Gaming gives us plenty of good memories, though a life spent glued to a screen with a controller in hand also throws up some pretty bad experiences, too. We’ve been keeping things pretty positive over on Tell GR recently, recounting our favorite consoles and controllers, but now it’s time to pull out those repressed memories and think on some of our most shameful gaming moments.
The GameRevolution editorial team discussed these unfortunate memories below, but as always, we want to hear from YOU. Leave us your responses in the comments section below, and we’ll feature our favorite in tomorrow’s Tell GR!
Paul Tamburro, executive editor: “I feel no shame. If I were to feel shame, though, it would be from all the microtransactions I’ve shoveled into games over the years. FIFA packs, mounts in Final Fantasy XIV, loot boxes… I even dropped some cash on Apex Legends recently. The worst, though, was that evening I kept funneling money into League of Legends before promptly barely playing it again. Even while knowing it wasn’t really my kind of game and I wouldn’t have the time to work out its intricacies, I liked a number of its champions so decided to buy them anyway. I’m a part of the problem when it comes to game companies constantly wanting to monetize their games, and while I’ve mostly curbed this habit, sometimes I just can’t help myself.”
Jason Faulkner, senior editor: “My most shameful gaming memory concerns Final Fantasy 7. I didn’t have a ton of experience with jRPGs when it came out, so I didn’t really get the need to level up. I just wanted to keep following the story and would tend to run from every battle. The game ramps up the difficulty with the Materia Keeper boss in Nibelheim, so for the first year or so I had the game I would just get to that boss and not be able to beat him. I probably played from the first of the game to Nibelheim six or seven times before I finally started putting the work in to build up my characters.”
Mack Ashworth, lead editor: “My most shameful gaming moment was when I got a nuke using the broken AF Commando Pro perk and Tactical Knife in Modern Warfare 2. Favela was the map of choice, and it was glorious. I felt very dirty.”
Bradley Russell, news editor: “Picture the scene. 6-3 up in Rocket League, 45 seconds left. It’s in the bag. I could do donuts around the opposition and it wouldn’t matter one jot. Except something went very, very wrong. One goal went in, quickly followed by another. I’ve gone all Lose Yourself now (knees weak, sweaty palms), but even with20 seconds left, I think it can’t get worse. Surely. Oh, it gets worse. We lost 7-6, inexplicably, in what is probably the worst collapse in recorded history. It still haunts me to this day.”
Michael Leri, features editor: “There is undoubtedly some shame buried within all the platinum trophies I have. The one that sticks out the most is Mafia 2. For that one, you had to collect a ton of posters scattered throughout the city that weren’t marked on the map. And boy, that was grueling. It took like nine hours or something and I was ashamed by hour three. Sometimes I question why I do this to myself.”
