On the Community...

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

Happy New Year!

Friends, the community of WoW has grown considerably in the past few years, and I know it's a tired subject, but my complaint today is about jerks.

Jerk: Slang . a contemptibly naive, fatuous, foolish, or inconsequential person.



The other day, a friend of a guild mate was invited into the guild's vent server.  One of the first things he said was a very sexist remark, some shot at making a joke (something to do with women and kitchens, I believe you can put the rest of it together).  As I was without a microphone, I could say nothing, however one of (two or three other) women in the channel spoke up and proceeded to rip him a new one.  His defense?

"I don't care what people think of me, in game or in real life."

Allow me to go back into my time machine for a moment here.

Sir, that is not a defense--that is an excuse.  An excuse to act like an idiot, and to make stupid, sexist remarks, to people you do not know.  You. Are. Pathetic.

It's things like this these days, little comments like this, that drag the community of this MMO down further and further into the gutter every day.  And their excuses, the "I'm like this in real life," "This is how I always act," and "It's just the internet," that we hear every time, are ridiculous, failing attempts at justifying behavior that I very highly doubt they often indulge in outside of the video game.  I mean seriously, would you walk up to a group of women you did not know and say, "Lol get back in the kitchen," ?  No? I didn't think so.

My point is, despite what you may think, there are real people on the other end of these avatars.  Your hurtful remarks meant "as a joke" usually do end up hurting other people, REAL people. Think before you speak.  Don't make a jerk of yourself.  Don't intentionally hurt others just because it makes you feel a little less inadequate.

"Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves." - Ulysses S. Grant.

And those words ring true to today.  It doesn't matter where you're from, where you work, or what class you play. As a person, you still deserve respect.  And so do the people you choose to insult.  Think about it.

I Hate The Lich King

 

Seriously, I hate him.  It's an easy fight, for the most part, just a few things to remember, timing to get right, people to coordinate, and mechanics to cross your fingers on.  Like the Sindragosa fight, it seems to be slightly reliant on your internet connection as well.  I mean, if you're lagging on Sindy, you risk iceblocking your entire raid, or not being able to run out of that crazy vacuum thing she does.  For Mr. Menethil, you gotta book it for defile and hope you don't DC, and you've got to pray to the internet gods that you won't lag when there's a Valk'yr.  

We're kind of slow to get our guild past ICC 10, yes, but it's because we've been having to switch up our core raiding team for the last few months, lots of IRL stuff for different people, etc.  I slept in, so I'm missing their attempts at LK right now... :( Being on a different time zone really messes with my playing time.  It's Monday for me, but Sunday for the rest of them. 

My druid's gear is coming along fairly nicely, as well as my hunter's... I'll do some more updates on them later, but I've gotta head out for the day.  Siiiigh.

-Mandaconda-

Sincerely, Your DPS

Let me say this clearly to all those self-entitled, center-of-the-world, you-would-be-nowhere-without-me-and-you-know-it tanks and healers out there:

Just because you are the most in demand parts of a group does not make you somehow 'above' the rest of us.

DPS is important too.  Without us, sure, you could MAYBE get through a few pulls, but in the end your mana pool would drain and your tank would crumple into teeny tiny little pieces and have to dish out tons of gold to repair his precious armor.

Opening a dungeon with: "We are here for achievements, if you screw it up for us both the tank and I (healer) are leaving."  isn't exactly what we want to hear.  Sure, we went along with your achievement run, but treating us like we're somehow less than you is not right.

See the above picture.  Let me paint the entire picture for you.

• Tank and Healer enter instance, demand that achievements be done right and threaten to leave if failed (even if it were an accident).  
• DPS has no choice but to comply, for the sake of not having to wait for another set of healer/tank combinations.  
• Without even thinking about what other people may want, they completely ignore other bosses in the instance.
• When asked if those bosses could be done, they force the group to go through what THEY want first. Selfishly still holding over their head that the DPS wouldn't be able to finish the other bosses unless THEY get what THEY want.  

In the end, I played nice and didn't wipe them (only because I can't STAND when people do that... but I would have if I were a jerk).  They got their achievements they worked so hard to step all over other people for.  The other bosses did get downed.  But it left a bad taste in my mouth, clearly.

Invisible readers, what do you think? Have you ever had anything like this happen before? Is this something you would do to other people?