Are You A "Backseat Gamer"?

You ever watch someone play a video game and just feel like screaming at them cause they aren't playing the way you "know" is right?  It happens to me a lot.  At arcades I'm on the verge of screaming at the guy I'm looking at...to tell him he should've have gotten hit with an ultra attack or something.

I'm watching an inFAMOUS stream a couple of nights ago and the dude was playing really bad.  So I couldn't help but type in what he was doing wrong...almost went insane.

Please tell me I'm not the only one.  >_>

Many of the people commenting on the Endurance Run differently feel the same way you do...

Nope. In the earlier Endurance Runs, I was going to explode.

I definitely notice when other people could be playing better. But I generally try and hold back and see if they figure it out by themselves. If they keep dying or get stuck I will then point out what I see them doing wrong. I just know it would piss me off if someone else was telling me how to play my game, so I try and hold back.

I find myself doing that a lot when I watch my friends play something for the first time, though I try to stop myself but sometimes I can't help myself and I'd try to snatch the controller out of their hands and show them how they're supposed to play.

I have that a lot sometimes when I'm just around family or something. Or when people complain that the response in Guitar Hero is bad but they are the ones playing like shit.
But yeah I'm guiltayyy

It's not a habit for me, but I'm not going to say I've not done it in the past.

And for the record, the Endurance Runs have never brought this trait to the fore.

I find it too boring to sit and watch someone play so I don't find myself in that situation all that much.

the only time i  would consider my self as a back seet gamer was dureing a fighting game tournament whe i gave my mate button by button instructions  after i was knocked out

Sometimes if it's someone who really doesn't know how to play, it makes me wanna do that, but it doesn't bother me after a while. The Endurance Run vids don't make me do that though cuz I don't play P4 and I don't know the "right" way to play it in the first place.

I'm pretty much the opposite. If I see someone terrible at a game, I just leave them to it and laugh at their incompetence.

i used to do that all the time when my mates came over to play Command and Conquer Red Alert, it got to point where they did it just to wind me up....

If somebody is badly stuck and in desperate need of help then I have no problem with offering friendly advice, but I'm dead set against telling people how they SHOULD play a game. The beauty of games as an entertainment medium is their interactivity, meaning that people can approach them in any way the game allows. As long as you're having fun, then there's no "wrong" way to play. That's why games are so awesome.

I don't really get frustrated at them; it's more fun watching someone fail and figure it out for themselves than have me telling them what to do. I will only really tell them if i know it is something that will end up costing them hours to figure out on their own. Like in fallout 3, there are a couple of hidden items that would take ages to find on your own, so a little nudge here and there doesn't hurt.

I do sometimes get tense watching the gameplay videos on gametrailers. Man, some of those people need to know how to use a control pad before they let them demo a game. Seriously.

im guilty of doing backseat gaming when my younger brother plays.  i cant help my self im always yelling and telling him what he should have done and sometimes i even snatch the controller from his hands just to show him the right way because i cant watch him redo the same level due to a stupid mistake.  i know im ashamed but in the heat of the moment i just cant help my self.  need to controll myself better.

I do it to wind my friends up. I get a little twinge when someone clearly is not paying proper attention but if its something in the name of entertainment like endurance run I dont mind.

I would never backseat game a fighting game though, not outside of a friendly situation with mates. It's something you save until after the game, those games happen to fast that you cant afford to distract the guy, even if he did get baited.

I'm not usually, but I can get angry when someone asks me for help on something i had no problem with.

I absolutely am, or at least I am when my older brother plays my games, because he sucks.

No, I stay chill.

I hate backseat gamers, especially when they think I actually want their opinion. If I wanted it, I would have asked for it.

I have no problem pointing something out to my buddies if they're playing a game for the first time or just don't notice something, I don't usually tell people what to do just try to help.  The Endurance Run on the other hand brings out the worst in me as a "backseat gamer", sometimes I actually find myself yelling at the computer, "THAT DUDES IS WEAK TO ZIO!!! DON'T MAKE ME WATCH YOU KICK HIM TO DEATH!!! ARGH!!!!"  I still love the Endurance Run, but I find it frustrating when they fight.

Most definitely. I can't stand watching someone who sucks play a game.

I used to do this all the time, but recently I try to not let it bother me.

Sometimes I want to grab the controller out of someone's hands and just play it for them.

I expel them from my house and disown them if they aren't 1337 enough

I expel them from my house and disown them if they aren't 1337 enough

I didnt think i was one but after waching the Endurance Run i have to admit i am one. During evry episode ive said "Why the hell did you do that for?" atleas 2 times.

Yeah, that happens to me a lot. One time I went to a friend's house and he was playing COD4, "Charlie Don't Surf" mission. He kept doing the newsroom part over and over in a very wrong way (this was normal, by the way) and I eventually pried the controller from his hands to get to the next checkpoint. It is very annoying, and, yes, this has happened in other situations as well.

Only if they are playing a game that they are new to.

I do this so much that it drives me dad to the point on insanity when he's playing Call of Duty online