Today, I performed a marathon run of the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to determine whether or not its sequel was worth purchasing. I gained a greater appreciation for this popular FPS during my second play-through, so I decided to call up Gamestop and see if they were holding a midnight launch. Sure enough, they were holding one in Eugene, Oregon, so I quickly drove to the location of the launch.
What awaited surprised me. I had camped out for video game merchandise before (I stayed up all night braving freezing temperatures for a measly Wii pre-order), so I thought that this would be no big deal. Boy, was I wrong.
My local Gamestop had a line of over 100 people by the time I got there, which is quite significant considering that Eugene is a city where not many people game. What I immediately noticed, however, is that most of the people in line were people I'd typically never see at game stores. Many of them were athletes, frat boys, and their girlfriends, which is probably quite representative of the chatty Call of Duty crowd.
I didn't really mind this unusual crowd until I realized that there was a drunk lad behind me. At first, I thought this bald male in his upper twenties or early thirties was a friend of two other guys, because he was playfully kidding around, but I soon realized that my assumption was incorrect. This bald, wannabe tough guy started calling these two other guys that were about my age, "pussies," "fags," and "bitches," so it was then that I knew something was up. This crazy drunkard even went as far as saying he was going to "beat their asses." He kept repeating these and other lines such as, "How old are you?" ad nauseam.
George Costanza's evil twin was really getting out of line, so I was trying to decide how to handle the situation. Eventually, I decided that I wouldn't react to his taunts unless he called me an offensive name or physically attacked one of the other guys, but there were a few moments where I wanted to turn around and swing on him. I really wasn't expecting this kind of situation at a video game launch, so it was disturbing to see this happen. It probably wasn't a good idea for me to go to such an event in the first place, because of one of my medical conditions, but I never expected that a Gamestop line would feel like a bar.
I guess I can't blame Gamestop or Infinity Ward for this freak occurrence, but I have to say that this guy seems like the target audience for Infinity Ward's ad campaign. It's a shame that one belligerent man ruined a launch experience for several people, but I guess we'll at least have the opportunity to mow him down repeatedly in Modern Warfare 2. If I ever recognize his voice, he'll be the first player I tea-bag.
