Whether casual or professional gamer, we all know this loss of control in game, especially in multiplayer affairs: Whether it is a Leeroy Jenkins, an idiot who goes afk after his first death, or any other troll. Sometimes, while gaming, you are left speechless and a few moments later the keyboard is on fire because we just have to vent a certain amount of hate. Welcome to the Kingdom of Rage Quit!
First of all: Flaming is evil, don't do it!
Ok, role model box: Check. Let's face it though, we all know that flaming is not good, seldom goal-oriented and rarely brings us victory. But that's not it's job. Sometimes you just need to vent, when this so-called tank in the game thinks he's immortal and jumps head-first into a group of five opponents... alone. That's enough to make my fingertips twitch to the keys W, T and F. But the real deal comes after: He dies and dares to direct his typing-fingers towards us, his teammates: "bg, stupid team". Suddenly, WTF is not enough to properly encapsulate my feelings anymore...
But... let us start at the beginning: In the lobby during matchmaking – more specifically in the ban and picking phase (at least for me as a MOBA player).
Note: I play "Heroes of the Storm" in ranked, so my experience is based on my 1000 (yup, guilty... that's one thousand) games there. But I think you can apply it just as well to LoL, CoD and other multiplayer games. Flaming knows no boundaries... The hate is real!
Let the flame begin
There is a crackling in the air. The lobby is filled with excitement and the daring hope to rock and roll the game. I mean, at this point, the world is still all right... Until one player picks the champ another wanted or you don't listen to the advice of your teammate when you ban a hero of your own choosing. The game begins (literally) and the chat is no longer silent. The crackling in the lobby slowly but surely develops into a fire, a flame...
The match is just 8 minutes young, when the tank jumps into the clearly superior enemies, as already mentioned above: Alone. Even a tank does not survive the damage and cc of this mass – who would have guessed that? Oh yes, right: Everyone on my team, except the tank himself...
'omg!' writes the first one in chat, while I try to stay calm, before...
'what????' ...too late.
'your stupid.' I try to restrain myself from typing '*you're'.
'shut up.'
'we lose because of you.' yeah, kind of...
'Well, that escalated quickly...' if I had a penny for every time I've thought that. That's not to say that I'm necessarily any better though, because... there's more: The tank spawns after his death and runs into the enemies. Guess what, yes, exactly: ALONE. Again. But that's not all, the support of our team doesn't really know what he's doing either. One misstep, he misses his stun and bang: dead! His excuse: 'first time Deckard'* I feel a heat running through my veins... and then I explode.
*Deckard is a supporter in HOTS
'WHY THE F? Stop that!'
Come on guys, just because it's a multiplayer, I shouldn't feel like I'm playing against the enemies AND my own teammates. Meanwhile, we are three levels behind, the other team is besieging our towers and all the while 'random idiot Assassin' (as I lovingly call him) has been standing in the base. For a minute. A long minute. Is he meditating on a grandiose move? Will he save us all? Nope, he's afk. Of course he is. So while I shoot my spells into the enemies, dodge their attacks, I see our tank on the minimap. Alone. Again.
'together!' I type in panic. But it is in vain. He runs into the opponent's tank, that slows him, and soon the damage dealers are onto him. He dies.
Meanwhile, Mr. AFK is chilling and probably googling a build for his character to not fail in the next game. My two other comrades-in-arms have apparently given up and follow the chat rather than the game progress. Q, W, E, R are forgotten. We all concentrate our attention on the keys F, U, C, K.
'%7.!& you. your bad."' is typed by the dead tank and I can't help it and answer '*you're'.
'shut up, learn to play.' is the reply. Now he's getting impudent... But, what the heck. I write: 'You are right, please teach me, master of HOTS. You are an inspiration.'
And then something magical happens. The remaining active players switch on:
'Yes master, we need your skills and knowledge!' I am moved to tears – not only because 'your' is spelled correctly this time.
'yes, guide us, oh, captain, my captain!'
It is the moment when I believe in the good in people again and while 'random idiot tank' rage-quits, I've already received a private message from him. It's amazing how many different words Blizzard apparently considers vulgar, because his messages consist of 99% senselessly strung together exclamation marks, semicolons and co. – but what is the point of blocking people?!
I must admit that I do not always react in such a controlled manner. No, I too sometimes walk on the dark side of the force. But the sarcastic side is definitely the better one – what else could make a troll freak out like that? If you don't win the match, then at least morally win the chat. Apart from that: be nice to each other and find a group to play with – like I did now. It's also much more fun to say: "Well, Benny, that was death number 4..." – more personal, you know? Flaming friends is just another expression of love anyway, right?
Further personal impressions from the world of esports and gaming are of course available at EarlyGame, for example here:
