6 Worst Things About Online Gaming

4. N00b(ish) Teammates

Kevin-Butler-Sony-PS3-Long-Live-Play-600x300

As a die-hard Sony fan since the age of six, I loved Sony's marketing campaign with Kevin Butler and dammit he's funny... but that photo was perfect. My sincerest apologies, oh mighty overlord Mr. Butler.

That being said, (and this leans more toward shooters and strategy games) there is little else that is more infuriating than having teammates that are randomly assorted, on your team of course, to form one giant clusterf*ck of epic proportions, accomplishing little else than raising your blood pressure and making you question your faith in humanity - and the matchmaking system of the game you happen to be playing, provided you didn't destroy it in rage.

In team sports games, this isn't as magnified - with relatively fewer people playing, you actually have the ability (in most cases) to ameliorate the impact of a lesser teammate.

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Key word: MOST

In shooter or strategy games, the effect can range from a minor inconvenience that merely makes the score bleed, to a major flaw that costs your team the game. Want an example? Have one I experienced last week in a very unfortunate match of Black Ops II Kill Confirmed:

Me: "Hey, , you're getting pretty messed up, need some support?"

"Gamer" Cam-girl: "Oh no, I don't really care that bad LOL I just like to meet people."

Me: "Wut."

Teammate: "You're 1-14... you're costing us the game if you go at this rate."

"Gamer" Cam-girl: "LOL it's no big deal. Hey so do any of you guys know about , I work on it if any of you want to see more of me! I do... etc., etc.,"

Me: *face-palm*

Teammate: *face-palm* ... *makes sexist kitchen/sandwich joke*

Leading scorer on enemy team: "I dunno who this dumb-ass is but I'm havin' the time of my LIFE!" *calls in Attack Dogs, AND Swarm, game is soon over*

*sigh*

Now, granted, not every teammate is going to be as vapid as the cam-stripper on my team who clearly gave no cares about how abysmal she was at the game, but in random lobbies, your teammates may range from lone weapons of mass destruction, to the casual players with no regard for how the game goes - while casual gaming isn't a bad thing, nor do I look down on it, it can be downright infuriating for people who play to win, only to enter a lobby full of Team Retard only to encounter formidable opponents on the other end, who promptly wipe the floor with them. However, speaking of uncontrollable factors that can make you furious:

 
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Contributor
Contributor

I'm a technologically savvy Sony Gamer born in the epic city of New Orleans, currently pursuing a degree in Mass Communications in South Carolina. When not losing hours of my life with a controller in my hand, I'm probably losing hours of my life typing endless words into a keyboard, my attempt at this thing called "technology journalism". Hi there.