I am really sorry to read your experiences of online gaming. I know we have had similar discussions before and to be honest my experience is completely the opposite. I only play online games in the main and whilst you get the occasion idiot in online chat I find the communities to be largely helpful and friendly. Having said that I don't play WoW and I wonder if that is partly responsible for the bad reputation that online gaming has.
I would encourage anyone who would like a positive online experience to play Everquest, Everquest 2 or Lotro. I have found that most of the gamers are mature in age and attitude and I have never had any serious problems.
In terms of the Matt Chat, I too have never played Starcraft but I did play Warcraft (and Dune 2 for that matter). Another great entertaining video, Matt. I have to admit that I wouldn't play a RTS online as mentioned below it is a bit like chess. Like chess you have to expend so much mental energy in playing it if I ended up losing it just wouldn't be fun! Also the games take a long time to play, so again you could invest an hour or so in a game and lose. This contrasts with an FPS where on dying you just respawn and start again immediately. Whilst I may be a fairly poor FPS gamer I still find it enjoyable as 'losing' a life has such little impact on the overall experience. Plus it helps to have fairly low expectations as long as I can finish half way up the scoreboard or at least not last I'm having fun!!
I am really sorry to read your experiences of online gaming. I know we have had similar discussions before and to be honest my experience is completely the opposite. I only play online games in the main and whilst you get the occasion idiot in online chat I find the communities to be largely helpful and friendly. Having said that I don't play WoW and I wonder if that is partly responsible for the bad reputation that online gaming has.
I would encourage anyone who would like a positive online experience to play Everquest, Everquest 2 or Lotro. I have found that most of the gamers are mature in age and attitude and I have never had any serious problems.
In terms of the Matt Chat, I too have never played Starcraft but I did play Warcraft (and Dune 2 for that matter). Another great entertaining video, Matt. I have to admit that I wouldn't play a RTS online as mentioned below it is a bit like chess. Like chess you have to expend so much mental energy in playing it if I ended up losing it just wouldn't be fun! Also the games take a long time to play, so again you could invest an hour or so in a game and lose. This contrasts with an FPS where on dying you just respawn and start again immediately. Whilst I may be a fairly poor FPS gamer I still find it enjoyable as 'losing' a life has such little impact on the overall experience. Plus it helps to have fairly low expectations as long as I can finish half way up the scoreboard or at least not last I'm having fun!!