The gaming community is a wonderful one, with its roots starting out on internet forums and eventually entering into the mainstream. However, that doesn’t mean everyone’s an angel. Here are five different types of gamers that can ruin a gaming experience, whether you’re playing a multiplayer game or just trying to strike up a conversation.

5. Glitch Hunter

I’ll go ahead and say hackers go under this category, but emphasize that not everyone who knows how to use a glitch passed their Computer Science III course. Using ways that developers didn’t intend, glitch hunters can break the game and easily win in multiplayer matches. While glitches can have some amazing uses, and not all are nefarious, the ones who use it against other players are nasty in multiplayer. Using mods or an altered game designed to make the game easier for you and give you an advantage is also an annoying way to ruing the game experience for everyone.

4. Griefer

Griefers come in all varieties across the net. Their sole purpose in games is to ruin the game for everyone else. Whether your Minecraft home just got destroyed or your team just obliterated by its own member, these guys will have fun. Instead of having winning as their goal, they aim primarily to annoy. The easiest way to ruin their day is to kick or ban them as soon as they reveal themselves without getting mad. Better yet, you could repair their damage in front of them. Either way, don’t acknowledge their efforts, and do your best to spot them early on, before they can start mass-murdering your team.

3. Insulters

Plaguing headsets since the introduction of XBOX live, insulters get off on calling anyone and everyone their insult of choice. Whether it’s a racial, sexist, or religious slur, they at least don’t discriminate against WHO they insult—everyone is game, and everyone gets the same label. I realize that everyone has the right to free speech, but there’s a point where you should exercise etiquette like a human being instead of someone raised underneath a rock with no exposure to people with common sense. There’s different ways to express frustration. Yell, shout, whatever. But being angry doesn’t exempt your behavior.

2. Entitled

This doesn’t count the people who bought something and didn’t get what they were promised in writing, advertisements, or store deals. No, those people are actually entitled. I’m talking about the ones who complain to companies about sequels or lack thereof, demand updates or mods or features that they suggested, or think that games should be cheaper in this economy. Unfortunately making a game isn’t cheap, and the increase in prices lately just reflects how much more a studio needs to spend to make a game. Overpricing, sure, that’s not right. But rarely can a company give you games at a price that has very little profit in it for them. What’s more, game companies took their time creating the game that got you liking them—they probably have better ideas than you do about what to do with it next. Despite popular belief, game companies are still run by humans, and they do have some constraints. Some games don’t have happy endings, others don’t have realistic premises, but those are how the games were designed, and are nothing to complain about.

1. Fanatics

Fanatics are truly the worst kind of gamers. After spending most of their lives playing just a handful of games, they feel knowledgeable enough to say that their favorites are the best. Whether they’re trying to convince you that your favorite series is crap or that your console is terrible, they rarely know what they’re talking about. Haters who automatically ignore ‘casual’ games fall into this rut. Take anything a suspected fanatic says with a grain of salt. Ask them to explain their reasoning, and see if they can come up with a better excuse then, ‘Well, mine is better!’ Above all, be sure they’ve actually played or used the things they’re complaining about before listening to their opinion. Knowledge is a powerful thing, but fanatics pick it up selectively.


7 Comments

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  1. you forgot the most annoying type of “gamers”: peeps that are just in for another platinum the fastest way possible. they got no job, got a laptop with trophy guides and youtube besides their tv and when they got the nth platin because they are playing up to 18 hours every day (no skills anymore, just plain workout) they got the nerve to call themselves superior. i am always laughing my arse off because of this very specific human nature. they do not get that they are out of every competition by cheating (aka having no job).

    1. ahhh, you’re exactly right D: . it was in the original draft but i lost it in a comp crash and i nearly killed myself over which one i couldn’t remember. it was #5, the completionists > _> . consider them an honorable mention.

  2. number 1 PCfag, AKA PC elitist.
    Number 2 rabid fanboy
    number 3 wannabee MLG kids
    number 4 Cheaters/hackers/glitches
    Number 5 Kids who have annoying voices and also suck at the game.

  3. Number 1 is THE PLAYSTATION FANBOY, SONY DEFENCE FORCE APOLOGIST community. Since they are last place on everybody’s radar, they have been absolutely pathetic and ruining any major gaming site.
    Jim Sterling from Destructoid wrote a few very astute articles about the hypocrisy of the PlayStation community. They should be terminated on site.

  4. I agree that fanboys in general are the worst type of gamers. I mean, we all have our preferences, I for one love my Sony systems, but at least I can admit that it has some problems. As do all systems. It’s so hard to talk about video games to someone who has only owned an Xbox 360 and thinks it’s the greatest piece of technology in the world. Both systems have their flaws, but when the other person refuses to acknowledge that their system isn’t perfect, it’s such a frustrating conversation.

Sara Swanson

I picked up a B.A. in English with a specialty in Poetry. I also draw manga-inspired webcomics and play far too much Minecraft in my free time. My favorite game is Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, while my favorite series is Suikoden!
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