It's Something and Triumph [100] · 8:08pm May 24th, 2013
My face the days after my latest story was published
So yeah, new works are coming out when they come out. Just thought you should know, although Dissonance is still of course coming out in June (I'm going away at some point in June, but I don't know when, so the exact date will be announced as soon as Denial finishes the cover, or perhaps sooner). Anyway, now it's time for a requested story about how I handled a hater. For those of you not familiar with TF2, I'll try to keep it simple and/or explain as I go.
So I'm playing on a map called Badlands, the capture point version thereof. I'm doing fairly well, given the fact that I'm at the top of my team's leaderboard with no signs of slowing down. I was playing Soldier, but that doesn't matter all that much; what matters is who joined late in the match. His pseudonym, as I discovered recently, is Soviet Platypus. We'll call him Soviet.
More after the break.
Now, the thing about most reasonable abstainers from the fandom is that they won't mention My Little Pony unless it's brought up externally. The only signs I show of it in-game are my avatar, the names of certain weapons (which are customizable through certain means), and my spray (a personalized graphic that can be placed on scenery). I primarily focus on the game itself and make no references to the show besides those above; within the vast majority of opinions, I am reasonable, and I am silent. Oh, and I was playing with Mu Nova at the time. His avatar in-game is Fluttershy, though I don't believe he has any other distinguishable characteristics.
Soviet comes in, joins my team, and says, sans provocation, "Fucking Brony scum" over the mic. That's a direct quote, folks.
Now, of course I don't ask him 'why.' I would get the same arguments as always; you've all heard them. Asking him 'why' would be almost as productive as asking a Westboro Baptist why oh why he so hates homosexuals. There are people you just can't reason with—conversion is not a proper method to dealing with these people. So instead, since he was on my team and I was top scoring, offered to switch. That would even the teams, and give me a chance to kill (or assist in killing) him four times in a row, colloquially known in-game as a humiliating and public 'Domination.'
I did not mention my motives, and he suggested (rudely) that I ought to switch. Therefore I stuck to my guns and switched, staying on Soldier, which is what he was also playing at the time (for those of you not familiar, there are nine classes in TF2 and Soldier is one of them). Before I get a chance to battle him in earnest, however, he challenges me to a duel. Duels are fairly simple; each kill or assist you make against a person counts as a point. The victor is the one who makes it to the end of the round with more points.
Now, I could have just killed him once and hid in spawn for the rest of the match. But that wouldn't help my case any more than losing would have—I wanted to put him in his place. I would like to say that I beat him to the ground, ending with a score of 6-1 or something. But I didn't.
He left before I got a chance. After I killed him twice, he ragequit, thereby forfeiting and ending the duel 2-0.
See, since I'm fairly adept at the game, I do know my way around and I know how to single out a target. He merely isn't as good a player as I am—but if he was, I would accept defeat graciously and not give him any more satisfaction. It is essential not to get mad at these people. That is what they are searching for, and although they will not gain much from that hobby later in life, it remains of critical importance not to let them influence your feelings. If I had lost, it would have sucked, and I probably wouldn't be sharing this with you all, but I would have gotten over it and moved on, which in itself would be a symbol at how much more emotionally developed I am than he. How do I know I'm more developed? Because a month later, just yesterday if memory serves, I caught him at it again.
He joined my server, joined the opposite team, and he did win the first match. In chat, he stated, "Bronies are no match for our superior strategy!" I could have pointed out that skill at a video game has nothing to do with being a fan of a show—our team, which had a couple of fans besides myself, would have been just as skilled or unskilled as if we had all been Yu-Gi-Oh fans. Their strategy, if you're curious, was to have frequently moving Engineers—it was Steel, a very nonlinear map, and we were trapped.
Instead of starting an argument, of course, I simply told him that it was a good strategy. Because it was. And because I knew he was looking for an argument, and I wouldn't oblige. My time means more to me than metaphorically smashing my head into a brick wall expecting it to come tumbling down, which is essentially what most arguments on the internet end up being.
Anyway, I believe I had the last laugh. I switched to Medic, and we overran his team with buffed players. In the final stretch, he was playing Demoman, and a Sniper—an extremely weak class at close range—ran up to him with one of the more ridiculous melee weapons, a ham shank, and scored a critical hit on him. I was healing the Sniper, so I got the final assist necessary to dominate him. And then we won.
I said 'good game,' and then explained I needed to leave for dinner, which I did. Soviet commented, quote "Fucking Bronies ruining everything. :/" I replied that only he could control his feelings, yadda yadda, and some others got involved, too, but I escaped that before I could get in the quagmire. Moral of the story: People like him never change. Don't let ignorance and bad feelings ruin your chance at a good time. Above all, learn to love and tolerate—if he becomes a functioning member of society, then that's really all we can ask of anyone. Even if he becomes a cashier at McDonald's. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised.
Thought I'd go with something uplifting for my 100th blog post. Cheers all! 
I have seen into the future, and Denial's cover is freaking awesome. Pretty psyched for June myself. Minus the student loan repayments that start on the 22nd.
Quoting for truth
Hey... one of my best friends has been a cashier at Mc Donalds...
Ha, you saw him again? Meh. Not much I can say about it, but... "lol"
You could teach me a thing or two--I share the sentiment and I think generally react similarly, but I've also seen myself being more of a douche to people about it.
Anyway, good show on getting him again, and being so civil/levelheaded and all.
I had no friends when I grew up, and similarly have very little self-restraint. I'm great trollbait <3