Don't be that guy: General Ping edition

The other day I was in a battle on Fisherman's Bay in my Jagdtiger, I was top tier in a 9-8-7 battle from the South spawn.

I decided that it might be the best use of my strong frontal armor (and gun) to see if I could control the 1 line, so I made my way over to G1. Realistically in a tier 9 battle it should be expensive for any enemies to try and push the 1 line against a JT and I thought the windmill (or whatever that tall stone structure is) would give me some protection from arty - who tend to sit around A8 on this map.

Right from the outset my teammate in his IS-3A was complaining and directing traffic. "All heavies to the city!" "Why are you going there Skoda?!?" "You're all useless!" and, my personal favorite, "I'll just drown myself."

He didn't drown himself, unfortunately, instead he kept up this incessant chatter throughout the entire battle. Pinging the map, demanding people relocate to spots, yelling at people who didn't follow his orders. "DON'T PUSH YOU IDIOT" at one point. Then pinging me at G1 (where I was already approaching 3K damage) to call me a "Camping idiot").

Eventually, maybe 10-11 minutes into the battle he relocated himself all the way over to G2 and pushed up the 2 line across the open field. Predictably, he got killed by the enemy AMX 13 90 (which was coincidentally being driven by one of my clanmates!). More ranting ensued.

I eventually pushed the 1 line and dealt more damage (and a couple more kills) before finally getting killed by an M46 Patton. The battle ended in a draw (our Lansen and arty were still alive, as was one of their mediums and TDs I think). I finished with just shy of 4K damage and 5 kills.

The point isn't to boast - the JT is a great tank when it's top tier in a corridor and all the enemies are in front of it so it doesn't take amazing skill to get a high damage/kills game - but rather to point out what not to do.

General Ping (my nickname for people who bark orders and ping the map constantly) finished the battle in his shiny IS-3A having done 1 shot of damage. Which isn't so inefficient when you consider that he only fired two shots the entire battle.

Yep, he spent so much time pinging the map and barking at his team in chat, that in more than 12 minutes of battle time he only fired his gun twice. He finished dead last on the team in damage and XP.

What's the lesson?

Chat can be a useful tool, but be respectful. In random battles none of the other players report to you. You don't get to order people around and you certainly don't get to rage about it if they decline to accept your orders.

Fun fact: I'm so ornery that I'm as likely to deliberately NOT do what some rando in chat tells me to do during a battle if they don't ask nicely.

If you say: "Hey, Type 59. I'm going to push 3 line, can you cover me from F4?" there's a decent chance I'll tap "Affirmative!" and do it (unless it seems like a stupid idea).

If you say: "Hey idiot Type 59! Stop being useless and get your ass to F4!" there's a decent chance I'm going to respond "STFU" and drive to E7.

It's fine to offer polite suggestions, or to request assistance. But don't act like you're the boss; it's rude. And definitely don't spend so much time "calling" in chat that you don't even fight the battle. Not only are you annoying your teammates (most of whom have probably muted you) but you're making them fight 14 v 15 because you're truly useless.

Don't be that guy.

Fight your battle, be nice to your teammates, don't try to be the boss if you're not.

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GLHF!