The "Fit Rage Quit"

I'm going to discuss a very delicate topic with you all, a topic which can be miss-interpreted, a topic which can cause fear, rage, apathy and hilarity in equal measure... A topic which can raise heroes or crush empires... I am of course talking about the “Fit Rage Quit”.

For those of you unfamiliar with the urban dictionary, and gaming in general, the “Fit Rage Quit” is the phenomena of a seemingly normal person, usually playing a game, suddenly and with such force “going mental” flying into a “blood drive rage” and then “quitting the game”. The Fit Rate Quit phenomena can happen to everyone, its happened to me, it can happen to you, even your dear old granny can Fit Rage Quit.

The challenge we have here in this post is to define the event... Which is pretty hard to do, its a very personal thing, and can take on numerous forms. Additionally, like some sub-atomic particles if you observe the phenomenon it can change its characteristics.

Certainly the best demographic group for the “Fit Rage Quit” are the early teenage groups. Usually, but not exclusively male, the combination of their collective need to win, hormones, unbroken voices and the self-belief untarnished by the truth of life, usually leads them to believe they are the best thing since sliced bread... And the catalyst for the “Fit Rage Quit” is usually, unfortunately for them, their loosing.

Loss is an easy thing to deal with at my grand age of 33, I've loved, and lived and lost lots of things, family members, friends, pets, money and a good horde of my brain cells to alcohol. But at thirteen, the world is your oyster, you've been playing this game fifteen minutes, you finally have an age higher than your shoe size, you're going to stand astride the Earth and let the other minions in the game bask in your glory.

Except, at thirteen, you're not actually very good at some things... Like communicating, like sharing ideas, like working in a team... And as I'm fond of saying to people there is no “I” in T E A M... But at 13 you think a team is you and your mates running around screaming “head shot” into Team Speak and talking to everyone else like they're a douche... Until... OH MY GOD.... You just lost.

Queue the “FIT RAGE QUIT!!?!?!?” Zoooomg how can this have happened to you, your fine bronzed collossus physique has been lain waste by a thirty something half baked on Pino Grigio. How can this have happened to you? How can this possibly have occurred? The world is wrong, the other people must be cheating, they must know the developers, they must have hacked your computer and delayed the key strokes from my keyboard to my computer, they must have....

When, really, its just you. You're young, you lost it... End of... Hey you got the other guy going for days, until today... But YOU just lost!?!!

Some fine examples of the “FIT RAGE QUIT” come from the world of the first person shooter, maybe its the feeling of self-personification, you can find a plethora of videos with screaming nerdy voice recordings of the pre-pubescent teen screaming. Another great source of them is the online MMO games, World of Warcraft sends up a few good ones, not to mention the interesting in-tolerability of the Eve-Online Fit Rage Quit, as per this kill:

http://www.wearrsoyarr.com/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=241763

My personal favourite at the moment is in the Free to Play MMRTS “Lord Of Ultima”, in LoU you get a game world which is a massive time sink, supposedly medieval times and armies of millions of men slamming helmet to helmet (remember it took William the Conquerer only about 7000 men to conquer Saxon England)... And due to the time-sink nature of the game play, you get three kinds of players (and I generalise here, but bare with me)....

The first kind are the impatient. Anybody can be impatient, but the young are the best, they rush at things and annoy others, they don't want listen to the other two categories of players.

The second kind are the middler's, they tend to know the best play tactics they excel at their game, but they don't want to wait for things, they will charge like a bull in a china shop given half a chance.

The third are the patient, they are usually older players, and they will sit and wait. Watching from the side lines and will generally improve their game over time.

The interesting thing about these three categorisations is that I find I can pin every player into one of them, from any game, and I can see an relationship with the “Fit Rage Quit”... The slower, more sedate the player the less likely they are to “Fit Rage Quit”... The faster they are, the more likely they are, their impatiences is a catalyst for the “Fit Rage Quit”...

But, when a speedy one goes, its like a firework... Wooosh, Bang... Over... Usually generating hilarity in those around them. When this happens in a short game, like Call of Duty, the impact is minimal, hence the funny factor rises. In the time sink style game however, such Whoosh-bang departures can be a pain for others, still funny but a pain.

The trouble I have then found is that those “Fit Rage Quit” mentality people who are also sedate in their game play, when they go, boy do they go, there is more than rage, there are broken hearts... Queue the Mike Curb Congregation singing “Burning Bridges”... and you just watch the game you knew fall down around your ears.

So, beware, the Fit Rage Quit today may be funny... Tomorrow it may leave a terrible feeling in your Tummy...