craveytrain

Now, this may be quoted by the media later as how games warp our minds, but I gotta say it, I love killing. Now, I know you may be thinking to yourself “how gruesome” or “why is he giving himself away like this?” But it is with no small pleasure that I bury that axe into your head and I feel the need to tell you about it.

You see, I speak of Player Killing, or Player vs. Player in games. Now, there are all sorts that play games, that love games. There are thousands of games for each type of player, but the players who live to compete online, against their friends and complete strangers, those are the players whom I hold in the highest regard. That is the group I call my associates. My fellow killers. You may be asking yourself, “What’s so great about it?” Allow me to elaborate.

First off we have the idea of true competition. Artificial intelligence has improved by leaps and bounds, no question about it. But it’s still predictable. You know what it will do after a few rounds of testing behaviors. Real, live people on the other hand are much more unpredictable. Sometimes they do the smart thing and you kill them. Sometimes they do the stupid thing and you kill them while snickering. And sometimes they surprise the hell out of you and you are taking a dirt nap. Whatever the outcome, the hunt, the kill, the action, that is where the excitement lies. The unpredictability of it all. Not knowing if you are going to survive but somehow pulling it out makes the nectar of victory all the sweeter.

Secondly, the gratification of retribution. Now, most of us don’t live to piss off people in real life, but we’ve all been there. Where you’ve been stepped on enough, and you want retribution. You’ve written down that guys name, if you ever come across him again, he will get it. And then one day it happens, you see a name run across your screen. You know that name, but you don’t know where. You check your now lengthy list you stopped keeping after 2 weeks in game cause it got too long, and there it is right at the top. He was the guy who looted your now insignificant amount of gold off your corpse way back many levels ago. But it’s not about the cash, it’s about the payback. You watch gleefully as the last bit of his life drains off your target bar, and you sit back and smile in content.

Then there are the hate messages. This usually only applies for those gamers who have been gaming for a year or more killing people. That tell you get from the recently deceased via your blade calling you all sorts of names and threatening you and your family. Making assumptions about your race, your popularity, your physical condition, your sex life, your age and your sexual preference. You attacked them when they were lagged, not ready, away from their keyboard, or a plehtora of other reasons. Challenges will be made to regain their pride. Talks of “equal ground” and “fair duel”. Bold statements about their anticipation of the outcome if given another chance. Threats of what they will do if they find you again. But in the end, there is still the end all be all retort. “Who died?”

Finally there is what is possibly the true reason for it all. The feeling of superiority. The feeling of beating someone down, putting someone in their place. Being the vindicator of all that lip that has been given. Showing your prowess off to the sorry victims that happen to cross you.

The bottom-line is that you knowly engaged in a game to kill or be killed. Sometimes you wind up on the big end of the stick, sometimes the not so big end. No matter the outcome, for the love of all that is sacred, QUIT YOUR BITCHIN!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2003 at 3:47 am and is filed under sharing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.