We’ve all experienced it before. We’re in the middle of an online match, we’re winning, the time is running out and the game is about to end, Victory is ours! Or not. At the last second, the opponent disconnects from the game and forces the connection to drop and the game to end prematurely with no winner. The opponent avoids a loss and screws you out of the win. You’ve effectively been Rage Quitted on.
In fact, it’s quite likely you’ve Rage Quitted yourself at some point. We all get flustered and frustrated at times, pissed off and angry etc. And it’s just way too easy to quit to the dashboard or the XMB these days without penalty and end the game. So why not?
The problem is that it just leads back to gamers self entitlement issues these days, or people in general. We live in a ‘me first’ world where everything is all about us and only us and we don’t consider or care about anyone else. If we’re not winning, then screw the game. The other player doesn’t matter.
There is no chivalry, no respect or good sportsmanship these days. Most players are so conceited that anything that doesn’t involve them or involve them winning isn’t allowed. And thus, Rage Quitting is ever prevalent and popular in online gaming with little to no penalty or consequence involved, making it that much more attractive.
When someone Rage Quits, they usually cite the typical excuses such as “You suck”, “Lagger”, “[insert racial or homophobic slur here]“, “You only won because [X]“, “You cheated”, “You’re cheap”, “Spammer”, “Camper”, etc. The mentality involved is that the quitter believes themselves so awesome and so badass that they can’t possibly lose under any circumstance. Therefore, if they lose, there HAS to be a reason. It can’t possibly be that they were out matched or out skilled, no, the other player had to have done something ‘wrong’ in order for the quitter to have lost. Therefore justifying their rage quit in their eyes. And of course, even if they were camping the entire match and you camped on them at the end to win, the excuse is easily that you’re a camper and therefore suck and therefore justify the rage quit. Nevermind that they were camping themselves, you’re the camper, get it? Who cares if they were spamming the same projectile the entire match and were content doing it when they were winning, you’re the cheating spammer because you got past it and spammed your own projectile on them and beat them.
The sad part is, pretty much ‘anything’ you do against the rage quitter that results in a loss on their part is ‘wrong’. Unless you stand still and allow them to kill you, you’re doing something wrong and justifying a rage quit. Because there’s no possible way you’d have ever been able to beat them otherwise. And of course, their own lack of skill is non-existant because it’s in fact ‘you’ who beat them who lacks skill. Yes, their inability to properly defend themselves or know their character well enough isn’t the problem, it’s you who sucks. You beating them proves you suck and don’t know how to play the game and they are far superior to you in skill as proven by their rage quit and loss. It all makes perfect sense does it not?
If you try to show them their illogical rational, they simply resort to petty insults and name calling in a stubborn refusal to accept fault or responsibility. In effect, they simply don’t care as the world revolves around them and they need to be the center of the universe at all times and no one can challenge that fact. Trying to reason with them is as useful as ramming your head into a brick wall.
Then we have the even more interesting Rage Quitters. The players who will taunt, teabag and otherwise gloat and do everything in their power to piss you off when they get a kill or are winning. They take great pride and joy in rubbing it all in your face and making you look like a fool. However, the second the tables turn around and you return the favor and they’re losing, Rage Quits ensue. Yes, as you might have guessed, Rage Quitters are indeed the biggest cry baby hypocrites out there who can dish it out but cannot take it. Everything is fine and dandy so long as they’re the ones in control and shaming you, however, there is no room for them to be shamed or humiliated. It’s simply ‘not fair’. Only they have the right to win, to taunt, to shame, to gloat. No one else. And of course, anyone who does any of this to them again falls back into the category of “You suck, learn how to play loser”.
Yes, this is the immensely interesting world and mind of the Rage Quitter. In this day and age where instant gratification rules, players become more and more spoiled and self-centered. And with game companies doing little to punish players for purposely disconnecting from a game, it again, makes it that much easier and more attractive an option. And while doing such actions in a real life local setting would likely get the quitter slugged in the face, the Quitter is all but too keenly aware how ‘safe’ they are behind their tv where they can hide behind their anonymity and do as they please again, without consequence.
They will often use the excuse of having had a bad partner or the game was too laggy as justification for the rage quit. Nevermind that they seemed all fine to play through the match, lag and all all the way up to the very last second and only rage quit immediately before the victory screen for their opponent could be had. Yes, had the lag actually been bad enough, they would have Rage Quitted ages ago, but, no matter, the “lag” is fine so long as they win the match. If they happen to lose, then the “lag” is a problem and a justification to quit.
Just the same, they will join a random lobby and fight against a team of friends playing together while they team with a random partner. Nevermind that by actively ‘choosing’ to play with a random, they’re taking the risk that their partner could outright suck. If the partner costs them a loss, Rage Quits ensue because that’s justifiable right? You chose to take a gamble with an unknown partner and lost that bet, but, who cares? You didn’t win, Rage Quit. The other team certainly doesn’t deserve the win for beating you fair and square. If the Rager wanted a ‘good’ team mate that badly, they’d simply play with friends and avoid Randoms altogether to avoid having to worry about sucky partners. But, never mind that, they chose to play with a random and got a sucky partner, therefore it justifies ruining a match for everyone involved because they can’t accept a loss, a loss they likely would have obtained even with a ‘good’ partner to begin with mind you. Yes, you see, Rage Quitters tend to more often than not be rather subpar at the games they play. That’s why they Rage in the first place.
However, the biggest defense when pressed is that the quitter paid for the game and therefore can do whatever they want. If they’re not having fun, they’re allowed to rage quit as it’s their game and they can do what they want. The consideration that they’re playing online with other players and their actions in quitting, affect the other players and ‘their’ fun has no consequence to them because again, this is a world where only the quitter and ‘his’ fun matters. Playing online in a competitive game without the ability to actually understand what ‘competitive’ means and be able to accept the fact they’re not going to win all the time is all but lost on them. Yes, the Rage Quitter is so “me first” that any and all logic is absent from them and any semblance of reasoning is met with head butting rage and flames. The Rage Quitter is so deprived of any decency and good sportsmanship to the point of being the epitome of the sore loser.
And last but not least, to further drive home the sheer hypocrisy embedded into their mindset, should you be Rage Quitted on by one of these delightful chaps and happen to come across them again and return the favor, you can easily expect to get hate mail from them calling you colorful insults for rage quitting. Yes, when they rage quit, it is justifiable for any number of excuses they can pull out of their ass. However, should you rage quit against them, there is no justification for it and you obviously suck. Even if they rage quit on you the previous match and you raged on them in return in the next, their previous rage apparently never happened or is acceptable, however yours is not as you simply suck.
You may grow angry or frustrated with the Rage Quitters. You may waste countless hours arguing with them or reporting them. Unfortunately, your efforts are all in vain to try and change the Rage Quitters themselves. Instead, your focus should be on pushing developers to take responsibility for it and punish them. The more developers see it as an actual problem, the more they would be inclined to do something about it. Take Halo: Reach for example, if you Rage Quit too much they will suspend you from earning credits and in some cases from playing in online games at all for a while.
But, in the end, your best defense against a Rage Quitter is simply to treat them as inconsequential as they treat you. Ignore them and move on. If someone quits on you, simpy move on to the next match. It’s inevitable someone’s going to do it, so accept it and move on. Some even revel in purposely annoying and infuriating other players. The more hate mail you send them or the angrier you get at their actions, the more joy and pleasure they take in doing it further. The best course of action is simply not to feed their trolling by allowing them the satisfaction of knowing it bothered you. Ignore them, move on. And again, push developers to shoulder the burden themselves and punish players for disconnecting by awarding a win to the player who was quit on and a loss to the player who disconnected. For those players who legitimately got disconnected from their internet, it wouldn’t change the fact that their disconnection caused the match to end and thus the other player should be awarded the win and them the loss no different than if someone got disrupted by an emergency phone call during a local tournament and had to forfeit.
Just remember, the Rage Quitters will not go away or change on their own. So long as it’s easy and convenient to do and no penalty involved, Rage Quitters will prevail. Don’t waste your breathe trying to argue with them or fuel their e-peens.
