Or to be more precise… what do I want to do?
There are games which lay out clearly defined paths, from you can choose, but those are then more often than not clearly defined and it is next to impossible to stroll from the right way. In return they often offer a variety of content wich the player can attend to. A prime example here would be World of Warcraft. The player can decide to go raid dungeons for better gear, or he can attend fully to a PVP career or he might do something in the middle. Raiding spiced up with some occasional PVP. Or hardcore PVP with some occasional Raiding as a replacement or even with Pugs. There is not much beyond that. Sure it is possible to do some fancy stuff like exploring the whole world or earn tons of gold with quests or via the market or pursue some other goals. Most of them are short lived though and somewhat repetitive.
This is not meant as criticism. If this is well done such a game can and will be helluva lot of fun as this approach makes a game very accessible and provides good entertainment without the need to weigh every step a thousand times from several directions.
Then there are games which do not provide a path, they just provide a world or let’s say an environment free for everyone to do as he/she pleases. There are no rules, no safe zones, no quest lines or designed and defined battlegrounds for “fair” PVP or Raiding Dungeons for a group with limited members. Those so called sandboxes are proud of what they are and take pride in not leashing the player around. My prime example for this approach is EVE Online. the second game I am playing. Here the player not only can but has to fully make up his mind about what he wants to do and it always has to do with interaction with other players. This provides a mindboggling variety of options. This also means that the player has to have a clear idea who he wants to be and what he wants to do with his virtual life and every action has its own consequences more or less severe.
The options start with clear defined careers like being a miner, an industrialist, a market broker, a corporation leader, a pure fighter. But things are by far not as black and white as it seems here. As I said there are no rules which means everybody can use any method imaginable to engage with other players for whatever goal he might have. Those goals often involve a personal gain or a loss for the another guy (which often is a gain for oneself). And this leads to a very complex system where alliances of corporations fight over regions of space, where pirates roam the less secure systems in search of victims, where ninjas try all and everything to steal from people and then shoot them for defending their property, where masters of social engineering infiltrate other corporations in order to utterly destroy them or just to spy for another corporation/alliance.
But there are as well people wich have made a name for themselves with the good deeds they have done. As I said everything is possible and always everything wich is brought to the party is at stake and that makes this game a serious business since every lost ship is gone for good. Dead. Destroyed and must be replaced with hard earned money. There is a rule wich always must be obeyed and reflects this perfectly:
“Never undock in anything you cannot afford to lose.”
So… what do I want.
Well I want PVP, that’s clear I wouldn´t play an online game without that option. PVP is the bread and butter of online gaming and my sole interest (not that i am very good at it though).
Both games can provide this and both do it with completely different approaches and I have chosen my ways at the moment.
In WoW I am a loyal soldier of the Horde dedicated to engage the Alliance wherever I can, whenever I can. This means I drop in the game and immediately start doing Arenas or Battlegrounds or search the world for Alliance scum. Sometimes some quests for good measure and to refill the war chest to pay for the bills of repair and enhancing gear. It is fast paced, direct and makes a shitload of fun. It is easy and quickly accessible and a death is minor inconvenience therefore minimizing frustration.
I am a warrior of the Horde whooping your ass. Fear my axe!
In EVE the choice is a bit different, but the outcome is the same. I am not part of a big corporation and thus limiting my options to get pewpew as I do not have backup and strength often lies in numbers here. But working for no one also makes me free in my decisions and i don't have to answer to anyone. So I chose to live the life of a lowly Ninja, sneaking up and stealing from unsuspecting miners, mission runners and the like in high security space. This means I cannot attack them outright but when I steal they have the option to attack me in my tiny frigate who is taking their hard earned schnitzels. If they do i try to wrestle them down. Kills are not achieved easily but if they happen they satisfy so much more though. That is also because with every try I risk my high value ships and anytime the victim could completely turn the game for me and him with the help of some friends or good preparation. Here often that guy wins who controls the circumstances, who decides when and where to fight while letting the enemy in the believe, he is the one in control till it is too late.
I am a Ninja, stealing your precious loots. Shoot me pls!.
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