Non-Americans' view of the U.S.

[FireInTheSky]

So, I just saw this article about the things people couldn't believe about America (I think they technically said North America, so Canada too) before moving/traveling here. I've seen a couple other articles like this before, as well. Reading it made me curious about what the non-North Americans on these here boards picture it to be like? And we can go both ways. Maybe post what country you're from for everyone else to guess at, and we can all laugh at (but not judge) each other's (and our own) naiveté!

(I had some thoughts on reading the article, but I'll wait to post them.)

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I hope I don't need to remind everyone that this is purely for entertaining education and eye-opening for all, with no intent to offend.

EDIT: Also, note that this isn't about politics. I would say, more about daily life / everyday experiences.

[Nicklance]

I'll touch on my online gaming experience with Americans.

I find them extremely fun to chat with, great energy to play with them. Very lively, and the topics to chat about or even joke about while playing makes the arduous grinding (FF 14) much more easier to bear.

Till the point that I am now being invited to powerlevel/lead/help a bunch of my own local gamers on another server and I am very very reluctant to leave those American friends that I had been gaming with for less than a month!

So despite the horror stories online about tea-bagging, trash talking, vulgarity spewing, homophobic, racist and abusive teenagers that seem to be infesting online gaming, I have yet to encounter a single one of them in my many many years of online gaming.

[ketaro]

I'll touch on my online gaming experience with Americans.

I find them extremely fun to chat with, great energy to play with them. Very lively, and the topics to chat about or even joke about while playing makes the arduous grinding (FF 14) much more easier to bear.

Till the point that I am now being invited to powerlevel/lead/help a bunch of my own local gamers on another server and I am very very reluctant to leave those American friends that I had been gaming with for less than a month!

So despite the horror stories online about tea-bagging, trash talking, vulgarity spewing, homophobic, racist and abusive teenagers that seem to be infesting online gaming, I have yet to encounter a single one of them in my many many years of online gaming.

Just to flip this on it's head, I've experienced far too much of the bolded stuff as an American playing on American servers.
And then that all of the positive stuff you mentioned is exactly what I've experienced playing on foreign servers (usually EU).
Them coincidences.

Mind you, that's just in regards to the big, popular kind of online games which I don't really play too much so I don't get much of it anymore. "You've probably never heard of it." I pretend to be hipster like that. 

[dman11235]

I think it depends on the game and time you play it.  I've encountered some not too pleasant exchanges from all areas of the world in my online times.  And there doesn't seem to be much pattern to it.  I mean, some games are worse than others, but each genre and platform have, proportionally, the same number of douchebags.

[Sinfire Titan]

So despite the horror stories online about tea-bagging, trash talking, vulgarity spewing, homophobic, racist and abusive teenagers that seem to be infesting online gaming, I have yet to encounter a single one of them in my many many years of online gaming.

Funny thing about that, I run into them constantly. Here's the thing about us American gamers: If you're on our friends list, we try to keep it civil and within what we think is your tolerance zone. The more respectful of us don't trash talk even to our opponents, at least not when they can hear us (we do when we get into it). The ones who trash-talk all the time? Egotistical, usually under 20 (not always, but usually), and prone to screaming at you when you beat them.

I have several stories of this from both Halo and MtG2013. Mostly the former, as FPSs are notorious for it.

[Libertad]

I have several stories of this from both Halo and MtG2013. Mostly the former, as FPSs are notorious for it.

Oh God yes!  The Call of Duty fanbase is practically full of them!

[Sinfire Titan]

I have several stories of this from both Halo and MtG2013. Mostly the former, as FPSs are notorious for it.

Oh God yes!  The Call of Duty fanbase is practically full of them!

Back when BlOps2 came out my step-brother allowed me to borrow his BlOps1 game and I went into my first Ante match (for those who don't know, you ante up some in-game currency. Then you play a free-for-all deathmatch where every time you get a kill, your gun "upgrades" to the next one on the list. First person to get a kill with every gun wins, and if you get hit by a melee attack you have to start over). I had to turn my mic off and the sound all the way down, as there was nothing but trash talk, death threats, and screams of rage at two guys who were running around knifing people instead of trying to win.

I won that game by going from the starting pistol all the way to the FAMAS, dying twice, and then got lucky with headshots up to the explosive guns (at which point I was getting triple kills with shots). The snipers were the hardest ones, discounting the ballistic knife.

Every match of multiplayer I played was like that. CoD players have a temper.

[bhu]

Due to modding on some eclectic forums I've met and befriended a great deal of foreigners online, and they seem astonished when I talk about what it's like to live in Ohio.

My German friends think I should apply for citizenship there lol.

[Prime32]

Whenever people introduce themselves online I tend to see things like "I'm from London, England" from Englishmen, "I'm from Barcelona, Spain" from Spaniards, and "I'm from Florida" from Americans.
EDIT: Or an acronym, which is even more confusing for foreigners.

[Nicklance]

I have several stories of this from both Halo and MtG2013. Mostly the former, as FPSs are notorious for it.

Oh God yes!  The Call of Duty fanbase is practically full of them!

I don't play FPS games online anymore (I usually stick to single player FPS like Mass Effect etc)

I don't play Halo as well. Could that be why I am fortunate enough to avoid those twats?

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Non-U.S. Chamber Of Commerce members view USA as a place to influence politics+economics.  See supreme court decision.

[nijineko]

i've seen mixed reactions, some think america is great, some think it is horrible, one was absolutely convinced that everyone on the mainland owns 2+ guns, minimum. most have a mixed opinion.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Turks ... I've worked for + with, been friends with, classes, etc.
All have been gracious and decent, and have found Americans
to be not much different than many people (but not everyone)
from back home.  One woman was lost in this new country, but
eventually went back to school, happier.  Two brothers opened
a pizza shop, but weren't cut out for wildcatting ... mid level
management was more within their reach.  They thought they
had more opportunity here = self fulfilling prophecy.
Small town so they've all moved on.

[Agita]

Due to modding on some eclectic forums I've met and befriended a great deal of foreigners online, and they seem astonished when I talk about what it's like to live in Ohio.

My German friends think I should apply for citizenship there lol.

I have to agree with your German friends.

Living in a country with fairly strict gun ownership laws, it sometimes feels like every American is a gun nut to some degree or another. Nearly all I talk to know at least something about guns, whereas I've literally never touched an actual firearm (or seen one in real life more than in passing, really).

On the other hand, I can't fathom how you get by without an extensive net of public transportation. Living in Vienna may have spoiled me on this since its public transportation is great even by European standards, but still.

Portion sizes got mentioned in FitS's link, but I can't resist my own anecdote. Around here, a "large coffee" is a 250 ml cup. Imagine my surprise when, the first time I set foot in a Starbucks, I order a medium (or whatever they call it) coffee figuring I just want to get the gears going and get something like half again that.

[FireInTheSky]

Living in a country with fairly strict gun ownership laws, it sometimes feels like every American is a gun nut to some degree or another. Nearly all I talk to know at least something about guns, whereas I've literally never touched an actual firearm (or seen one in real life more than in passing, really).

I've never touched a real gun, nor do I have much of a wish to. (When I was younger, I'm sure I touched plastic toy guns, but I don't have any specific memories of anything other than Nerf or Super Soakers.) Pretty much the entirety of my gun knowledge - such as it isn't - is from movies / tv shows.

On the other hand, I can't fathom how you get by without an extensive net of public transportation. Living in Vienna may have spoiled me on this since its public transportation is great even by European standards, but still.

I think there are two things at work here. One is the American obsession with cars. We LOVE our cars. The other reason, which might even be a partial cause for the first reason, is something people mentioned in the article, which is just how big the U.S. is. Austria is 32,383 square miles. For comparison, the U.S. is 3,794,101 square miles, and Austria would be the 40th largest state, between Maine and South Carolina.

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A sub-reason here might be a perception that "public transportation is for poor people, because everyone else can afford a car and the expenses that go with it," and in our current political climate, it's even more of a fight for something whose supposed primary beneficiary will be poor people.

Also, cars, and a lack of public transportation, allows for segregation by income. If you can't afford a car, you either have to live within walking distance of your job, or you have to live near PT. So higher income people can live further from the cities, in gated communities and what-not, while lower income people have to live in urban, lower-income housing, serviced by PT.

Portion sizes got mentioned in FitS's link, but I can't resist my own anecdote. Around here, a "large coffee" is a 250 ml cup. Imagine my surprise when, the first time I set foot in a Starbucks, I order a medium (or whatever they call it) coffee figuring I just want to get the gears going and get something like half again that.

Well, what did you expect when you ordered a size called "grande"?  (And, considering that their "small" is called "tall") EDIT: Actually, I don't know if they call their sizes the same things in other languages.

[Sinfire Titan]

Portion size is something we have a problem with. If fast food would cut down on portions it would help solve America's obesity problem.

[Eldritch_Lord]

Whenever people introduce themselves online I tend to see things like "I'm from London, England" from Englishmen, "I'm from Barcelona, Spain" from Spaniards, and "I'm from Florida" from Americans.
EDIT: Or an acronym, which is even more confusing for foreigners.

I've sort of run into this, but I think it's more of a famous-city thing than an American thing.  At least in my experience, when I'm talking to Americans from Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Washington D.C., etc. they'll usually mention the city instead of the state, and they (as well as Londoners and Barcelonans) will assume you know what country they're from.

When I'm talking to Europeans who aren't from large cities and are instead from, say, Ramsgate or Cadaqués, I'll get the same answer I get from someone in small-town America: "I'm from [country].  What city?  Oh, you've probably never heard of it.  Fine, it's [city].  Yeah, I thought so.  No, it's nowhere near [famous city], not even close.  Yes, I get that a lot."

[Nanshork]

If American restaurants cut down on portion size I'd just have to order multiple meals....

[Sinfire Titan]

If American restaurants cut down on portion size I'd just have to order multiple meals....

IKR, I like my 10-piece chicken nuggets.

[FireInTheSky]

As I said before, these things pop up all the time.