Congrats to May’s comment contest winners!

It is certainly a travesty when a player has to choose between sinking money or grind into acquiring the best gear for competition with other players–be it in PVP or for membership in elite raiding guilds–but I whole-heartedly condone the integration of real-money transactions in video games.

While I understand the power-gamer’s frustration with the never-ending battle against casuals with cash, ultimately it is a gamer’s choice to continue running the rat race. Gamers usually, if not always, have similar options (See, e.g., D3 complaints as compared to WiNG’s ne’er-wearied lobbying for Path of Exile) which provide the same kind of gaming experience without the money vs. time element.

Then, there is the rarely-entertained notion of playing non-competitively, a gameplay style which got me through my WoW days with a flourishing social life (read: “a friend or two”). Don’t like playing PVP because grinders and fatcats whip you every time? Don’t play it! Or, even better, don’t give a shit about the outcome. Find your own joy (read: “troll”).

Ultimately, my own experiences have shown me that many of those who complain the most about such practices are the ones who are filled with the most glee when they pwn a maximally-equipped, but inept, newb on the fields of glory (Warsong Gulch). “Fucking casuals!” is their battlecry, as their long, unkempt hair gusts behind them in the breeze from their desk fans, winding between the majestic green slopes of the mountain of Dew. Why should their moment be swiped by those who would have “fair play”? Who are we to judge their lust for humiliation?

My support is not without reservations. When a game is released with pre-planned DLC and a story or gameplay experience that feels unfinished, I rage alongside everyone else–the kind of quiet, inner rage that will one day drive me to unrepentant, unexplained spousal abuse. But when a studio I love creates truly superfluous content to extend or enhance my enjoyment of a beloved game (and price said content reasonably), I weep with joy. “You mean, I get to help fund these guys, AND pull that dusty game off the shelf for another bout of carnal fingerplay?” Yes. Yes, I do.

I’m usually on the other side of the fence, where I pick up games quite at an early stage of their life span and stick with them. So I’m usually the guy teaching everyone what to do.

Sometimes it helps, most of the time, I have to admit though, it’s more frustrating to explain stuff to other than just let them run about doing stuff.

Tribes is a great example here:
There’s no voice support and the chat is really small in an odd place on the UI. I certainly never read anything, not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t see it. Also having to stand still and type really screws with your experience. Tribes does a particulaly poor job in explaining what the CTF mode is about in this game. Due to it’s complexity, most games end in a 1:0, where both teams just play equally bad and one guy figured out how to cap a flag, or one team stomping the other team into the ground 5:0, because they had enough players that knew what needed to be done.

In TF2 it’s quite obvious what needs to be done. If you don’t get what TF2 maps are about in less then 10 plays I really don’t know what I could say to make it easier to understand. They’ve done a good job implementing the objectives into the UI.

My first online game, however, was Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. My teammate and I were rank 1 on the ESL for the most time (when there actually was a ladder) and we only had like 2 other teams that were a threat to us. Most other players got quite overwhelmed by the games complexity, eventhough Ubisoft put in nice little tutorial missions in the sequal (Chaos Theory). I didn’t help though. Most of the few players that even played this game online (Europe had like 400 people online at best) were terrible and after loosing too many times just quit.

I’d love to see that game style return though. Best Multiplayer experience I had so far. AC:B/R have gotten close to it, if it wasn’t again for Ubisoft’s Server Structure and bad PC ports.