did individuals have little incentive to, say, defend a position instead of running into the fray for some free kills, but the "authority" to order them around could go to anyone who had been in the game long enough, regardless of their qualifications as leader. I guess it doesn't matter though, I never saw anyone who was apparently a leader of any in game group anyway.

I blame poor communication support on consoles (if you don't have a keyboard, the PS eye, or a head mike, you're SOL. Actually, the keyboard and the PS eye especially aren't that useful either).

And the extra reading was intriguing too. I despise the tendency of humanity to "follow it's gut," so to speak, rather than objectively weighing the options. Now, instinctual reactions are useful, but only in situations where you're pressed for time and/or information. In the sedentary age of the internet, we are pressed for neither 90% of the time. And yet political pundits can still argue against their opponents for their choice of "fancy" mustard, regardless of their policies or qualifications.

 

[Blackjack 222]

Everything is better with a good leader.
(note i said LEADER not politician... I also said GOOD)

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

A cool article over at New Scientist today about the "natural selection of leaders."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727761.400-the-natural-selection-of-leaders.html

Related reading, I suppose you could say?

-- Chuck

That was a facinating read. I loved your article as well! Intriguing and with just the right amount of humour.

 

[Dooly95]

Interesting.

It's quite sad that there aren't many games that focus on this whole environment of "team play" nowadays - the only real example I saw the last couple of years was Natural Selection; the others could be well won by a good lone wolf or a crazy gunman.

I think everyone knows or heard about a story similar to this one, which is really encouraging. Out of the 8~9 assholes online, there are those tiny grains of good people.

 

[Patton662]

The sad thing is people like that are one in a million. To think how many times I was called a f*g the moment I spoke because of my distinct Eastern European accent, I just gave up. I'd rather find a clan/guild of friendly people to play with then expose myself to the cesspool that is the xbox live.

 

[chuckwendig]

That was fucking epic. If it doesn't make the next Editors choice, shame on Russ Pitts.

Such vivid imagery and description, blurred with classical literature quotes and contemporary subject matter made for a extremely engaging read. Hats off to Chuck Wendig.

Thanks, LC!

-- Chuck

 

[Aptspire]

Very good read. I believe that many Multiplayer Online games could use 'Pip' (I, for one, also notice a lack of complex strategic thinking in games designed for Martial strategy. i.e. Starcraft is often won with rushes, either early or late in the game, and, at least in the battles I've seen, Eve's strategy goes: get cloaked on battlefield, cloaked sets 'jump field', Capitals and rest of forces arrive, Primary and Secondary (attack and defense) targets are set, and then it depends if you have a large backup, as well as your use of Electronics)

 

[GrinningManiac]

A similar "good vibe" on games, particularly TF2, I've noted, is when the team's losing badly and suddenly, without any "Pip" giving orders or ANYONE at all using voicechat, we band together. Suddenly medics are helping everyone. Suddenly Engineers are supporting firing positions. Suddenly the Pyros are finding the enemy spys. Suddenly we start to, in a sweet, instant unison, kick their arses all the way back to their nuseries

 

[Karasawa_]

12 year olds shouldn't be playing unsuitable games /thread

I totally agree with this guy... although, in my experience it does seem teenagers and early 20-somethings can be just as immature and racist and awful as the stereotype of XBoxLive kids shouting the N word at each other. To be perfectly honest, the only good teamwork I have come across is on PC games such as TF2 and BF2. The biggest problem with consoles is the expensive peripherals and the casual gaming attitude.
For example, I bought an £8 headset to communicate on BF2, when I was in a clan, and the chat goes from teamwork stuff to general, friendly chat. Now, if I were to get a headset for my PS3, it'd cost me like £30 for a crappy Bluetooth thing, or about £80 for quality headset (with surround sound). Whenever I hear VOIP activity on console games it's about 5% of the time someone trying to apply some teamwork, and a 45%/50% of music spam/general noise, and racist abuse rage.

P.S. Loved the article. It's not often enough, in the world of videogames, that people get over the Brit v American competitiveness and get along. Incidentally, the most fun I had playing World at War with with some Americans (it was very late so only American servers online) who didn't take things too seriously and most importantly, knew it was about fun. Plus, my ping was terrible, due to the distance, so I just messed about trying to get lucky with the bazooka, and they thought it was hilarious.

 

[Evil the White]

Just going to niggle this, the quote at the top is wrong; "Kill the pig" is only said once whenever the chant comes up. I studied this book over the course of two years, so I'm allowed to be mildly annoyed.

Don't have the actual book in front of me at present, but:

http://books.google.com/books?id=hau4eUh2Z7wC&pg=PA68&dq=%22kill+the+pig%22&hl=en&ei=s1CGTLCVHMLflgetnpCNDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22kill%20the%20pig%22&f=false

-- Chuck

The edition of the book I had only said "Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Bash her in!" But then again, the only pigs they kill are all sows, so the pigs were refered to as 'her' in the one I had, so it could be slight differences in editions. However, I think that it's more likely due to a mis-quote: the highlighted text you were quoting from is actually a summary, not a direct extract, and the extra "KIll the pig" makes it fit to a traditional western 4/4 time signature more easily than "Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Bash her in!", because that leaves an extra two beats left over, so it is natural to try and fill them in.

 

[Twinmill5000]

Thank you so much for posting this.

 

[Sevre]

I for one am loving the Lord of the Flies references Chuck! What great work of literature will be featured next?^^

 

[cefm]

I know a bunch of ex-Marines who use digital voice modulators so that on X-Box live their voices sound like the Chipmunks. Possibly Pip may be a 40 year old Master Sergeant?

 

[Nikolaz72]

Good Story, very inspirational, but. IS everything in it true though? It sounds pretty far out that almost everyone on a team of Modern Warfare would follow a guy nomatter how inspiring he is. Chances are a great part probably has music in their ears or some others reason not to being able to listen on top of not wanting to in the first place?

If it is true though. Good on you, this is probably a once in a lifetime thing.

according to the article only 3 team members got on board, the rest continued thier mucking about.

That said I think theres somethign we often forget about when singing of the trash online. Look how many of us complain about it/ detest it. Surely there are some hippocrates there but usually I gotta say there's maybe 1 guy in the game calling me "******" and such. The rest are mostly quiet or, perhaps just shout the occasional idea, or obscenity at frustration from death. I'm not really appauled by somone saying "aw fuck" when they die. But going on a 5 minute rant about what a ****** the sniper is, is a different issue.

Yeah there are some really low folks online, but are they even really the majority?

Taking that the majority of the world is stupid. I believe that yes, yes they are.

 

[108Stitches]

I too wish that this was the norm and not the exception.

Back in the day, playing Unreal Tournament, I fell in with a clan and ended up having friends for life. The GTech kids all went on to have families and lives and nobody really played much, but we kept our clan site up and running, just so we could chat with each other and keep posted on everyone's successes (and failures) (Think FB before FB was even a glimmer).

I have had ONE Xbox Live game similar to this one, and unfortunately, it was while I was home sick so the folks that I played with were never seen online again (since I typically played 12 hours later in the day). It was the single greatest day of MW that I enjoyed. If only every evening spent playing could be as cordial and organized.

(Oh, and during my UT days...I always relished in seeing the "Streak was ended by Canus")

 

[Mr. Omega]

A good read, and gives me hope for the future of online-gaming. Wisdom and skill can come in any form, and is a key to victory in any battle. Proper unit strategy almost always trumps a team of lone-wolves when done right.

 

[2fish]

I have had a few good team games in FEAR and TF2. In FEAR we actually all took jobs and did our jobs. Players even called for help and got the help they asked for.

In TF2 it seems to be more of the mob has a goal and we all go for it. Althoug I have had a few players team up and we ran our own little war while the rest of the team just charged into the bullets of our enemy. A medic, pyro, and demoman can do anything.

 

[Stevo_s]

nice! I play with a clan and we all, know each others plans, we back each other up and always help each other out.
Very cool on Pip I'd never do that sort of thing when playing by myself cause no one would listen and of course, what do I care if I use another player I will never know as bait just to increase my K ratio?
haha guess I'm cynic. Very good article.
made me smile!