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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: It was lag, I swear!
by Josh Rose 
Dec 24th 2010 at 8:00AM
Lag is probably the single most common excuse for mistakes in all internet gaming. From the beginning of the big craze of first person shooters to now, mistakes are chalked up to lag. The expressions change from: "Oh sorry, you didn't get a heal? I lagged real bad!" to "Oh, I had a huge lag spike!" -- even expletive-laced shouts at the lag itself, as if you could personify bad latency. This happens in PUGs, guild runs, and even just friend and family groups.
The question is how often are people actually lagging versus how often is it merely an excuse, because no one else can prove you did not lag. The truth is, it is not always lag -- but sometimes it is. I have went on expletive-laced tirades when I disconnect during a boss fight or see that horrible thing when my entire action bar is lit up with queued spells but I am not moving. However, if you actually make a mistake that is your fault, I am a big proponent of taking credit for and owning it. If you blame lag or someone else every time you make an actual mistake instead of taking ownership of your shortcomings, you never learn from them. Admitting you used an ill-timed spell, moved into the fire, or just got caught up in your rotation and had a lapse of attention allows you to learn and grow from your mistakes (and hopefully never make them again).
Do you ever use lag as an excuse when it was a personal mistake? Is it a common go-to excuse you use often? Or do you believe in admitting your mistakes and trying to get better from them?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Orrdeath Dec 24th 2010 9:05AM
This was intended to be a rely to "To be Frank" post, things have not worked out as intended it seems.
Adoisin Dec 24th 2010 9:45AM
Blame it on the lag.
Nawaf Dec 24th 2010 9:05AM
Nah, I don't use lag as an excuse. Instead, I put the blame on some one else in the group/raid.
pogle Dec 24th 2010 9:09AM
If I'm lagging I say so when I first notice it, before any mistakes occur. If I have 2 deaths or wipes caused by my lagging, I just apologize and leave.
Otherwise I own up to my mistakes.
Malozing Dec 24th 2010 9:23AM
I like you
Greenimeani Dec 24th 2010 9:16AM
I only blame lag when lag is really the problem.
Usually, I blame distractions, like watching TV or looking through AtlasLoot while healing...
Greenimeani Dec 24th 2010 9:21AM
Although, sometimes I "lag out" of groups by disconnecting the modem, but that's only rarely and if I have to go RIGHT THEN and don't feel like saying goodbye to random PUGers.
Fluph Dec 24th 2010 11:05AM
Haha! One of our officers is a healer who does the same thing. We've tried telling her it sets a bad example but she is usually not watching chat because Glee is on.
That show owes my guild bank about eleventy-million gold in repairs.
Malozing Dec 24th 2010 9:20AM
When I lag as a healer, I just start mashing my heals while selecting party members. I don't see those heals go off, but my boyfriend see them so I guess that worked.
I do somewhat the same thing on a boss fight when I played as a DPS, just not as frantic, 'cause I don't want threat, but on trash pulls, I just sat there because there is no way to tell if that mob is dead or if the tank has aggro on it.
adaystrom Dec 24th 2010 9:36AM
please
Samuel Dec 24th 2010 9:53AM
We play world wide. Lag is a natural consequence of our distance.
zubbiefish Dec 24th 2010 9:57AM
My favorite lagscuse is (as heard in vent), "Alriiight, I just blazed a fat bowl haha. Ok, guys, we ready? Ready? Ok, man, I'm laggin' bad. Right, ok. Pulling."
Lag.
Yeah.
GrumblyStuff Dec 24th 2010 10:55AM
Well... as long as they say that THEY are lagging and not their computer or connection, you can hardly fault them for being honest.
Wildstaff Dec 24th 2010 10:01AM
I used to, but now I feel that it's more helpful if I admit I made a mistake.
jasonkidd1234 Dec 24th 2010 10:04AM
My computer is crappy :V Every hour or so I get a horrible lag spike that involves my game essentially freezing for a good 30 seconds. It doesn't COMPLTELEY lock up, as it will move but it's so slow that I can't really do anything of use. This makes raiding difficult, as if I happen to hit that 30 second window (I'm a healer) during a time of high raid damage or when I need to be getting out of the fire, I'm essentially useless unless somebody saves me. It's even worse in arena, which already relied a lot on doing whatever you can before your opponet can do the same. Luckily arenas tend to last less time and as such the chance that it will happen while I'm doing something important is much less common. This happens in other games as well (I've dabbled in TF2 competitive playing, and the same issue prevents me from doing much there, for many of the same reasons, that 30 second stretch of lag is enough time to die and lose the round for a team).
Ping wise I have had trouble with that a few times, and I've blamed fake lag before (Though honestly, when you play with barely 20 FPS during ideal conditions, fps lag does come into play quite often.)
Ez Dec 24th 2010 10:08AM
OH ya, lag is a big culprit. Turning off Recount helps tremendously tho. If i notice lag I reload my UI. IF it is still really bad I quit and try again.
lsschwartz Dec 24th 2010 10:31AM
I used to run on a crap computer that gave me nightmares. I'd DC, lag, or plain crash several times in a row. Other times the computer would go through an entire raid without a single issue, and if I failed during it for some reason I never blamed my poor machine, even when the entire guild knew I had issues with it every other day.
I mostly heal now, and although the computer is very nice, if the internet is not cooperating or the cat is running amok in the house and unplugs my cables I let people know exactly what just happened, as I do if I make a mistake, like driving myself OOM too early in a boss 'cus I'm still sometimes feeling the urge to top everyone off all the time, I do own up to it.
Thiron Dec 24th 2010 10:33AM
I used to play on a netbook.
The loading time after any teleport / zoning in was abysmal. I was shocked when I had 5 seconds instead of 3 minutes after getting a gaming computer. So I had to apologize to group for their wait sometimes.
However I still managed to raid, do ok dps and not stand in fire. That with 5-10 fps in 10-man. I did 10/12 ICC10, 7 on HC. I even was able to do 4/12 in 25- with 1-2 FPS. Try being in middle of DPS chart with 1 FPS. Granted, I play BM hunter, and we used to have the easiest rotation before 4.0.1 changes.
Lag spikes though...yeah, those kill. I'l rather have 5 fps all fight, than 60 fps 95% of time and then a 10-second lag...
DeathByPain Dec 24th 2010 10:43AM
First!
Oh wait...
Stupid lag!
GrumblyStuff Dec 24th 2010 10:54AM
I'm on wireless internet, you insensitive clod! I only wish I was pretending to lag. :(
On the other hand, I've built up such a rep of bad internet connection I can drop any time I please. ...though 95% of the time, it's to my displeasure.