Phantasy Star Universe makes me sad (society and online games in general)

[Gatts]

I love playing it, but the more I run into other people, the more I realize that sometimes playing too many video games is a bad thing.

Now this comment isn't limited to PSU. It happens on Gears of War and other online multiplayer games as well, but sometimes you have to wonder about how things get to a certain point.

My most recent example happened yesterday. I'm playing PSU and some people jump into the game (no problem, I never lock my games and I don't mind people jumping in). One of them happens to be a 13 year old from Atlanta Georgia. Not a problem except it's 1 am on a school night. I'm not the kid's parent so I don't bother to point it out. For all I know he could be sick and not going to school.

Conversation continues for a while and then we start asking where everyone is from. I'm from Baltimore Maryland as most of you can see from the left. Another person from Prince George's county in Maryland is on there as well along with a guy from Chicago and one guy from Dearborn Michigan. The kid from Atlanta doesn't know where Dearborn is. Not really unexpected since it's not too famous of a city. We explain where it is. Then he asked where Prince George's county is. Both myself and the guy from PG explain it's in Maryland. Then the kid asks "where's Maryland". Hmmm... not a big deal, I say:
me - "PG county is right next to Washington DC"
kid - "Washington? Where the president lives?"
PG guy - "Yeah, right there where the president lives."
kid - "So you guys are on the West coast? That must be cool!"
me - "Huh?"
PG guy - "No we are east coast."
kid - "So what time is it where you guys are at now?"
PG guy - "It's the same time as you man, we're both on the east coast."
kid - "Well, I've never been to Washington before so I wouldn't know."

The conversation goes on like this for a while until most of us just give up on trying to explain that Washington DC and Washington state are not the same thing.

I know I can't be the only person who has had a situation like this one. Where you play a game and run into a kid during school hours or late at night on a school night and you wonder, why are they still on? Perhaps I'm thinking too much about this.

Anyone else have a story about something that happened on an online game that just made you wonder?

[CrazyAsano]

Well, once I was playing this online simulation in which I commanded a fleet of starships fighting a desperate war against overwhelming odds, and the missions just kept getting harder and harder! Finally, I performed a brilliant suicide maneuver with my few remaining ships and destroyed the aliens' homeworld. Oddly enough, at the same time humanity won its war against the buggers. Crazy coincidence, eh?

[Ender]

Well, once I was playing this online simulation in which I commanded a fleet of starships fighting a desperate war against overwhelming odds, and the missions just kept getting harder and harder! Finally, I performed a brilliant suicide maneuver with my few remaining ships and destroyed the aliens' homeworld. Oddly enough, at the same time humanity won its war against the buggers. Crazy coincidence, eh?


Hey, you stole my story... :D

[roastedpekingduck]

Ender's game was a really awesome book. :D Too bad the continuations in my opinion really stunk.

[Fieri]

I love playing it, but the more I run into other people, the more I realize that sometimes playing too many video games is a bad thing.

Now this comment isn't limited to PSU. It happens on Gears of War and other online multiplayer games as well, but sometimes you have to wonder about how things get to a certain point.

My most recent example happened yesterday. I'm playing PSU and some people jump into the game (no problem, I never lock my games and I don't mind people jumping in). One of them happens to be a 13 year old from Atlanta Georgia. Not a problem except it's 1 am on a school night. I'm not the kids parent so I don't bother to point it out. For all I know he could be sick and not going to school.

Conversation continues for a while and then we start asking where everyone is from. I'm from Baltimore Maryland as most of you can see from the left. Another person from Prince George's county in Maryland is on there as well along with a guy from Chicago and one guy from Dearborn Michigan. The kid from Atlanta doesn't know where Dearborn is. Not really unexpected since it's not too famous of a city. We explain where it is. Then he asked where Prince George's county is. Both myself and the guy from PG explain it's in Maryland. Then the kid asks "where's Maryland". Hmmm... not a big deal, I say:
me - "PG county is right next to Washington DC"
kid - "Washington? Where the president lives?"
PG guy - "Yeah, right there where the president lives."
kid - "So you guys are on the West coast? That must be cool!"
me - "Huh?"
PG guy - "No we are east coast."
kid - "So what time is it where you guys are at now?"
PG guy - "It's the same time as you man, we're both on the east coast."
kid - "Well, I've never been to Washington before so I wouldn't know."

The conversation goes on like this for a while until most of us just give up on trying to explain that Washington DC and Washington state are not the same thing.

I know I can't be the only person who has had a situation like this one. Where you play a game and run into a kid during school hours or late at night on a school night and you wonder, why are they still on? Perhaps I'm thinking too much about this.

Anyone else have a story about something that happened on an online game that just made you wonder?


Heh, I guess he thought that the President lives in Washington State. :roll: :roll:
Most of the people I played with online did allow their kids to play semi-unsupervised but they were good kids and they had time limits. Of course they had to do their homework and stuff before they could play. I never really saw them on late at night on a school night.... vacations were a different story though.

As for things that made me wonder. When I first started playing an online game, boy did I get an eyeopener when I first joined a guild. A few days after I joined, the real life husband of one of the leaders comes in looking for his wife. It appears that the wife left her husband for the guy she was married to online. I never did find out what happened later, but I do know the guild didn't last long on that server.

Then there was this time I was in a chatroom, not an online game. Basically this guy comes in saying he's in his early twenties and never had sex before. He wants to fly me out from LA to Virginia just so he can have sex. My best friend and I just stared at the screen in disbelief. I learned to avoid general chatrooms after that.

[Gatts]

He wants to fly me out from LA to Virginia just so he can have sex.

Wow, it'd be much cheaper to find someone in Virginia that would be willing to do that for him. :P

[porkchopexpress]

The only online game I play is Gears of War, and I've amassed a great group of people I like to play with. That way I never have to jump into a game full of strangers and it cuts down on meeting up with little kids and assholes. Gears of War is a super violent game, and I've ended up playing with kids who are as young as eight years old. That is definitley not appropriate but they're not my kid so I don't usually say anything. It is the people who use their annonimity to behave like pricks who make playing online a pain in the ass. People who don't know you but constantly trash talk and harass you. White boys rapping into the microphone... badly. Racist cocks who use the N word. People who talk on the phone or who hold conversations with people in the same room without muting their microphone. I had to listen to some asswipe order Chinese food and then argue with his mother for ten minutes before the host finally booted them. I can't stand people who take a videogame so damn seriously and flip out on you if you don't do as well as them. People who cheat or use glitches while you are trying to play an honest game and just have fun. People who complain every time they get killed "chainsawing is gay, grenade tagging is gay, pistol whipping is gay" etc. People who refer to everything as "gay". Luckily there are many more cool people out there than dicks. They just don't stick out as much.

[ic14]

Once in Return to Castle Wolfenstein on the xbox a kid joined our team and he kept singing the first few lines of "In the Jungle"

As you can imagine, that got very annoying, very, very quickly.

[CrazyAsano]

Once in Return to Castle Wolfenstein on the xbox a kid joined our team and he kept singing the first few lines of "In the Jungle"

As you can imagine, that got very annoying, very, very quickly.
Welcome to the jungle, SHA-NANA-NANA-NA KNEES KNEEEEEEES!!!!!

[Gatts]

People who talk on the phone or who hold conversations with people in the same room without muting their microphone. I had to listen to some asswipe order Chinese food and then argue with his mother for ten minutes before the host finally booted them.

45 minutes. I had to listen to a guy argue with his mother for 45 minutes about why he should be allowed to play Gears longer although she insisted it was his bed time. I couldn't imagine being able to argue with my mom for 45 minutes about being allowed to play a game or not.

As for the guys complaining about the chainsaw and grenade tagging... well they just suck. ;)

[porkchopexpress]

I couldn't imagine being able to argue with my mom for 45 minutes about being allowed to play a game or not.



Seriously. That reminds me of the beginning of Hare + Guu, where Hare's Mom hits the reset button on his game system knowing he had not saved. "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!". :D

[Azumangaman]

*sigh* Don't get me started. I know, I'm a "kid" too, but maybe I've played video games till 12 or so, but It doesn't count, as it was a weekend/holiday.

I had this ANNOYING experience on Madden '07 (360):
I played this guy (Pats fan-I was OBVIOUSLY the Vikings) and he kept going on about anal...or something, to tell the truth I really wasn't paying much attention. He kept going on about how I suck (at said time I think the score was about 31-14, In my favour of course) and he went on and on and on....
Then of course, he quit at halftime.

Then I got CREAMED by a 13 year old (who was really nice, we talked about how we hate n00bs like that). The score was 90-21 I believe (and actually Gatts, he was teh Ravens :D )

[CrazyAsano]

I was OBVIOUSLY the Vikings
Are you a Minnesotan too?

[Gatts]

*sigh* Don't get me started. I know, I'm a "kid" too, but maybe I've played video games till 12 or so, but It doesn't count, as it was a weekend/holiday.

Let me just say that I don't have problems with kids playing video games. Heck, my cousin whom I taught how to play video games kills me in Gears all of the time now (he's 10).

I also don't mind kids playing games until late at night. But there's a real problem when a 13 year old is on until 2~3am on a school day and he doesn't know that the capital of the United States is on the East Coast.

Seriously. I wasn't asking for the locations of Canada and Mexico relative to the United States or anything difficult like that. If things were going that way I guess we can say since Moscow is in Ohio, Paris is in Texas, and London is in Ontario, that must mean that Honolulu is in Mexico.

[Azumangaman]

and London is in Ontario,

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!

London Ontario Site (http://www.london.ca/)

*rolls over*

[Gatts]

and London is in Ontario,

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!

London Ontario Site (http://www.london.ca/)

*rolls over*


Also of note Moscow, Ohio (http://www.city-data.com/city/Moscow-Ohio.html) and Paris, Texas (http://www.paristexas.com/)

Yes I know they are real places just like Washington State and Washington DC. That is my point.

*edit* of note, I thought about mentioning Hollywood, Maryland, but thought that would be too obscure.

[Fieri]

He wants to fly me out from LA to Virginia just so he can have sex.

Wow, it's be much cheaper to find someone in Virginia that would be willing to do that for him. :P




I always wondered if there was something wrong with the guy and thus couldn't find someone close by or something. Thing is I only talked with him for a couple of minutes too.

[Fieri]

and London is in Ontario,

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!

London Ontario Site (http://www.london.ca/)

*rolls over*


And Ontario is in California. :P

[UndeadKing]

It's because of stories like this that I don't really play online. "Kids" trying to act tough/silly/whatever can be very annoying. People take games way too seriously and are very sore sports. Trash talking is one thing, but it gets to a point where if they win, you suck and if you win, you must've cheated somehow.

Maybe I'm the problem. I only care about playing. I could lose every single time but I can still enjoy myself. Winning isn't everything and it's a shame more people don't realize that.

Speaking of PSU(360), I was recently playing in a party and someone joined. The leader asked that we stick together. The new person decided to ignore this, ran ahead and nearly died quite a bit so the leader booted him. A few seconds later a message pops up notifying me that some strange person left me a message via xbox live. Turns out it's a voice message from the new person acting tough cursing me out for kicking him out of the party. Of course, I was the only one to recieve a message from him and I had nothing to do with him being removed....

[Azumangaman]

and London is in Ontario,

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!

London Ontario Site (http://www.london.ca/)

*rolls over*


Also of note Moscow, Ohio (http://www.city-data.com/city/Moscow-Ohio.html) and Paris, Texas (http://www.paristexas.com/)

Yes I know they are real places just like Washington State and Washington DC. That is my point.

*edit* of note, I thought about mentioning Hollywood, Maryland, but thought that would be too obscure.

Oh great, now I feel stupid. See, I thought you were naming things that don't exist, but It makes perfect sense that they do, because well, I've heard of them before. Good job turning the "ROFLMAO youre an idiot!" around though.

[Magic_Knight]

I don't mind kids playing games late, or playing online games with kids for that matter, even though some of them do come accross as very annoying sometimes. Last week in Gears of War this kid came on (my team) and was completely trash talking this guy on the other team. He was like 11 years old and it seemed like profanity and sexual language was the only thing this kid knew how to say. I don't know why, but that's the kind of stuff that pisses me off - hearing young kids using tons of offensive language online. At one point his dog started barking and someone said "Dude, tell your mom to stop barking!" (Have to admit, I laughed at that one).

Anyways, when I was that kids age, I probably would have thought that the President lived in Washington on the west coast. I think I turned out O.K. :roll:

[Gatts]

Anyways, when I was that kids age, I probably would have thought that the President lived in Washington on the west coast. I think I turned out O.K. :roll:

Huh? It's not like this kid was 7 or or 8. 13 is middle school. In most places 6th or 7th grade. They "should" teach you where the capital of the United States is in Elementary school. At least in the fine and upscale Baltimore city public school system they are required to do so. Or maybe kids can just slide by without learning anything so long as they are good at playing video games? :roll:

[DKL]

Oh man! This totally throws me back to the time I was in the Philippines...

So, I'm in college and during lunch break, my two friends wanted to get drunk, and then go back to school; I went with them since they're doing it at this restaurant that was next to a cyber cafe (I don't drink, but it might've seem like I was drunk anyway given how noisy I was).

So, anyway, I'm playing battlefield or some damn thing with one of my friends, and then I overhear the store-watcher dude ask one of the customers (also his friend, it seemed... customer was dressed in a school uniform):

"Hindi ba may pasok ka ngayon?"
-Don't you have school today?

"Oo, meron."
-Yeah, I got school.

"Anong ginagawa mo dito?"
-What are you doing here then?

"Eh, gusto ko mag Rangnarok na lang imbis na mag-aral."
-Eh, I'd rather play Ragnarok instead of going to school to study

*Ragnarok was the popular game at the time... probably still is, but then, World of Warcraft servers might've been setup in the Philippines by now, so I don't know

After that conversation, they both laughed it off and went back to playing (the store-watcher dude plays as well).

But yeah... that was a funny story.

Anyway, what I'm saying is... morals are loose...

But man... I was really amused by that, to be honest.

...

Yeah, I'm not really sure what the point of my post was...

Oh, and for the record, I've been here for two years, but have not the slightest idea where everything is... unless I have a test on it upcoming soon, I... probably won't learn...

Yeah... that's not cool.

[Javan]

Anyways, when I was that kid's age, I probably would have thought that the President lived in Washington on the west coast. I think I turned out O.K. :roll:

It is no better than some young people who are so geologically-illiterate that they were unable to locate where the United States is on a map.

In terms of online gaming, I avoid it because do not want to experience the negative aspects of the Internet.

[Gatts]

In terms of online gaming, I avoid it because do not want to experience the negative aspects of the Internet.


Do you also avoid Google?

Honestly online gaming isn't the big problem. A bigger problem is parents who can afford to buy their kid a Xbox360 or PS3 not requiring their children to meet an educational standard to be allowed to play.

I know people want their kids to have it better than they did. That doesn't mean you have to let them do everything you weren't allowed to do. You can't get them all of the toys you weren't allowed to have. You can't take care of them for the rest of your life.

[Azumangaman]

A bigger problem is parents who can afford to buy their kid a Xbox360 or PS3 not requiring their children to meet an educational standard to be allowed to play.


Then you'd like my parents. I no longer have my 360 (It's in my house-but I can't play it) because I got below an A average. Personally I'm happy (yes, that says happy) they did it. My average was a B+ (78.5) anyway. Frickin exams...

[GHardin]

A bigger problem is parents who can afford to buy their kid a Xbox360 or PS3 not requiring their children to meet an educational standard to be allowed to play.


Then you'd like my parents. I no longer have my 360 (It's in my house-but I can't play it) because I got below an A average. Personally I'm happy (yes, that says happy) they did it. My average was a B+ (78.5) anyway. Frickin exams...

Ouch! Revoked privileges over a B+? That's kind of harsh...now if you dipped below a B, I could understand that logic...then again, if your grades were slipping as a result of gaming, I guess I could understand that logic too.

This sort of happened to my cousin...during one semester at high school, he claimed that one of his grades was practically nonexistent (I didn't quite grasp what he was talking about), but as a result, he was practically banned from the internet, except for the weekends, where he'd be able to get on for a maximum of three hours a day (only his parents knew the password to access the computer :sd: ). It was like a maximum security prison.

I haven't experienced any real problems with playing online with people (because outside of playing Battlefield 2142, I only game online with people I know). It was really hard to limit myself on a school night...though if an exam was coming up, I knew better than to get near the computer and practically stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning studying. :sd:

[porkchopexpress]

I don't mind kids playing games late, or playing online games with kids for that matter, even though some of them do come accross as very annoying sometimes.


I was playing Gears of War with a kid who turned out to be four years old. I'm not sure if it was more funny or sad.

[UndeadKing]

I don't mind kids playing games late, or playing online games with kids for that matter, even though some of them do come accross as very annoying sometimes.


I was playing Gears of War with a kid who turned out to be four years old. I'm not sure if it was more funny or sad.

Was he any good? :D

[porkchopexpress]

Was he any good? :D


He got in a couple kills. Oddly enough he was using his Mother's gamertag.

[Kikaroo]

I run into "young" people a lot in WoW and most of the time they're actually pretty cool. I tend to avoid pick up groups though, so I suppose my actual exposure to their attitude would be limited. I tend not to play other online games simply because my tolerance for idiots is relatively low. I know there's a lot of cool people out there to play with, but it only takes one to ruin a good game.

Now back when I played EQ, we had a family in my guild (mother, father, 2 younger boys). One boy was silent most of the time, but the other..... He was a prime example of a child that needs more education (by the time I quit EQ I believe he was 15). Rude, back-stabbing, nasty, overbearing, etc - you name it, he probably was it or did it. Worst part was the mother always defended him, which just made matters worse. And yea, he was one of those "on at all hours" kids.

To be honest, I don't care what age you are - an asshat is an asshat.

[GHardin]

To be honest, I don't care what age you are - an asshat is an asshat.
Don't think I could have said it better. :sd:

It's just sad that for every good person you find in WoW, there are about 5 times as many dickheads. :tired: