So my boyfriend has a blog. :) www.zshrout.blogspot.com
Mom and Dad are going out into a blizzard to get presents. I wasn't serious when I told them to do that. . . . Presents aren't worth getting stuck in a ditch. No, really, they're not. Seriously.
I've noticed something of late. . . . People don't take things that aren't real seriously. Like WoW. People would camp their best friend and expect no hard feelings because it's a game. Because it's not "real." They don't seem to realize that because they are really doing it, even though the venue is make-believe, it's still them doing something unpleasant to their friend.
Now, personally, I was never in the position to camp somebody's dead corpse. I wasn't big on the PvP. I only killed Horde if I really needed to. (Like they had attacked me first.) Generally, if we fought, I died. And I was okay with that. Random person playing on the enemy's side decides to kill me (or attempt to kill me), who cares? I don't know them; it's nothing personal. But had my brother, playing an undead rogue, decided to kill my druid Nienna a few times, knowing it was me - that I have a problem with. I don't understand why someone would do that.
Why do games release people from being nice? "It's just a game!" What does that even mean? It's not real, so my actions don't count? Say what? What you do is real; what you say it real. No, you're not really killing someone. But camping someone is really frustrating to the person being camped. It's meant to be. You are purposefully provoking someone else to anger for your own enjoyment. Lots of people consider that "going too far." But why is that the line? "It's a game, and the rules allow it." Oh, well then. The rules of the game are a higher law than "Be ye kind one to another"?. . . . There's a disconnect that I can't seem to grasp.
Some games are purposefully designed to spur this on. And I think that is why the vast majority of the time I dislike most games. I don't like killing people in WoW; I don't like sending people back to their home in Aggravation. I can't separate my actions in real life from actions in a game because the game is part of real life. I also know that most people don't see it like I do, and that if I say something about it, they think I'm a sore loser or that I'm not playing the game right. Worst of all, I'm not always consistent.
Sometimes, I give in to peer pressure - everyone's trying to stop one person from winning and I can do it. I don't really care if the person wins, but everyone else does. And then there's the whole "I don't know this person, so it's okay." See, I can see that. I can see blasting people you don't know out of the water when they're on the opposite side. (I'm wondering if I shouldn't. Why should it make a difference if I know them or not?) But not when you're playing a game that doesn't require it and especially when you know those people. Certain activities (airsoft and nerf wars, for example) require you to shoot the opposing team. I've no problem with that. That IS the game. But when it's unnecessary, then I don't get it. And I specifically don't get why knowing someone is another excuse for it. It seems to me that the more you care about a person, the less you would put them down. By whatever means, in whatever venue.
Anyway. This is longer than I had intended. . . . Actally, I hadn't planned to write any of this. But lo, I have. And now it's off to the library for me and Kate. :)
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2 comments:
I totally agree! I can take this a bit far, although, as you saw in Munchkin. I have to admit, I still feel a bit guilty for changing Zack's sex, even though it was really funny..... *sigh* But yeah, I feel guilty in Sorry, I feel guilty whenever I take winning from someone in general, because I know how frusterating it is to get so close, and not win. Bah. I just like playing the game, I don't care about winning, and if winning will make it more enjoyable for someone else, I'd rather they win. :) I've never played WoW or anything like it, though, so I don't really know what camping is, and I can't say I wouldn't feel like someone I don't know isn't a computer generated character, though.
Like all things in life, motive plays a large role. But ignoring that:
The goal of Aggravation is to get all of your men home before anyone else. There are two parts then, getting your men home, and preventing the other players from doing so. Yes, you can play the game without a component, but it doesn't make it wrong to utilize it. When someone is going to win, it conflicts with the goal the game set up for you: you winning. So, yes, send them home; this is not being mean, because all playing the game understand the game.
When people say "Its just a game!" They are really saying, "We both know the rules; no one is forced to play; this is an aspect of the game; you prefer one part, I prefer this part; I play the game within the bounds of the game."
I admit that aspects like camping generally involve wrong motives, but attacking a horde is playing the game to the extent it was meant to be played. As someone who did PvP, sometimes it was very annoying when a horde attacked. Other times, it was fine and I was glad. But putting myself in a PvP server meant that I was able to enjoy that aspect of the game. It also meant that same aspect could annoy me.
Lastly, you say shooting people in airsoft IS the game. Many would say that PvP is the only reason they play WoW. Many more would say PvP IS a huge aspect of WoW. The designers designed two parts to the game: PvE and PvP. If you don't want to PvP at all, you play on a PvE server. PvP and killing the horde IS part of the game. It doesn't have to be the whole game for it to be ok. It just has to be part of the game.
If you can make the disconnect between airsoft and shooting someone and that being "ok" even though it is NOT kind, then PvP is ok too because it is at least half the game.
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