Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Retro]

Wow, and now there's a debate about at what distance it becomes acceptable to not stop playing a computer game for half a second to turn on a light switch for your mom. Fortunately I'm already in the things that made you sad thread, so no need to go and make another post there.

[ChairmanPoo]

Actually my point is more on the fact that it doesn't take your mom all that much of an effort to shut off the light herself, whatever it is you are doing.

[Aqizzar]

Actually my point is more on the fact that it doesn't take your mom all that much of an effort to shut off the light herself, whatever it is you are doing.

And you and everyone on this side of the debate are completely missing the point.  It's your mother, she's doing something, and asks for your momentary help.  Put down the damn game.

[ChairmanPoo]

she can also put whatever she has in her hands down, and turn off the light herself. It's not like we are talking about a vital deed or need

[G-Flex]

If someone's doing something, and their hands are full, and you aren't busy, it's common goddamn courtesy to put down what you're doing for a second and help out if they ask. I don't see why this is even an issue here.

[ChairmanPoo]

Again, we dont know the exact circumstances (burden, distance, etc.. ). It might not take too much effort to walk there and turn off the light, but, I reiterate yet again, it doesn't take too much effort to leave whatever you are holding on the floor and press the switch yourself. I know *I* wouldn't get mad if I had to leave something on the floor to turn off the light, or open the door, or whatever, because I called a relative and he didn't come. He might be busy doing something else, or he might not have heard. No reason to get too angry over it. I might be mildly annoyed (or not, depending on the facts), but it's no big deal

[Retro]

she can also put whatever she has in her hands down, and turn off the light herself. It's not like we are talking about a vital deed or need

This.... augh. I don't know how to respond to this in a polite manner.

Let's extrapolate what we can from what information we've been given to get a better understanding here. Scenario given: Your mother requests your help to do something. Given that we know little about the situation otherwise, it can be presumed that either you are close enough to provide immediate assistance, thereby easily bypassing the need to put down whatever it is that she's holding, OR that the held object(s) is such a pain in the ass to put down and lift up again that help would be, we'll say, helpful. It can also be presumed that hitting the switch with her elbow is either not a viable alternative or enough trouble to validate asking for help. Since the matter itself, the flicking of a light switch, is agreed by all parties to be a trivial task, it can be assumed from what we know that the time required to help would be roughly a matter of seconds, the distance required to travel is short, and your help, while likely not an absolute necessity, is helpful enough to validate asking for it. Let us lay out the possible courses of actions and their consequences.

Pros of not helping:
- Hell yeah, another 0.31% exp towards hitting level 20! I can almost taste the 'ding,' baby!

Cons of not helping:
- You appear to be lazy enough that you cannot get up and cross a rather small space to complete a task that can literally be accomplished by flailing your arms in the right general direction.
- You appear to care about video games more than your mother.
- You appear rude and impolite for refusing to proffer aid easily given.
- You generally appear to be, on many levels, a bit of a prick who deserved whatever fit was thrown at you.

When I say "you appear to be," that's really more of an optimistic supposition on my part. But hey, you're five seconds closer to levelling, right?

[Schilcote]

Of course, it may very well be that the subject was, in fact, an asshole. However, there is another thing that must be addressed, the mother's reaction. As others have said, it was not such a big deal for the mother to put down whatever was being carried and flip the switch. However, the poster referred to her reaction as "a fit". In my opinion, such behavior would be worth no more than a passing glare. Of course, we don't know too much about the situation. Perhaps the poster has engaged in "Poop Socking(catassing)" in the past, and the mother was upset not at the singular incident, but the poster's unhealthy devotion to video games.

[Retro]

Quite true. My reaction was drawn less from the incident itself and more from the fact that Euld didn't seem to understand why his mom would get mad at him. It's possible that the reaction was one-sided, of course, thus rendering me an over-reactive ass, but the way I imagine the conversation playing out in my head is "Can you grab this switch for me quick?" "Busy, sorry." "But you're right there!..." "I'm in the middle of something, mom" etc. etc. until the mother gets angry about the reaction rather than the lack of help itself, so that's the light I'm going to see this as unless Euld mentions otherwise.

[Cthulhu]

I know that this is bay12, and we have role models like Armok, but we do not have to act like Spock.  There is no need to analyze all the possible facets of this situation.

There are several facets.

1.  Mom needs help
2.  You're playing DotA
3.  Get off the damn computer, and don't rush it either.  If you sprint up, flip the switch, and leap back into the chair you look just as bad as if you hadn't done anything at all.

If I said anything to my parents sounding like "Do it yourself, I just got a m-m-m-monster kill" I would be dead right now.

[Hippoman]

Of course, it may very well be that the subject was, in fact, an asshole. However, there is another thing that must be addressed, the mother's reaction. As others have said, it was not such a big deal for the mother to put down whatever was being carried and flip the switch. However, the poster referred to her reaction as "a fit". In my opinion, such behavior would be worth no more than a passing glare. Of course, we don't know too much about the situation. Perhaps the poster has engaged in "Poop Socking(catassing)" in the past, and the mother was upset not at the singular incident, but the poster's unhealthy devotion to video games.

This is indeed something I was thinking about too. Often when my parents are mad at me, it's not because of the singular incident, but of all the incidents over time.

I know that this is bay12, and we have role models like Armok, but we do not have to act like Spock.  There is no need to analyze all the possible facets of this situation.

There are several facets.

1.  Mom needs help
2.  You're playing DotA
3.  Get off the damn computer, and don't rush it either.  If you sprint up, flip the switch, and leap back into the chair you look just as bad as if you hadn't done anything at all.

If I said anything to my parents sounding like "Do it yourself, I just got a m-m-m-monster kill" I would be dead right now.

Exactly. Every word of this.

[ChairmanPoo]

To each his own. I stick to my assessment.

[Aklyon]

Wow, and now there's a debate about at what distance it becomes acceptable to not stop playing a computer game for half a second to turn on a light switch for your mom.

Welcome to the Internet, where anything can be turned into a debate (or an argument).

[Jackrabbit]

I learned a long time ago exactly why "Do it yourself, I just got a m-m-m-monster kill" would invoke a shitstorm and fair enough too. I just do what they ask. My brothers have yet to learn and there has been many a shitstorm because of it. Besides, I usually play single player games.

^{That pause button, oh so sweet, lookit that pause button just begging to be pressed.}

[Duke 2.0]

 And even online multiplayer games are moot when you take into consideration that spawn times leave plenty of time to do a trivial task in shooters, you can just join another game in something like Starcraft, nothing is really happening anyway in the usual MMO or just saying online "Gimmie like 30 seconds guys."

 Ultimately no matter how you cut it a pause in playing a game is more trivial than switching a lightswitch. And unless you can provide some real solid evidence to the contrary, this whole affair just seems selfish.