News Flash: Sometimes People are Jerks!
Ok the title may be a bit harsh, but this guy seriously made me mad. I’ve had hardly any time to play Supreme Commmander lately, but this weekend I jumped on for a couple ranked games. Second game, I drew Dark Heart, a personal favorite of mine now. I used my typical build order and rushed to get Riptides, which I needed desparately as my Aeon opponent was using hover units and navy to good effect. I fought for and won the central island and gradually outbuilt my opponent, bombarding his home island and eventually overrunning him. It was a good game, a protracted slugfest with some good plays by both sides. I would call it a close game. Then my opponent effectively ruined any fun in it for me.
Here’s the problem: my opponent spent much of the last part of the game whining about the Riptide and how it is “over-powered”. Now, first of all, the Riptide has been re-balanced very effectively in my opinion and is certainly not overpowered. Secondly, the middle of a game is not the right time to complain about overpowered units. Sure, you can mention it, but don’t say it over and over and over again and make it seem like “oh the only reason I am losing is the Riptide is so overpowered, blah blah”. After he lost I congratulated him on a good game well played. His response was profanity, to blame me for ruining the game by spamming an overpowered unit, that he hated Forged Alliance, and that he liked the original retail better. Then he disconnected.
Now seriously folks, can’t we all just play nice? Sportsmanship is a very basic principle, and is well suited to RTS games. I generally offer players an honorable surrender if I am defeating them, to save us both time, and thank them for a good game. If I lose, I always try to congratulate the other player on the win, especially if it was a clever move. Winning and losing graciously are a part of any game. Sure, you play to win, but if you lose take it out on yourself, not the other player. If the Riptide is overpowered, take it to the forums and whine there. Learn from your mistakes, pretty much everything has a counter. The Riptide is very expensive, has short range, and is vulnerable to air, but my opponent never even tried to exploit these. Saddest of all, when I looked at the score I saw I had outproduced him by almost double. While he whined about an overpowered unit, he was losing due to simple map control and econ.
I apologize for the rant, but I want to encourage everyone out there to keep it cool. Remember it’s a game, and a fun game at that, with lots of cool robots and pretty explosions. It makes me think, and I enjoy that. Challenging yourself is good, and learn from your mistakes. Study your replays, watch what you did wrong and how you could have done better. Win and lose graciously, treat your opponent with honor and respect. That is all.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Do you have a copy of the reply, sounded like a well fought game (apart from the obvious bad sportsmanship).
December 18th, 2007 at 3:38 am
OMFG WTF RIPTIDEZ SUX GG
:)
December 18th, 2007 at 4:54 am
amen.
the worst thing that has ever happened to me was at the start of the a ranked match. i said ‘gl hf’ and the other person just said ’stfu.’ …
December 18th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Agreed, sore losers are a pain. We all get annoyed sometimes when we make mistakes or things don’t go our way but it’s a game… get over it and don’t be childish.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am
The replay is a decent watch if you like that kind of thing. It should be easy to find in the replay vault, just look up replays with Engineer and look for my most recent game on Dark Heart, on Dec 16. I don’t remember my opponents name.
Highlights of the replay would be my massive use of Scorchers… for some reason my opponent never really built any interceptors or sizable AA. He did build a lot of the Aeon T1 AA boats and set them on patrol, but my Ripdtides generally made short work of them. I was able to build and use dozens and dozens of Scorchers which is quite rare and a lot of fun. I also had something like 10 Klink Hammers blasting his home Island by the end game, though I wasn’t managing their targeting and he had a lot of sheilds as well so they weren’t as effective as they could have been. I wouldn’t say I played particuarly efficiently, but I got the job done mainly be seizing the middle island. I’m really starting to think that whoever controls that middle island will tend to win on that map, it just gives so much strategic flexibility.
I should point out that getting slowly hammered to death by a ton of Klink Hammers is really not a fun way to lose a game, so I can understand a little bitterness from him on that point. However, his defenses were so strong he left me little choice. I probably should have brought Percivals in sooner than I did.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Geez what an asshole. Keep the faith Engy, there are plenty of decent people (both casual and pro players) out there. Don’t let one loser get you down.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
So u’re saying FA is good eh? I have to wait for my vid card to come back from repairs before i can play it. Another few weeks maybe.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
agreed, but there are enough crybabies out there to make it a problem. on the rare occasion i win, this is what i normally get. complaints of using “unfair” tactics and strategy. “OMG you used so much arty, that is so cheep!” “OMG, t1 rush so cheep!” “OMG bomber rush so cheep!” (i don’t do bomber rushes, the guy was pissed cause i saw he had no AA and only a few intys, so i sent my intys and a few t1 bombers. . .). hell, i even get told im a cheep player when i loose. get this straight: i’m not that good. i take something that is working and run with it. now granted, i’m a lot better at fa than i am at vanilla. fa rewards you for map control, which is what i am best at. in the old vanilla i would often loose when i controlled 70% of the map.
**warning, the above is my 2 cents, for the remaining in $1.98 read on, but i’m warning you this is going to be one of my epic posts. i don’t blame you if you tldr.**
i have actualy noticed this in a lot of games that i play. one of my most favorit instances of this was on a game called “gunbound.” i was in a team game, we were winning, because my team was using teamwork, the other team was whining about how there we getting “DTed” (its a bloody team game people, you don’t want to be DTed, go play a 1 on 1. yes the exact same thing applies to FA people. if you don’t want the enemy team to gang up on you, play a 1 on 1. no, don’t even play an ffa. even in ffas people will gang up on a perceived stronger opponent. if you don’t want to be DTed, your only option is to play 1 vs 1.) i was using a strat called “nak tapping” which is to get close to your opponent an shotgun him. lotsa damage. not much skill involved, just a bit of strategy to get into that position. one of my opponents was unhappy about my choice of strat after i killed him. he respawned on the other side of the map, and executed a few amazing shots, killed me, and proceeded to gloat about how that was the way to play and how he was so much better than me. i conceded the point that he was better, but my rebuttal got him to DC (hilarious, but we would have won anyway. teamwork > 1 star player any day). i simply said “i have a job, a GF and a life. i only play 15 to 20 min every other night or so. you play damn near 24/7 to get that good. what do you have to show for it?”
folks, the exact same reasoning applies to FA. i play to have fun, that means i try to win, ill use any trick i know, but i wont be surprised or mad if i don’t win. i also don’t expect special treatment from a pro. i want them to play their best and have fun too. if they want to toy with me, thats fine. ill use the opportunity to learn. if they want to comrush me and end it fast that is fine too. i don’t care. i don’t whine about cheep tactics, i just fight on. am i getting artied to death? i don’t complain about it, i find a way to deal with the arty. bomber overhead, find a way to deal with it. t1 spam in your base? DEAL WITH IT. don’t whine at me that its unfair. don complain that im taking advantage of a noob. don’t say that t1 is OP. instead learn from your mistakes. LEARN and get better. not WHINE about unfair. i say this for 2 reasons. 1. NEWS FLASH: LIFE IS UNFAIR. some people are just better at FA than others. some people have more time to play and get better. some people have more strategic insight. some people are just plain better than you all around. get used to it, thats life. 2. FA is a game, and in the long run not that important. no one will care 10 years down the line. hell, they may not even care next year. or next month. yes it feels nice to be at the top of the latter. its fun. but in the end its not worth much to anyone else but you. so don’t expect the “cheep tactics” person to care. you are the only one who is likely to care about your score. you deal with it. if you think a unit or strat is OP, take it to the forums to get it changed. you will either have everyone agree with you, or you will be told to go get better. if you are having a “cheep tactic” used against you the only real option is to deal with it, to learn how to counter it, and to become a better player. complaining about it is not going to change anything. “OMG RIPTIDEZ SO OP!!” well guess what, they have weaknesses and drawbacks, learn to exploit it. that is exactly what FA is all about, and one of the reasons im not to good. i don’t have the time to learn all the good counters to every unit. life is just too full for me. but the really nice thing about FA is that you don’t need to memorize the good counters. almost any unit that you *think* would be good for a counter winds up at least being ok at it. arty behind a wall *does* own tanks. arty rushed by bots *does* get owned. you just have to use your head, and FA rewards inventive play, even for someone who doesn’t spend any time looking over unit stats (just a fyi, i do like looking over unit stats, but i don’t often remember what important in the middle of a heated game. the point was that you can play FA decently *without* looking at the stats) whiners just annoy me. it says to me that you are so insecure with who you are that you need a game to validate your existence. just like that guy on gunbound. now i don’t let whiners keep me offline, life does that pretty well on its own, but i do think it would be a lot nicer if everyone learned to be civil, if we learned that the way we like to play is not going to be the same for everyone, if we all just did our best and lost gracefully, and if the winner didn’t gloat and offered tips when asked. i also know that there are a lot of people out there that do this. i’m just saying that it would be nice if everyone did. unrealistic i know, but i can dream cant i? also it would be nice if we remember that this is a game about WAR. the underdog is going to use every cheep trick he knows to win, and the better player is going to press his advantage. “all is fair in love and war” my friends. those two things pretty much cover all of life in one way or another. . if you are a whiner in any online game, and nothing i have said here has discouraged you from continuing, let me try one lats thing. whining makes you look like a looser, like a child, like you have no sense of pride or responsibility, and make me think less of you. you will not elevate yourself in my opinion, you will not get any recognition from me, i will probably put you on my ignore list and i am probably not the only one who is going to do the same. if you wish to act like a whiny brat i will treat you like a whiny brat, no mater what your actual age. if you cant bother to learn the basic truths in life and apply them to your online life as well, then i cannot be bother to associate with you. good day, don’t talk to me again.
for all the rest of you who enjoy a civil discussion, who like to chat and talk and have fun, i like you. i like the discussion, even when they get heated, because i like to exchange ideas. just as long as everyone realizes that theirs is only an opinion, we should continue to get along. / end rant, thank you all for listening.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I’ve been playing multiplayer games for over 10 years now and I’ve gotten over this kind of behavour a long time ago. The truth is most people are very polite. Assholes are in the minority, or else they’re very young and just don’t know any better yet. You just have to laugh at these things and not let it get the better of you. Often when you take the piss out of them a little they get the message and appologise.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:56 am
i have a very diffrent oppion to whining little brats… i take the piss out of them non stop and keep digging into the UNTILL they quit! because the more crap i give them the higher chance they are gonna go down the game store and get mummy to buy the next game for them so they can go whine @ someone else!!!!!
enough said
i dont like these children and frankly if there was a BAN FOREVER I NEVER WANT TO SEE U EVER AGAIN button i would click it!!
December 19th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Yeah, I mean don’t get me wrong I’m not exactly crying myself to sleep at night or anything. I thoroughly enjoy winning any ranked match, and this one was no exception. Any online game has got rude people, morons, “griefers”, etc. I played EVE Online for a while and saw a lot of that, its inescapable. I agree with Molloy that most people are in fact generally very polite, though different games have a different community around them. The average age of Halo players, for example, is probably quite a bit lower than that of Forged Alliance players. However, the interaction between players in a 1v1 RTS, as opposed to the interaction of people in a large first-person shooter, for example, means that the behavior of Forged Alliance players will always have a more significant impact on my enjoyment of the game experience. I don’t think there is anything wrong with using a public venue such as this to remind players how important sportsmanship is.
December 20th, 2007 at 4:00 am
hmmm…. When i play a game and they start swearing at me, i just laugh fucking hard and proceed to rape them even harder. Let them whine, who cares, it’s not gonna give them the win:)
December 20th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
lol, if i were any good, i think i would do that :-)
December 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Bring back the cane, I say!
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 am
A lot of times people are really jerks. Especially now, unlike before.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:22 am
no_fear says that but if i start swearing @ him he can TRY to rape me, untill my rain of dukes beats him into a pulp!
December 24th, 2007 at 4:59 am
oh really?bring it meddy:)
December 25th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I have run into this most frequently when my friend and I are playing on Isis. Now, I know that people think that Isis is overplayed, and we do mix it up, but we enjoy the dynamic of the map, especially with the new reclaimables.
What happens is, we often end up turtling, and almost every person we play against throws hoards of units at our defenses, and is constantly losing resources. On top of that, they never bother to upgrade the extractors on their side of the map, and if they do, then they fail to put tac defense up. Don’t get me wrong, we lose from time to time to someone who does a good job to exploit the obvious and numerous weaknesses that are present in an Isis turtle. My problem is that nearly the majority of people we play against complain, saying that we “ruined the game with lame tactics. They will often quit the moment we manage to slip a nuke in, or use the commander advanced tac well, saying they’ve lost and that it was a bad game.
While I understand that some people don’t like fighting certain tactics, if you lose to something frequently, figure out how to defeat it. For instance, turtles often lack any real mobility when compared to the people they’re playing against, so large number of tacs, stealth fielded arty arrays, lots of things are valid tactics that a turtle will have trouble dealing with.
That’s my 2.5 cents. Enjoy. =)
~Lucas
December 27th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Merry Christmas everyone! any christmastime postings coming up?
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
I was out of town with family, so no Christmas postings. I will have another post up in a little bit, but it may be my last for a while and it won’t be a very heavy post.