So I’ve been logging some serious online multiplayer hours with Street Fighter 4.  This is kind of new for me as my only other online exploits tend to be the co-op based functionality of Halo 3 or Gears of War 2.  I tend not to be an antogonisitic multiplayer guy.

Street Fighter 4 and my undying love affair with hitting opponents with Zangief’s Ultimate Atomic Buster changed all that.  I’m hooked on multiplayer versus, but with this new addiction has come the rage-inducing cheapness of the early disconnect.

This is surely old news to most of you fragaholics, but the early quitters have become an enormous source of irritation for me.  I’m typically an easygoing guy and sure I’ll get upset during the course of my Street Fighter 4 playing, especially when some cheap-o Ryu player spams fireballs and short dragon punches all day, but there is no purer distaste I feel for my fellow man than when they crap their pants and quit the game when I’m on the path to a sure victory.

It doesn’t happen all the time though when it does I’m usually in desperate need of a win to break a losing streak.  And with Zangief’s ultra combo–the great equalizer–the animation is so long that my cowardly opponent has plenty of time to head for the hills.  Hey, it’s a hard life playing the ‘Gief when every other player chooses Ryu or Sagat or some other infernal projectile-chucker, making the hard-fought wins especially savory.

Once in a while I’ll send a “nice quitting job!” taunt instant message, but who knows the psychos on the other end of the line?  I mean if he’s the kind of person to quit a Street Fighter match early, then it’s not far off to surmise he has the means and the willpower to track me down and murder my cat.

And why is that I take it all so seriously?  In games like Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas multiplayer wins actually lead to practical in-game awards, right?  With Street Fighter 4, it’s just a fluctuating “Battle Points” score that does absolutely nothing save make you feel good about yourself.  Yet losing out on BP is enough to stick in my craw enough that my wife will frequently say “It sounds like you’re having a heart attack.”

Ah, the entertaining wonder of gaming!