24 November 2008

Death is too good for him

Or how to survive the attack of an undead arsehole
 
It's frightening how much events in WoW affect my real-life moods. A good instance can put a smile on my face and a bounce in my step, but all it takes is one brief encounter with an asshat to send me into a seething, impotent rage for days.
 
This can not be healthy, and raises all sorts of uncomfortable questions, like 'just how seriously am I taking this game?' On the other hand, it can't be co-incidence that I immerse myself in a fantasy world for large chunks of my life. When the kind of senseless, selfish, vindictive behaviour that I deplore in real life starts invading that world, is it any wonder I react badly?
 
Yesterday I was on my shaman alt, Golan. There's a quest in Borean Tundra that asks you to summon some evil ghost bloke out of the mist and kill him. He sails in off the sea with a small crew and sends all four of them, one at a time, to kill you, before finally coming after you himself.
 
I'm stood there waiting for the first trash mob when an undead priest turns up. Note: same faction. This priest just stands there while I fight the trash. I think maybe he's waiting for his turn to summon the boss. I also think, darkly, that he might be planning to steal the kill, but I shake this off as unworthy.
 
But sure enough, when the trash is cleared and I roll up my first ball of thunder for the boss, the prick drops a shadow word: death. He kills, he loots, he runs off in that mocking waddle the undead have.
 
There was no possible way he misunderstood the situation, nor was he under the impression the mob was his. He didn't fail to see me, and he wasn't momentarily blinded by faction-based competition. He was just a twat.
 
At this point, he has already won. My anger has no recourse, my utter frustration no productive vent. I whisper obscenities, knowing even as I type that it will only amuse him. I am humiliated. I obsess for the rest of the day about how he is laughing and jeering at my poor, lumbering tauren.
 
It didn't have to be like that. For the cost of a polite whisper, we could have grouped and got the kill together. Or he could have waited patiently for his turn. He made a conscious decision to be a jerk. Or, more likely, he didn't even have to try.
 
The most frustrating thing about anti-social behaviour in WoW is the lack of consequences. Blizzard's very good at tackling some kinds of behaviour, but is not interested in petty squabbles over mobs. The kid screws me and moves on, smug in the knowledge that I am, at this very moment, weeping with frustration and powerless to retaliate. He's clearly the kind of guy who tortures cats for fun and would probably be out mugging grannys if he weren't so scared of what his mum would say.
 
I am reminded of a poem, the details of which are now sadly lost to my beer-addled memory. But the gist of it was this: a man is walking along a cold road at night. A car pulls alongside and the driver asks the man 'would you like a lift'. And when the man answers 'yes please' the driver takes off, laughing, and leaving the man shouting down curses on the driver, his family, the government and god. But if the man could laugh and wave and shout 'good luck' instead of abuse, wouldn't he feel better? Would you?
 
I would gladly wave that miserable, vindictive son-of-a-bitch priest good luck if I thought it would make me feel better. But I'd sooner hack his account and sell his character for 10 coppers to a gold farmer. I'd sooner sell him to the gold farmer.
 
With distance, I know these are futile, unproductive fantasies. They serve to fuel the fire of my fury while denying me the kind of closure they are intended to deliver. In the end, maybe I really am better off waving and wishing him good luck.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grow a pair, that was the worst post I have read on your blog.

This has been going on since the release of WoW vanilla, either win the mob tag, invite him to a group, or suck it up.

Ho Ho said...

Usually when waiting for a questmob with others I just invite them to group without asking anything. If they agree, good. If not then time to use holy nova. Of course it's not that easy for classes without instant aoe spell.

Anonymous said...

It must be something about that quest - I had a draenai shaman try to do the exact same thing to my gnome warlock. The only difference was that I thought he might pull an asshat and I spammed my only insta-tag on the final guy. Oh, he tried to tag it. After I tagged, he also sent three group invites before I killed the mob. Denying all three, killing the mob and flipping him the bird really made my day. :)

Anonymous said...

"Grow a pair, that was the worst post I have read on your blog.

This has been going on since the release of WoW vanilla, either win the mob tag, invite him to a group, or suck it up."

Anyone else think this guy is a ninja?

When this happens to me I usually tell myself, "No big deal. Remain calm. It's a game. It's a game. It's a...screw that the bastage needs to die!!!"

You are not alone. :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, part of the game, but yeah it sucks.

I don't buy the spirit of that poem. Better to ignore those folks. Also I think the thing to do is "wave" laugh etc in guild chat, or ASAP create a positive in-game social interaction, throw someone a heal or buff, help them polish off a mob, whatever, basically get the bad vibe buried under numerous positive exchanges with others.

Anonymous said...

I'll admit to ninjaing a few mobs myself (thank you judgment, CS and other Pally instants), but honestly, I only do it when I see opposite factions. If it is horde, I will always try to invite. Alliance, sorry, spam your button faster than me. It happens to me as well so I figure that in the end, I break even or slightly ahead. Karma. Phooey!

-CT

MD said...

I can definitely identify with your anger. Once, I even thought of just following the "offender", see what he's targeting, and use SW:D to tag it first :) Of course I never end up doing it, but it was really tempting :)

Anonymous said...

Its been an interesting display in human behaviour these last few days,Your 1st commenter was unfair - and cowardly to boot in being anonymous. Vindictive behaviour is not punishable under T&C's - but you shouldn't have to play dirty to play a game.

I wish my ignore list was bigger - and I could add notes. because if anything the players that get joy out deliberatly doing an action to Sabotage a quest, are at best Untrustworthy - they have shown their mettle, and maybe one day it will save me further annoyance after I have left a raid/party because they are in it.
I think I need to get that add blacklist I think its called to keep track.

SolidState said...

The thing about meeting a jerk is to remember that there are also other people around, good people who do ask for an group invite or politely wait. So when I do meet up with such people, I enjoy grouping with them all the more, as a contrast to the jerks I've met.

Specifically for your story, being the suspicious bastard that I am, had I been in your shoes I would have been spamming "Tab , SW:D" (tab to auto-target a spawning mob, SW:D for insta-tag) key presses as fast as I could if someone was standing next to me waiting for a quest mob and was not asking for a group (or responding if I asked).

Merlot said...

"Grow a pair, that was the worst post I have read on your blog."

Ouch. So I went a bit emo. But the worst? Seriously? Have you even read the rest of it!?

I am calmer now. Thanks for all your words of support. Normal service to resume soon :)

Anonymous said...

"Grow a pair, that was the worst post I have read on your blog.

This has been going on since the release of WoW vanilla, either win the mob tag, invite him to a group, or suck it up."


That's laughable. The people that have this type of attitude are the ones who should quit, or at least play Alliance like a real asshat is supposed to. If anyone here is Alliance, dude...I totally didn't mean you :) FTH? Hehe.

Anyway, that quest seems to be a bad one. I had some undead rogue gank the boss the same way, and I started to bitch but decided against it. Blew my horn, and some guy ran up and blew his too. When the boat came in, I killed the trash (while mr. #2 over there watched) and when the boss hopped out, I killed him. As he died, the other guy starts ranting.

"I blew my &@^*%# horn, you &@&%#."

So did I.

"You stole my kill."

Well, I killed the trash so I took the boss, blow your horn again.

"&#^^$ you."

K bye :)

Unless it's something that spawns rarely or is hard to get to, really just move on and hopefully the keyloggers get them.

Funny story, though...I was hunting ice elementals, and soem lock was being a real douche and running through dotting them ahead of me so he could have them all.

So I mounted and ran way far north to get away from him...into another area, where I was getting a buff for +5% exp.

Worked out fine, and I got my extra 5% because he was a jerk. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Alright, im sorry merlot, I didn't mean to be a jerk, I am just so sick of all the complaining that I have been hearing in guild chat, and general chat. Then when I come on my favorite blog and there is more complaining, I get a little frusterated.

Sorry merlot, your blog is great!

Anonymous said...

I've had my fair share of clearing to certain mobs, waiting for the spawns and having someone of the same faction stroll along and tag it before me.. I hate it. I've tried inviting people to groups that turn me down, which makes no sense to me at all. The game has plenty of douchebags, sadly.

Merlot said...

@anonymous...

Tyvm, but no need to apologise, you managed to provoke the most comments on my blog for months :P