Why QTE's are ruining my gaming.

Ah, the quick time event (QTE, to you and me), forever ruining cut scenes for no good reason. Because just when I'm getting into an intense cinematic scene, I want to be rudely interrupted by giant flashing A's and X's and RT's on the screen because, of course, in order to dodge this bullet or jump across a building I need to insanely tap buttons and wiggle my analog stick. For those of you who still aren't quite sure what I mean by QTE here is an example.

I first remember seeing the QTE in Shenmue and it didn't particularly bother me, it was quite novel, I'd never seen it before (yes, I know they appeared in games before this, but they were majorly dire games or lesser known). In fact, I quite enjoyed the QTE's in Shenmue, mostly because I was very young and it required a lot less gaming skill than actually controlling the character.

I never really saw a lot of it again until Resident Evil 4 (not to the extent that the QTE is a big feature). Again, not exactly the most bothersome thing, slightly annoying that at times I would just go right ahead and get my head chainsawed off by a man with a sack on his head simply because I hadn't managed to press X+Y quick enough on the game cube pad, but hey, it wasn't too interrupting and sometimes a little fun.

Fast forward to the past few years and a vast amount of games use QTE's in the cut scenes (now it's in the cut scenes that REALLY bother me), some games in nearly every scene. It's excessive and serves no purpose what-so-ever except to rage gamers worldwide. Developers want to 'engage' players with the cut scene? No! You're distracting me, because instead of watching the cut scene I'm too busy looking for the prompt and circling my analog so hard I'm out of breath. The worst bit is, I love setting my controller down during a cut scene and having a watch, it gives me a chance to drink my coffee or have a snack without the silence of the pause screen.

I only need to use one game (series) to prove that you don't need QTE's to keep viewers engaged in a cut scene, Metal Gear! People were happy sit through up to half an hour of cut scene mid-game without a giant flashing 'PRESS ME, PRESS ME, OR DIE'

QTE's are rarely pleasing and few games pass them off well (notably God of War and Mass Effect 2/3) where you don't fail or die, just because you've turned your head during a prompt to answer the person in the kitchen shouting 'WANT A CUPPA?'.