NBI talkback challenge: the seven gaming sins

Let me start off with a personal note: strike in the kindergarten/nursery hasn’t stopped, so expect my game and blogging time to be very tight in the forseeable future. I’m not going anywhere and thursday’s “Dual Wielding” is set to get published in time. Now let’s take a look at something totally different.

Despite my lack of time, the newest NBI talkback challenge seems fun, so i want to touch on it. Of course, there is a chance to offend- it’s deadly sins, after all, and i’ve commited some of them. Maybe all of them. So let’s begin, shall we?

Lust

Do you enjoy games more if they have scantily clad and “interestingly proportioned” avatars? Do you like playing as one of these avatars? Why or why not?

No for the first part. The game is the game- the virtual appearance of the avatars doesn’t raise or lower my enjoyment of the game (the graphical appearance does, however).

But oh boy, here it comes. Yes. Yes i do play as these avatars. There are a few reasons for choosing female avatars, myself. The big one, i’d have to confess, is attractiveness. I think female avatars are prettier than their male counterparts and i do like it when their clothing is “attractive”- i choose this word, because scantily clad doesn’t equal attractiveness to me. Female avatars usually have more options, as well, when it comes to cosmetic outfits.

Funnily enough, the “attractiveness” of male avatars is the last reason why i choose to play as female avatars. I guess the male avatars are designed to be “attractive”, but i find them hollow. I understand that many female players feel the same way about female character design and it’s well within their rights- in my opinion, more options are needed either way.

 

Gluttony

Do you have a game backlog of unfinished games but still buy new games regardless? Why or why not?

It’s like Izlain/Joseph Skyrim doesn’t read my blog, at all, isn’t it? 😉 I have to confess here, as well. Lots and lots of unfinished games. In fact, i think i haven’t finished any game, ever. I’m also not much of a player, myself. But i am interested in games nonetheless. In my youth, when we used to hang out and play games together, the greatest joy for me was to have a new game and sit besides one of my friends who played it- ideally, there were ways to play together- like a city-builder, discussing what to build where next and so on- but it was rarely me shouting “let me play next”- i was very content to just watch.

Unfortunately, streaming and/or let’s plays don’t do it for me, either- or maybe i just haven’t found a streamer/player i like yet. So in the end, it is about wanting to see these games; more often than not, i kind of lose interest when i think to have understood how the game “works”.

Greed

Do you enjoy hand outs in a game? Have you ever opted to NOT do an action / in game activity because the rewards were lacking? Why or why not?

No. Hey, that’s a first. I don’t think in “rewards” in regard to gaming- gear/xp/levels and even ingame-gold don’t mean much to me. But wait, i don’t do grey quests, so maybe that is a “yes”, after all. But i have to say that’s mostly because by the time zone quests go grey, i’m quite ready to move on to the next zone. More often than not, i enter the newer zone a level early.

I think in part, this stems from my available time for playing, the length of sessions and also the amount of games i’d like to play at the same time. A dedicated player who plays a lot might finish a zone in one or two evenings- for me, this could be one or two months.

Sloth

Do you ever leech or AFK in a party? Do you discourage others from attempting things that you feel are difficult? Have you ever seen someone that needed help, but decided not to help them? Why or why not?

No, why would i do something like that? If i don’t want to play, i don’t play. Simple as that.

Wrath

Ever get angry at other players and yell (or TYPE IN CAPS) at them? Have you ever been so angry to stalk a person around in game and / or in the forums? Why or why not?

No. For the ingame part. I’ve had a fight in the very first MMO i played, World of Warcraft. It involved one other player and it got ugly…up to a “he leaves or i’ll do” shot at our guild leader.

So again, maybe yes. In the last guild i helped create, a great german multigaming community that’s hopefully still active nowadays, circumstances were bad enough that i thought the other big leader wasn’t very interested in my opinions, my view of things and kind of dismissed my lengthy posts as “foobar”. I felt she’d let me do the “hard work” while receiving most of the praise, herself. And if you are a guild leader, you know there’s not a lot of praise to be had anyway. After a while, i decided to “return the favour”, gave dismissive answers to questions she asked, didn’t take part in some guild activity stuff and, well, after doing that for a while, she stated she didn’t want to lead a guild with me anymore. I left the guild in that very instant. We talked, maybe resolved our issues, but maybe not, since i haven’t heard from her in almost 3 years.

Thing is, to this day the party we were in when i met this co-leader, 2011 in Rift, was the best experience i’ve ever had in MMORPGs. We were a great party and had loads of fun. We became friends, almost. Me and her, maybe we were on our way to friendship. To this day, i still regret my behaviour (while still thinking it was kind-of-justified, if not a very adult way of doing things) and from time to time, i think about contacting her. In the meantime, i’ve found two others of that Rift group in another community, but to be honest- at that time i was closest to her.

I really hope the guild/community is still doing fine, though. While i might have done a few things differently, when we played Guild Wars 2 together, we had a great time.

So i guess this is a “yes”.

Envy

Ever felt jealous of players who seem to be able to complete content you can’t? Do you ever suspect they are hacking or otherwise cheating? Why or why not?

I’d really like to answer one of these things with a firm and resounding “no”, but i can’t, even this one. While i don’t envy someone for being able to complete content i can’t (in MMOs it’s a matter of time more than anything else, anyway), i envy people who are able to “finish” one game/MMO before moving on to the next. I think they’re experiencing something i have a lot of trouble with myself- they’re delving deeper in their respective game. As i said, i don’t care for gear, minmaxing my class or something like that, but a player who stays with one game gets many, many benefits- like intricate knowledge of the game world they’re in, growing roots in a game’s community as well as in their guilds and so on. This is something i’d really like to experience and if you are experiencing this, you’re really lucky!

Pride

Are you one of those people that demands grouping with other “elite” players? Do you kick players out of your team who you feel are under-performing? Why or why not?

There are no underperforming players- well, except those who afk. In this sense, i could answer with a “no” here. I think i can stick with the “no” in this case, because wanting to play and socialize with others who share the same goals/interests and perspective on the game in question isn’t “pride” or “snobbiness”- it’s simply the way things are; you can’t like everyone and not everyone is going to like you.

See, that Rift group i mentioned earlier? We were doing a thing many would call “rude” nowadays: nobody read any guides. We went into the dungeons and tried to clear them by ourselves, without outside help. Mistakes were made, but it was great fun and to this day, i think this is the way dungeons should be cleared.