Are we gamers an ungrateful lot?

[Chimera]

I once had an employee who used to ask for his check early every pay period. Often before he had even worked the entirety of his schedule.

Once, I had to say no, and he told me that he refused to work again until he could get paid when he wanted to.

At least I had the power to fire him.

lol. No need to do that, Mr. Master! Let him refuse to work! After 3 days, it's considered "Job Abandonment" and then you don't have to pay unemployment!

 

[Tal Rasha]

I too think that complaining is not more common among the gaming subculture than among the others. For example, in the computer game industry as well as in professional IT there are fairly numerous unjustified complaints. Perhaps most familiar are those of the type: "Your free [as in beer] software doesn't work, you b*tches better help me out" or "Your free website did not solve my problem, what do I do?"

Let me put on my armchair psychologist hat for a moment. Ahh, that's comfy . Besides the already mentioned sense of entitlement, I would think that there are two other reasons this happens. First, there is a certain sense of victory when you get your way over that of a company. It makes you feel like you accomplished something, and liking that you strove for something and got it, you forget to question why you believed you deserved on that thing in the beginning. Second, I think there might be a subconscious lack of respect (don't want to say contempt, it's too strong) towards free items. It has been ingrained into many of our psyches' that something you pay for is always better than something free, and that could lead to some absurd thinking of the type: "Well, I wanted to get a free copy of your shoddy PDF. I actually considered your product as worthy of my time, and you didn't even have the decency to accomodate my needs." To support this theory, I'd like to say that in my experience people complain less about expensive items than about cheap ones.

And the hat comes off. Please all feel free to poke holes in my coherent babbling.

 

[Dire Bare]

I cancelled my previous ISP contract because of how they treated me: I didn't really pay too close attention to prices for a while, and then found out that for a couple of months now, the company in question had a new offer that was basically the same as mine, only that it cost half of what I was paying. They didn't tell me about the new rate, and when I called and asked about it, I was told, in a very condescending tone, that they don't change contracts for better offers or tell people about new offers, and that I had to do this myself, and that I could change the rate now if I wanted. It felt as if he thought that I was an idiot and should be grateful to be allowed to get their stuff at all.

Of course, once they had my notice that I cancelled, they called me, and the guy who then called me was brownnosing like a trooper, and he told me that they couldn't just switch because the new one had to be signed to for 12 months instead of just one month and he profusely apologised for it all. Of course, by that time I had signed another contract.

In the following months, they woudln't stop calling and asking why we had cancelled and why we won't return to their service.

Actually, this practice is quite common with ISP's, satellite TV providers, cell phone companies, just about anybody who sells you a monthly plan for some sort of service. And believe it or not, it's a GOOD policy for the company (and often the consumer) and helps protect against liability.

When service companies change their plans, sometimes the prices go up, sometimes they go down. Sometimes, regardless of price, details change in small ways, sometimes in large ways, and sometimes not at all. And for a company to change your plan without your own prompting, because they think you MIGHT find it a better deal would be just opening huge can of worms and possibly open them to legal action.

Obviously, some companies are better than others about letting existing customers know about new plans. But any company would be foolish to just up and change you to a "supposedly" better plan.

And, like several of the above posters, having been the customer service rep on this same conversation, you'd be surprised how many people get pissed off if you do actually change them to a better plan . . . . same details, better price, but different name perhaps.

It's just sane corporate policy to leave plans and contracts alone until the customer requests a change.

I always used to laugh when customers told me essentially the same thing you told your ISP. It usually boiled down to this, "I'm pissed you follow the same practice as the entire industry, and I'm going to switch to one of your competitor's who follows the exact same policy!!! So there!"

Besides, why SHOULD a company lower your price, "just because"? It'd be nice, sure, but not doing so constitutes poor service? Maybe I've spent too long in customer service . . . .

 

[Dire Bare]

lol. No need to do that, Mr. Master! Let him refuse to work! After 3 days, it's considered "Job Abandonment" and then you don't have to pay unemployment!

Heh, heh. Oh yeah, I like that! I'm going to use that someday, I just know it!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Are we gamers an ungrateful lot?

Absolutely. I believe gratitude towards publishers is deviation from the norm among gamers. Promotional items are somehow viewed under a tinfoil hat.

 

[Ranger REG]

Are we that ungrateful that we complain about discounts & free items (even if it's a free item we can't get)?

Edit: By "we" I mean to ask if the gaming population have a higher percentage of these ingrates than normal.

YES.

If given the opportunity, I'd "cleanse" the community of these lots.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

You've got to be kidding. Please, tell me you are.

I wish I was. Really. I do.

 

[Ry]

Allow me to provide the relevant theoretical elucidation of this phenomenon, especially as it relates to e-mailed conversations and internet forums.

 

[KrazyHades]

On the topic of being ungrateful to a GM for the work he puts into it, I think no. Most player's aren't ungrateful about that, they just don't always realize the time that goes into it. That really hit home with my group when they asked a prisoner about the layout of a temple back in their home town and I handed them a map of the place (they had never even mentioned or heard of the place before). Except for one player who is my "apprentice" GM, if you will, they were all astonished at the prep I had done, and since then I've gotten many thank-yous for GMing.

But about gamers being ungrateful in general, that's just because PEOPLE are ungrateful in general. As my grandfather said, "No good deed goes unpunished".

 

[Doug McCrae]

Erik, I want to make a William S. Burroughs RPG. We can market it to kids. It'll be great.

It's been done.