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KD's Friday Fun Fact (#93)
12 years ago
So, while I was reading this article in the New York Times about tipping… (to summarize, tipping is a giant American scam perpetuated by the other NRA that has nothing to do with rewarding good service and everything to do with enriching business owners at the cost of their own employees' paychecks, especially when there's competition such that employees bully each other or steal tips meant for other people.)
You should still tip under appropriate circumstances in America. It'd be nice if we could stop calling it a "tip" in such cases, though, as it seems to only confuse people.
Anyway, the whole escapade reminded me of a fun anecdote I had while playing Battlefield 2.
Once upon a time, I liked playing the Commander role in Battlefield 2. The Commander is still a soldier on the battlefield with no restrictions, but can also pull up a satellite image of the map and use special commander powers. The powers are very… er, powerful. To encourage use of the powers and discourage normal soldier-ing, Commanders are not awarded points for personal actions, and are instead awarded points mostly for their team winning the match.
As it happens, many players who don't know or don't care about this completely ignore their commander powers, ruining the point of being commander in the first place. Not me, though. When I did soldier-ing as commander, I always tried to use powers from first-person view, or find quick moments of respite to pull up the satellite view and use the powers there.
A sore issue for many people was the use of vehicles by the commander. Piloting a jet or helicopter takes full concentration. Being in a tank means a non-multitasking teammate can't use that tank. Many commanders can't even multitask properly in the first place. Aware of this, I tried to only command and tank-drive at the same time only if I believed our victory depended on it. Heck, at least once, (as commander), I drove the map's only available tank up to our team's best player, used the "Hop in!" voice command, and exited the tank. He thanked me.
Once upon a time, I felt it necessary to command and tank-drive at the same time. A clan member from the server I was on informed me over the Squad Leader to Commander voice chat that, and I remember this well, "Driving a tank and being a commander at the same time is frowned upon" in this server.
I replied, "Would you like the tank? I'll let you have it." I didn't really want to drive. I just wanted someone to use it, even if that someone was me!
He rejected my offer. He didn't want the tank. He just wanted me to be aware that the action was frowned upon on the server.
I wasn't kicked that day. I was kicked on a later date on that server for, in sheer desperation, attempting to (alone) hold off a coordinated attack by an enemy squad on an important outpost by using a tank as my team's commander. I took out three baddies before being taken out myself. Some of those baddies were in the server's clan. Yeah. Kicked by the enemy team for trying and failing to defend the map's most important outpost in a way they didn't like. Hardly the worst reason a server-owner has had for kicking, but still!
Moral of the story: Rules of etiquette are stupid. Rules need to be both enforceable and strictly enforced, or else dropped as rules.
Moral not of the story: Games aren't worth playing if you don't play like a lunatic from time to time. For instance, using 'Doctor' as your name prefix, and declaring doctor war when the enemy commander (also a doctor) uses artillery on you, with fitting retribution.
You should still tip under appropriate circumstances in America. It'd be nice if we could stop calling it a "tip" in such cases, though, as it seems to only confuse people.
Anyway, the whole escapade reminded me of a fun anecdote I had while playing Battlefield 2.
Once upon a time, I liked playing the Commander role in Battlefield 2. The Commander is still a soldier on the battlefield with no restrictions, but can also pull up a satellite image of the map and use special commander powers. The powers are very… er, powerful. To encourage use of the powers and discourage normal soldier-ing, Commanders are not awarded points for personal actions, and are instead awarded points mostly for their team winning the match.
As it happens, many players who don't know or don't care about this completely ignore their commander powers, ruining the point of being commander in the first place. Not me, though. When I did soldier-ing as commander, I always tried to use powers from first-person view, or find quick moments of respite to pull up the satellite view and use the powers there.
A sore issue for many people was the use of vehicles by the commander. Piloting a jet or helicopter takes full concentration. Being in a tank means a non-multitasking teammate can't use that tank. Many commanders can't even multitask properly in the first place. Aware of this, I tried to only command and tank-drive at the same time only if I believed our victory depended on it. Heck, at least once, (as commander), I drove the map's only available tank up to our team's best player, used the "Hop in!" voice command, and exited the tank. He thanked me.
Once upon a time, I felt it necessary to command and tank-drive at the same time. A clan member from the server I was on informed me over the Squad Leader to Commander voice chat that, and I remember this well, "Driving a tank and being a commander at the same time is frowned upon" in this server.
I replied, "Would you like the tank? I'll let you have it." I didn't really want to drive. I just wanted someone to use it, even if that someone was me!
He rejected my offer. He didn't want the tank. He just wanted me to be aware that the action was frowned upon on the server.
I wasn't kicked that day. I was kicked on a later date on that server for, in sheer desperation, attempting to (alone) hold off a coordinated attack by an enemy squad on an important outpost by using a tank as my team's commander. I took out three baddies before being taken out myself. Some of those baddies were in the server's clan. Yeah. Kicked by the enemy team for trying and failing to defend the map's most important outpost in a way they didn't like. Hardly the worst reason a server-owner has had for kicking, but still!
Moral of the story: Rules of etiquette are stupid. Rules need to be both enforceable and strictly enforced, or else dropped as rules.
Moral not of the story: Games aren't worth playing if you don't play like a lunatic from time to time. For instance, using 'Doctor' as your name prefix, and declaring doctor war when the enemy commander (also a doctor) uses artillery on you, with fitting retribution.
