Trying to play multiplayer videogames with my tabletop gamegroup? EPIC FAIL.

[Jain Zar]

Yeah.  Yesterday was not a good game day.

We decide what the hey, let's play some multiplayer videogames.  I have a ton with multiplay options I hardly ever get to check out.  As my friend has a Wii, Gamecube titles are the best bet.

Every game was an abject failure with someone declaring they hate this genre of game and not even attempting to give it a shot or do anything other than say how much they hate it.  Well, one dude did the loudest complaining, but everybody seemed to dislike almost every game.  Soul Calibur 2 was allowed to be played for.. oh a round and a half and everyone insisted it be taken out of the Wii.  Tony Hawk 3?  People were miserable.  Smash Bros Melee?  People were miserable and insisting they had no idea what they were doing.  Mario Baseball?  My game but I hardly had any fun outside of the minigames. (Except I didn't grumble about it like other people did.)  Bomberman?  Shot down about even being PLAYED.  Phantasy Star Online?  OH NOES WONT BE ABLE TO SEE ON A 30 INCH SCREEN.

My offers of some Dreamcast gaming was mostly shot down too.  Power Stone 2?  OMG I HATE FIGHTING GAMES THEY ARE NOTHING BUT BUTAN PRESSES.  Chu Chu Rocket was met with dead silence.   
Given that people loudly declared the only racers they liked were either F Zero or Mario Kart meant stuff like Revolt and Star Wars Episode 1 Racer would have fallen on deaf ears. Capcom vs SNK or Marvel vs Capcom 2 would have been met with pure vitriol.  Im sure Bust a Move and Sega Marine Fishing would have been a bust too.  (With only one lightgun House of the Dead 2 and Virtua Cop 2 wouldnt have worked anyhow.  And I doubt anything on the Sega Smash Pack would have gone over well either.)

Outside of Rock Band which is fun for an hour or so before my hands or voice gets tired of it, my gamegroup simply cannot play videogames without someone being miserable.

I've tried classic arcade games.  Puzzle games.  Even the odd FPS.  NOTHING.  THEY DO NOT WORK.

Do I just have some overly picky friends?  (The same guy who complained the most and declared how he hated almost every single genre that is not sports seems to hate almost every other genre except for some Zeldas, a couple N64 games, Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and a handful of RPGs and the odd NES platformer.  He couldn't even get into Resident Evil 4.  Or Burnout 3.  Or Mech Assault.  About the only Co Op games we have ever enjoyed playing together has been PSO and Lord of the Rings Return of the King.)

Is there any game even worth playing with these people or should I just keep to my old policy of not playing videogames as anything other than a solitary activity even if we just have some time to kill?

[schild]

Dude, it's your tabletop crew. Of course they're fucking picky elitists.

Also, if my friends turned down Powerstone 2, I'd go find new friends. Fuck them, if you're the DM or whatthefuckever, kill all their precious characters. And then shove their cheetohs and mountain dew up their ass.

Finally, burn them alive.

[Megrim]

I concur. Find friends that aren't so laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmeeeeeeeee.

[NiX]

Yeah, my friends will play anything. There's the usual complaints about how they suck, but never enough to have to force a game change.

[Nevermore]

Do I just have some overly picky friends?

Yes, you need less bitchy friends.  It's a wonder they were all able to settle on a tabletop game.

[Signe]

If I had any friends, which I don't, I would make them play what ever game I liked and I would force them to have fun.  They wouldn't dare not have fun.  I would kick their asses if they tried to leave.  Srsly.  Kick their asses.

[HaemishM]

If a game can't get into Resident Evil 4 as pure gaming goodness, he's a fucking tool and you need to eliminate him from the fucking gene pool.

[Prospero]

I can't conceive of not having fun playing Burnout. It's the epitome of stupid, condensed fun. I think it's best if you just put him down; clearly he hates life.

[Merusk]

Is it REALLY that they hate it, or that one guy was good enough to kick everyone's (or the loudest whiner's) ass?   When I hear tales like this, it's usually the latter scenario.  In that case, we take the youngin' aside and it's snack time and then time for a nap.

Oh, these weren't a group of pre-adolescents?  Tell them to shut the fuck up and have fun, it's a party not a competition about their dick size.

[Paelos]

I don't like fighting games really, but I'll even play Super Smash Brothers because it's so easy and fun. If they hate on that game, I'm not sure WTF is the problem.

Also, I'm guessing you're not a fan of team sports games, because I didn't see a lot on that list (I don't really count Mario Baseball). I play hockey games with my friends, that that's usually fun Multiplayer. Also, shooters were very popular with us.

[Rasix]

[Ookii]

RE4 is a meh game for me, though a lot of my games are Rasix's games.

[Brolan]

I was surprised to learn from my tabletop friends that they weren't that interested in computer/video games.  I got them interested in EQ1 but they were dinking around at level 20 while I was raiding at level 50.  Eventually we drifted apart.   Sad really.

[Samwise]

EQ doesn't count as a "game".  I'd put it in the "punishment" category.

[Jain Zar]

Is it REALLY that they hate it, or that one guy was good enough to kick everyone's (or the loudest whiner's) ass?   When I hear tales like this, it's usually the latter scenario.  In that case, we take the youngin' aside and it's snack time and then time for a nap.

Oh, these weren't a group of pre-adolescents?  Tell them to shut the fuck up and have fun, it's a party not a competition about their dick size.

Nope the biggest complainer is mid 20s and has 3 kids.  And we usually have to play everything at his house at his family's convenience.  And while he will blat on and on about trying web browser game X, he constantly complains he has no time for anything which is why he never does anything to prepare for any tabletop game.  I have to spend almost all the money and spend all the time.  Then I end up being belittled and talked down to for every little thing.  Hell, I got talked down to because I KNOW HE HATES FIGHTING GAMES and should have known better than to even think he would play one.

Yet most of his excuses are hypocritical bullshit.  Madden requires just as many arcane and wierd commands to do things as any fighter.  Probably more.  You really can button mash and do well at Soul Calibur.  And he proudly proclaims how much ass he kicked at Mario Kart in high school and I have seen him be utterly merciless to people in football games.  We are talking 90-0 against someone in Madden.

He was loudly bitching during every game, we played (except for the Baseball one) yet he got on to me about complaining during a game of Heroquest a few months back.  Where my characters died every single mission.  And I was going through some rough medical stuff at the time everyone knew about.

The guy pisses me off.  On one hand he always invites me over to holiday dinner as I don't have any living family close by for the most part and even gets me a birthday cake every year.

On the other he does stuff I have mentioned here.  And while mentioning it to other people (like the others who weren't half as bad during any of the videogames.  Hell, one of them utterly slaughtered everyone else at Tony Hawk!) when he isn't around mostly gets knowing nods, none of them will ever speak up when he "gets that way sometimes" as they put it.

What's sad gaming wise is that they will pretty much at least try almost any tabletop game under the sun.

But some of you are possibly on to something.

I think maybe I do need to find some new friends. :(   That or go on antidepressants.  This week made me so mad I couldn't even sleep yesterday and I am still mad now.

[schild]

You hang out with some bitches, dude.

[UnSub]

The way I handle my friends in such situations is this:

I say, "I'm doing X. You want to do X too, you are welcome to join me. Don't want to do X? Don't come and don't tell me about it."

Sometimes we all go off and do X together. Sometimes I do X alone. But at the end of the day, I want to do X and I get to do it. I've found if I'm not so pig-headed, I don't get to do X and end up missing out entirely. There is some room for negotiation, but not a lot.

[rk47]

multiplayer for tabletoppers? oh, just have a hot seat on Heroes of Might and Magic 5.
You'd be surprised how fast time goes. Doesn't need a TV either. Just a pc to share.

[Signe]

They're your friends, Jain Zar.  Sometimes it's a mystery why some people are attracted to each other but they just are, even if they are horrible and piss you off all the time.  Don't think about why because it will just make you strange.

[Paelos]

Everybody has a friend who has a weird intolerance about something. Sounds like your friend has a weird intolerance about games. My friend has a weird intolerance for any kind of music that wasn't made before 1970. It's weird because he was born in 1982. The thing is, at some point I just let it go and listen to whatever when he drives me around in his car, or when we spend time at his place. It's not a big enough part of what we do to bother me. The same could be true of you and your friends. Maybe yall do a lot of other stuff together besides gaming. Maybe you don't.

I will say this: if I had a golfing buddy that constantly bitched about playing new golf course, wouldn't pay to go to nicer courses, and was a generally whiney little bitch for the entire 18 holes, I'd find myself a new golfing buddy.

[cosapi]

This is why the world needs more co-op console games like a new Guardian Heroes.

[Selby]

Your "friend" sounds like a tool.  I had a "friend" like that once.  Needless to say I don't have him as a friend anymore.

Whenever I go to Grim's place everyone always want to play Settlers of Catan.  I don't particularly care for it, mostly because Grim and his Muse completely wtfpwn everyone at this game.  I've played like 15 rounds with them and lost every single one.  But I don't sit there and whine like a little bitch about it.  I have a good time and laugh and joke, and even try a little cockblocking when it is obvious I cannot win with another one of my brilliantly failing strategies.  My point is, even if a game isn't your cup of tea, you can at least play it and have a good time.  Some people are just whiny little tools though and don't realize that the world doesn't revolve around them.  Sounds like your friend falls into that category.

[Rishathra]

They're your friends, Jain Zar.  Sometimes it's a mystery why some people are attracted to each other but they just are, even if they are horrible and piss you off all the time.  Don't think about why because it will just make you strange.

Except for that one dude.  Dump that asshole, stat.

[Prospero]

Whenever I go to Grim's place everyone always want to play Settlers of Catan.  I don't particularly care for it, mostly because Grim and his Muse completely wtfpwn everyone at this game.

I highly recommend dominating the sheep market and calling yourself the sheep king. Hours of entertainment, plus it annoys the hell out of the serious players.

As to mister boring, pop in Wii Rampage. If he doesn't like that, he needs help. Life's too short to only play super serial tabletop games.

[Jain Zar]

I sent out a message to everyone pretty much bringing up how I felt.  The problem guy is the only one to respond so far.  His message was kind of crap, but it does show he wasn't intending to be malicious.  He just doesn't fracking get it that I don't respond well to being talked down to all the time.  (I think I mentioned it, but a couple weeks back we were playing Formula De.  Which seems pretty rad.  Its only been played once before.  Someone gets to the pitstop part, going in at top gear.  One dude mentions that's a little excessive to go from top speed to stop like that.  I merely agree.  The guy then starts yelling about how I always want to change the rules of a game without any regard to them breaking and blah blah.)

I just don't think he realizes it most of the time.

And I grew up getting yelled at and browbeaten and I don't respond very well to it.  Obviously this is going beyond failed videogaming (which according to him again, I shouldn't have tried to make them play games they don't like.  I never knew some of the highest rated Gamecube games on Gamerankings were so awful that folks couldn't try to enjoy them for a 15 minute stint or too.  If I could try to make the best of fucking Goldeneye or Perfect Dark with another group of folks a few years back, playing a couple rounds of Smash Brothers or Soul Calibur without constantly complaining shouldn't be THAT hard, can it?  I know I am a rather picky gamer, but I have at least tried to play most genres, and have completed games in almost every single one except for the Gangster GTA kind.  Even hentai.  (Not that I EVER even want to be within 5 feet of one of those things again mind you..) )

It was more the straw that broke the camel's back.  I kinda ranted here before I emailed any of them about it because I was worried I might have been overreacting.  I am on the sensitive side.   (Even if half the time here I come off like a frothing turn based strategy game obsessed loony.)  But given yall's comments and the fact when I sometimes mention his little antics to everyone else they don't disagree with me.  (They either say he is like that sometimes or are just rather quiet with a knowing look in their eyes.)

Ill just know better than to bother to play videogames with them again since pretty much every kind of multiplayer game out there they don't seem to like.  And hopefuilly my email to them all will take care of the yelling. 

If not, at least I can rest knowing I stood up for myself and what I felt was not cool.  Of course I will then have plenty of free time and lots of hobby games with nobody to play them with, but it would beat being yelled at for dumb shit.

[schild]

To be fair, you come off as a "don't care about graphics 2-bit weirdo p&p fuckhead with no taste in modern gaming." But you're tolerable. Basically the foil of Sky's "I love giant TVs even though I'm on an outdated one and shiny shiny shiny shiny shiny happy things and I need to play on my fucking couch you nitwit chucklefucks" thing.

And your friends sound intolerable. Please don't invite them here. ^_^

[ahoythematey]

If you are DM, open up the fiend folio and let them know just how sore their assholes can become.  They sound a billion times worse than the gaming group I was a part of back in the day.

[Strazos]

Someone gets to the pitstop part, going in at top gear.  One dude mentions that's a little excessive to go from top speed to stop like that.  I merely agree.  The guy then starts yelling about how I always want to change the rules of a game without any regard to them breaking and blah blah.

Heh, just FYI, I wiki'ed the game out of curiosity, and apparently, if you try to down shift that much in a single turn, you will probably break the car.

[lamaros]

So does f13 do journalblogthreads now or something?

Most of my RL friends don't play computer games. I play computer games with other people, people who like playing computer games.

Hard concept to get your head around, I know, but just do things wither certain friends that you both enjoy, and do things that you enjoy and they don't with other friends.

Also, quit with the jerk friends, they do no one any good.

[Paelos]

Yeah, I should mention that with my friends I hang out with now, we just watch sports, drink, golf, and hit the lake together. None of them game and they all dog me for playing WoW and computer games in general. My multiplayer friends were in high school and college.

[Signe]

I only play MMOs with Righ and you lot.  Sad, innit?

[UnSub]

I only play MMOs with Righ and you lot.  A richer world for all of us, innit?