Are you a 'backseat gamer'?

[Kurt Zisa]

Its a term i coined myself (although its probably existed before hand). Basicly, are you always telling the person whose playing the game what to do and how to do it?
I ask this because my brother does it to me all the time and it can get really annoying

Personally i refrain from doing this, apart from the occational piece of advice if needed i let the person playing, well, play. And if they really need assistance, depending on the game, i'll give it a shot.

[Unknown Entity]

Sometimes, haha. I watch my brother play his games for a while once a day. He's a good gamer like me, but sometimes he makes really silly mistakes. Like diving out of windows in Black Ops, thinking he's ace when really half his health is depleted and some other dude on line takes him like easy prey. My brother, he is a bit of a show off.

I managed to get Silent Assassin ratings on all missions in Hitman: Blood Money on hard difficulty, and he wanted to know how to do it himself. So I was talking him through each level. Now, if you've played Blood Money, you'll know how crucial timing is - ESPECIALLY if you're on hard mode and not changing your outfit. He was getting frustrated with me because I told him he was being too slow and had to restart or something. He finally had enough with me after the millionth try at the Tosco level, where the timing of that has to be extreamly impeccable and incredibly sneaky:

If your timing is right, you can grab the real gun from the counter, throw a coin to trick the guy painting the door to the right of the stalls entrances, run all the way around to the changing room of the guy you need to kill and hide in his wardrobe. When he comes back, puts the fake gun on the table and leaves to use the bathroom, you swap the guns around, and then run out of the changing room to the lighting rig and place the bomb there. Then you sprint as fast as you can back to the stalls and watch the whole show from the shadows, and activating the bomb to drop the rig on the lover when he runs onto the stage.

...what's so difficult? ;

[Rocky]

Haha, I like to watch people play and occasionally give tips if its a game that I know, but for the most part I'll keep my mouth shut because I know how it is having that stuff happen lol.

Back in the dorms, I'd have like quite a few people pop into my room and watch me play halo. Ultimately I didn't mind it, but at first the heckling got a little bit rediculous lol, just because people heard about me for the most part and expected me to carry every single game and never die. It was all in good fun though and I learned to put up with it, making me even better at taking criticism.

[Dan558]

I do it sometimes for two reasons

First. Some people are just terrible. They will constantly run right by the objective or get lost in the simplest of mazes. I have an amazing sense of direction and memory for the useless (i.e. games) so I feel the urge to help people who are lost before they even ask for help. In games like Grand Theft auto after an hour or less on a new island I turn off the map because I've pretty much got the flow of the city down and only obcure destinations trump me sometimes on the first playthrough. I could probably drive Vice Cities streets blind.

Second. I don't like people missing things. If they are going by a screen that has a rare or helpful item I get antsy and at least say "Wait" before they leave and give them some hints (I.e. You know you can't come back here right? Wait, did you check out the view near the (X)? Wouldn't it be cool if you could get to X using Y?). This is usually what I do for less incompetent people (my brother) because otherwise I would just be creating more conflict for myself when they fail to decipher my hint.

[Taco-Calamitous]

Sometimes I do this, mostly with games I've played before and am good at, especially when the person I'm watching isn't good at it. Like my roommate last year playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, lol. I'd be like "Why would you that?!" And she'd be like "I didn't MEAN to!" And the first time I saw Luigi was when she was playing, and I was like, "That's never happened to me before!" And she was like "SHUT UP." That's the most recent thing I can think of. Mostly my friends play Super Street Fighter 4 now, so I can't really give much advice...

Sometimes it's fun to heckle, though. Especially the person who is doing a lot better than everyone else. I believe this is what lead to my phone's screen breaking; being repeatedly kicked in the butt because I stole the guy's controller while the game was still going, lol. (I'd been drinking, too. Not that I'm completely certain I wouldn't have done that anyway.) FYI: This was a shooter game, not Street Fighter. Pretty sure I'd get a lot worse if it was Street Fighter. Particularly because they use sticks for that. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Shadowstrike]

I cant say I've never done it but I make a personal conscious decision whenever I watch someone playing to not do this. It is a real pet peave of mine.
"Oh I missed something back there? Well im sure its not directly pertaining to the main storyline, so if I miss an optional item that adds +stupid to my attack it doesnt bother me. Feel free to get it on your playthrough though." Im one of those gamers that reads walkthroughs when I get somewhere that the dungeon is non-linear. I dont like to miss something. But if I do I dont want to be called on it and heckled for it.

My brother does that alot. Fable 3 was a great example. There is a ton of optional crap to do in that game... Silver Keys etc... the typical Fable stuff. He always had more keys than I did at my point in the game. And he'd always make it a point to ask. "hey how many keys u got loalz?" Bah... If keys were needed to beat the game I'd care more.



/end rant

lol

[GypsyElder]

I enjoy watching people play games almost as much as I do playing them. I guess that's what happens when you grow up with an older brother.

I normally talk a lot if someone is playing a game I'm familiar with, but I won't constantly bicker at them. It's usually just game talk in general. I might point out something like, "you might want to get that for later" If the person comes to a certain point and I'm present, but I wount go into full blown detail as to why unless they ask. If it's a game I've never played myself, I'll just point out like "hey I saw something on the ground over there what was that?" And it ends up being something the person needed.

[Dodie16]

I used to be really bad about "backseat gaming", especially when I would watch my younger cousins play. It would frustrate me to see them struggle with a part they needed to get passed, so much so that I would sometimes just tell them "HERE JUST LET ME DO IT FOR YOU."

Now? Not so much. I've learned more patience, and they've gotten much better at games. ^^

[Heartless Angel]

Usually only with friends when trying new games that niether of us have really been through. Not so much giving step by step instruction, but pointing out things, or offering ideas on ways to do something if the initial attempt was less than successful.

[Lily]

Im terrible with it, to the point I always end up taking over and finishing the game for them because they're doin it wrong...

[motscroises]

I try not to do this because then I would feel like a huge jerk if they handed me the controller and I didn't get it right the first time. If I get really sick of watching someone screw up over and over, I'll offer to get through the part for them.

[Glorious Raven]

I try not to bother people unless they ask me for advice. My son always asks me to watch him when he plays, and then if he has a problem, he'll either ask me for advice or to get through the area for him. Otherwise, I just leave him to his own devices because I'm not one who likes to be bothered by things like that while gaming.

[Angel of Iniquity]

Well, if my friend knows I understand a game vastly, as in Resident evil and others then yea cause he asks me what to do.

But otherwise, nah. Especially horror games.
Funny thing is my friend will be playing Resident evil or silent hill, and when I go silent, he knows a scary part is coming up hahaha.
I amplify the fear factor with an old-school BOO!

[Michael Swayne]

I was really bad back when my brother and sister started playing video games. They would only play if they got bored (their friends lived closer to us than mine did). So, if they were playing and I had already mastered the game, then I would always point out things they missed, or bonus points, etc.

Not so much nowadays...well, my brother has been playing Bejeweled on my computer lately, and I would watch him play. I would sit patiently on my bed and watch and after ten minutes of him playing I would go, "Can I do one round for you?" After a few minutes more he would say that I could help him. Then he would let me do the whole round for him.

But it is vice-versa, also. I am not good at racing games, and my brother is. He would always correct me if I wasn't doing it right. Like in Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. I am the kind of drifter that can only hold the drift for a half-second. He is always trying to tell me how to hold it, but it just doesn't stick with me.

[Azuteor]

I'm a backseat gamer if the person is playing my games, on my console, and on my save file. Like just recently, two of my friends and I were playing Dead Space 2. We spent one day where one of them made their own file so they can get through the story and catch up to where I stopped. I didn't care how he played the game since it wasn't on my file. After that, we agreed that we'd share my file and finish the game as we take turns. As we played DS2, I noticed how different our playing styles are. He plays more aggressively in terms of eliminating necromorphs and breezes through each room. While effective, it takes up ammo, health packs, and increases the chance of missing important items. As for me, I'm a little more careful, make sure I'm prepared for any situation, and I scavenge each room for items.

If I see him miss anything, I can't help but tell him to go back and get it. After all, it's my file and I don't want to be short of supplies when I play it on my own time. Anyways, we finished the entire game.

Other than that, I'm generally not!

[Robbo]

I definitely am, it annoys me when people aren't doing things right my brother actually stopped playing Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy X because i was telling him he is too stupid to know what he is doing a lot of the time, even though he is.

[BDub2277]

Okay so it goes like this, patiently wathing a friend of mine play some game, be it FF, skies of arcadia, halo, stracraft, etc, etc, limit myself to answering his questions, or maybe expanding on some story background..... eventually hit my breaking point where I can't take watching him make some of the mistakes he is making anymore... head explodes... we usually switch games. I grief with love though!

[Freya]

I hat backseat gamers... My brother's one of them. When I played FFXIII a while ago and he visited us, he was always in my room, staring at the screen and then telling me what I have to do. "Use THAT weapon. Use THAT character. You have to do it like THAT. etc." -_- I hate people telling me what to do, mostly because I want to find out everything on my own. If I need help, I read a walkthrough on the internet. That's it. But I really don't need someone who watches me playing and talks all the time.

When I'm watching someone play a game, I'm rather silent. Sometimes I laugh (because I know what'll happen) but most of the times I just answer questions. Or watch how people play. If I'm asked (!), I may help the person playing the game. But I enjoy just watching even more. :>
(I used to watch my brother playing Tomb Raider when I was young... I watched for about 2 hours each day and it really wasn't boring at all!)

[Lady Rika]

Sadly I have a tendency to do this to my boyfriend and even to my sisters boyfriend when he was playing Homefront and I was watching.

I play my own games all the time but I love watching people play, especially games that might scare me. A few days ago me and my boyfriend went to half priced books and actually found Carnivores 2 which they don't sell anymore and its the sequel to the original(obviously) which I'd always wanted. He buys it for me and we go to his house and play it. He has to play it first, not only does he like hunting/kill games but you get to hunt dinosaurs. He'd never played it before. So I thought it'd be good for me to give him tips and help him out.
Which led to me freaking out and screaming when the dinosaur didn't die and ended up killing him. -_-
I think he was about to destroy me.

He does it to me really bad in World of Warcraft, he'll try to assist me and ends up getting me severely wounded or almost killed then I get pissed so its a nerverending cycle lol

[Padraic]

None of my friends are good gamers, so whenever I see them playing a game, it's too painful not to intervene. Although, I'm more of the kind of person who snatches the controller and does the part for them... Worst comes to worst I will shout things to do... Like my brother currently trying to play Dragon Age 2. All his questions and actions make him look so stupid, did I mention he's the older one? .__.;;

[Calvan]

One thing that really bugs me.
When somebody is playing a game that has an arrow on the compass that tells you the driection to go. (Like fallout 3) and the ask me where to go.

It makes me so mad.

[Superjord]

If someone sucks then I can't resist, lol.

[Kurt Zisa]

One thing that really bugs me.
When somebody is playing a game that has an arrow on the compass that tells you the driection to go. (Like fallout 3) and the ask me where to go.

It makes me so mad.

Yeah lack of common sense can really be an irritation lol

[FeyLenne13]

Unfortunately, when I started playing games my Dad and brother both were backseat gamers. They just couldn't understand why I would do something certain ways. And it got passed to me. Recently I've put it in remission, but if my sister has been playing the same bad guy for over an hour, on her tenth attempt, and she's about to do something to put her on attemp 11, I can't help myself. I just have to jump in to help her out. She gets mad at me, but she does the exact same thing lol.

[Lavos]

I try not to be, but sometimes I do it to the extreme. My friend just started playing FFVII, and it really bugs me when he starts getting mad at what to do or where to go. Next thing I know I am explaining where to go up till Disc 2... whoops.

[Illusion]

I do it occasionally, when I feel people are missing important things they should know or do and aren't figuring out. For example, my brother tried playing GoW:Chains of Olympus and I think he got to the very last boss and he wasn't able to beat it because he couldn't get the timing of his blocking right and was just getting slaughter by the boss. I tried helping him get better at his blocking, but he gave up the game.

I prefer watching people play their games because every one has their own way of playing games, even if it looks bad, but I enjoy watching people play their own way.

[nickness89]

No, i don't do this because i know exactly how frustrating it is to have someone over your shoulder thinking they are better than you, when you are the one that always gets better scores, more unlockables than them etc.

I think that people who tell others what to do are the show-offs ... and I love it when someone tries to tell me what to do in a game, and then I show them another of my save files, with the game mastered.

Pisses them off, makes me feel godly ... need I say more? LAWL

[TheNiteAngel]

I'm not always but if it's a game that I really got into and got everything I can be. I have no problem watching my brothers play, but (especially if its ff) I'll try to make sure they don't miss things. I'll walk in and see that they're in a familiar city in say FFVIII, and I'll have to make sure they get a magazine that they could miss or somethin. Not really too bad with other games. I think the biggest thing I do that can get annoying is obsessively try to lead a multiplayer team to finish every little objective.

[Judge Magistrate]

It all depends on the game for me, although I have some problems helping out one of my cousins. I just can't help it, I have a really close bond with them, their like a sister to me, and I feel bad when they get stuck and need help.

[Firefly]

It makes me so mad..when I am playing a game and someone tells me where to go and how to do stuff And because of that,I am not backseat gamer.I love watching people play videogames and stuff,but I won't tell them where to go,use what item,etc unless they ask me what to do.