Topic

Positive reasons for strange behaviour

Hey forum-glitches, (the 1-10% of the Glitch community.)

Lets be positive.
Have patience, and forgive, new players when they behave in a manner which you find offensive. They might not know this. They are still learning the game. When people aren't aware of something they can't change it. And remember, it's only a small percentage that reads the forums. Most will just log in and play.

1.) Train yourself in assuming "positive" or "neutral" reasons why someone doesn´t behave according to what you consider `proper behaviour`.
2.) Most Glitches loooove to help! Actually we are all very selfish. We feel good when we help. We help to feel good. Purely selfish. Really ;)
3.) Please, talk to us! Start in a nice way though, and to avoid confusion, speek with 2 words "Hello Miriamele". That way I know you are talking to me.
Most people assume the worst when someone picks something up from their feet, or don't say thank you, or don't respond. It's almost natural behaviour to think negatively.

Here is a list of why apparantly rude behaviour isn't meant like that, this can apply to alpha,beta, gamma testers, new and old players, unimagined and deimagined ones.
Please add your own reasons why your behaviour could have been considered rude, formulated in the first person ("It seemed like I was spamming chat because my cat put his nails into my back and I got a spastic reaction from that and hit some random keys").
Be creative.

I behaved the way I did because...
- I am not yet aware of the game mechanics,
- I am wondering where all those hearts and lips and bears come from, only to figure out the source long after the player has left the level
- I am slow to select my own emobear and properly target the player to hug in return.
- I am slow in selecting the player to start a chat / use actions
- I didn'tt know you dropped the items but still needed it,
- I am slow in typing,
- My kid started crying just a few sec ago so I got up and went afk very fast
- I didn't notice the chat because I was reading a forum on another screen, or even some tooltip or quest or crafting recipe)
- I cannot respond due to a crashing pc
- I cannot respond due to an item being stuck at the cursor and not being able to select chat (or stuck in chat and not being able to use an item)
- I cannot type (fast enough) due to a cat sitting almost on the keyboard and a baby on my lap,
- I cannot type fast enough due to eating something (sticky),
- I didn't understand it was me that was being adressed,
- I am hypnotized by the television that's on as well (because bf watching). I didn't want to watch tele but I can't help myself, and only occasionally turn to the screen to meditate, plant, mine, or whatever, before returning to television. (This reason can be discovered by observing me for about 45 minutes, if there are several times about 5 minutes of activity then there are commercials on television.)
- I thought you were an npc
- I have been talking to you in the wrong chat channel
- I don't know about chat channels yet
- My browser crashes half way through chatting to someone new and oops logging back in can't remember how to spell their name or don't know how to reconnect in game*
- this is my 30th attempt to jump up on that rock/barrel to get at that tantalising quoin dangling just out of reach above me*
- I rarely manage to hug / kiss / give a present back because of my abysmal coordination*

* thanks to some others who have posted this in an earlier thread.

Posted 14 months ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • rofl - that sums things up pretty well. After several months of beta I know I've been in several situations myself and still regularly don't get to respond to a hug or whatever until after the other player has moved on.
    Thanks for reminding us that things aren't always as they seem. I suspect many 'negative interactions' actually have pretty good explanations if only we knew.
    I'd be intrigued to hear any additions to your list!

    -Sometimes I find the 'give' menu is really slow loading and by the time I've found the object that I want to give the other player has moved on. That gets quite likely after you've played a while and are carrying lots of objects.
    - Do I really WANT to KISS another player? eurgh. (Nothing wrong with hug option BTW!)
    Posted 14 months ago by Twoodle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I sometimes forget other people are actually there and forget to look at local chat. Or I am spacing off. Or I'm on a time-sensitive quest. Or I'm on a walk-about (which could, I guess, be considered a time-sensitive quest). Or I'm looking at another tab. Or I know I don't really have time for a conversation (like when my Glitchen is riding the train). Or I am experiencing lag and simply don't see it.
    Posted 14 months ago by Quirk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • very nice list Miriamele - and great thoughts!

    more :)

    . English is not my native language. It take me time to figure out what you said and then translate my answer into English.

    . Since I am not a native English speaker, I have trouble with your misspellings, shortened words and slang.

    . What you said would be very rude in my culture. I do not know if you meant it that way or not.

    . I can't see your facial expression or body language. so I do not know if you were kidding or mad or something else.

    . I don't understand the cultural reference you are making - other games, movies, TV shows, etc.

    .
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -I am drunk/stoned/tripping and didn't notice, sorry.
    Posted 14 months ago by DJ Plaid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -I am just a kid playing for a few minutes to keep mom/dad/older sibling from dying while they step away to check on dinner/answer phone/check laundry/etc.
    Posted 14 months ago by Holly Waterfall Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @DJ Plaid: Hear hear. ;)
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That about sums it up.  Sometimes, by the time I click the chat field and type my message, the person who I am targeting is gone!!  

    I always try to hug/kiss back and say thanks for gifts...but I don't always make it in time.

    Also, from the other side...I will give a gift to another Glitch and run away on purpose.  I don't require thanks...I just wanted to give you something.  :-)
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You're supposed to hug people back when they hug you? Shoot, I sold my emo bear a long time ago and I must have been annoying people ever since. Thank you for making me self-conscious :P .

    I personally just lack social skills and am always nervous about rejection, so I try to avoid the dance of social interaction as much as possible. If this means just lurking but never posting (this is my second forum post ever, and I was in the beta); if it means shutting people down or acting standoffish; or if it means just being in my own world, I try to do that. I hope that people will assume that I don't mean any offense and am just a perfectionist completist video gamer who just wants to get everything and be the best and so is too busy grinding to pay attention. I can see how that might give people a bad impression of me, but Glitch is not real life. In real life, I struggle through social interactions because it is absolutely necessary, and if Glitch wasn't so positive and friendly and community-oriented, I would practice being a nice person here, but it's just SO overwhelming with the community aspect and all the Cool Kids in Global Chat.

    tl;dr I have social phobia, thanks for letting me vent. :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Replete Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have to agree with most of the OPs statement. I refuse to conform to social norms that make no sense to people outside of "that's just how I was raised." Fuck that, I'm going to put my elbows on the table and cuss up a storm!
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't need an excuse for being anti-social :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Fussycat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • - I find items on the ground all the time, so I didn't understand taking the bubbles by your feet was rude. Didn't realize you had dropped it
    - with all the alerts of people entering and leaving the street, I missed what you said
    -I was people watching and laughing at witty names rather than pay attention to the chat panel

    On the internet, it is too easy to assume malice. Understandably, as there is always someone who gets their kicks at the expense of others. However, these people are the exception, not the rule.
    Posted 14 months ago by MrVolare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't expect a response when I randomly do something nice to another player, so I don't realize someone else might.
    Posted 14 months ago by Niqster Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 to what Replete said! (And this is my first post ever. And maybe I just don't want to be hugged by complete strangers, let alone kissed.)
    Posted 14 months ago by Satu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for all the additions!

    In the other thread, someone mentioned Robert J. Hanlon's law:
    secure.wikimedia.org/wikiqu...
    Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

    Ok I'll let my imagination run free a bit...
    - I tought my cat how to press the enter button so she can mine for me while I am away. I only move the mouse to the next rock.
    - I accidentally pasted an offensive line in chat which I was about to paste in a report.
    - I thought FFS meant ForeverFriendsSalute.
    - My name is also an English word which might not be appropriate. (Dick, Joke)
    - I thought you all knew me and that you knew I was just teasing. That combined with:
    - I have bad timing. I always manage to say something at the wrong time at the wrong place.
    - I just chimed in in the chat. I heard someone say: "The dog miauws like a cat". I made a bad joke about dogs. "What sound does a dog make when you cut it with a chainsaw? Miiiiaaaaauw." I didn't know it looked that stupid in chat and in english, and I didn't realize your dog had just died because he got cought in a lawnmower.
    - I had a fight with my brother about the dishes and went away to do them, forgetting to lock my pc. My brother was still angry at me and messed with my account. (Tip: if someone forgets to lock his/her pc at work, just send a mail as that person saying you'll bring cookies the next day.)
    - I have difficulty typing atm because my hands are freezing cold.
    - I assumed you were another ninja-driveby do-gooder and thus didn't reply.
     
    Posted 14 months ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is it good manners to reciprocate a hug? Especially when most people use the emo bear to fulfill a quest? 

    Hug me all you want. Use me, it's cool, I won't complain. If you ask me if you can hug me, I'll probably say yes. But is expecting or demanding reciprocation reasonable?

    I stuffed my emo bear down the gullet of a shrine long ago. 

    ... I am incapable of hugs now.
    Posted 14 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hugging back costs energy that I often don't have to spare because I'm already spending so much of it gathering resources and then processing them into fun things, wolfing down hearty groddle sammiches faster than I can make more of them (spice is a huge bottleneck). It is extraordinarily unreasonable to expect me to return a drive-by hug that I did not ask for or agree to. If you randomly give something good to somebody, the automatic assumption is that it's a *gift*; if you expect something in return, negotiate beforehand.
    Posted 14 months ago by Toksyuryel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Only dead fish go with the stream.
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This may not be the kind of positive reason the OP had in mind, but I think some people come in believing this is a role-playing game in which the choices of "good guy" and "bad guy" are equally valid.
    Posted 14 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am monster. Grrr.
    Posted 14 months ago by Quirk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Splendora: Based on dev statements, I certainly thought that myself. Limitless imagination goes both ways, if it is to be "limitless". The existence of the Rook and the simple fact that Glitches only exist because of it certainly means that there will be players who want to play as Rook-supporters (I am not one of them, but I DO believe this option should exist for those players).
    Posted 14 months ago by Toksyuryel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have been here for months.  I still find it difficult to play and read two Chat panes.  nevermind the IMs, I never saw them until recently and even now, I often miss them.  There are a number of "knocks" and "clicks" in the game and most of the time I have no idea whatsoever about what they mean.  Only since the reset have I discovered that a double knock is an IM.  In the past I have had double knocks that were caused by someone knocking on my door.  The IMs do not scroll and are always out of view.  Even if I scroll to them, they look like a Group Chat which I then ignore because I am reading another Group Chat.

    I never learned to type.  It's embarrassing.  I have had two courses in typing and still cannot type a whit but i type every day.  In the game if you are not fast you often miss things.  Honestly, I am not ignoring you, I am doing my best but often I am just not fast enough.  The faster I type, the more spelling errors.  By the time I correct the errors you are gone.  I have no solution.  I feel bad about it.

    My laptop often overheats and my cable often falls out of the socket because the laptop is hot.  I have to stop playing for a while.  If I suddenly disappear in the middle of something, that is what happened.

    I have a chronic health problem that has flared up in the last month.  I often have to quit what I am doing in the game and tend to it.

    So, these are reasons I may seem to ignore you or disappear or go AFK.  I am sure that others have the same problems.

    I meet many new Players and am excited to do that!  I enjoy it very much.  Some of these players never respond.  I don't mind at all.  I know that some of them don't speak English and may not understand me.  Others may have some of the same problems I have which causes them to go AFK or even leave the game in a hurry.  There are many reasons that people may be unresponsive or seem rude when, in fact, they mean nothing by it.  +1 for taking a positive attitude and giving people the benefit of the doubt.  Treat them as you want to be treated, with consideration and respect.  If they are, in fact, truly rude and despicable let that be their problem not yours.
    Posted 14 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink