Do People Hate Games?

Recently I was playing a game of League of Legends. For the most part its a PvP game with some elements of an RTS game mixed in for fun. It is also free to download and play. There are different styles of play but for now, I'm only going to address the PvP aspect. So, where was I, oh yes, I was playing League of Legends with a friend. We didn't have enough to field a full team for our 5v5 so we did a pick up group. I have played in a few pick up PvP groups and for the most part people are really nice, helpful and not very critical of play style. I've even been in a few losing games and even then, no one throws blame around, which is nice.

Well, things didn't go that way in our little match. Again, new to the game, so I don't know all the special abilities of other characters, so if I misstep is purely by accident. Well apparently, I was doing something wrong and kept helping an opposing player get stronger. Not sure what, but instead of coming to my assistance, one of our members started to become angry and belligerent. Not sure why he felt to help all his pain and anguish on others, but he just wasn't being friendly to the rest of us. After a while it felt like I was back in WoW's Alterac Valley with people complaining about everyone else instead of trying to help fix the problem. My philosophy is "I already know its leaking, I want to know what you plan to do to help stop it".

We continued to play and eventually the complainer kept trying to surrender and we kept checking no. We asked him to assist us with a co op effort to push the opposing team back and when we ALL did that, we actually made head way. Eventually, after after a few tries and the complainer finally helping, we won the match. It was awesome, but even then he had to point a finger at someone, namely me, and complain about how we could have won quicker with out me hindering "his" progress.

That brings me to my topic.

Why do people hate games? I mean, a game is for fun and relaxation. I do it because I want to escape from my troubles at work or to just lose myself from the day to day troubles around me. I don't play a game to get agitated and angry at people. That defeats the purpose. Why do so many people, when they try to escape, end up getting angry and frustrated in a game? My understanding of a game is that its not to be taken serious, but so many people get so involved and so crazy when they play that it makes the game unfun for others. Why do people feel the need to make the life of others playing miserable if they themselves can enjoy it? Are mulitplayer games a good thing for society, when people not only bring their problems to the game world but bring their game world problems to say work or their home life? People have been so angry at players in a game that they have gone to their homes and attacked them or worse.

I just don't understand why people would take such an escapism and make it something that people will eventually dread doing. People will have to play real life to escape gaming. Then where would we be.

Not like the others

The main reason I left WoW was the grind. Cataclysm had arrived and I was excited about trying a new race, a new server and even a different faction. I wanted to explore the changes that the cataclysmic upheaval had wrought on Azeroth. I looked forward to visiting the newly designed old world dungeons, retuned newbie zoned and just try to relive the old days of WoW. When it was all new to me. A fresh perspective.

Well to be honest that concept lasted 2 months. By then I had reached the mid levels on several new toons, which are the 40ish levels and I started to get bored. The game in truth had not changed. Sure they add a little color here and there, moved a few things around and reinvented others but at it's heart WoW is as it always has been, just one long grind to end game and the all mighty grab for gear.

I had hoped that a fresh perspective would help me over look WoW's faults especially with the new changes but it Blizzard just used new smoke and mirrors on the same tired trick and in truth hadn't done anything special.

As I leveled it became clear that the game was still only concerned with two things, leveling and gear, how to get there the faster and easiest and where to find it and grind it. It just got old. I know some players like the grind for gains and I'm not ragging on them, well, not much. It just wasn't for me anymore. I had grown tired of competing for virtual gear on a virtual toon

But is that all MMO's have to offer? A place to waste time, grinding out levels by questing or PvP battles till the cap is reached and then play the meta game of gearing up for end game? Why is there nothing new and different? Why are levels needed or gear wanted? Bragging rights maybe, having a way to measure the worth of your time spent playing other than "I had a great time!" or was it just a goal I set and met for personal achievement.

Who really knows. Maybe people do it because 1) it's all there is or 2) it's all they know. The idea of a non leveling game where people have access to everything and can to do anything without having to measure their accomplishments by comparing themselves to other players would be fun. A game with no end game where the gain for items isn't driven by the need to be the best. No pressure to be like anyone else, to play the game on your terms in a very open sandbox world.

I wonder, will we'll ever see such a game? If we do, I'll be playing it.


(ps: see how I did an Eve post without doing an Eve post.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Eve Online Again!

I know, I know I said this wouldn't be an EvE centric blog and yet here I am blogging about it AGAIN!

I just can't help myself. It's like sex with the ugly girl in class, you don't want to brag about it but you are the only one getting laid and it's fun (That line was for my friend, Scary Booster). So I'm not going to be ashamed, I'm really having a ton of fun playing EvE and if that's all I have to blog about then so be it, bitches!

Well after a week or two of skilling up and with a generous donation by friends to my "Let's help Oak get a Cruiser to fly" fund I am happy to report to duty for combat in my new Rupture. The first thing I did was fly her around a few systems and then park her so I could start my mining career. lol. Right now sadly, her guns are getting dusty from lack of use. Why you ask? Because I have decided to devote the next week or so to getting my mining business, "Bubba's Stripper Mining R' Us" up and running.

True, I'm not running a strip mining ship nor will I be in the near future. I have not joined a "new pilot friendly" mining Corp, which I hear do exist in EVE. No none of that. I went out and purchased a few Huge Secure Containers, fitted my mission rewarded Industry ship and gotten my Navitas ready for mining. I started by picking out a fairly nice section of 0.6 space, mainly so I could deploy my containers and anchor them safely. A nice asteroid belt with a wide variety of ores so I could find some thing profitable.

I maybe going to fast for those new to EVE talk.

Well let me back track a sec, for those not in the know, secure containers of any size require the anchor skill and have the ability to be password protected, which keeps theft down to a minimum, especially from hostile players wanting to grief people. These containers float near the asteroid I'm mining which allows me to mine and store large amounts of ore in a short time. Ore that I can come back later and pick up with my industrial ship, basically a large cargo ship.

Industrials are big, bulky and fly like buses loaded down with buses. However, they are necessary to move large quantity of ore to stations to sell.

The mining process once started is pretty easy. Course buying all the materials, moving my ships and gear around took a good 2 hours. Like skilling up, every thing takes time in EVE. Now that I am actually mining and moving ore, the ISK is starting to trickle in. After two trips I've been able to make around 1 mil in ISK, which for a beginner just learning isn't too bad, is it?

Sure it will take time. There are lots still to learn like tractor beams and large scale strip mining but for right now I'm just trying to get my feet wet and see if this is the side of the game I wish to devote my time too or should I be a Pirate. Arrggg who knows!

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Strangers with Candy

First let me start by saying I have found a new addiction. No it's not the girl in the picture as much as I would like it to be. No I've fallen for EVE Online.

Here's how it happened.

Recently a bunch of twitter people I follow were chatting up EVE. A few had just started playing while others were jumping back in so I figured, why the hell not? Steam had a demo and Stargrace was nice enough to give me a buddy pass which turned my 15 free days into 21.

Now, let's go back 2 yrs.

At that time I was really growing bored with WoW. I decided to get EVE a try. I installed a 14 day demo and jumped in head first. The problem was the learning curve complicated by my busy work schedule. I only managed to play for a few hours and never returned before the timer ran out.

Well this time I decided to take the time, learn the game and see just how complex the world of Eve really is. I downloaded the demo on a Saturday afternoon and by sunday night I had purchased the game off Steam. Two weeks later I'm still having a lot of fun.

The game is not like any other MMO out on the market, which is perfect for me. It's very deep with layers under layers. It's not as hard as some would have you believe but it's not for the casually lazy players either. You have to pay attention, read everything and do the tutorials first. The main mistake a newbie would make is thinking its as easy as WoW and its just not. Evert day I find out something new and different about the game. I'm just glad a few of the gang from Multiplaying.net have been around to help guide me.
Even though I read everything and do tutorials it's always nice to get information from someone that's done it already. They have been a great help.

It's hard to encompass all the great things this game has in one little blog post and I'm not going to turn this into an EVE centric blog, there are just too many great ones out there. However, for now, EVE is my MMO of choice so I will be doing some reporting from there at least till I get bored or nerd rage hits me.

Besides it always nice to get a fresh look at an old game especially from a total newbie like me.

Dwarves in space.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Friday

I do have a few posts planned, one of which is one about League of Legends which I recently started playing.

But until then please enjoy this video on "How to win every game of League of Legends".

I found it....informative, I hope you do as well.