Bears'n'guns

The other day, I sat around wondering about the effects of age on reflexes and general gaming ability. Then a friend of mine, who happens to be nearly a decade older than I am, joined up for some after-midnight fun on Black Ops 2 and... well, let's just say that I had no reason to worry about anything. We're constantly competing for first place, people accuse us of cheating and wallhacking left, right and center and at some point, he ended up winning a match with 23 kills and zero (zilch, none, nada) deaths.
I like explosives a wee little too much to be successful in the 0 deaths department, but I'm doing okay here, as well:

It's the kind of brainless, pointless fun I'm looking for in a shooter. My friends in the "pro" department would strongly disagree with me here. You see, I don't think when I play, I'm just dicking around, doing my thing, having fun... we're usually making up weird songs on voice chat, we're talking about the weather in England, and I'm pretty sure an outsider would have a hard time figuring out whether or not we're actually ingame, judging by what's being discussed at the time.

Then I have friends, who have played every single CoD religiously. Those guys have formed their own clan, they're playing pretty much all night and day and, while I generally enjoy playing alongside them, they always become a little unbearable when a new CoD comes out. Every new game of the series is the "worst game ever" and "they're never gonna buy another one again" and what have you. I've already mentioned the drama regarding lag compensation, now they're raging about submachine guns and the laser sight attachment thingie.
Because everyone is using SMGs and shooting from the hip now. Right. Because that totally didn't happen on the first Black Ops, with the 'Steady Aim' perk and the AK74u.

It's amazing what a bit of nostalgia and selective memory can do to a person's perception. People used to complain about lag compensation on Modern Warfare 3, saying it's ruining the game. Now they say the exact same thing about Black Ops 2, BUT: "...I'm gonna go back to MW3 until this is fixed." Mkay. Right. Because for some reason, lag compensation is okay on there now, but it ruins BO2.
Meanwhile, the first Black Ops is now turning into some kind of holy grail. The untouchable game, the flawless one, the one last enjoyable CoD thou shall not flame. How about a quick reality check: The spawns on that game have been broken since release and some shitdick spawn-camps the enemy team *in every single match*. If the weapons are oh so fucking balanced, why is everyone using the AK47/74 and why are people using dual G18s getting kicked for using an OP noob weapon? Oh and since when is it so fucking great to be forced to score countless 'first blood' kills, capture flags and do all kinds of other shit nobody gives a fuck about in order to unlock all the fucking pro perks every single time you prestige?

I'm not even missing dedicated servers anymore. Don't get me wrong: I love them for their relative stability, the presence of admins who ban people for cheating and general dipshittery, but at the end of the day, I could divide the list of available, lag-free dedicated servers in two categories:
1. Full
2. Retarded rules: We will ban you if you camp for more than 2 minutes, use rocket launchers on people, use the grenade launcher attachment, dual wield, show suspicious behaviour on the killcam etc.

Regarding the second kind of server, there are clan forums, where members are actually required to video themselves whilst playing the game (as in, camera pointing at the actual person and the screen) to prove they're not cheating. Registration for a VAC anti cheat profile is recommended, as well. Do you think this is a motherfucking game? Call of Duty is serious business! I so wanna post a pic of grump cat right now...

I don't give a shit about any of that stuff. I lack the patience to camp and I suck with launchers, but if somebody sits in the same spot all the fucking time, so be it. That's what the killcam is for. I'll know where he's camping and I'll kick his ass. And I tend not to cry about people blowing me up with an RPG. Damn thing is in the game, let people use it. What's with the constant urge to rule, regulate and overthink everything?

On a happier note, the Bear has now joined me on Black Ops 2, as well. We're on there now as Kitten and BlockyCow. Look at the cool player emblems I have created for us:

If you're not familiar with CoD emblems, they're basically created by combining and colouring little shapes. You know, circles, squares and the like. So you can't just hand-draw stuff or download an image off the 'net as you would with a Counter-Strike spraytag, but you have to get creative, yourself. People have already begun ripping off and (badly) copying my emblem, but they do say that plagiarism is the highest form of praise. Besides, it's not like I came up with that thing from scratch - it's clearly inspired by a certain webcomic about gaming cats. *coughs*

This is how the editor works:

Random youtube video, not very good, not made by me, but it gives you a basic idea of how it all works. Oh and something happened last night. Something I said was impossible, stuff that never happens IRL, but it actually did: I kicked a guy's ass, ended up in first place and the guy actually said I'm a great player. No flames, no insults, no accusation, just telling me I'm good. Made my day! Might the internet start to mature after all? Now I'm probably expecting a little too much, eh? :P

Well, looks like we might not be as active on Guild Wars 2 as we used to be, now that Black Ops 2 requires most of our attention. I'm still up for fractals and dungeons and stuff, but it's good to have a bit of variety. ♥

-Cat