League of Legend & The Community

Lately I have been really into playing League of Legends, a strategy/arena type game. I played it for about a month half a year ago, stopped for some reason, and have recently picked it up again. For the most part, I really enjoy the game and I am in love with the artwork for it. I am by no means super good at it, nor am I totally terrible, but I like playing it. As an added bonus, I have a group of friends who play regularly as well so we often start games together.

However, my friends are not online all the time and sometimes I find myself the only person online, which happens. In that case, I would queue up for a game alone — but my gaming experience sours considerably when I do that. Often I try to ignore the negativeness, but it builds up and the result is this sort of passive aggressive blog post …

Now, I am no stranger to immature, selfish, inarticulately foul mouthed gamers. When I played World of Warcraft, I ran into one every so often. But never have I encountered an online community that is this infuriatingly scummy. Truthfully, the LoL community makes the WoW community look really good. Appallingly, it is usually the people on your own team who fire obscenities and such against you, for the most trivial reasons. And I will never, ever play ranked because I don’t like the game enough to endure that — I have been told the level of immaturity and nerd-rage is ten-fold in ranked games. In fact, if my friends are not online, I will sometimes resort to playing against the AI bots instead. This game is so full of 1) children whose mother needs to do a better job of teaching him/her to be civil and 2) man children whose dreams and aspirations have fallen and realizing this is the only thing they are good at, relentlessly harass everyone else. Okay, I kid, I kid … sort of …

In my own personal experiences, this is what I have witnessed:

1. I have had someone whine a significant portion of the game about how I used an ability too late to kill an enemy. At first, I apologized politely. Whatever, it’s not that big of a deal. But no, apparently he could not move on with his life.

2. I have lost games because 2 or more people in the game would explode into an argument about something trivial. We lose because they spend more time typing insults than actually playing the game. (There have been times where this worked out in my favor, if the other team is arguing amongst themselves instead).

3. Someone has, very sincerely, threatened to shoot my friend with a gun if he ever finds out who he is in real life. I reported that guy. I firmly believe he will not be able to carry out this act, but it’s still kind of shocking.

4. “Noob, noob, noob.” Actually this doesn’t phase me at all, it’s really mindless and I don’t think anybody feels insulted by it. But it shows the level of immaturity. Usually used by 12 year olds (and there are a lot of children in this game, I suppose it comes with the territory of free games. I have also have people brag that they’re not 12, but 14. Really, now, you’re 2 years older … so mature …)

5. Instead of simply asking you to do something, like, “Hey, why don’t you buy X item instead of the Y item you’re using?” or “Can you go to the bottom lane instead of top?” or something like that, often times they skip straight to the nerd rage: “WTF Why are you using that item?! Are you stupid?!” or “Get your ass to the bottom lane, noob.”

6. Ridiculously unwelcome to new players or people playing new characters. I’ve experienced this when trying out a new character. I’ve also witnessed it when someone admits they are a bit new to the game. The other players will relentlessly harass you all game, insulting and mocking you.

I completely understand the difference between joking around and playful banter between opposing teams and the like. However, the problem I see is that a lot of people think, “I’m on the Internet, being civil and well mannered goes out the window because nobody knows who I am!” And others will say, “Well, that’s just how the Internet is.” Hello, the Internet doesn’t have to be this way, it is this way because people sit back so passively and just let it happen. It’s why gaming and gamers still have so much social stigma attached to them, the lazy losers. The world would be a very different place if everyone just sat back and said, “Well, that’s just how it is.”

I have hesitated recommending this game to friends before — and I still do — because the community is just so horrible. The game does have this tribunal system where when you report someone, other members of the community can judge and come up with a verdict (suspension or whatever). While it’s a nice idea in theory, having assholes judge other assholes just seems very flawed.

Is there a way to change the community into something more respectable? There’s no instant cure, that’s for sure. Being rude in the game (unless excessive) isn’t enough to get you banned or whatever — which I agree with, don’t get me wrong. It’s not really a ban-worthy offense. However, I think it certainly would help if the game moderators could show that being rude in game is frowned upon. They certainly have more authority than the average LoL player. I am stumped as to how to get the community to actually stop being so socially demented. The only thing I can think of is that cheesy line we’ve probably all heard before — change begins with yourself.

Group Projects

Enough said.

Tights/Leggings Are NOT Pants

I’ve been ranting and raving about this forever, and I will keep ranting and raving about this so long as people keep committing this atrocious fashion NO-NO. I am especially shocked by the Tights-As-Pants wearers as it is wintertime and I’m pretty sure tights don’t keep your legs warm. It’s almost as bad as the girls who insist on wearing short-shorts and miniskirts in the freezing cold — but at least their butts are covered.

Tights/leggings are NOT pants.

I do not want to see every dimple on your butt cheek. I do not want to see your underwear line, panty line or thong lines. I don’t want to see your butt like this at all! Wearing leggings or tights as pants is the equivalent of NOT WEARING ANY PANTS. I mean, really, all you’ve done is add some colour to your butt and legs.

Leggings/pants are only acceptable if you are wearing a LONG SHIRT OR DRESS that will COVER YOUR BUTT. Otherwise it is just a fashion disaster (excluding scenarios such as ballet). They are supposed to complement your outfit … they are not another option for what to wear on your bottom half.

So please, for the love of god, STOP wearing your tights or leggings like they are pants. They are not.  It’s like wearing pantyhose. You wouldn’t wear JUST pantyhose. No, you wear a dress or something over your butt. Pants are pants. Leggings and tights are not substitutes.

Edit:I am not making this whole thing up and I am not the only one:

tightsarenotpants.com/
www.theladylikes.com/post/384085811/notpants-apparently-american-apparel-is-aware
thisislifeinaustin.com/tag/are-tights-pants/
nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2010/03/22/leggings-tights-unacceptable-substitute-for-pants/
www.thefashionpolice.net/2010/01/fashion-police-ruling-leggings-are-not-pants-and-tights-are-not-leggings.html

My First iPhone!

I got my brand new phone! It’s the new iPhone 4S! I got a blinging case for it too, haha, because I’m girly :P So far I am loving the phone! My old phone was the Samsung Instinct, back from 2008. It was a great phone when it first came out, but technology has made so many leaps and bounds in a mere three years that it’s seriously lacking in a lot of areas now. Going from the Instinct to the 4S is huge!!

Bell Mobility Customer Service WOES

This picture pretty much summarizes this post.

So I am sort of planning to get an iPhone 4S, as my current phone’s contract is nearly up (about a month left). My phone is currently under my mom’s name, as she bought me my first cell phone 6 years ago and, well, I kind of feel it’s time to transfer it to my own name, heh. So yes, I understand I will need my mom to come with me when I go get the new phone, BUT I thought it couldn’t hurt just to ask some questions.

This is pretty much the first time I interacted with my cell phone provider, Bell Mobility. I’ve always been told that Bell is notorious for horrendous customer service. I never really had a problem with them before because I never really interacted with the company since my mom handled all my phone things (I do know my mom asked them to block the Internet service on my cell phone THREE times, and I still keep getting charged for — apparently — going on the Internet on my phone for 22 hours a day. Which is obviously some sort of glitch because 1) why would I go on the Internet ON MY PHONE for 22 hours and 2) I tried going on the Internet on my phone and it doesn’t work. It’s blocked. So why does it show up on my bill that I was online??)

Anyway, today, my experience with their customer service wasn’t very good …

I was at the mall where I worked, which as 3 of these Bell stores, ’cause it’s such a large mall. Anyway, the first one I went to, I just wanted to know if they had any iPhone 4s’s in stock. The salesgirl says, “No, we don’t.” Which is fine, I kind of expected it. So I asked if it was possible for her to call another Bell store and ask if they have any iPhone 4s’s in stock.

She says, “No.” Exactly word for word. And that was it! I was like, “Umm … okay …” I mean, don’t you usually explain why? Even if it’s a completely bullshit reason? She just left me hanging there with that ‘No’.

Anyway, I assumed she was a lazy asshole and left. (My dad later told me that maybe the Bell stores, though under the same company name, are operated independently and they don’t want to give business away to another store … but still, the fact that it sounded very rude just saying, “No” when I asked if she could call another store irritates me. Also, what business to give away? She said they didn’t have any iPhone 4S in stock. Clearly I am not going to be doing any business with them anyway).

So I went to another Bell store in the mall. They did have iPhone 4s in stock. They told me I will need my mother here to discuss anything with the phone. I said, “Sure, that’s fine. I just want to know if I am eligible to upgrade to the iPhone 4s.” And he says again, I need my mother here. “Okay,” I say, “but I can get the iPhone 4S if I want it, right?” Then he says I need my mom here AGAIN, to confirm an upgrade. I mean, I’m not asking a very personal customer question here! I just want to know if I can get the iPhone 4s. It’s a YES or NO question!

What’s even more weird is that after some more prodding, he said the iPhone 4S’s are mainly for new customers right now. So even though they have them in stock, they are not really letting existing customers upgrade to it.

Seriously? Way to treat your existing customers like shit! Why can’t I upgrade to it? I mean, I’m not even really upgrading, per se, my contract is nearly up. I need a new phone. I want the iPhone 4s. I can’t get it because I’m already a customer? WTF is that logic?? They’re basically telling me to go find a new cell phone provider, because clearly new customers get the best phones.

Hmph!

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