Let's face it, we've all been there: we'd become sick of playing a game how it was supposed to be played, so we decided to try out our own ridiculous method of killing time, though if anyone caught us spending our days this way, it'd be much to our embarrassment (especially if it's our parents or loved ones).
Perhaps our younger, more desperate selves heard about a way to catch an eyeful of the female form, or maybe the games secretly allowed us to unleash our inner sadists, but the end result was always the same: we'd end up looking back on these moments and monumentally cringing.
Whether appropriating a game in a way other players can't stand, being completely outwitted and shocked by a classic gaming moment, or letting our more basic instincts get the better of us, these are 10 things most gamers worth their salt have experienced at least once, though perhaps won't eagerly talk about for fear of mockery from their friends.
10. Being A Law-Abiding Taxi Driver - Grand Theft Auto V
Believe it or not, there's only so much time you can spend driving around Los Santos killing people, blowing things up, taking selfies and so on, before you realise you've actually done pretty much everything the game has to offer.
That is, of course, except for playing the Bizarro version of Grand Theft Auto V, in which you attempt to take on the role of an unassuming, law-abiding taxi driver, which extends not merely to refraining from killing other citizens, but even driving according to the traffic lights and not smashing up other vehicles.
As a brief respite between all that wanton killing, taking some taxi jobs can be rather relaxing, akin to the various train driving simulators and fishing games available these days: simply, it's a decent enough time killer, with the living, breathing expanse that Rockstar has created certainly aiding in the immersion.
Then you snap back to reality and realise you're driving a virtual cab, sensibly no less, when you could be ramming it into pedestrians and sending the police force's finest on a daring chase.
We've all tried it, but probably not for long.
9. Killing Your Sims - The Sims
There comes a point when playing The Sims where you've got the huge house, loving family and pretty much every creature comfort you could possibly want for your "subjects" to have. So, what now? Well, there's a certain cathartic joy to be had in destroying something beautiful and pristine, so why not burn the whole place down?
Firstly, remove the doors to the kitchen, then get a Sim to start cooking, but command them to walk away from it and a fire should break out. With nowhere to go, they will have no choice but to burn.
A classic Sims tactic is to let your Sims take a swim in the outdoor pool, then remove the ladder and simply wait for them to drown. The Sims may have been designed as a light, undemanding game for all the family, but it's also a great way to plot the murders of others in some hilariously insidious ways: there's nothing as satisfying in the game as inviting the entire neighbourhood over for a party and then setting a blaze that kills them all.
Though if anyone catches you laughing maniacally at the charred remains of your digital lab rats, you might be encouraged to seek some professional help. Best to lock the door when you play this one.
8. Playing As A Woman To Get More Loot - World Of Warcraft
As any guy who has ever played an MMORPG knows, you always end up having an easier ride if you play as a female character, and even more so if you pretend to be a female behind the keyboard as well.
Not to stereotype the user-base of World of Warcraft too much, but some of its denizens are a tad...deprived in the relationship department, and so will seek solace in the digital arms of a lady Blood Elf, for instance. As such, playing as a female character and having a little cutesy wordplay with male players can result in you being gifted equipment, weapons and armour which would otherwise be considerably more difficult to obtain.
And you'll probably have an easier time with raids, too, in that players will be less likely to tell you to p*** off because you're a Lvl 15 "noob". The effect has worn off somewhat in 2014, given that gaming isn't the nerdy activity primarily for males that it once was, though many of us no doubt have painful memories of pretending to be women and whoring our digital selves out for loot. The things we said, the promises we made. Oh dear.
7. Camping - Any Online FPS
There's a lot of debate in the online FPS world over the viability of camping as a legitimate combat strategy. Camping, in case you're unaware, is the tactic of lying in wait in one specific spot for the majority of a game and picking off enemies as they pass by, often in locations which are difficult for the enemy to identify or reach without being shot at.
The idea is that campers can catch other players by surprise and repetitively kill them until they adapt their strategy, at which point a skilled camper might change to another vantage point and continue their assault.
There is certainly skill behind camping, but it infuriates a large quarter of gamers to the point that most modern FPS games have a "killcam" (which shows where your last death came from) in order to discourage the tactic.
Most FPS players will have tried it now and then, and though it can result in a strong kill/death ratio, it also tends to be the most boring way of playing an FPS, as it's not at all in the spirit of the game and, frankly, is just pretty lame.
Camp for long, though, and in the modern age of voice communication, you're likely to find yourself being chewed out by some 8-year-old kid from Iowa.
6. Catching Meryl In Her Panties - Metal Gear Solid
If you were a hormonal teenager around the time that the landmark action game Metal Gear Solid came out, Hideo Kojima had a little surprise for you. There are, in fact, a number of opportunities to catch Snake's comrade Meryl in her underwear: the first occurs when Snake is travelling through vent ducts to reach the DARPA Chief, and if you look into the vent before his, you'll see Meryl exercising. If you leave and re-enter the vents three more times, Meryl will be exercising in her panties.
But it gets better. Ahead of the Psycho Mantis fight, you have to follow Meryl (who is disguised as a Genome Soldier) into the ladies' toilets, and if you run to her bathroom stall fast enough, you'll see that she hasn't had enough time to change her clothes, and will not be wearing any trousers for the next cut-scene.
Back in the days before the Internet was so prevalent, gaming magazines were absolute goldmines for information like this, and you'd rush home when school finished to give it a go. It was all fun and games until your mum walked in just as Meryl's polygonal posterior popped into frame...
5. Screaming Like A Little Girl When The Dog Bursts Through The Window - Resident Evil
The original Resident Evil still features what is probably the most heart attack-inducing jump scare of the entire series, and possibly in the history of gaming. Early on in the game as you're exploring the mansion, you walk through a seemingly benign hallway in dead silence, until a dog bursts through the window, intense music blares out and the creature gives chase.
Oh, and that's not all: as you run in terror to reach the door at the end of the hall, another Cerberus will burst through another window right in front of you, which will just about be enough to finish off the faint of heart.
Whether you were 8 years old or 80 when you played Resident Evil for the first time, this was enough for many to mash the pause button and spend the next half hour working up the nerve to play it again.
And let's be honest: how many of us have had friends and loved ones rush to our room after hearing a howling scream usually associated with a little girl skinning her knee? Well played Capcom, well played indeed.
4. Locking The Butler In The Fridge - Tomb Raider II
The Tomb Raider franchise was rather famous in its early days for a number of reasons, namely the absurdly sexual noises Lara would make when exerting herself or even when dying, and the much-illusive nude cheat which pretty much every teenage boy wanted to get their hands on.
Highly embarrassing though all that business is, one of the more amusing time-wasters that applies regardless of gender or sexual orientation is the ability to lock Lara's butler, Winston, in her giant fridge.
To do this, all you had to do was run to the fridge, open the door and wait for Winston, who rather creepily always follows Lara around. When Winston arrives, run into the fridge, wait for Winston to follow you, then run out and lock the door.
There were countless rumours that if you left Winston inside long enough he would actually freeze to death, and one shudders at the thought of the countless hours wasted running around the Croft household trying this out instead of, you know, getting on with the pretty awesome campaign.
3. Teabagging - Halo
One of the most popular gaming fads of recent years is so-called "teabagging" or "corpse humping", a means of mockery acted out by players in front of enemies they've just killed online in the Halo franchise.
Teabagging involves crouching at the head of a dead enemy and then promptly rising to your feet: repeating this motion allows it to mimic a certain sexual act of the same name, much to your own hilarity and the aggravation of your enemies.
Bungie eventually became in on the joke themselves and added extra corpse head movement when teabagging occurs in Halo 3, making the whole thing even more hilarious. However, it also has the potential to be a hugely embarrassing form of showboating if, a) anyone walks in and sees you doing it or b) you teabag long enough that another enemy combatant gets the drop on you, and then probably teabags your own corpse as well.
Sadly, though, teabagging has become so prevalent in Halo culture that it's also largely lost its sheen now: it should be employed especially for kills that are particularly impressive or humiliating, rather than a cheap or lucky shot.
2. Drowning Unruly Guests - Rollercoaster Tycoon
The Rollercoaster Tycoon games give players a vast set of tools with which to build their dream theme park and get down into the nitty gritty of keeping guests as happy as possible. It's also a brilliant way to test your own inner psychopath, because frankly, it's so much easier to just kill unhappy guests than actually deal with their problems.
Do guests keep complaining? Or did some annoying kid just spew up everywhere? No problem, just take him to the "Sin Bin" (a secluded body of water you've built in preparation) and drop him in it. With no means of escape, he'll soon drown and no longer be your problem.
This option was, however, made more difficult for the third game, which is precisely why Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 will always be the best of the series. Sure, there are more elaborate ways to take care of troublesome guests, such as building a deathly rollercoaster, but for a simple and efficient means of "cleansing" your park, dropping them in the Sin Bin is always going to be the best until they let you put Strychnine in the ketchup.
1. Screen Watching - GoldenEye 007
Almost 20 years after the fact, with all of the technological innovation we've seen, Rare's N64 classic GoldenEye is still regarded by many as one of the greatest multiplayer FPS games ever made. Its controls are horribly dated, the graphics look ridiculous, but it's still a refreshing blast to play in the face of the various CoD clones flooding the market these days.
However, like any locally-played FPS game, its multiplayer component has one major flaw: the three others you're playing with are sitting beside you, and so can see exactly what you're doing (unless you resort to the...elaborate method pictured above).
Playing an FPS game locally works on an honour system of sorts, whereby players aren't supposed to look at the screens of their enemies, though inevitably, whether deliberately or by accident, you'll end up catching a glimpse of your friend camping in the Facility toilets and know he's set a mine trap for you.
Whether you choose to go to your death anyway in the interest of fairness or use this information to your advantage is up to you, though let's be honest, most of us have intentionally screen-watched in our time, and if we could somehow do it in the modern age of online play, we definitely would.
It's an embarrassingly lame thing to be caught doing: if you suddenly zero in on an opponent's location multiple times in a row, it's going to be clear you're cheating, so you need to be sneaky about it. Perhaps take the scenic route to your enemy's location before pulling the trigger: they'll probably still be suspicious, though, and just start screen-watching you back.
Did we miss any embarrassing things you did in classic games? Let us know in the comments!
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