Morsigil: I have to disagree with you.
You're right about games being fun, but I think games become less fun when people start ignoring the rules.
An example from the real world: You're playing football (or soccer, otherwise this doesn't make any sense to some people) in gym class and having a good game. Your team leads 4-0 and that causes someone from the other team to snap. He grabs the ball in his hands and runs to the goal screaming that he just scored. From my point of view that screws up the game for everyone. For an added twist he might refuse to give the ball back so that others could keep playing.
Of course you can red card (or in L4D, kick) this clown, but he has still ruined a part of the game by breaking the concentration (and the immersion) of the players that have tried to achieve those things.
Some people get their fun from games by playing to the best of their capability and getting completely immersed in the game. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Though there's the subset of people that refuse to believe that they can screw up and rage at their team for the smallest errors. I think these are the people that take games (and sports) too seriously.
I really think you guys are confusing what I mean, despite the fact that I'm making it as clear as possible.
I am not suggesting that it is okay to "grief", like voice chat spam or shoot your team members or that kind of shit, unless they decide they want to do that for a couple minutes for shits and giggles (but that gets old fast). The thing is, there are no "rules" for this game. You have goals that you can choose to achieve, and you have optimum ways to do that, but ultimately the goal of the game is to have fun and the method of achieving that is going to vary from person to person and game to game.
If a team is absolutely dominating another and it is clear that, without a change of team members, it is going to go on, then what is the value in observing the "rules"? Tell me that. Who profits? Very few people like to play versus so that they can avoid challenge. As fans of games like Dwarf Fortress, Elona, Nethack, etc, we Bay12ers are at home when taking on Sisyphean tasks, but no one here can say that they don't start to get antsy after they have been banging their head against a wall for hours. After a while, wouldn't you rather be playing catch with your survivor teammates by tossing propane tanks at each other and trying to catch them with the use button mid-air?
Here is a great example: Last night my team was getting dominated, but as usual I do my very best to make sure we do well. I melee boomers away, I pick up my teammates, I heal them if I can, toss them pills and point out stashes of weapons, grenades, propane tanks and gas cans. I speak frequently and clearly into my mic and normally I take on the role of "leader" in coordinating our movement and reprimanding players making poor choices.
Eventually the rest of my team had rage-quitted because we were losing so bad and it was just me, a boomer, versus 4 survivors, so I came out and said "I COME IN PEACE!" and we all ran around for a while. Then, one guy came on and joined my team and we, the 4 survivors and I the boomer, attacked this poor lone hunter and killed him. It was great, but it only happened once.
Then, I said, "We can't exist this way. I can't exist. I must go... Goodbye, my friends" as I stepped into a fire and stood there burning to death far enough away from them that they wouldn't get splashed, looking at them. One of the survivors came running at me going, "NOOOOOooooh!" and as I exploded I quit.
You guys are seriously missing out if you can't have fun like this sometimes.
That's what it means to be coorporative. I remember being in a game where at the end of every round, they would kick out the weakest link. Whoever underperformed got kicked unanimously. I was quite glad I survived till the end... was more afraid of my team members than the opposing team.
I... you call this cooperative? This is fascism man. Are you retarded? I'm serious. Do you have a mental disability? Because I will take back all the mean shit I said if you do, because this is absolutely, bar-none, the most idiotic thing I've ever heard of people doing in this game, short of team killing, and COMPLETELY counter to what you've been saying. THIS is how you ruin the game. You're adding rules that actually reduce the amount of fun people are having so that what, you can have a smoother ride? How about you learn to accept and enjoy the differing levels of skill that people offer, try to help those who are doing poorly and learn from those who do better? How about YOU leave if you're not having fun in that game, and find another one that fits your desires? Better yet, start or join some elite little clan where you can all sniff your own farts and shove sticks up your ass, since you seem to be a big fan of that.
Let's make someone feel bad about themselves so we can stroke our grotesque egos and pat ourselves on the back. Let's give someone a bitter taste to suck on for a while so that we can feed our sick and twisted sense of self-worth.
Clearly you put way more weight on doing well in this game, and probably most games, than is really healthy. I would ask you reassess the reasons for which you play video games. The saddest part is that I am probably better at this game than you despite all your nerd rage and elitism.
I like to win. I like being the underdog. I never give up, however from time to time I switch my priorities so that everyone has more fun. Rarely (read: never) do I intentionally ruin the fun for others.
Since I can't run this game on my computer, I can only play it here at my friend's place. I'm currently on his computer now, as a matter of fact, and his steam ID is Bonepoint.