This is the second Call of Duty "hate editorial" we accepted to be published, simply due to its imagination. We're going to assume that the author isn't actually living under a bridge at this moment in time, and just commend him for his effort. There's no doubt that online addiction is a reality, after all.
Anyway, congrats to Eric Wilderman aka ZenChichiri!
People have always told me that when you make a mistake, you learn from it and move on. Unfortunately for me, the mistake I made snowballed wildly out of control and now here I am cashing in food stamps as it's my only source of sustenance. It wasn’t always like this. I used to have a decent (albeit boring) job as an intern at a law firm and I was set to marry my fiancé (now ex) next year. My future was looking bright until “it” happened.
The catalyst that can most easily sum up the source of my problems is a three-word title that I would come to loathe just as much as I loved: Call of Duty. It started when a gamer friend of mine was recommending games that he thought a “non-gamer” like me would be interested in. He was always trying to get more people interested in his hobby because he felt that more of the world should experience gaming. I had the extra money for a console and no real hobbies, so I took the plunge and bought a PS3 along with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. After all, what was there to lose?
…a whole lot apparently. It started innocently enough. I would log on for a few hours a week and play some multiplayer with my friend but would often get frustrated because I was new to gaming. However, as I started getting better, it steeled my resolution and I would often log in at times my friend wasn’t even on. I soon easily outranked him, and was quite proud of myself for it. After all, he had been a gamer for a long time!
That’s when things started to spiral out of control. Like I mentioned, my job was a bit on the boring side, so I wouldn’t really think twice about calling in sick to log a few extra hours. My fiancé liked how I finally had a hobby at first, but when I started blowing her off regularly, she got upset. I kept on telling myself that she would get over it, and I would make it up to her later. That “later” really did keep on getting later and later, until our eventual end.
At this point I was pretty good at the game. There were regulars that I met in matches that would team up with me and we would slaughter others. The ages ranged from kids to adults, but it was mostly teenagers I would meet online. While their language was vulgar at times, they tended to be the best players because they had the most time on their hands. I wanted to play with the best. I even stopped playing with my friend because he wasn’t very good. He played other games too much for him to become as good as I was. I never understood why people would play more than one kind of game because it would be impossible to master, as well as being a bit on the expensive side.
I was overjoyed when Modern Warfare 2 came out because it was pretty much the same game, but better! When I put it in I immediately went online with it and was ranking first on the scoreboards. I lived for killstreaks and didn’t even care if our team won the match. I just wanted to have the best kill/death ratio to prove that I was better than everyone.
I reacted the same when Black Ops came out, but that’s around when I lost my job for being late and absent so many times. At the time I didn’t even really care, though, and just moved in with my parents so I could live for free and have more CoD time. My parents eventually caught wind of why my fiancé had left me and I had lost my job, so they told me that I needed to get a job and stop playing games, or they would kick me out. They did just that.
Now I’m on food stamps living on welfare out of a rundown duplex in a ghetto. It took me until this moment to realize I had lost everything. A bright future, a loving woman. I lost it all to my addiction to an online shooter. The funny thing is even at that particular moment I still wanted to login and get my final prestige. That wore off over time the longer I went without the game.
This is my story. I hope nobody else follows in my footsteps, but with the following I know the game has, I can’t be so sure. Once others start losing themselves to it, I hope the world takes notice. Even better, I hope my words may reach these troubled souls in time…
i really hope this isnt a true story but i actually believe that it is. i really have no doubt in my mind that this happens and has happened before. best of luck to you if it really did happen.
LMFAO……. i hope this aint true bredren cause i will feel bad about laughing.
Probably fake, but if real, my reply is:
So you blame a game for something that you allowed to happen? Oh yeah, makes a lot of sense.
Face it, you had no self control and you let yourself get addicted and feed it as well, you're the only one to blame as far as I'm concerned. Title shouldn't be how "call of duty ruined your life", should be "how I ruined my own life".
Last edited by Nas Is Like on 5/14/2012 10:08:12 PM
Which is actually part of the reason I wrote the article if you read between the lines. I mean, only the people are to blame for this sort of behaviour, and no offense, but CoD is chalk full of these kinds of people.
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 5/14/2012 10:35:51 PM
It's definitely tongue in cheek. lol
Nice job Zen! Representing Canada!
Thanks! I did it for the beaver.
I could totally see this happening. The only thing missing is a behavior I've seen in a friend, CoD online multiplayer gives him fits of rage. If that spilled over into real life trouble could ensue as he is a born brawler.
so whats ur theory on the ending of season 2 sherlock? What a shocker.
"Sherlock" BBC spoiler ahead:
haha, well if you go by the books Sherlock will spend some time abroad doing beekeeping. But you know they will update it. I'm thinking there might be an internet conspiracy movement in support of him that hits on his death as a clever fake. Sherlock will probably make sure that is squashed down before he returns. Maybe he and Watson will solve some cases in America first? The possiblities are endless.
I've seen this happen with WoW, it's no doubt that some people have an easier time laying the controller down once in a while but others need to try and prioritize better. Thats all addictions are, rules and limits need to be set once one thing starts affecting other more important things. I saw WoW do some bad damage on a married couple with kids, long story short, don't be suprised by anything when you ignore people.
theres alot of addictions out there, whether the story is true or not,
no reason to bash the author of the article.
No one is bashing him.
Last edited by Nas Is Like on 5/14/2012 10:40:04 PM
… Am I the only one that thinks this is fake?
LOL at the people who thought this was real. My avatar is laughing at you.
Last edited by Pandacastro on 5/14/2012 10:54:07 PM
I'm surprised anyone thinks it's real. I mean, come on. 🙂
I'm sure ZenChichiri will show up to clarify.
And why would I do something like clarify? 😉
By the way, thanks for publishing it!
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 5/14/2012 10:32:24 PM
Yeah ben, what gave it away for me was when he referred to himself has a non-gamer before cod. The guy has my favorite dreamcast game as his avatar. Lots of people who game before him never heard of shenmue.
Had me concerned for a moment 🙂 Nicely done!
People get addicted to all sorts of things, and games are no different. Up to the individual to keep it in check.
i almost cry while reading this…
Ok people. You have to realize that the contest was about CoD hate right? This article is displaying some reasons for CoD hate through the eyes of someone who became addicted to the game.
There are some subtle things about it that show why some people dislike the franchise. I for one don't hate the game itself, but rather some things it's done in the gaming world.
This article is not a representation of me! Like Pandacastro said, my avatar is of Shenmue yet this "non-gamer" only ever played CoD.
Edit: I gave in and clarified.
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 5/14/2012 10:49:04 PM
Well written and a creative twist to the task, Zen. Job well done.
I was hoping it was going to be an actual reason for hating cod though (like the many reasons people posted before).
so he hates the game because its too good?
interesting
You know it's a joke, right?
Nope he doesn't apparently. He doesn't like people taking a jab at something he likes so dearly, and has to defend it like it's the end of the world. /sarc
really…you gotta be kiddin' me
Some of you think this is funny, but really it's pretty sad, because I know people that have lost their jobs and or their loved ones due to being addicted to one game or another.
Maybe making light of a serious issue, but it's really quite brilliant.
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 5/15/2012 2:12:52 AM
i know 2 people who have gone through similar although they didn't get made homeless but they did end up on the dole,
This was way awesome. You touched on the points like people only playing CoD, and focusing on K/D ratios all from a totally unique perspective of a CoD addict.
Loved it. Glad I didn't submit mine as it was not nearly as entertaining, and was more about hit boxes and technical stuff that only old PC gamers like myself actually care about:P
Again great job!
LOL, I'm really surprised by the number of people that thought this was a real story. I enjoyed the "I never understood why people played more than one type of game" comment.
Haha, this article is great. I love how different it is from most articles. A true-to-life story(for some people out there anyways) used to parody a sad truth about this game and many like it. Ingenius =]
Truth be told, this kind of thing is actually why I quit the MMO genre and, specificly, WoW. They can devour your life in very real terms.
Last edited by Jotun on 5/15/2012 11:15:44 AM
I don't want to flood this page with a tonne of comments, so one more time thanks to Ben for publishing my article, and thank you all for reading! It was a tonne of fun to write, and I'm happy a lot of you were able to pick things out from it.
It was great to read the other article by Jotun as well, and I hope there are more contests like this in the future. The community here is fantastic, so a shout out to all of you that make visiting here frequently interesting.
Dang, before I even read this, I thought this was for real.
Lol, who's PC did he send the artice from. Awesum imagination and quite believable actually. Tanx for the read
obviously you wouldn't have broadband while on welfare which would help you make a quick reccovery.