Real World and Gaming Irks

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Here's some things that bother me in the real world. Some background first... I'm laid back, generally speaking. I have a long fuse, probably due to growing up on a small laid back island just off the tip of Florida, USA. When I do reach the end, and it does happen, the fireworks are spectacular and damaging. Thats why I am a self-professed gaming geek, it gives me an outlet for the day to day stresses I want to share with you. Here are some random minor and major irks, and I encourage you, fellow Escapists, to share as well.

Here goes:

Spoiler: Gratuity and Charity

1. Gratuity and charity. These words are in basic form, something you do without being obliged to. In other words, if the word preceding those two is "mandatory", then its an oxymoron. Those concepts are based on the idea that one gives willingly, not compulsory. I agree in part with the whole Resevoir Dogs Mr. Pink speech, how one must earn their "tip". Likewise when it comes to religion, or charity I feel one should give only if one wishes to. Debate about spirituality aside, I believe one cannot buy their way into "heaven". But likewise one shouldn't feel compelled to give hard earned cash just because.
In the scenario of "tipping", a server should make an effort to stand out. The service industry is a tough one, and not all customers are good folk. Intestinal fortitude and dedication to the job is necessary to make good money, even if it means sucking it up and diplomatically dealing with shitty people. Apathy should not be rewarded no matter how crappy the job is. Doing the best job you can, despite hardships of personality is worth a tip. Phoning it in deserves the less than minimum wage you get. Sorry, but having worked for tips, I have seen that it takes some hardcore patience, work, and dedication to make bank as a server. Anything less and you deserve that $.50 tip you got on a 6-top $200+ check.
Same with charity, I won't give unless I feel I have both the means and knowledge the charity is worth the donation. If I ever feel I'm being compelled to "volunteer" or give money or goods, I don't agree with it and generally won't do it.
What irks me is that there are so many folk I've run into who feel they're owed something and yet haven't done a damn thing to earn it. Attitude is what changes perspective, and hard work is worth the rewards.

Spoiler: Gamer negativity towards x by latest news

I have a general rule when it comes to things I like, gaming specifically for this. I don't judge anything until I have had sufficient evidence to form an opinion. Knee-jerk reactions to rumors in gaming irk me to no end, and I do try so hard not to care. I just don't see the point in forming a predisposed stance on any topic that is still basically in the rumor-phase. I applaud folks who lay out concise fear and trepidation about an upcoming game or console or whatever, who give an honest account of why their wary of said thing or downright dislike it. But the people who take opportunity to potshots on a company simply because they were mentioned seems just waspish. Gaming is on a cusp of either being grudgingly accepted as a part of society as a whole or attacked with much force, and we as gamers need to represent clear thinking. We're not always going to agree, but we need to accept that even if we're not all on the same page of what a great game is, or what the best platform is, or whether we're cool with DRM or not. And we should try to be civil toward each other. The hate and cynicism is detrimental to our cause, and a house divided shall fall.
We're all gamers, whether we like each other or not but we should respect each other enough to be civil about our disagreements, I know thats asking a lot but I see so much cynicism and snark. We don't need to bully folk and I see lot more of it than I want to in the community.

Those are a few things that irk me about the real world and gaming

 

[Elfgore]

I don't feel like ranting, so I'll just list my points with a small summary.

Real Life
1) Misspending of Welfare- I walked into a Gamestop on the first of the month. I've never left a building more pissed than I was that day.
2) Telling others how to live their lives- As long as they are not physically harming themselves or others, then they can live as they choose.
3) The Social Stigma to have a girlfriend- Just because I don't want a girlfriend doesn't make me gay, not that anything is wrong with that. I just hate being called things I'm not.

Video Games
1) Criticizing one game for doing something but not another- Watch_Dogs and Dark Souls 2 incident.
2) Developers unwilling to fix bugs- When I read the article about how Arkham origins said they were focusing on DLC over fixing their damn game, I knew I was buying it used.

 

[fenrizz]

Real Life
1) Misspending of Welfare- I walked into a Gamestop on the first of the month. I've never left a building more pissed than I was that day.
2) Telling others how to live their lives- As long as they are not physically harming themselves or others, then they can live as they choose.

I see what you did there.

OT:

Real Life:
* Cyclist who regularly cycle (on the road) 2-3 wide and in groups of up tp 20 people. Yes, this is a real problem where I live. And no, this is not during races.
* Vegans, at least the preaching from upon their high horse kind.

Video Games
* People who will criticize others for their preferance of difficulty.
* People who complain about "dirty casuals", that really grind my gears.

 

[Queen Michael]

Real Life
* People who insist that manga and aime translations hsould use as many Japanese words as possible. In my opinion, the point of an English translation is to replicate the meaning and feeling of a series in English, not just include as many cool Japanese words as possible.
* Religion in public. At work we get Good Friday off, and I'm not gonna complain about getting a free day, but at the same time, this si supposed to be a secular society. Good Friday only means something to religious people.

Video Games:
Trial and error. There's nothing worse than being unable to get through a game on skill alone.

 

[fenrizz]

Video Games:
Trial and error. There's nothing worse than being unable to get through a game on skill alone.

Very much agree on this one.
Even worse is when people tell me how difficoult it is.
It's not, it's just tedious.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

Video Games:
Trial and error. There's nothing worse than being unable to get through a game on skill alone.

Very much agree on this one.
Even worse is when people tell me how difficoult it is.
It's not, it's just tedious.

I wonder what game we could be eluding to!

In seriousness though, I agree with this. It's a feigned type of difficulty. Like needlessly elongating games by making you repeat areas, just to make the playtime of the full length look longer. It's just a cheat method.

If there was no way that you could've known how to be prepared or could've reacted differently, it's not difficulty.

 

[moggett88]

Real world - people being passive aggressive. I have no time for trying to figure out if you're acting strange because you're pissed off about something, then figuring out if that something was something I did, then figuring out how to make you feel better about it. If you're upset, tell me and we can sort it out.

Games - I hate one-way paths in any game where you have to explore new areas. By which I mean, you're carefully looking around, getting the lay of the land, then the platform you're standing on collapses, or a door slams behind you, and you can't get back to the area you hadn't finished exploring. That is some bullshit.

 

[SKBPinkie]

Real world - When people recommend movies like Cabin in the Woods as a "horror" movie. I mean, I still like the movie, but I don't know when the definition of horror changed now that people include "camp" / "comedy" horror into the mix. Those are comedies. They're not scary in any way whatsoever. It's like asking for a pizza and getting an ice cream. I may like what I get, but it isn't what I'm looking for. It's just a minor pet peeve of mine, not something I get worked up over.

Video games - Tailing missions and escort missions. Devs, please stop. These have never worked out and they never will.

 

[adamsaccount]

Been playing a lot of tf2 mvm lately, and it pisses me off when people dont give noobs a chance, sure you could finish the missions quicker without em but votekicking straightaway, cmon thats harsh.

Real Life, Mopeds

edit: I'm really sincerely sorry, anything I can do to make this right?

 

[Tarcolt]

With the whole tipping thing I agree, I'm not going to be grateful if you have not earned my gratitude, and I'm not tipping you unless you do something outstanding(we don't tip here(at all(ever))).

Real Life Irks
1-Vegan judgement: It's your choice, I am OK with that, but don't force it upon me, if I come around for dinner have something ready for me to eat that is in my diet. How often do you see people mention needing a salad for their vegetarian friend? reverse the roles.

2-The Anti-Religious: Yes you've made your point, but they don't care, now shut up(almost every case).

3-Discrediting my Interests: I don't care what you think, I am going to play card, drink, play D&D, and watch Naruto, yes I understand these are not popular/acceptable but you know what... shut up.

Ire towards Games

1-Non competitive competitive gamers: yes its a game and yes you are here to have fun, but most of us have fun by competing if you want to stare at the scenery do it another time, were doing something.

2-DRM: "Oh DRM isn't that bad"
"Kill yourself"

Non-sequential

1- My Keyboard: the shift key is acting weird so this took way to long to write...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

not that anything is wrong with that

Spoiler

It pisses me off in games where the economy system is so poorly designed that money is too easy to earn and there's nothing to really spend it on, taking away the motivation for earning it in the first place. Games like GTA III, Assassin's Creed II, Mercenaries Playground of Destruction or Red Dead Redemption, where you get money from storyline missions, sidequests, collectibles, random encounters and so on, but more importantly, games where money is ostensibly the main motivation behind a character's actions (considering how easily their actions get sidetracked by strangers with "tempting" propositions), yet I cannot place myself in their position since I get a shit ton of money from roaming alone, and the things I can but I can easily get for free without trying too much.

 

[Legion]

1) Criticizing one game for doing something but not another- Watch_Dogs and Dark Souls 2 incident.

I've left this one for a while, because I get kind of tired of arguing on these forums. But you do realise that the people criticising one are almost certainly different people than those who do not criticise the other, right?

Unless you can think of specific individuals or incidents then there is no hypocrisy or double standard, it's just two differing opinions on a subject. This applies to pretty much all situations where people complain of double standards when it comes down to it.

OT:

Gaming - Region/Platform release dates. The third episode of The Wolf Among Us has been released on all platforms in the USA. For some inexplicable reason, it isn't out until May over here. If it was just one game I'd be okay with it, but this kind of thing is irritatingly common. I believe every effort should be made so that all countries and platforms get content or products released at the same time, especially now we are almost always online.

Real World - Gossiping about other people. I seriously cannot stand it, yet I seem to be a beacon for people who enjoy doing it.

 

[krazykidd]

Real life

* People who talk about religion without knowing anything about religion. Religion and politics are the only two things people feel compelled to comment on despite knowing absolutely nothing about them.

*People that assume my likes and dislikes because i'm black.

* People who reinforce negative black stereotypes.

* Tyler perry

Video game

*People who copy the pros in competitive gaming. Yes Morrigan/doom wins tournaments, but unless you are chris G, do not play that team, hell try to find a better team!.

*People who play on easy THEN brags about how easy the game is. If you play a game on easy you have absolutely no right to comment on the games difficulty. Just don't talk about it.

 

[Phasmal]

Real life
1- I wish I wasn't as socially awkward as I am but it is what it is so I'm not gonna ***** about it too much.

2- I judge everyone as people by how they treat those in retail who are serving you.

3- How come when I am at work I'm around a bunch of sharp knives and stuff that can burn your flesh right off and I'm perfectly fine but yet when I come home I fall up the stairs?

Video games

1- I can't be doing with guys who are grumpy at girls who like games. Stop. You suck. Especially guys who nerd-test. That particularly annoys me because all my male friends suck at nerd trivia but nobody gives a fuck.

2- Why are MMO's never as good as the first time you MMO'd. I need the buzz again (in a non-addicted way)... >.>

3- I currently have no gaming clothes and things and I want all the gaming clothes and things. This is a problem.

 

[Euryalus]

I get annoyed easily so here are a few. I could go on though...

Real Life Annoyances

1.) People who walk slowly four wide in a hallway so you can't get by. Imma shove you out of the way

2.) When earbuds get caught on something and pull hard out of your ear. God damnit! That hurt!

3.) People who are always negative (cynical rather than skeptical)

4.) People who are always positive (saccarhine rather than just optimistic)

5.) People who talk behind backs routinely rather than confront the person they have a problem with

6.) people who are dogmatic about what they know

7.) Drivers in the fast lane that drive really slow

8.) constant passive aggressive snark

9.) lack of spatial awareness. (i.e. the old lady who has her cart on one side of the aisle in the grocery store while she's reaching across to the other side and putting in things blocking everything

10.) People who when grumpy or having a bad day take their anger out on you

Gaming Annoyances

1.) Grinding. I hate grinding. I don't want to IV breed or breed moves onto pokemom (less applicable, but still), I don't want to kill bears so I can get to the next story bit, I don't want fish for forever to make money.

I'm not opposed to these things in moderation, but I swear to god I will quit your game and company forever if you waste my time like that.

2.) Nintendo games interrupting me to tell me I'm a fatty and should take a break to go outside.

3.) Escort missions

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

* Religion in public. At work we get Good Friday off, and I'm not gonna complain about getting a free day, but at the same time, this si supposed to be a secular society. Good Friday only means something to religious people.

Really, sounds like that's exactly what you're doing. You're resent having a day off just because someone, somewhere may be using the free time to acknowledge their beliefs? I'm not trying to be snarky here, but that comes across as extremely petty. I understand that some people can be very in-your-face about there beliefs, but there's nothing wrong with being public about your beliefs (you certainly are) and I just don't see how it could bother any reasonable person. 'Not in public' denotes that it's only acceptable to do behind closed doors, far from where it can bother anyone.

And I'm sorry, but we don't live strictly in a secular society. We live in a society where different people believe in different things. I'm not Jewish, but if I got a few days off for Passover, I wouldn't begrudge anyone.

 

[COMaestro]

* Religion in public. At work we get Good Friday off, and I'm not gonna complain about getting a free day, but at the same time, this si supposed to be a secular society. Good Friday only means something to religious people.

Really, sounds like that's exactly what you're doing. You're resent having a day off just because someone, somewhere may be using the free time to acknowledge their beliefs? I'm not trying to be snarky here, but that comes across as extremely petty. I understand that some people can be very in-your-face about there beliefs, but there's nothing wrong with being public about your beliefs (you certainly are) and I just don't see how it could bother any reasonable person. 'Not in public' denotes that it's only acceptable to do behind closed doors, far from where it can bother anyone.

And I'm sorry, but we don't live strictly in a secular society. We live in a society where different people believe in different things. I'm not Jewish, but if I got a few days off for Passover, I wouldn't begrudge anyone.

I've never quite understood that. We supposedly have Freedom of Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion, right? Why do so many people get their panties in a bunch over someone else expressing their religion? Sure, I can understand some annoyance if people are constantly throwing their religion in your face trying to convert you or something after you already said you are not interested. I could see complaints about that being valid, however I've never seen this happen to anyone.

OT - Real life:
people who drive 5-10 mph under the speed limit
why people seem to forget how to drive when it rains. Then, when it's been raining for a few days, how they forget how to drive AGAIN when the sun comes back out.
the floater in my eye that I can always see in my vision

Gaming:
when too much backtracking is required and you can tell it was just done to pad out the length of the game. Some exception can be made if there's a fast-travel option.
players who breathe too loud into their microphones when playing multiplayer games, or who just can't stop talking the whole time. Moreso if they are cursing every other word.

 

[Queen Michael]

* Religion in public. At work we get Good Friday off, and I'm not gonna complain about getting a free day, but at the same time, this si supposed to be a secular society. Good Friday only means something to religious people.

Really, sounds like that's exactly what you're doing.

Heh. Fair enough, I admit.

You're resent having a day off just because someone, somewhere may be using the free time to acknowledge their beliefs? I'm not trying to be snarky here, but that comes across as extremely petty. I understand that some people can be very in-your-face about there beliefs, but there's nothing wrong with being public about your beliefs (you certainly are) and I just don't see how it could bother any reasonable person. 'Not in public' denotes that it's only acceptable to do behind closed doors, far from where it can bother anyone.

And I'm sorry, but we don't live strictly in a secular society. We live in a society where different people believe in different things. I'm not Jewish, but if I got a few days off for Passover, I wouldn't begrudge anyone.

No, see, my problem isn't that I get a day off, or that my workplace allows people to get time off because their religion demands it. It's that I work for the government, and that's not a workplace that ought to let one religion's holidays dictate when it'll be closed down or not.