Forum
Pocket Soldier Syndrome
Created 15th October 2009 @ 18:06
Add A Reply Pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »
Meh, pocket is hard to play in lower divs without getting frustrated imo, could put all roles on a team into similar terms. Topic reads to me like a butthurt player who got raged at.
Well written and entertaining though.
If you mean div 4, 2nd seasons running after coming 2nd in the first then no your wrong it is highly satisfying. I loves my crz (my medic) and yes I suffer heavily from this syndrome but love every minute of it. Pocket plays like this in lower divs, you shoot something, it shoots back. You airshot it, it misses, it falls to death, you laugh end of. Then you blame your Kyur (demo) because he hasn’t got a 4 man I mean ffs how hard can it be when you play the most overpowered class in the game. Your roamer (Hofy) has just died because he’s a blithering idiot, I mean he only took a scout and a demo with him, how hard can it be to rape their whole team. Then you die because your idiot scouts failed to kill their other scouts who just raped you. One of your scouts (Deux) has just switched to sniper (facepalm). He headshots the scout chasing your medic and then the rest of their team. As pocket I always wondering what in the name of fuck is the rest of my team doing…
Last edited by daithi1,
no your wrong
Imo = in my opinion.
blame […] ffs how hard can it be […] he’s a blithering idiot […] idiot scouts failed […] just raped you […] facepalm […] As pocket I always wondering what in the name of fuck is the rest of my team doing…
Yeah that totally doesn’t sound frustrating. :P
Last edited by Fluffy Meowington,
no your wrong
Imo = in my opinion.
blame […] ffs how hard can it be […] he’s a blithering idiot […] idiot scouts failed […] just raped you […] facepalm […] As pocket I always wondering what in the name of fuck is the rest of my team doing…
Yeah that totally doesn’t sound frustrating. :P
Sorry :( didn’t mean it being horribly blunt… Ok this is my opinion. <3 fluffy
Hey, that sounds like me!
Though I think there’s also the demoman syndrome which makes you blame your soldiers and medic not pushing fast enough or when they didn’t kill some guy instantly like the demo expected them to do. Usually happens when the solds happened to be low or had no ammo loaded in their weapons.
God damnit, that sounds just like me!
Pocket soldier is one of the hardest classes to play imo, ecpecially when the enemy team have two good scout.
You need to be aware of were the enemy is all the time, so you cant just launch for the enemy medic etc.
You have tried to access a web page which is in violation of your internet usage policy.
URL: http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/413692/
Category: GamesTo have the rating of this web page re-evaluated please click here.
fml
“I don’t understand how you are dying!!!!”
“Why is everyone on low health???”
“You guys need to stop dying”
“I’m playing perfectly, the rest of you aren’t”
“You guys should practice more”
“Somebody tell me why we are losing”
Haha, sounds exactly like me when I wake up on the wrong side and play TF2.
regginchan,
Pocket Soldier Syndrome
-Summary
Pocket Soldier Syndrome (PSS) is a condition to describe arrogant, pretentious, and egotistical players in Team Fortress 2. Players afflicted with this mental disorder typically play the eponymous Pocket Soldier role within a team. The Pocket Soldier plays alongside the Medic forming the ‘combo’, and as such has enormous influence and responsibility for the outcome of the game.
-Description
The unique role of the Pocket Soldier makes them more vulnerable to the mental disorder than other players in a standard TF2 team. As part of the ‘combo’, the Pocket Soldier takes on the responsibility of protecting the Medic – the most important asset in every team. By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic’s demise by proxy. In return for providing protection, the Pocket Soldier is allocated the vast majority of healing and invulnerabilities by the Medic, with other team mates rotating to the ‘combo’ for healing as required.
This structure of gameplay creates a very different experience of competitive TF2 for the Pocket Soldier against that of his fellow team mates. Given an extended period of time, this alternate reality of TF2 gameplay becomes embedded in the Pocket Soldier’s point-of-view to such an extent, that he/she is totally unaware of its presence.
The consequences of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are then manifested in their inability to interpret TF2 gameplay events objectively. TF2 for the Pocket Soldier encompasses high health security and high percentage gameplay scenarios, while for other classes their experience of TF2 generally involves low health security and marginal percentage gameplay scenarios. Therefore, the Pocket Soldier has an embedded bias (high health security, high percentage gameplay) in interpreting gameplay situations of other classes. Once the embedded bias has taken root in the Pocket Soldier’s mind, it is impossible for them to understand why their team mates experience difficulty in a match such as taking damage, assuming control of terrain, capping points, and even death.
If the Pocket Soldier’s team mates experience difficulty to such a degree that their team loses rounds and/or matches, the Pocket Soldier will become frustrated and angry at his team. He/she will offer nonsensical advice and wisdom, often while belittling team mates, and contribute to the deterioration of team morale. This ‘venting’ by the Pocket Soldier may become so endemic as to demotivate players for scrims, force individual players to quit, and/or fracture the team completely.
Therefore the study of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is of great concern to those in the community wishing to see TF2 grow and prosper.
-Causes
A brief survey of the causes of Pocket Soldier Syndrome follows. This is one area that might benefit from further academic research.
*Structure of competitive TF2 – The Control Point 6v6 structure of TF2 no doubt contributes to many cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome. Were the game played with more players per team, or no Medics, or a different format, the number of cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome might actually be low.
*Introversion – The Pocket Soldier may be introverted IRL and have little or no experience in social situations. This inexperience is exacerbated by the nature of the Internet which provides no cues as to what social behavioural norms the Pocket Soldier should adhere to. An introverted individual may be unaccustomed to such responsibility and therefore not developed the social skills to manage it.
*Moderate-to-High natural gaming skill – Lower-skilled players are not typically afflicted with Pocket Soldier Syndrome. They often perceive the loss of rounds or matches to be, in part, their fault. However, moderate-to-highly skilled players will take the most basic rudimentary measure of their performance in assigning blame – the kill:death ratio (kdr). As the Pocket Soldier absorbs the most healing and invulnerabilities in a typical TF2 match, their kdr is naturally quite high. When they discover that their team mates’ kdr is lower than theirs, the obvious conclusion is that the Pocket Soldier is playing well and others are not.
-Symptoms
Symptoms of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are generally verbal (ventrilo/teamspeak) or text-based (irc/steam chat), and derive from an inability to empathise with their team mates. They may include:
“I don’t understand how you are dying!!!!”
“Why is everyone on low health???”
“You guys need to stop dying”
“I’m playing perfectly, the rest of you aren’t”
“You guys should practice more”
“Somebody tell me why we are losing”
Gameplay symptoms are most obvious when the Pocket Soldier considers protecting the Medic a ‘secondary concern’ to fragging the enemy. The Pocket Soldier, wanting to maximise his/her kdr, will often put the Medic in peril by rocket-jumping away to chase kills, failing to check for sticky traps because they ‘slow him/her down’, and considering ubering other classes offensively as ‘idiotic’.
If post-game discussion takes place, the Pocket Soldier suffering this mental disorder will continually rebuff criticisms of their own gameplay, instead preferring to change the subject, raise irrelevant points of contention, argue semantics, or treat other team mates with contempt.
-Treatment
Pocket Soldier Syndrome when in full swing is an incurable mental disorder. The Pocket Soldier’s behaviour will continue until he/she is without a team, by alienating players and disrupting team morale to such an extent that either the team disbands or he/she
quits.
For teams wishing to avoid Pocket Soldier Syndrome, identification of the onset of the mental disorder and early intervention are key. Players will need to approach the Pocket Soldier collectively and without abstentions. Even if one other team mate agrees with the Pocket Soldier on a minor issue, he/she will take it as validation for their entire argument and belief system.
One advised technique for treating the early onset of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is to rotate the player into other classes for scrims and matches for an extended period. This will force the Pocket Soldier to confront the alternate realities of TF2 gameplay that they were hitherto unaware of.
In the end, if the Pocket Soldier’s condition does not improve, or in fact deteriorates further, it may be necessary to remove him from the roster altogether for the sake of preserving the remaining core of the team. This can often be troublesome if the relationship between the team and Pocket Soldier extend to outside of TF2.
Why does ppl have to write 100000 sentences, its like reading a book. Say ” I agree” or not.
Why does ppl have to write 100000 sentences, its like reading a book. Say ” I agree” or not.
I agree
not.
Why does ppl have to write 100000 sentences, its like reading a book. Say ” I agree” or not.
but that would be terribly boring
Hey, that sounds like me!
Though I think there’s also the demoman syndrome which makes you blame your soldiers and medic not pushing fast enough or when they didn’t kill some guy instantly like the demo expected them to do. Usually happens when the solds happened to be low or had no ammo loaded in their weapons.
God damnit, that sounds just like me!
Agreed!
Add A Reply Pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »
content rss