Over at Multiplaying, Maeve’s written a bit of a missive on dysfunctional warbands in WAR and how she’s surprised at the amount of priority on skill and efficiency as opposed to good clean fun. It was definitely an interesting read and an encapsulation of what can happen in WAR’s warbands as they will around taking keeps, PvPing, and generally causing a ton of chaos.
I’ve never really been a big fan of people wigging out like a monkey on speed just because things don’t quite go their way. For one, thing, in PvP, it’s inevitable that even the most well-oiled teams will have a screw up or two, whether it’s to not land that perfect heal or run into a room and die messily to a bunch of angry boss npcs. Thinking that everything can and should go flawlessly every time is a total mistake, and besides, sometimes being foolish enough to scream obscenities at the opposite side as you run into their warband is a learning experience when it fails.
There’s also the idea of why you’re playing. Sure, there’s a lot of people who derive pleasure from a Hannibal-like plan coming together or from achieving victory in PvP. Obviously, winning feels good, and losing all the time is a crappy feeling no matter how you slice it. But people forget that sometimes it’s the exhilaration of taking a battlefield, dueling someone to near death, or barely making it out of an ambush alive that is fun, not necessarily the result. PvP, for those who enjoy it, is a way for people to test what they know and use against others of similar calibur. To stomp someone into the ground all of the time or to be stomped are equally demoralizing. But the occasional flub or messup is nothing to lose your marbles over. As recently as yesterday, I’ve seen people scream about their warband-mates being retards, idiots, and people who don’t listen. It’s kind of crazy, and not because of the fact that my listening is verified by having to see typed nerd rage on the screen. People sometimes lose focus about the core idea of why they play PvP style games, or any game for that matter. It’s sadder than a panda who can’t roll off of his back.
Don’t get me wrong – I definitely get annoyed and sometimes even angry when the best laid plans get ripped to shreds by the opposing side. But In the end, a game is supposed to be fun and exciting, no matter what the reason you have for playing it. If you’re getting messed up to the point that headphones, potato chip bags, and the occasional keyboard suffer the results of your frustration, it might be time to tak a step back and evaluate why you’re playing. Trust me – finding out and rediscovering why you play and enjoy a game is relaxing and enlightening – and the fists with which you beat dents into your desk will thank you for it.
"PvP, for those who enjoy it, is a way for people to test what they know and use against others of similar calibur."
This issue arose over on Tobold's blog recently in the context of Eve Online.
There are strategy gamers who see PvP as war rather than sport.
Of course there's no excuse in that context for being bad leaders. The guy who screams "defend the Lighthouse noobs" isn't really Sun Tzu to the rest of his team, he's just some angry internet nerd.
Nevertheless in a premade team using voice coms the objective is to win almost all of the time. Sure, you'll get bored after you reach a plateau where not even other pre-mades can touch you but that's one of the limitations of a pvp game based on fair team sizes. (As opposed to Eve and Darkfall where you have no idea how many the opponent will bring).
I agree that there's no point getting angry with people in WAR scenarios but I don't agree that strategy is unimportant or people don't want to win. Some of my most enjoyable moments have come where we spontaneous get organised and win not because of gear but because someone is calmly laying out a plan and we've all decided to go along with it and it's working.