The Bitching Thread

[Xelbair]

Am i the only one dissapointed with this generation`s entertainment?

Music is not about romance, awsome guitar solos or deep lyrics, instead is about doing stupid catchy tunes, trying to wear the most absurd clothes and repetitive lyrics.

I agree about music - it is getting worse day by day... but as DS said - repetitive catchy tunes with no meaning have been in the industry for ages.

Movies are no longer about good impacting stories and meanful acting, instead is about just how much CGI you can shove in 120 minutes.

Moves are the same - when you were in 90s you've seen mostly good ones that were made in 80s and 70s and skipped all the crap. Now it is CGI, back then they used explosions... but good movies still exist.

Video game consoles are not even about video games anymore, is about how many other things the damn machine can do BESIDES playing games, how good the online system is and an ever growing focus on graphics while sacrificing gameplay.

It seems that you've really haven't been playing new games - this is one of branches of entertainment that is getting better and better - i agree that there are some bad games, and inide glorification is bullshit - but generally it is getting better and better.

Am i just growing old and i`m just not adjusting to the new era? is this what parents feel like? What`s next? A cellphone that can`t do phone calls? Can i have the 90`s back?

Wait a second... when did i got a custom tittle?

90s weren't so great - you've just seen only good parts of them.

[Ryllharu]

I agree about music - it is getting worse day by day... but as DS said - repetitive catchy tunes with no meaning have been in the industry for ages.

As lame as it makes me sound, a lot of the best bands today are one's most people never hear about. Clear Channel, Cumulus Media, and the RIAA (or CRIA or whatever) make sure the only stuff you hear are the same Top 40 on all stations and networks, or the same 100 classic rock songs on rotate. If people get a service like Zune, or use iTunes genius suggester and put in the effort to make those suggestions not useless (takes about a month), you can find some really good bands, many of them actively touring, or old bands you missed.

It's not that music has gotten worse, it's that people are not looking hard enough, and accepting the belief that the major conglomerates are showing them everything that's out there. Heck, even satellite radio can introduce you to some awesome bands you're not familiar with, and they are a major conglomerate. I always find new bands when I rent a car.

It seems that you've really haven't been playing new games - this is one of branches of entertainment that is getting better and better - i agree that there are some bad games, and inide glorification is bullshit - but generally it is getting better and better.

Honestly, the only bad thing about games these days is the endless streams of uninspired FPS games (which were endless Doom clones back in the day) and like you pointed out, the indie glorification movement. A lot of indie games are crap, or just really dull. There are a few great gems, but most of them are clones of each other, or flash games, or old games. Indie ≠ visionary.

The scope of the stories, the voicework, the mechanics, all of those have been getting better and better along with the graphics. I remember when all the story you got was what you read out of the manual, usually less than 100 words.

90s weren't so great - you've just seen only good parts of them.

I used to think I hated everything about the 80s. Then thanks to all those VH1 specials, I realized that everything I thought I hated about the 80s, actually happened in the early 90s.

[Buffalobiian]

Music is not about romance, awsome guitar solos or deep lyrics, instead is about doing stupid catchy tunes, trying to wear the most absurd clothes and repetitive lyrics.

Even given the same overall song...

1985





2010

[Kraco]

It seems that you've really haven't been playing new games - this is one of branches of entertainment that is getting better and better - i agree that there are some bad games, and inide glorification is bullshit - but generally it is getting better and better.

PC gaming did suffer, though, because great many games are now made for both consoles and PCs, and are thus compromises that have to work for both platforms. Of course it's not all bad development, not by far, since without consoles great many games would have never been made at all.

[darkshadow]

The artist selection for that new We are world was just atrocious, sure there were some good ones, but is suffering a clear case of "mainstream" injection; I mean miley and bieber? And how big was that difference between celine dion and fergie..ugh.
Still overall not a bad effort, but it could've been a billion times better if it just had really good artists.

[Animeniax]

Worse, it looks like for most of the song they sung their parts separately in remote sound stages, then the parts where mashed together. In the original, they were all in one room together on bleachers for the whole song.

Also, I love how rich people are asking regular people to donate to the cause. Why don't they donate some of their millions to the cause instead? F*cking hollywood phonies.

[dragonrage]

After many years away from a game console, I'm getting back in the swing of things. One of my favourite games was socom and I was badass at it. But that is besides the point, while playing Killzone 3, I was gradually getting back into the swing of things until I noticed that the enemy was always behind me and it was always the same guy. Turns out this asshole has a cheat that puts him on both teams and he interchanges when it is to his advantage.

Totally ruined my game, and he kept joining the same games I was in. After observing him, it was clear what names he was playing under so I would follow his ass and wait for him to switch just so I could kill him. And I did, many times, I really hope it pissed him off. But then I realised a few other players were doing it as well, wtf?

I really wish I knew where these assholes live so I could hook their balls up to a generator and fry them so no idiots would ever be born again; wishful thinking I know.

What made it worse was that on a few games I was on a roll too 5-6 kill streak (would have been a lot more if they didn't keep killing me, cheaters that is) and I still haven't been able to get my headset to work; Best Buy you cheap piece of shit!!

This is one of the things I don't miss about gaming.

[Buffalobiian]

After many years away from a game console, I'm getting back in the swing of things. One of my favourite games was socom and I was badass at it. But that is besides the point, while playing Killzone 3, I was gradually getting back into the swing of things until I noticed that the enemy was always behind me and it was always the same guy. Turns out this asshole has a cheat that puts him on both teams and he interchanges when it is to his advantage.

I had this guy do it in COD4 or MW2 when I was really into it too (forgot which).

He'd join your team so you don't notice him as hostile on your radar. He'll get behind a few people and unpin his grenade. He then switches teams, and that grenade's kills count towards his kill points.

After that, I think I just hid somewhere and sniped his ass.

I never did understand cheaters neither. There's no thrill or sense of accomplishment unless you're good, not your hacks.

The only things I could come up with is so that you can:

a) brag and have people worship you as the MVP and bask in unearned glory, and/or
b) be able to cheaply shit over other people who are trying to develop actual skill so you can laugh in their face at how futile their efforts really were.

[Archangel]

You don't understand why a guy would want to troll the shit out of people via the internet?

[Kraco]

You don't understand why a guy would want to troll the shit out of people via the internet?

They are the kind of guys who didn't have the muscles or the presence to bully weaklings back in school (because they were weaklings themselves), so they are paying back by bullying honest players.

[shinta|hikari]

Cheaters usually have no talent, so skill cannot be developed. I hear that it is pretty frustrating when you want to do something but are not any good it. They really have no other choice if they want to win.

[enkoujin]

They are the kind of guys who didn't have the muscles or the presence to bully weaklings back in school (because they were weaklings themselves), so they are paying back by bullying honest players.

That's true for repressed teenagers or young adults who have had awful childhoods due to a low self-esteem or bullying. The anonymity also makes it easier to express one's self on the internet because there are little or no repercussions to what you do on the internet. Really, though, I can see much more honesty in people reflected on the web than in real life where faux pas and social restrictions come into play.

Regarding the anonymity aspect, there are a lot of outlets on the internet. It's hard for other communities to keep track of you because you can establish a new identity every time you go to a new community. It's very hard to do this in real life because rumours will obviously spread about you.

For example, I can easily go from here (from which I have "acted out-of-line" many times) to another anime forum and keep trolling them with a clean record because they have no records of my past history. In contrast, if I had a criminal record in real life and I moved to a new city within the country, chances are that the new city will have information about me because of the same network. This example shows that because there are almost no consequences to your activities on the internet, you are given the "go-ahead" to keep on retaining your troubling personality.

You also have to consider the victims' perspectives as well. Some things that people may read may not exactly be clear because the teaching of reading comprehension itself is not standardized in the world. Unless you know the writer's personality very well through their past posts or activities, it is difficult to detect sarcasm or trolling through their posts unless it is stated explicitly or is accompanied with font formatting (e.g., italics and emoticons). For example (not to pick on anyone here),

"Anbu Girl is probably an obese Japanese wanna-be otaku."

sounds a bit different if you add an emoticon in it

"Anbu Girl is probably an obese Japanese wanna-be okaku. "

The writer of a post may also have excluded details that lets you see a post in a different perspective. It's very complex to comprehend what the person on the other side of the monitor is trying to convey to you sometimes.

For example, we are having a discussion on the most "evil" people in history. Many would definitely vouch for Adolf Hitler. However, I may come in and say something very general, say...

"Hitler wasn't too bad of a person."

that would lead many to believe that I was a "troll" or an "idiot". In fact, if I had put more detail in my post (e.g., "To play the Devil's Advocate", etc.), you could see how I justify why Hitler wasn't "too bad of a person".

"Speaking as a Devil's Advocate, Hitler wasn't too bad of a person because under Stalin's regime, an estimation of up to 10 million Ukrainians died through the Holodomor, a man-made genocide-famine by the USSR to terrorize Ukraine. Obviously, 10 million > 6 million last time I checked. Millions of Stalin's own people were also sent to the Gulags and Siberia where they died from abysmal working conditions, starvation, overcrowding and poor hygiene."

Even with this argument, there are still some people who are unable to change their ideas because there is a rooted foundation when we all started using the internet that not many things on the internet are accurate without a reputable source. Especially because many interactions with trolls are by forums/boards and gaming, it is difficult and bothersome to include references and reputable sources with their posts.

There are also others who are just unwilling to accept new ideas, so they may deem an opinion like that as "trolling" because there are some people out there who have firmly rooted ideas that cannot be shaken due to a personal history (e.g., brainwashing, propoganda, traumatic experience) which causes them to deny new messages.

The interactions of people is a very complex subject, in my opinion. Many concepts of linguistics and a lot of other factor a lot into how one may be judged as "trolling" even if they supposedly were not. It's difficult to say much about the subject. Keep in mind that as sickening as it may be, some people (i.e., the trolls) generally get entertainment value out of another's expense (and usually justify something like karma due to how horribly they've been treated in the past).

[Animeniax]

I don't know, when we used to play MUDs (precursor of MMOs), I had some buddies who would cheat/break the rules because it was fun. They were very skilled gamers and had legit characters and played seriously for the most part. But they'd get a kick out of cheating and pissing people off. The more you complain and rage, the harder they laughed. Seems about how most bully/victim relationships work.

I imagine others who cheat are skilled players who just get bored and start cheating for fun. They can't get away from playing the game, but they don't enjoy playing it as seriously anymore.

[shinta|hikari]

That kind of cheating is no different from bullying, which is a sign of a major inferiority complex.

[Ryllharu]

So is the other kind. Can't build the reputation legitimately due to lack of skill, cheat to fulfill one's need for superiority at something.

Or entitlement, seeking a shortcut to status that was meant to be earned.

[Archangel]

Y'all really need to learn the meaning of "doing it for the lulz".

[Ryllharu]

I don't have a problem with the ones doing it just to be a-holes. I've always enjoyed the antics of the errant teamkiller.

There's nothing inherently malicious about their behavior, so long as they don't follow the same person around all day, and just do it to whoever...5 times in a row. Their targets are almost always at random or on a whim. They're not after a specific target, anyone will do.

It's the cheaters who take games too seriously that I think are a problem.

[dragonrage]

I understand the, just for kicks factor. I do, I normally just leave the game and join another and let them have their fun. I get it, cheating is fun for morons.

I also understand that skilled plays cheat because someone else is cheating and it's a way of evening the odds. But what's the point of doing it to people that aren't over and over again, on your same team. In my opinion they have severe inferiority complex, sexual, social and otherwise, it's really sad. Or just an asshole in life and everything else, in which case their balls should be fried.

I think it would put off any one from playing, as it did to me.

p.s. Also while playing Ghost Recon: Future soldier, beta version, another guy was doing the same thing but the server went offline soon after. Just seems like you can't get a clean game anywhere.

[Animeniax]

Are you particularly vocal or domineering in your teamplay, dragonrage? Maybe you upset someone for that reason and they decided to spend some time messing with you. I was playing ME3 MP the other week and this loudmouth kept barking orders over voice, so I ignored him, even when they were strategically sound orders. It was funny to hear him rage over voice.

I used to love playing Counterstrike back when they had the APC on that one map. I'd run over teammates and it was f*cking hilarious how pissed they'd get. Then on BFBC2MP, I'd spend an entire game just driving around in the humvee or cobra running enemies over. Teammates would get pissed because I wasn't taking or holding positions. But I was highly effective at running people down. It was a blast.

[dragonrage]

I don't have a working headset and no I am not, I'm generally quite and do my own thing, helping out when I can. I was even reviving my teammates during the game. And it was in multiple games not just one.

Also it wasn't just me that it was being done to another guy started tracking him down like I was and waited to kill him.

(added content) One game we killed him so much that he left.

I don't know if kill ratio is a major factor to gaining points to upgrade your weapons but hey maybe that is why they did it. It was my first day playing the game so it was a major bumper realizing that I had totally forgotten about online cheating. It seems more widespread now more than ever, but it has only been one day.