Unicums playing low tier vs. potatoes playing high tier

[VGLance]

I know people call even slightly below average players 'potatoes' but please strictly vote based on extreme performers, I'm not talking about 45 - 55% win rate players.  I'm talking about the 60+ win rate Unicums and 40% and below win rate potatoes.  Like the player last night that was playing in a T10 match with an average damage of 4,500 after over 3000 games played.  Or the top 1% players that can carry even high tier matches dropping down to T4 and melting entire teams.  The players both extremely good and extremely bad to such an extent that it makes even the most casual-minded players pause to reflect on the ethical aspects.

 

Feel free to not just vote but explain specifically why you believe the way you do.  There are no right or wrong answers here, just opinions, so keep it civil.

 

When considering "ethics" it's simply a matter of "Just because something is legal (or within the ToS) doesn't mean a person should do it."  Golden rule... societal standards of behavior... etc.

[Rocketpacman]

Do what you enjoy. I can't imagine how some players enjoy the miserable performances they constantly put in at high-tiers but they have every right to do as they want. Bad players are a fact of life in any multiplayer game. 

 

On the same note if you're just playing low-tiers to pad your stats rather than because you have more fun there you're a fairly pathetic individual but I'd never consider such a player unethical. 

[pewpewpew42]

You can do whatever you want. While potatoes are very annoying, and unicums can be considered mean, improving yourself is the surefire way of dealing with both. Don't like something? Learn to deal with it.

[_Untaken_]

Of the examples you listed, I hardly think ethics is involved. People will do what they enjoy. As they should. This is a game, and, if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. 

[m373x]

 Everything under T8 is seal clubbing. Speaking of which, the "I don't like the high tier meta" players just can't do well in T10 matches and seal club instead to boost their confidence.

/thread

 

[IronWolfV]

Considering that at tier 4 the ability to exert your skill to force a match to go your way, not surprising to see great players at tier 4.

 

Conversely many players are simply drawn to the biggest and baddest they can get their hands on to feel empowered and could really care less about how they play.

 

It's not shocking for either. To each their own I say. I mean hell I have tier 4 premiums. If I want to [edited] around at lower tiers for a bit because I miss playing them, my prerogative.

[IronWolfV]

1 minute ago, m373x said:

 Everything under T8 is seal clubbing. Speaking of which, the "I don't like the high tier meta" players just can't do well in T10 matches and seal club instead to boost their confidence.

/thread

 

That's simply your PoV. My favorite ship in the game is Scharnhorst. So I'm just a seal clubber then? I call that horse****. I play what I like.

[IronDuke17]

I learned most of my skills at tier 3. Suddenly there were sealclubbing unicums in tier 5 boats everywhere. I got gud real fast. :D You can't improve much unless you play against the pros.

 

--IronDuke

[m373x]

3 minutes ago, IronWolfV said:

That's simply your PoV. My favorite ship in the game is Scharnhorst. So I'm just a seal clubber then? I call that horse****. I play what I like.

 I don't know yet. Do you like the high tier meta?

[LemonadeWarrior]

Do what you want. There will be clan battles to prove a point...?

[NCC81701]

It's only unethical if you cheat. If you play within the rules there's nothing wrong with a high skill player playing lower tier and vice versa. 

[LoveBote]

ethics? 

Maybe talk of "fairplay" (an expression quite alien to WarGaming..) would be appropriate, but ethics? 

[LoveBote]

1 minute ago, NCC81701 said:

It's only unethical if you cheat. If you play within the rules there's nothing wrong with a high skill player playing lower tier and vice versa. 

Not at all, it is perfectly ethical to cheat at a video game. But is is unfair to cheat.

[Snargfargle]

I have nearly 5000 games played if you include PVE. I'm not a potato nor am I a unicum but, like the majority of WOWS players, an average player. If I start up a new ship line, my intent is not to noob bash but to have fun, well, playing a new ship line. Right now I'm working on IJN CVs and DDs. I'm still at low tier in the main line because my IJN ship experience actually started at tier VIII with the ARP Takao and I never bothered to level anything up in that line before. 

[NoLoveForPhatShips]

I don't think it's unethical to play anything I just don't want to be on the potatoes team please a mm put me on the pros team

[Doomlock]

Honestly I don't see anything wrong with either. People will play what they want to play.

 

I can enjoy low tiers despite the possible seal clubbing connotation, but I also don't mind lower skilled players in high tiers as it gives a unique balance of skilled and non skilled players.

[Snargfargle]

The flip-side of this conversation is the question of whether it's ethical for a "wallet warrior" to purchase a high-tier premium without having enough experience to actually be able to support his team in a high-tier game.

[Lert]

Who is being less ethical? The person who believes they have a dog damn right to decide what tiers I should or shouldn't play.

[CaptGodzillaPig]

It was hard to choose between "neither" and "Bacon", so I chose bacon.  Bacon is never the wrong choice.

[Soshi_Sone]

When I feel like eating bacon, I eat bacon.   When I feel like playing high tier, I play high tier.  When I feel like playing mid tier, I play mid tier.  When I feel like playing low tier, I play low tier.

 

[Gizuke]

Just now, Soshi_Sone said:

Like feel like eating bacon, I eat bacon.   When I feel like playing high tier, I play high tier.  When I feel like playing mid tier, I play mid tier.  When I feel like playing low tier, I play low tier.

 

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Either way at the end of the day I will still have hemorrhoids. So I have that going for me...which is nice.

[Cognitive_Dissonance]

8 minutes ago, nuttybiscuit said:

Not at all, it is perfectly ethical to cheat at a video game. But is is unfair to cheat.

Uhhh No, it is unethical to cheat, in any capacity.

As to OP, as others have side, tying ethics to a F2P game as far as tiers and skill is a stretch.

But, I can appreciate your sentiment.

[Fletcher7_1944]

  Well, newbs are the lifeblood of this, or any game.  Thus I consider seal clubbing them to pad stats more egregious than simply getting in over your head.

 Most players tend to play multiple tiers, though- not just highs.   Simply enjoying the chaos of low tiers- nothing wrong with that.  Nor is playing a $$$ maker so you can AFFORD to play those tier 9's and 10's,lol.

  Throwing a 19 point captain in a low tier ship just to stroke your ego with how many newbs you can smash- that's just poor sportsmanship.  Like bringing a rifle to a bb gun fight,lol.  (and yes, in my younger years we did have bb gun fights...)  Bragging about clubbing seals is also poor form, and reflects poorly on those who do it.

[Stampz]

My mostly play tier tier 6, and it usually gets uptiered.  If fighting ships that are usually +1/+2 about 75% of the time counts as seal clubbing, then I'm seal clubbing.