I mean honestly, I’m not sure if this is just a World of Warcraft phenomenon, or whether it applies to other MMOs too, but what is it with people announcing in guild chat the slightest achievement they make and others feeling compelled to says “grats” or “congratulations” or “well done” or “Oh shut the hell up, it’s hardly a bloody impressive feat now is it?!”.
One of those answers only happens in my mind.
World of Warcraft has taken this to the next level by announcing achievements that guild members make to everyone else in the guild who happens to be online. And so now, if you miss the announcement because, say, you have it turned off, or have placed it in another window which you have made the size of a postage stamp, and hidden off the edge of the display, and then set on fire, and then stabbed repeatedly with a spoon, and then stamped up and down on… where was I? So if you miss the announcement for Some Reason all you get is a guild window filled with gratses. Which at the moment is Every. Five. Seconds.
I caught the announcement once, and you can click on it to see what the person achieved, in this case a level seventy hunter had managed to explore Bloodmyst Isle. I know! One of the first zones that brand new Draenei characters can get to when they start the game. However did he manage it? But the stream of congratulations and adulation that this chap got, well it would have made Winston Churchill blush.
From now on I’m going to start saying “Grats!” every time guild members manage to log in.
I don’t quite get the achievement hunters either – because when they do hunt achievements that involve exploring and the likes, they see it as a chore!
Now, chores that give rewards, I understand – they’re not fun, but you’re rewarded with something fun for going through them. Stuff that is fun and not a chore, but doesn’t give rewards, I understand as well – after all, it’s fun, which is a reward in itself. The zombie plague is an awesome example of that.
And, admittedly, part of the fun is all the “serious raiders” and self-proclaimed “regular players” bursting in flames when their beloved quest NPC isn’t standing there a few weeks before one of the biggest bad guys currently known in the WoW lore is about to take over an entire continent because that bad guy is actually, you know, bad. Enough for this excourse.
Back to those achievements: What I don’t get is stuff that isn’t fun and doesn’t give rewards – like those exploration achievements. Sure, achievements are nice, and exploring can be fun, but people who say “phew, nearly done with those exploration achievements, what a chore” do not have to hope for my understanding. I’ll only shake my head in disbelief; better than no reaction ey?
“phew, nearly done with those exploration achievements, what a chore”
They do boggle the mind, but I guess some people like that sense of satisfaction at the end of having achieved something… arduous like that. And some people like to complete everything they can, no matter how tiresome.
Let’s be clear, I have nothing against these people, each to their own and all that. What annoys me is that they have to announce it, either looking for sympathy or congratulations.
Yeah, well I logged in! Where’s my thanks?!
P.S. I would like to apologise to all readers for the exceptional level of spelling errors in this post, including the doozy in the title. I can only claim that the rant cloud had descended upon me and clouded my ability to even read the output of a spelling checker correctly.
Ay’ll mak fun uv you’re speling once myne emproves. :)
And I agree. I like exploring but it just makes me happy, not because at the end of it I want some text-based group hug that all those gratzes seem to embody.
Sometimes, however, I am guilty of perpetuating the gratz chain even when I’m not sure what people are gratzing over. I think as a joke, I’ll just randomly start typing gratz into guild chat at odd times to see how many people chime in with a gratz.
Guildy1: “Anyone know where the horse guy is in Rivendell?”
Guildy2: “Go left and you’ll hit the stables. He’s there.”
Me: “Gratz!!”
Guildy1: “Gratz!”
Guildy3: “Gratz!”
Guildy4: “Gratz!”
Guildy2: “What are we doing that for?”
Me: *snicker*
Oh, I have to try this now.
Genius.
Ironically, the most gratz-worthy thing I can think of for a WoW player to do is NOT log into their account :p
I’m registering gratsfornotplayingwow.com as we speak.
I have left guilds because of this.
It’s clear that some people have “Grats!” macroed. I never liked it anyway, as if they were actually impressed they might use a proper word. But it’s become so totally meaningless.
I hate it more when it is directed at myself. I turn off such announcements that might initiate a round of grats when possible. When a grats strike hits, they expect you to say “Tnx”, or thanks, or otherwise acknowledge their meaningless and insincere ritual. I will never thank anyone for gratsing me. It’s groupthink of the worst kind.
Yes, I’m a horrible unsociable person.
I like saying gratz
/hide
I also like achievements
/run