I feel like having a whinge dammit.

[Diddums]

Awww, Diddums, here we go again.

We play games on Friday nights, this is generally accompanied with a healthy dose of happy juice. Now a few of the folks I play with (and have done for over a decade) rarely turn up anymore, but let their kids play with us. Now let me be clear, this is NOT the kind of atmosphere I'd want my kid playing in. Think of a pub at 10pm on a Friday night and you'll have a good idea.

Most times I've fine with it, we were all young once, and it's also nice to have fresh blood in the community so I don't really mind. But when it becomes every single Friday, every single raid, and dad is always "out" whilst they're on, is it really fair on the rest of the group? Dad literally gives them a tenner for an uber eats, puts them on the playstation with us and then buggers off all night. Every. Single. Time.

The fact that raid spots are limited and there are many of us who are the same age, with the same interests, who enjoy a drink and talking crap all night who then have to sacrifice a spot and then watch our mouths because someone's 16 year old kid wants to play doesn't sit right with me.

So I ask you GD, the fountain of reason and knowledge, AIBU?

 

[Diddums]

Man who plays playstation is annoyed that 16 year olds also play playstation.

LOL

 

[Diddums]

Are you actually getting annoyed that other people are going out 8nstead of playing video games?

Did you not read what I said?

 

[Diddums]

I used to be in a clan that had a really old man that used to play with us. I assumed he was a peado. Maybe what is happening to you happened to him, and before he knew it, he was the odd one out?

Nah, we're all old farts in the group, I reckon the youngest is 35, with "banter" to match. Not the kind of company I'd want my 16 year old boy to be hanging out with.

 

[Diddums]

AIBU? I don't think so.

If you're anything like me, it's more about the social side of things with mates (mine are all over the UK), the game is just the platform that allows the interaction to take place.

Spot on. The game is pretty much irrelevant, the winning or losing is pretty much irrelevant, it's just about having a few beers and talking to mates from all around the world.

Except when you've got a kid whinging in your ear every 30 seconds that you're using the wrong gun, missed the jump, sighing, stropping, etc.

I don't have the heart to tell him to get stuffed but I might drop a clanger in our whatsapp group for his dad to read (who is also in the group but never participates in anything anymore since he got a new bird).

I do kinda feel bad for the kid, having his dad bugger off all the time with the new bird and just leave you to fend for yourself online can't be easy either.

 

[Diddums]

Raids? Are you playing wow?

Destiny. Hence why there are only 6 slots.

Problem is, we can put up an event on our calendar, and he'll be signed up within seconds of us pressing the submit button. I know he enjoys it and feels all cool hanging out with us which is usually fine on a Tuesday when the guys are usually doing proper raiding without all the tomfoolery but when it's every single Friday without fail, denying one of our actual mates a spot it gets a bit tedious.

I'm probably gonna find an alternative way to form groups without him knowing.

 

[Diddums]

All well and good, but clearly the op here is a decent guy and doesn't want to be as indecent with his loose tongue as he'd normally be while there are youngens around. I'd be the same. I'm sure the op also feels it's just a matter of style of how people 35+ talk, to how someone that's 16 talks, so if he talks and has fun with his friends over chat as he'd normally do, the 16 can't relate/join/joke back appropriately and then what's the point of the 16 being there.

I think some people are getting lost with the fact this event happens over video games. If this was a Friday poker night, or as op has said, Friday 10pm pub night, a lot more I'm sure would agree it's not fair that a 16 year old is being sent in the place of a 40 year old guy.

Imagine the other way around. A bunch of 15/16 year olds playing video games, and one of the kids keeps being busy so sends his dad instead.

Diddums best bet is to be open to the dad and tell him the truth. Even a sugar coated version of the truth is good enough in this situation

Exactly.

For a bit of extra context, I like this kid. I've known him for yonks and he's always been a part of our group and he's had a really rough couple of years so just kicking him out or carrying on as normal isn't an option - I couldn't do that to the poor fella as he's generally a really nice lad.

The problem is his dad and how he just drops his boy on us to babysit for him whilst he's out with his new totty. That's not on and that's what's irritating me (and a few others). I need to think of a way of discussing this with him without him going in to sulk-mode and pulling his lad out of our group as he'll end up joining those LFG groups on reddit which are usually full of hateful, toxic bullies. As annoying as he can be, he's in good company with us. I just think his dad is taking the mick big time.

 

[Diddums]

@cheesefest is @Diddums alt?

Sadly I can only aspire to those level of whinge, although I do my best

 

[Diddums]

Are all of your wives accounted for while this is going on?

Yep. I lengthened the chain a bit so she could access the water bowl without assistance but that's about it.

 

[Diddums]

Same here. I was talking about games with some coworkers during lunch and they asked why I don't play the big name online games like Call of Duty. Simple - I can't compete against adolescents and young adults. There are some things in which a ~50 year old person can compete on an equal footing with a ~15 year old person, but fast-moving FPS games aren't one of them. I'm not greatly slower than I was 40 years ago, but I am a bit slower and that bit's enough in that context to make plenty of difference. Then there's the simple matter of numbers. The more people who play a game the more likely it is that I'm not going to be competitive. It's like putting a decent sunday league football team into the premier division. It's not going to be fun for anyone involved.

We play Destiny for this very reason, because co-op is great fun and we end up smack-talking each other instead of getting our arses handed to us all the time. Don't get me wrong, we love PvP in Destiny too, but this is always a mixed bag of wins and losses. The thing with Destiny is it's a very forgiving game, and has many issues, so our utter flops are often diluted by technical problems, most notably lag

Basically we can suck and then blame the game and actually get away with it

We still enjoy CoD but again it's a game in which we only play with teams, never solo because it makes us want to embed our controllers in the nearest wall. We also do loads of private matches against each other which is hilarious.

We've got members touching 70 who we all know are a bit slower than they once were, including themselves, but we always make sure everyone has a good time and doesn't feel bad if they drag the team down a bit. Dave has been a staple of our community for longer than most and still cracks skulls like the best of us

 

[Diddums]

@Diddums , your 'mate' doesn't want to be part of this anymore. Read the room.

It sounds like his loss though

He turned up last night, haven't seen him online in ages and suddenly after this thread he pops up. I wonder if he's read this

Still, was nice to speak to him, he's obviously in the honeymoon period with his new lady and is loving it, I just wish he didn't dump his son on us every time he goes to dip his candle :/