Poll: "First World Problems"

[ResonanceSD]

So I was trying to launch Guild Wars 2 the other day, and because I run a custom widescreen resolution, it wouldn't launch, I tried again and again, but it wouldn't work until I reset my monitor to a "normal" res of 1920x1080. Apparently Arenanet have changed their FoV in GW2 which makes custom resolutions a bit hit or miss.

When I mentioned that to a guildmate I got the response "lol, that's such a first world problem"

And isn't that the point? I live in the first world, am I now not allowed to complain about anything because it gets immediately compared to a starving kid somewhere else? Are problems no longer valid unless they're equivalent to famine and war (and pestilence and death and chaos)

Well apparently, in gaming we see it all the time

"I paid 60/99 bucks for this game and it doesn't run at 60fps on my system"

'That's a first world problem dude, deal with it'

"[Absolutely not bioware] promised us so much and delivered none of it!"

'First world problem dude, deal with it'


Come on, people -_-

Anyway! /rant, what do you think of "first world problems" as a response to complaints?

 

[aba1]

Sometimes it is funny but at other times it feels a little condescending. Just because our problems are not as large as others doesn't make them not problems just less important issues. If you are only ever allowed to have problems if yours are worse than everyone elses than only one person in the whole world is allowed to complain at any one time. There is always someone with worse problems than yours.

 

[Keoul]

I think some are reasonable and some are not.

"I paid 60/99 bucks for this game and it doesn't run at 60fps on my system"

'That's a first world problem dude, deal with it'

This isn't something you should complain about.
60 is fantastic, 30+ is good enough, if you wanted it to run better then just lower the graphic settings or get a better computer. There are ways to solve this problem and complaining isn't one of them

"[Absolutely not bioware] promised us so much and delivered none of it!"

'First world problem dude, deal with it'

A more reasonable dilemma
You were tricked basically, fair enough to complain about this.

So really it depends on the "problem" that decides whether or not it's a "valid" problem.

 

[FalloutJack]

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.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Well, we do have some rather petty issues, but just because people are starving in Africa doesn't lessen your issues at all. We should be grateful for what we have, but that doesn't mean we don't have a right to complain when there's a problem.

 

[krazykidd]

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".

 

[beastro]

So I was trying to launch Guild Wars 2 the other day, and because I run a custom widescreen resolution, it wouldn't launch, I tried again and again, but it wouldn't work until I reset my monitor to a "normal" res of 1920x1080. Apparently Arenanet have changed their FoV in GW2 which makes custom resolutions a bit hit or miss.

When I mentioned that to a guildmate I got the response "lol, that's such a first world problem"

And isn't that the point? I live in the first world, am I now not allowed to complain about anything because it gets immediately compared to a starving kid somewhere else? Are problems no longer valid unless they're equivalent to famine and war (and pestilence and death and chaos)

Well apparently, in gaming we see it all the time

"I paid 60/99 bucks for this game and it doesn't run at 60fps on my system"

'That's a first world problem dude, deal with it'

"[Absolutely not bioware] promised us so much and delivered none of it!"

'First world problem dude, deal with it'


Come on, people -_-

Anyway! /rant, what do you think of "first world problems" as a response to complaints?

I would not consider those First World Problems.

First World Problems involve the culture of dependency, poverty of the mind, the lack of fulfillment and other issues which are at the heart of the Underclass and effect everyone else.

What it really comes down to is that fact that people can afford most, if not all of the perks of modern life , but still consider themselves poor and in need of help. The reasons behind why some can have an iphone, a wireless connection and other amenities, but be labels poor by society and they themselves wanting to be labelled such for "free" government handouts is the pressing matter.

The work of Theodore Dalrymple goes into detail about this.

 

[BlazeRaider]

Reminds me of this comic:

You can always take the mature road and tell them their face is a first world problem.

 

[Altorin]

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.

can I get that handbook which describes which are which? because you seem to have one.

 

[Entitled]

The problem with online mass communication, is that it is easy to exaggerate a comment or a thread that you see somewhere, into a mass of agressively whiny people.

For example you see a 30 page long argument about the Mass Effect 3 ending being unpopular, so you think "Wow, these people spend all their day screaming at their monitor and whining as if their annoyances would be more important than the brewing war in the Middle-East!!!"

Because you take a few short forum posts, and exaggerate each of them into a whole person, such as "That guy who keeps ranting about the Mass Effect ending", as if that would be all he is noteworthy for.

You don't imagine him as a random guy with a job, a family, and a variety of hobbies and interests, who happened to be slightly interested about the issue so he casually threw his 2 cents into the thread, but as the cardboard caricature of an angry nerd, as a machie that's only purpose is to post that angry comment online about Mass Effect.

Just think about when was the last time you accused someone of acting "obsessively" about an issue in the Internet. Whether the claim was aimed at a fandom, at a hatedom, at a cultural group, or any other concept, unless you were following the same individual for a long period of time and tracking his series of several single-themed posts, probably that "obsessiveness" was just someone who was once disagreeing with you on the internet, and using allcaps or hyperboles for emphasis, just like you did, and then forgetting about it next day, just as you did.

 

[Thaluikhain]

People saying "first world problem" is itself a first world problem most of the time.

Yeah, it's dismissive and condescending, but if your problem is just a frustration, fair enough.

It's it's a serious problem, even if it's not as bad as serious as some of the problems faced by some of the people in the third world, then I don't blame you for being pissed off about it.

 

[Entitled]

Okay, Guild Wars 2 doesn't function very well on custom resolutions. Is that a mark against the game at all? Is any reasonable human being going to consider that any kind of negative issue?

Umm, yes, If a game is so badly optimized that it fails to even run on my high-end PC until I figure out that I have to reset my monitor resolution (of all things), that's a pretty big flaw for any reasonable human being.

 

[Daveman]

It is a bit ridiculous to complain about these things, but don't let that stop you, just have fun with it. Your buddies must be using it wrong, it's not that you can't complain it's just funny how some people complain about relatively minor irks. It's an observation not an argument basically.

Anyway, I've run out of lemon slices to put in with my cup of earl grey. #firstworldproblems

I also like how this thread is effectively a first world problem.

 

[FalloutJack]

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.

can I get that handbook which describes which are which? because you seem to have one.

That would be hard to do since I haven't written it yet.

However, it can be boiled very heavily down to the core, by which I state that in complaints, there must be consistancy. The volume of the complaint should be in proper proportion to the problem at hand. A 'first world problem' should therefore range no further than from murmur to normal irritated tone. At no point should it ever be loud enough to sound as though it were a crisis, as it is no such thing. On the other hand, murder should be considered loud by anyone's standards in complaint, as it is a viable emergency and worth noting with urgency.

This concludes our somewhat snarky description of the proper behaviors involving complaint.

 

[FalloutJack]

Oh, bugger all. Now I've double-posted by accident. Note please the minor irritation in which I report this issue.

 

[Azahul]

I find that the phrase "First World Problems" is more applicable based on how someone in complaining than what they are actually complaining about. For example, people declaring a game the worst game ever over some niggling little detail, going to extremes over something that is actually pretty petty or irrelevant. Beastro explained it pretty well. The way in which someone can be regarded, by themselves and others, as "poor" when they can't afford an iphone, that's when the phrase First World Problems is applicable.

 

[Entitled]

I see too many people like you around gamer culture. Those who think that a game HAS to run at 60fps on max settings at the most insane resolution possible or it's complete shit. Speaking as someone who lowers game settings to Medium to achieve 50-60fps on modern games, it's not a deal breaker. Stop being so damn picky.

I have a 1920x1080 monitor, I just like my games to run at first try, or at least sign what to do if there is a problem. Because I'm so Entitled.

Please read the OP.

So I was trying to launch Guild Wars 2 the other day, and because I run a custom widescreen resolution, it wouldn't launch, I tried again and again, but it wouldn't work until I reset my monitor to a "normal" res of 1920x1080.