When did S&M become fun in games?

[TheDukester]

Last night, I was playing Call of Duty MW2 with a few friends, and we all decided that some of the inane things our teammates and enemies did A) couldn't be fun (i.e. hiding in a corner the whole game, waiting for someone to run by so they can get 1 kill, and then hide for the rest of the game) or B)were so infuriating that we wondered why we were putting ourselves through this (there was a guy with scavenger shooting grenades from his launcher at a window, and he didn't move, but our whole team was stuck because the map bottlenecked there).

Now, the first thing many of you are thinking is, wow you're whining because you must suck at this game. While I'm not the best, I usually go 20-10, have an above .500 win/loss ratio, and a 1.40 K/D ratio all time. My friend, at the time of this writing, was in the 3000 across all leaderboards, so he's no slouch, but he still rage quits every now and then because things get so frustrating.

So I'm asking this: Why do people love Call of Duty so much when it is possibly the most sadomasochistic experience I have ever engaged in? Is it the competition? The leveling up system?

I can think of a dozen or so first-person shooters that are more fun, yet right now, MW2 is the king of shooters.

Thoughts?

 

[Mother Yeti]

Boy, is that a misleading thread title if I ever saw one.

Frustrating games are nothing new. Ever play Battletoads?

 

[TheDukester]

Misleading until you read the post--I'd argue MW2 multiplayer is a form of S&M

 

[Altorin]

Misleading until you read the post--I'd argue MW2 multiplayer is a form of S&M

you would be wrong if you ran in my circles. They'd show you S&M. You would cry yourself to sleep for a week.

 

[Sebenko]

Misleading until you read the post--I'd argue MW2 multiplayer is a form of S&M

Hey! don't associate MW2 with S&M

S&M is far above the level of that cavalcade of fanrage.

 

[Mother Yeti]

Misleading until you read the post--I'd argue MW2 multiplayer is a form of S&M

Nah, you're just frustrated that the game is unforgiving. S&M is a much different thing.

 

[Amnestic]

S&M's always been fun.

What?

 

[social_outcast]

When did it become fun in real life? Thats right, when you get bored of the same old same old

 

[Altorin]

S&M's always been fun.

What?

go back to your drinking, nothing to see here.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

I thought this was going to be a Bayonetta thread.

 

[KariDean]

What the hell has MW2 got to with S&M. I thought this was going to be about Bayonetta

EDIT: Ninja'd as well

 

[Amnestic]

S&M's always been fun.

What?

go back to your drinking, nothing to see here.

Wouldn't alcohol make S&M less fun since alcohol tends to dull pain?

 

[Arkhangelsk]

What the hell has MW2 got to with S&M. I thought this was going to be about Bayonetta

EDIT: Ninja'd as well

I thought this was going to be a Bayonetta thread.

Here I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Monshroud]

Do you understand what S&M is? =P

Sorry to hear about the frustrating experience. I am at that point right now with Bioshock 2 multiplayer. I am trying to get that damn 'Mother Goose' achievement and I can't seem to save 1 little sister. Actually the majority of the games I have played are tied 0 - 0, so that makes me think that either everyone is awesome, or there are some balance issues.

 

[benylor]

Big part of BDSM's about mental control as well, alcohol can make one more susceptible.

While I was typing that there was some medium-long delay before the words actually appeared on the screen. I hope that typing "BDSM" and "mental control" hasn't put me on any watch lists. >_>

-

Anyway, if you want a real vidja game application of mascochism, I Wanna Be The Guy is always waiting. That game broke me - I have a save sitting outside The Guy's room and I just can't beat him (been trying for 5 damn months now)

 

[Unholykrumpet]

Thought this was going to be a Bayonetta thread. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved.

Edit: Beaten to the punch. Darn me for actually replying to the post.

OT: Pretty sure I know what map you're talking about...how sad is that? Anyway, I will argue on the side of the leveling up system. Modern Warfare 2s leveling system is brilliant on their part, because it keeps people playing their game. However, doing the same thing every prestige is beyond boring. From personal experience, I never used a single grenade launcher, rocket launcher, claymore, etc. First time through I used ARs only. Prestiged, decided the FAL was my baby, and used it and a silenced UMP nonstop until I got the gold Title (1000 headshots...how's that for S+M?!). And then, after killing way too many people with the FAL, I decided it was time to make completely different classes. Hence, my tac knife/throwing knife class, One man army Grenade launcher/claymore class, and domination (blast shield, smoke grenade, rocket launcher, random primary) class were born. I switch it up almost every game, just to keep things interesting for me. So more or less, I become the thing I hate every few games just to prevent boredom with an AR or stealth class.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I thought this thread was about combining Skittles and M&Ms. boy is my face red

 

[Mother Yeti]

Boy, is that a misleading thread title if I ever saw one.

Frustrating games are nothing new. Ever play Battletoads?

why, yes I have, but for the sake for the thread:

WAHT R BATTLETOADS?

 

[Therumancer]

Well, speaking strictly for myself I have to say your talking more about Domination than S&M because mostly what your talking about is massive amounts of boredom and silliness.

To explain Bondage and S&M do tend to be fun, both to watch and participate in. Some people get it, others do not. However the thing is that done correctly receiving pain along with pleasure tends to have them blend together. The stereotype of someone just being beaten relentlessly more or less misses the point, and I sort of blame Hollywood's standards for what they can actually show for the perception. Finding S&M porn can be harder than you might thing.

Domination is what most people confuse with S&M in many cases, and really I find it rather stupid in all aspects. Being suspended in a gimp suit for 8 hours, or made to bark like a dog, or lick boots, or whatever and that's all there is to it is silly and ridiculous IMO (though I know some obviously disagree).


The point of my little opinion-rant on sex and porn, is because what your describing is akin to the latter. "Sit here in this choke point for half an hour and launch grenades" is sort of like being in suspension while someone heads out to mcdonalds for lunch because it's "dominating". Your pretty much hanging around doing nothing, and unless you need serious psychological help your probably going "why am I doing this, it's not even remotely hot" or in the case of a shooter like this replace "hot" with "fun". The hiding in a corner thing is sort of like being told to bark like a dog, or slurp someone's boots. It's silly, dull, not fun, and in the case of a FPS game your basically acting at the behest of a team leader who takes the role of the "dominator", or in the case of someone playing totally independantly one of those guys who suspends themselves in their house, can't get free, and has to pray that the landlord finds them before they die from dehydration. Assuming of course they aren't trying to do Auto-Erotic asphyxiation without a partner which is just dumb and hang themselves.


Just correcting some terminology/giving my opinion.

But yes, you might be onto something: Multiplayer FPS players are probably wierd gimps with little sense of actual enjoument. Maybe coming up with some kind of faux-leather packaging and a greeting card-type sound generator for when they open the box that has some dude saying in a commanding voice "lick my instruction book you bad piggie, now get in the corner and tap that button..." would increase the sales of the next MW game even further... surprisingly, now that I think about it from this post it might work. Sure, you could argue most would want a female voice, but in general you'll notice FPS players tend to respond to these rugged manly men "sarges" and such who declare the mission objectives, so that's apparently the authority they choose to submit to. Can't think of any female FPS commanding officers like that off the top of my head.

The latter is a joke of course... or is it... (envision dramatic music as some EA marketing executive reads the above paragraph but not this part, screams Eureka, and immediatly starts collecting producers for the next titles to sell the brilliant idea he stole... followed quickly by an EA takeover of Hallmark greeting cards).