Why Do People Take Constructive Criticism As An Insult?

Community General Discussion
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This happens in PVE and PVP, people seem to think when I’m telling them what they are doing wrong and how to improve I am attacking them. No I just want to see you get better instead of repeating the same mistakes.

Edit: Since people wanted examples of the criticism I used here is the examples,

This talent is better for mythic plus for this reason which makes it more effective

Using your interrupts would help out the rest of the group a lot.

Tank can you try pulling the mobs out of blank mechanic.

I can add more where my criticism was meant with poor reception if you would like.

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It’s all about the delivery, if people routinely take offence to your criticism i would suggest that maybe you need to take a look at how you speak to people.

Better yet, you could just keep your opinion to yourself.

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Because people are trained practically since birth not to take personal responsibility for anything negative this day in age. We live in a society of fragile narcissists, both inside and outside of WoW.

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Without being there, I don’t know if you were being a douche when you explained it, or if these people are just over sensitive.

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This, considering OP is making a post not about how to better improve the way they talk to people but rather blame them instead, well it speaks for itself on how they talk to people.

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If you can’t accept criticism, then you shouldn’t give it. Also, most people cannot accept criticism.

Some are really good at hiding that, though. Those ones you should be scared of because they get even.

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because it’s hard to convey tone through text, so criticism often looks a lot harsher than what the person likely meant.

additionally, games are for fun, people generally don’t like to be told how to have fun. I think helping people get better is a good thing, but unsolicited advice can be more annoying than actually helpful.

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I find its a mixed bag some people are a little to…blunt…with their criticisms and some players think their the best thing since sliced bread and don’t need some rando teaching them how to play a game.

This kind of attitude doesn’t help people improve and the next time someone gives them “criticism” it isn’t going to constructive

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Some people don’t even know how to give proper criticism.

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Without having examples from the Op of the precise constructive criticism used, it’s impossible to say whether the criticism was well constructed.

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Because this is the internet so it is easy for most people to live in their own delusions. Therefore anything that might imply those delusional beliefs they have in their heads like them being “good players” would be shattered if they admitted what you accused them of.

So you either have to be extremely careful and understanding or just not bother, I am more into not bothering, this species is hopeless.

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Give an example of this constructive criticism. Often times how we word something determines how someone will react.

Also, some personality types take even minor criticisms out of proportion, so it also depends on the person.

If someone was fighting on the Road in Arathi Basin I could go about it in a few ways, here are two:

  1. “You know you won’t win unless you are on a base right”
  2. “Try not to fight on the road, there is nothing to really gain on it”

Which conveys the point that fighting on the road is pointless but won’t appear that I am trying to belittle the person?

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LOL! Last time I checked you didn’t pay my sub, we are going to lose anyways, cause you all SUCK!!!1

You are certainly right but with some folks even the best delivery will fail.

If you keep at it you should be able to spot who’s receptive to help/worth helping and who you should just back away from slowly.

Some people just really don’t care. It’s weird to me and I’m sure others to invest so much time into a hobby and not care, going as far as refusing free advice, but everyone’s different in the end.

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I think this is a troll thread but just in case, I’m going to pass this on.

Don’t ever give advice. Ever.

That’s an “older, lonely people” kind of thing to do. And yeah, most people do it at least once in their lives but really, it’s not a good thing to do.

Let others alone to figure stuff out. If they ask for advice, then that’s cool but otherwise it’s best to just let them be.

This is my advice to all of you and I hope you enjoyed your daily dose of unasked for advice.

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Because we live in the day and age where everyone seems to think they are master of the universe nowadays.

I’ve seen at times when people just explode when you even so much as suggest they look up a guide on their class or even just point out that a talent is no longer bis.

Hell even when the best hunter on the server tried to give a newbie advice on the class they just blew up at him even though everyone else there was telling them to lission to the advice they just fell back on the call of ELITIST and just kept being god awful at hunter.

The fact is that most people are just lazy and don’t want to look up how to play their class and just have blizz hand everything to them now, their is no drive to improve since they just get everything handed to them on a silver platter and if they don’t they just go onto social media and just REEEEEEEEEE at blizz until they submit.

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I ask permission before offering unsolicited advice.

If they say sure or something to that effect then it means they’re open to critique. It creates a dialogue instead of the person feeling like they are being admonished/chastised.

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I think of it like this, I had this elderly Aunt that everyone hated. Well, everyone “tolerated” her, at family things.

She became this old, twice divorced obese lady. She was all alone, except for her cats (one that lived 17 years and the one after that 20, then no more cats since I guess she was too old?)

She was very blunt, to everyone, though they could have certainly said things about her being a real jerk or being obese (no one did, of course. ) She had these 3 beautiful granddaughters, my 2nd cousins, that she should have coddled and made love her (like your average regular Grandmother would do.)

Instead, she was blunt with her Granddaughters and would often just say things like, "You’ve become fat, while those trampy clothes you wear make you look even fatter. " The weird thing was, she didn’t think of this as being “mean”

The irony is that she was old, alone and would lament the fact that her Granddaughters would never come see her; She blamed her daughter in law, saying she must have poisoned them against her.

I wanted to say, "No Aunt, it is because you are an old jerk and just put people down all the time. Along with my Parents, you told me from about the age of 4 that I was a failure and would never amount to anything, so it is kind of no wonder that I didn’t. I’m one of the few people who can put up with you, and even I’d rather do almost anything than ever come over here and see you even though you are about ten minutes away from where I live. "

But of course, I just said, “Weird, I don’t know either! Why don’t those Granddaughters come see you? It is especially strange since now they all drive and certainly could come over here whenever they felt like it!”

It is kind of like that.

So I’ve used that as a life lesson, where I don’t give advice unless directly asked. If someone does ask, I’ll try to be kind.

Yes, exactly :wink:

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Not getting the whole story here, etc etc.

For all I know the OP’s idea of “constructive criticism” equals “lol u suck lol go kys”.

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i found out it’s very hard to coach someone via text messaging, unless you make very effective use of fonts and the Caps lock. this is likely why personal trainers are still a thing to this very day

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Depends on how you phrase your statement and who you are talking to. To a reasonable person any non aggressive statement is considered constructive . To a toxic player no statement is considered constructive as you hurt their precious ego with just the word ‘you’

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