What is "Bad"?

The term bad player gets thrown around left and right and usually it all comes down to the person that is saying it and where they are in the standings.

If someone is less advanced, they are bad.

That seems to be the common thought in the game.  Anyone that is not at least at the same level of ability or progression is a bad player.

I am not sure how many people will agree with me here but I don't follow that school of thought.  In many cases it might very well be true but it isn't always.  Bad players come in many shapes and sizes and they can have excellent ability or end game heroic level progression too.

Just because they accomplished something doesn't make a player good and just because they didn't doesn't make a player bad.

Over the weekend I was listening to some guild mates on vent that where running some heroics being two of them had just hit 85 that day and the concept of what is bad came up because of how someone was acting. 

Admittedly I might have been a little harsh on the guy and it did bring on some vent silence for a good 20 minutes after I went off on him but I stand by my words.

They where on the last boss of VP and they had a pug tank that was getting caught in the static cling as where all three DPS.  One of the just hit 85 people was the healer, so needless to say, it was quite taxing on this fresh healer to have to dispel everyone.

I said to the other new 85, who tanks and heals for the guild, that he needs to jump for the static cling, the least he can do is try to help the healer out.  His response was, when I heal I just dispel it, whats the big deal?

That is when I went off on him.  I said the big deal is that it means you are a bad player.  Bad players think it is someone else's job to take of care of something they can easily take care of themselves.  If jumping makes the healers life easier, then it is something a good player does.

There is no difference between standing in fire thinking the healer can just heal you and not jumping thinking the healer can just dispel you.  If someone stands in the fire and does not move that means they are a bad player right?  Well if you are not jumping and get caught that makes you a bad player too.

He immediately jumped on the "but it will hurt my DPS" and "I am top DPS and I should be concentrating on doing damage and not jumping" bandwagon that seems to infect the whole DPS community and gives the good damage dealers a bad name.

I continued on him with the fact that if jumping really disrupted his DPS that much then he needs to work on his DPS.  A good damage dealer will put out top notch damage and jump at the same time. 

I explained, that is what heroics are for, so he can learn to do mechanics and DPS at the same time.  I also pointed out that he was with a guild mate that barely has the item level to make it into there to heal, he knows better, he can not assume that every healer he runs into will be so over geared that they dispel everyone all the time without having any mana issues.

Basically the gist was I called him out as being a bad player.  He is a great tank and a great healer, but as a damage dealer, he is a bad player.  Plain and simple.

I even said that.  I said, anyone that does not jump is a bad player.  Sure, you can get caught once it a while, it happens to everyone, but if you do not even try you are a bad player.

That is when silence fell on vent.  Nothing was said for a while.

I am guessing that they where whispering back and forth, might have even had some bad words to say about me but I don't care.  I was right.  They can argue it any way they want but there is no excuse for ever getting caught in the static cling and not even trying to avoid it after you know about the mechanic unless you are a bad player.

See, the key word there is try.  Bad players don't try.  That is what makes them bad.

They don't try to avoid mechanics.
They don't try to get the best gear.
They don't try to gem their gear correctly.
They don't try to even gem it at all.
They don't try to enchant their gear correctly.
They don't try to even enchant it at all.
They don't try to reforge their gear correctly.
They don't try to even reforge it at all.
They don't try to master their role.
They don't try to make adjustments after failure.
They don't try to get better next time after success.
They don't try...

I can go on and on but my point was made.  Bad players do not try.

They could have worse gear or better gear.  They could have more progression or less.  None of that matters to me when I judge a player.  I judge a player on their actions and the people that try are not bad players.  I call those people learning players, the ones that do try and are not doing well.  The people that don't try are bad players no matter what they might think.

I can forgive a lot but one thing I can never forgive is someone that does not even care to try.

The rogue that shows up in a random with no poisons and says, no worries, I will just do the dungeon without them because I don't fell like going to get some.  That is a bad player.

It isn't always about the person themselves either that makes a player a good player or a bad player.  But it still involves to word try.

If you are a tank and see an under geared healer you can try to make their life easier.  You can use cooldowns more often even if you have gotten used to not using cooldowns in randoms any more.  You can try to mark for CC knowing that will make the healers life easier.  There are many things a tank can try to do to make a healer life easier.  If they do not try to do that, they are a bad player.

They might be the greatest tank in the world.  Realm first for everything they have ever done.  If they do not try to do the job right, they are a bad player.

Trivial content some might say but I must point out that the only time it is trivial content is when everyone is geared, good, and tries to do things right.  It is not trivial because it is easy, it is trivial because people try to do it right.  If you are with bad players there is no such thing as trivial content.

Then end result is, anyone that does try is someone that has potential.  They might not be a good player right now but as long as they keep trying they have the potential to be a good player.  If they are trying, that also means they are not a bad player.  Bad players do not try.

After my rant they downed the last boss of VP after having wiped on it four times before.  The guild DPS jumped this time.  As did the other DPS and the tank.  They said something in party chat apparently being everyone jumped.

When someone finally decided to speak up on vent again later they said, that fight was much easier when everyone jumped.

I said, every fight is so much easier when people try to do it right.

What is bad?

You might have your own definition but to me a truly bad player is a player that does not even try.

Everyone else is either "learning" or good.