This needs to be on here. Original: http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/413692/
Pocket Soldier Syndrome
-Summary
Pocket Soldier Syndrome (PSS) is a condition to describe arrogant, pretentious, and egotistical players in Team Fortress 2. Players afflicted with this mental disorder typically play the eponymous Pocket Soldier role within a team. The Pocket Soldier plays alongside the Medic forming the 'combo', and as such has enormous influence and responsibility for the outcome of the game.
-Description
The unique role of the Pocket Soldier makes them more vulnerable to the mental disorder than other players in a standard TF2 team. As part of the 'combo', the Pocket Soldier takes on the responsibility of protecting the Medic - the most important asset in every team. By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise by proxy. In return for providing protection, the Pocket Soldier is allocated the vast majority of healing and invulnerabilities by the Medic, with other team mates rotating to the 'combo' for healing as required.
This structure of gameplay creates a very different experience of competitive TF2 for the Pocket Soldier against that of his fellow team mates. Given an extended period of time, this alternate reality of TF2 gameplay becomes embedded in the Pocket Soldier's point-of-view to such an extent, that he/she is totally unaware of its presence.
The consequences of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are then manifested in their inability to interpret TF2 gameplay events objectively. TF2 for the Pocket Soldier encompasses high health security and high percentage gameplay scenarios, while for other classes their experience of TF2 generally involves low health security and marginal percentage gameplay scenarios. Therefore, the Pocket Soldier has an embedded bias (high health security, high percentage gameplay) in interpreting gameplay situations of other classes. Once the embedded bias has taken root in the Pocket Soldier's mind, it is impossible for them to understand why their team mates experience difficulty in a match such as taking damage, assuming control of terrain, capping points, and even death.
If the Pocket Soldier's team mates experience difficulty to such a degree that their team loses rounds and/or matches, the Pocket Soldier will become frustrated and angry at his team. He/she will offer nonsensical advice and wisdom, often while belittling team mates, and contribute to the deterioration of team morale. This 'venting' by the Pocket Soldier may become so endemic as to demotivate players for scrims, force individual players to quit, and/or fracture the team completely.
Therefore the study of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is of great concern to those in the community wishing to see TF2 grow and prosper.
This needs to be on here. Original: http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/413692/
Pocket Soldier Syndrome
-Summary
Pocket Soldier Syndrome (PSS) is a condition to describe arrogant, pretentious, and egotistical players in Team Fortress 2. Players afflicted with this mental disorder typically play the eponymous Pocket Soldier role within a team. The Pocket Soldier plays alongside the Medic forming the 'combo', and as such has enormous influence and responsibility for the outcome of the game.
-Description
The unique role of the Pocket Soldier makes them more vulnerable to the mental disorder than other players in a standard TF2 team. As part of the 'combo', the Pocket Soldier takes on the responsibility of protecting the Medic - the most important asset in every team. By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise by proxy. In return for providing protection, the Pocket Soldier is allocated the vast majority of healing and invulnerabilities by the Medic, with other team mates rotating to the 'combo' for healing as required.
This structure of gameplay creates a very different experience of competitive TF2 for the Pocket Soldier against that of his fellow team mates. Given an extended period of time, this alternate reality of TF2 gameplay becomes embedded in the Pocket Soldier's point-of-view to such an extent, that he/she is totally unaware of its presence.
The consequences of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are then manifested in their inability to interpret TF2 gameplay events objectively. TF2 for the Pocket Soldier encompasses high health security and high percentage gameplay scenarios, while for other classes their experience of TF2 generally involves low health security and marginal percentage gameplay scenarios. Therefore, the Pocket Soldier has an embedded bias (high health security, high percentage gameplay) in interpreting gameplay situations of other classes. Once the embedded bias has taken root in the Pocket Soldier's mind, it is impossible for them to understand why their team mates experience difficulty in a match such as taking damage, assuming control of terrain, capping points, and even death.
If the Pocket Soldier's team mates experience difficulty to such a degree that their team loses rounds and/or matches, the Pocket Soldier will become frustrated and angry at his team. He/she will offer nonsensical advice and wisdom, often while belittling team mates, and contribute to the deterioration of team morale. This 'venting' by the Pocket Soldier may become so endemic as to demotivate players for scrims, force individual players to quit, and/or fracture the team completely.
Therefore the study of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is of great concern to those in the community wishing to see TF2 grow and prosper.
-Causes
A brief survey of the causes of Pocket Soldier Syndrome follows. This is one area that might benefit from further academic research.
*Structure of competitive TF2 - The Control Point 6v6 structure of TF2 no doubt contributes to many cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome. Were the game played with more players per team, or no Medics, or a different format, the number of cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome might actually be low.
*Introversion - The Pocket Soldier may be introverted IRL and have little or no experience in social situations. This inexperience is exacerbated by the nature of the Internet which provides no cues as to what social behavioural norms the Pocket Soldier should adhere to. An introverted individual may be unaccustomed to such responsibility and therefore not developed the social skills to manage it.
*Moderate-to-High natural gaming skill - Lower-skilled players are not typically afflicted with Pocket Soldier Syndrome. They often perceive the loss of rounds or matches to be, in part, their fault. However, moderate-to-highly skilled players will take the most basic rudimentary measure of their performance in assigning blame - the kill:death ratio (kdr). As the Pocket Soldier absorbs the most healing and invulnerabilities in a typical TF2 match, their kdr is naturally quite high. When they discover that their team mates' kdr is lower than theirs, the obvious conclusion is that the Pocket Soldier is playing well and others are not.
-Symptoms
Symptoms of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are generally verbal (ventrilo/teamspeak) or text-based (irc/steam chat), and derive from an inability to empathise with their team mates. They may include:
"I don't understand how you are dying!!!!"
"Why is everyone on low health???"
"You guys need to stop dying"
"I'm playing perfectly, the rest of you aren't"
"You guys should practice more"
"Somebody tell me why we are losing"
Gameplay symptoms are most obvious when the Pocket Soldier considers protecting the Medic a 'secondary concern' to fragging the enemy. The Pocket Soldier, wanting to maximise his/her kdr, will often put the Medic in peril by rocket-jumping away to chase kills, failing to check for sticky traps because they 'slow him/her down', and considering ubering other classes offensively as 'idiotic'.
If post-game discussion takes place, the Pocket Soldier suffering this mental disorder will continually rebuff criticisms of their own gameplay, instead preferring to change the subject, raise irrelevant points of contention, argue semantics, or treat other team mates with contempt.
-Treatment
Pocket Soldier Syndrome when in full swing is an incurable mental disorder. The Pocket Soldier's behaviour will continue until he/she is without a team, by alienating players and disrupting team morale to such an extent that either the team disbands or he/she
quits.
For teams wishing to avoid Pocket Soldier Syndrome, identification of the onset of the mental disorder and early intervention are key. Players will need to approach the Pocket Soldier collectively and without abstentions. Even if one other team mate agrees with the Pocket Soldier on a minor issue, he/she will take it as validation for their entire argument and belief system.
One advised technique for treating the early onset of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is to rotate the player into other classes for scrims and matches for an extended period. This will force the Pocket Soldier to confront the alternate realities of TF2 gameplay that they were hitherto unaware of.
In the end, if the Pocket Soldier's condition does not improve, or in fact deteriorates further, it may be necessary to remove him from the roster altogether for the sake of preserving the remaining core of the team. This can often be troublesome if the relationship between the team and Pocket Soldier extend to outside of TF2.
-Causes
A brief survey of the causes of Pocket Soldier Syndrome follows. This is one area that might benefit from further academic research.
*Structure of competitive TF2 - The Control Point 6v6 structure of TF2 no doubt contributes to many cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome. Were the game played with more players per team, or no Medics, or a different format, the number of cases of Pocket Soldier Syndrome might actually be low.
*Introversion - The Pocket Soldier may be introverted IRL and have little or no experience in social situations. This inexperience is exacerbated by the nature of the Internet which provides no cues as to what social behavioural norms the Pocket Soldier should adhere to. An introverted individual may be unaccustomed to such responsibility and therefore not developed the social skills to manage it.
*Moderate-to-High natural gaming skill - Lower-skilled players are not typically afflicted with Pocket Soldier Syndrome. They often perceive the loss of rounds or matches to be, in part, their fault. However, moderate-to-highly skilled players will take the most basic rudimentary measure of their performance in assigning blame - the kill:death ratio (kdr). As the Pocket Soldier absorbs the most healing and invulnerabilities in a typical TF2 match, their kdr is naturally quite high. When they discover that their team mates' kdr is lower than theirs, the obvious conclusion is that the Pocket Soldier is playing well and others are not.
-Symptoms
Symptoms of Pocket Soldier Syndrome are generally verbal (ventrilo/teamspeak) or text-based (irc/steam chat), and derive from an inability to empathise with their team mates. They may include:
"I don't understand how you are dying!!!!"
"Why is everyone on low health???"
"You guys need to stop dying"
"I'm playing perfectly, the rest of you aren't"
"You guys should practice more"
"Somebody tell me why we are losing"
Gameplay symptoms are most obvious when the Pocket Soldier considers protecting the Medic a 'secondary concern' to fragging the enemy. The Pocket Soldier, wanting to maximise his/her kdr, will often put the Medic in peril by rocket-jumping away to chase kills, failing to check for sticky traps because they 'slow him/her down', and considering ubering other classes offensively as 'idiotic'.
If post-game discussion takes place, the Pocket Soldier suffering this mental disorder will continually rebuff criticisms of their own gameplay, instead preferring to change the subject, raise irrelevant points of contention, argue semantics, or treat other team mates with contempt.
-Treatment
Pocket Soldier Syndrome when in full swing is an incurable mental disorder. The Pocket Soldier's behaviour will continue until he/she is without a team, by alienating players and disrupting team morale to such an extent that either the team disbands or he/she
quits.
For teams wishing to avoid Pocket Soldier Syndrome, identification of the onset of the mental disorder and early intervention are key. Players will need to approach the Pocket Soldier collectively and without abstentions. Even if one other team mate agrees with the Pocket Soldier on a minor issue, he/she will take it as validation for their entire argument and belief system.
One advised technique for treating the early onset of Pocket Soldier Syndrome is to rotate the player into other classes for scrims and matches for an extended period. This will force the Pocket Soldier to confront the alternate realities of TF2 gameplay that they were hitherto unaware of.
In the end, if the Pocket Soldier's condition does not improve, or in fact deteriorates further, it may be necessary to remove him from the roster altogether for the sake of preserving the remaining core of the team. This can often be troublesome if the relationship between the team and Pocket Soldier extend to outside of TF2.
i have this :( is there any hope for me?
i have this :( is there any hope for me?
The treatment is not enough... how do I cure myself?
The treatment is not enough... how do I cure myself?
Roaming Soldier Syndrome is characterized by bombing the other team every life and then saying "Where were you guys? They're all lit! Kill them!"
People who suffer from this illness: me
Roaming Soldier Syndrome is characterized by bombing the other team every life and then saying "Where were you guys? They're all lit! Kill them!"
People who suffer from this illness: me
my teams pocket suffers from this illness
"By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise."
this describes him perfectly with the 2nd most deaths on the team. not a good statistic to have when you're playing esea-im lmao
my teams pocket suffers from this illness
"By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise."
this describes him perfectly with the 2nd most deaths on the team. not a good statistic to have when you're playing esea-im lmao
mghughlauriemy teams pocket suffers from this illness
"By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise."
this describes him perfectly with the 2nd most deaths on the team.
who dies the most?
[quote=mghughlaurie]my teams pocket suffers from this illness
"By assuming the role of protection, the Pocket Soldier must limit their deaths each match, as their death often results in the Medic's demise."
this describes him perfectly with the 2nd most deaths on the team.[/quote]
who dies the most?
Saltysally1who dies the most?
roamer obviously. so basically both our sollies and our aggressive scout are constantly dead so therefore we're shit at 5 cp.
[quote=Saltysally1]who dies the most?[/quote]
roamer obviously. so basically both our sollies and our aggressive scout are constantly dead so therefore we're shit at 5 cp.
Thank god for GPit right?
Thank god for GPit right?
I have +forward syndrome as scout.
"Guys their med is ripped"
*shoots a direct at med*
"He wasn't ripped..."
I have +forward syndrome as scout.
"Guys their med is ripped"
*shoots a direct at med*
"He wasn't ripped..."
TO PREVENT THIS
http://teamfortress.tv/articles/view/31-djs-demo-roundtable-euro-remix
FOLLOW THE EUROS
Scout Syndrome is characterized by thinking that scout is still as hard to play even though the metagame has drastically improved for scouts.
Scout Syndrome is characterized by thinking that scout is still as hard to play even though the metagame has drastically improved for scouts.
I developed a small case of this at the end of S11, it was pretty weird. Looking back on it, I wish I could get a do-over for the end of that season.
I developed a small case of this at the end of S11, it was pretty weird. Looking back on it, I wish I could get a do-over for the end of that season.
Someone should write a scout version of this... DJC?
Someone should write a scout version of this... DJC?
2 versions, the lead scout version and the vagina scout version
2 versions, the lead scout version and the vagina scout version
griffdoes this still exist?
Yes, but it's usually Pocket Scout Syndrome.
[quote=griff]does this still exist?[/quote]
Yes, but it's usually Pocket Scout Syndrome.
griffdoes this still exist?
paging screwb
[quote=griff]does this still exist?[/quote]
paging screwb
this still exists in the form of Mono72
this still exists in the form of Mono72
vileScout Syndrome is characterized by thinking that scout is still as hard to play even though the metagame has drastically improved for scouts.
Based
[quote=vile]Scout Syndrome is characterized by thinking that scout is still as hard to play even though the metagame has drastically improved for scouts.[/quote]
Based
GrapeJuiceIIIgriffdoes this still exist?
paging screwb
Screwb's Pocket Syndrome was so advance it made me quit my team.
[quote=GrapeJuiceIII][quote=griff]does this still exist?[/quote]
paging screwb[/quote]
Screwb's Pocket Syndrome was so advance it made me quit my team.
bumping this for the new generation of pocket scout players
bumping this for the new generation of pocket scout players
pocket soldier syndrome was a phenomenon of a different time, with causes inherent to both role and class. if the contemporary pocket scout is susceptible to a similar condition i think it's worth analyzing separately
pocket soldier syndrome was a phenomenon of a different time, with causes inherent to both role and class. if the contemporary pocket scout is susceptible to a similar condition i think it's worth analyzing separately