So next up is Shadowbane. As usual, I'll hold off on actual game reviewing until the trial is up - hell, I haven't even got it installed up yet, so heckling would be somewhat premature at this point. But already, I'm facing something of a problem. I am a 'carebear'.
The term has many subtle variations of meaning, but by that I mean that I don't like PvP. I usually take pains to make sure I don't end up on a PvP server, and that I know exactly where the 'Duel' command and 'PvP Enabled' switches are as soon as possible, so I can avoid them like the plague. However, it seems that Shadowbane doesn't really give you an option there, and anyway, even if it did, it would be a pretty poor sort of review if I ignored what seems to be the game's main selling feature.
No, if I'm to create any kind of useful apprasial of the game, I'll have to first challenge and address some of my own core preconceptions and prejudices about online gaming, and when if comes to PvP, those are pretty ingrained. Any Shadowbane review I write was always going to be an exercise in impartiality and objectivity, part because of me and the baggage I bring, and part because the game itself has a pretty bad reputation, not least helped by the devs themselves.
'We don't make games to bake bread!', 'Play to crush!', 'Massively Merciless', and so on. While I can respect them not apologising for the basic nature of their title, that kind of testoserone-fueled chest-beating quite intimidates me in some ways. 'Here is a game that's going to hurt', I think, 'Here is a game that doesn't really want me to play' In short, the game is challenging me, rather than inviting me, and already my low self-esteem is at work, niggling, undermining, heckling. Frankly, the whole exercise seems quite daunting now I think about it, but I'll give it a go anyway.
And therein lies my salvation: 'I'll give it a go anyway'. The ability not to mind or care that I'm going to lose, often and badly, will become my armour - the Sheild of 'Oh well' will protect my withered, fragile psyche. I will survive. But enjoy? That requires a different set of opinions and attitudes.
There's an interesting blog entry here, about 'fairness':
Zen of Design: Football and Basic Fairness
Ubiq is, ironically enough, one of the designers on Shadowbane, so we'll see if he's just talking so much well-intentioned twaddle in the next few weeks, but personally, I think he's identified at least one problem I have with PvP.
Preconception 1: Games Should Be Fair
If I'm to survive a PvP Oriented MMORPG lifestyle with a minimum of frustration, I must unlearn this. Life is not fair, and the more lifelike a game is, the more this applies to games.
- There will be situations forced upon me, where I cannot win. This is working as intended.
- If I am to win, I must create sitations where I can win.
- If I must be a victim, I must ensure I am also a perpetrator at least as often.
Preconception 2: Killing Is Wrong
This is the real stickler for me. I am a normal functioning human being, existing in a society that, on the whole, works. It works because most people believe this precept above. It's conditioned into us, and in my case, I carry it through the looking-glass with me, into online gaming.
- This world is not real. There are no laws. There is no consequence.
- I am anonymous.
- I am not killing them in Real Life. I am only killing their avatar.
- They would kill my avatar without hesitation if they had the chance.
- It's just a game.
Preconception 3: They Don't Like It
A more subtle variation of the above, I extrapolate how I feel about being ganked, and apply it to others. This leads to me 'not wanting to ruin their gaming experience' and similar hippie crap.
- They love it.
- They want to be attacked.
- If they didn't like it, they would be playing something else.
- I don't care what they like. MY enjoyment takes precidence.
Preconception 4: I will lose
This one comes about largely by past experience, in which I only ever wait for someone X levels above, to attack first. Clearly, in any stat-based PvP system, two things carry the most weight; numbers, and suprise. Fighting off the back-foot of a well-executed gank is nearly impossible - the best you can hope for is escape.
- I must choose the fight.
- I must research the cookie-cutter killer template
- I must attack people who aren't expecting it.
- I must attack lower levels - they'll attack people lower than them in turn. It is the natural order.
I expect there are others, but these are the main things that stop me from liking, and taking part in PvP. The hard part will be training myself to believe these mantras, to undo years of conditioning, to liberate the PK within, and the most difficult preconception of all to remove, will be that anyone who lives by the above mantras, is a total f***. PvP is a valid playstyle too.
The Heart of Darkness beckons...