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

[thermo1]

loling at the above conversation ^

I enjoyed the article very much. I felt a sense of the inspiration coming through. I also read the newscientist article that was referenced. Obviously people will be reluctant to follow a "squeaky" voice but it is interesting how prejudices still arent usually overcome even in the face of obvious ability. SO its good to hear about an exception.

 

[maeson]

i've had such moments. And I have no desire to glorify anything, but I believe I have pulled more than a few Battlefield 2142 matches out of the gutter by taking the Commander seat and making liberal use of the voice com system.

That and I was once complimented in NeoTokyo when someone said "We'll win this if Renkov gets the ghost." (Yeah, Renkov's my neotokyo handle)

The smack-tart demographic is, quite honestly, low in the general population. It's just that they are the most vocal, and thus the most noticable. The majority are the "love wolf" type, going about the motions of the game, with little to no interest in actual team-play.

 

[poet_lawreate]

Sometimes I wonder if I've been this 12-year-old kid that surprises other gamers with good strategies and minimum '******'-calling. Everytime I speak I get 'shut up kid' or 'there's a kid on here' or the like.

/Eighteen year old female who doesn't correct them accordingly.

 

[chuckwendig]

A consistent literary reference? An excellent nick name with paralleled comedic references? A story of online redemption and absolution in one the deepest dankest pits in the puss filled gutter that is the internet? This sir, is a great article.
Oh, and P.S. I for one loved your work on Hunter: The Vigil, you cleaned the mess up that was left after Reckoning nicely. So thank you kindly because I now run a Hunter game every week.

Much appreciated.

-- Chuck

 

[ma55ter_fett]

I once met a kid like this on halo 3, he had a voice that could shatter glass but he was a mean mean mean shot with whatever gunpowder based weapon you put into his hand.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

OK..Yay, kid helped win the match. I get it.

How is this the 'good side' of precubescent racist assholes?

This kid wasn't a precubescent racist asshole. He was just precubescent. Your title is an untruth that has nothing to do with the actual content of your article.

Very well written article, though. Beware that goddamn conch.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

good stuff, definitly a solid story in which ive had happen quite a few times (me personally being the leader a few and me following a friend a few others) its definilty some of those moments in gaming which you would not give up the world for, as they are that fucking awesome.

 

[Actual]

Good read, very amusing.

 

[Wolf Devastator]

Oh, and as much as you keep going for Lord of the Flies with this, I keep being reminded of Ender's Game for some reason. It must be the sharp mind being trained through a series of games thing.

Yeah, same for me. Though I've never read LotF, and have the entire Ender/Shadow collection in my room, so maybe I'm biased

Great story, the first one I've ever fully read through in the weekly story things (I can't even remember what they're called)

 

[Chamale]

One of the best leaders I ever met online was in a game of War Rock. Some charismatic guy on my team, in the middle of a pitched battle on Emblem (the most iconic and overused map) negotiated a truce with the other side. Everyone on the server stopped fighting, and we took a break from the war to have a motorcycle stunt competition. After some Evil Knievel impersonator jumped a motorcycle on top of the tallest water tower in the map, we agreed that no one could top that... and went right back to fighting.

 

[Talon Julius]

This is why people try to be leaders. When you ignore the man (or boy in this case) giving orders you might be throwing a wrench into the gears of victory. Truly if everyone played the game in the manner Pip demonstrated these games would be something more. Something grander.

 

[TheScottishFella]

Ouch I would like to disagree I am not ashamed to admit I am 14 years old I play online games on my PC and do my best to be a team player but I keep getting met with hurtful comments and people making me feel like dirt but you know it has come to a point where I feel I should never use my mic play as someone who can go off and not one person will care we are not all little assholes I know xbox live is a breed for people like that but not everyone is bad some just want to play a bloody game without feeling like there voice is what defines how a man plays. If this is how you feel fine your opinion is yours and I respect that but it is a bad way to think and makes just as bad as other people who thinks every single child is cruel 95% of us are but not all.

What in blazes have Mr Comma and Mr Semicolon done to you for you to hate them this much?

Sorry, wrote this late at night. Was tired just didn't care.

 

[Jumplion]

Funny, I just finished reading "Lord of the Flies" for English class. Makes me feel smart knowing what you're talking about

One thing I find difficult about communicating online is that you never truly know if people are following your orders/advice as usually the game is extremely fast paced to really know if anyone is doing anything right at all. I do use the microphone option every now and again, but most of the time I just keep quite and do my thing.

 

[wonkify]

Lord of the Flies is an apt comparison for the first part, but "Ender's Game" fits the leadership part far better. In fact, as I write this there are 134 comments ahead of me and it's hard to believe there aren't 134 "Ender's" references as well.

Anyone can teach/learn the principles of leadership but history shows that certain intangible elements that the best natural leaders possess are probably from birth, i.e. born not made.

So it's not at all surprising to me that some flashes of this like you experienced will crop up. I pray that young man and others, boys and girls both, recognize their abilities from these experiences and pursue developing them later in life.

 

[MasterChief892039]

Great story. I live for those epic moments in gaming, haha.

 

[I-Protest-I]

This reminded me of my strategy for multi-player games. It has nothing to do with winning or losing, but getting enjoyable, well-behaved teammates. In most FPS games, people fall into this culture of insults and trolling, and twelve-year olds are the most susceptible to it.

The solution, I have found, is act as an example; to present yourself as polite, respectful and kind-hearted. In the Halo 3 lobby, I have been known to say in my smooth, public radio voice "Good evening everybody. Before we start, I'd just like to say that it's an honor and a privileged to be playing with you all tonight. Here's to a fun game, and may the best team win" and that sort of thing. The reactions that I have received have, for the most part, been really endearing. Once I remember sneaking into the enemy base, and hearing them talk about "That nice Scorpio guy. I really like him."

You did the same as me, I always enjoyed asking how everybody was and how they were doing. Being consistently nice to people made even the arseholes think twice about being dicks.

 

[somonels]

I do not enjoy this kind of fantasy.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

Digging up an old post I know, but I've only just read it.

Very funny and well written. I liked the Golding references. I do find the title a little offensive though towards us Brits.