The No Lifer and The Scrub

Have you ever noticed that the majority of the warcraft community, or any community for that matter, looks down upon everyone that is not themselves?

If you have done better than them, you have no life.  If you are not as good as them, you are a scrub.

What ever happened to looking at things objectively?

I know I have said both things about people as well but never as a first impression.  I do not just call anyone better than me a no lifer or anyone worse than me a scrub.

Quite honestly I think those terms should be reserved for the ones that really deserve them but even at that, who really deserves them if we do use them?

Is that guy that seems to be on 24/7 the no lifer?  He is on when you log in before going out, he is on when you log in when getting home, someone tells you that he has been in trade for hours on end, he is on when you log off.  You can be pretty safe to say this is what most people consider the definition of a no lifer right?

Perhaps they are a stay at home mom or dad, or a retired person, or someone that lives in some rural area where there really isn't anything else to do.  Maybe this is just the way they wish the pass the time.  Who are we to decide that how they spend their time makes them a no lifer?

It almost seems like the people that play the game would be fine with these people spending 8 hours a day watching TV or at the bar drinking because that means they have a life more so than if they are spending 8 hours playing a game.  So time played is not really the issue.  What someone does to entertain themselves, be it golf, handball, drinking, or what have you, is their own prerogative.  Or at least it should be.

I think what it comes down to is jealously.  If someone is better than you, and better is a subjective term, they are a no lifer.

A person could be 8/8 heroic before the nerf but only spend 10 hour a week playing while you spend 40 but they are the no lifer, not you.  Some might say, in a smart ass way, look in the mirror before you use that word.  If you can not do what they do in four times the amount of time they play, perhaps you are the no lifer and... wait for it... the scrub.

Which now brings us to the other end.  It seems anyone that does not have the same progression as you, the same achievements as you, the same years played as you, is a scrub.   Why exactly is that?

Take the person that just like to level, or to play the auction house.  Are they scrubs because they aren't even 8/8 normal yet with a 25% buff?  Ask the masses that play and they will all tell you that they are.

By that logic I am a no lifer on some of my characters and a scrub on others.  Judging a person by what they do in game is wrong but the people continue to do it to everyone they run into as a first impression and quite honestly it is annoying.

I saw one person getting picked on in one of my guild today because they had a few 85s in the guild.  A few people jumped on them pretty quick and it started to get a little out of hand so I interjected, as I am seen as someone everyone comes to for advice, I figured I would be able to help and I said that I will have at least 20 85s by the time mists comes out, does that make me a no lifer too?

I only have one 85 in that guild so no one there knew, they instantly called bull shit and said I was a liar and if I did have that many I too was a no lifer.  I laughed at that.

These are the same people that only moments before were all asking me directly for help with this, that or the other.  The same people that only an hour earlier said I was the best player in the guild.  But because I have more than one 85 I am suddenly a no lifer.  This is the attitude you get in a social guild, and most of my rarely played alts sit in social guilds because raiding guild want people that are willing to put in more time than I do on my alts.

So it makes me ask, is the community really that small minded that time spent is the only determining factor between someone being a good player and someone having no life?

It makes me wonder if anyone ever considered the reason I know about all classes, all rotations, all stat priorities and all that other useless informaiton that I might just have all classes and that is why I know?  When I only had one 85 that rarely played and knew a lot about the game I was the best player they ever met, but as soon as they find out I have more than one 85 and actually spend more than 3 hours a week I am a no lifer.

The more I play the game the more I realize that people are really small minded and can not judge people on a case to case basis.  It comes down to the simple versions. 

If you play more than I do, you are a no lifer.
If you play less than I do, you are a scrub.
If you have more achievements than I do, you are a no lifer.
If you have less achievements than I do, you are a scrub.
If you started playing before I did, you are a no lifer.
If you started playing after I did, you are a scrub.
If you have more raid progression than I do, you are a no lifer.
If you have less raid progression that I do, you are a scrub.

It is really all that black and white?  Am I missing something?

I guess if I told them that most of my characters have cleared DS on at least normal and a few have even heroics done when that guild has still not even cleared normal I would be considered a super no lifer instead of a super sub that they are always begging to come on and raid.

But here is where the whole thing comes to bite those quick judgement people in the ass.  When they are raiding, they want me more than anyone else in the guild to be there because I am the top player and I know all the fights from all perspectives so I help explain to them.  Even if I would now be considered a no lifer because I have more than one 85.

Perhaps the next time they ask for help I should just say, sorry, I don't run with scrubs.

Using their very own terminology that definition would fit right?

Wouldn't that be a bite in the ass to people that try to judge you just based on the time you play?  I would probably get a guild kick from there if I said that but it would not matter to me.  My alts like that are just for something to do on rare occasion and have no progression anyway.  Wait, that makes me a scrub too because I have no real progression on that character.

Darn, I am the no lifer and the scrub.

I swear that most of the time people say either it is just a quick response to someone new that is totally filled with jealously against the no lifers and superiority toward the scrubs.  Very rarely is it a true comment based on the person and/or their abilities in game.

I'll leave this with pointing out the little fact that there are people that are 8/8 heroic and they are scrubs and there are people that only play a few hours a week and they have 13000 achievement points.  I guess that throws a monkey wrench in their assessment because if someone is 8/8 heroic they have to be good and if someone has 13000 achievement points they have to have no life.

I swear the more time I spend in the community it scares me that these people with their little minds are real people in the real world.  Someone should teach them that everything is not all that black and white.

It is going to be up to you however, because I can't.  I am a no lifer and a scrub.  They would never listen to me.