Lighting the Torch Forward
After finishing Dishonored, I went back to playing Torchlight II, seriously. And so far, I’m having great fun. I find that not only is the game fun but the kind of people roaming there are more fun than I remember when I played Diablo II.
I mean, there are the occasional games I join and everyone immediately votes me out for some reason (Guys… If you didn’t want anyone in your game, just lock it). And I do feel that I do encounter racism (You don’t speak French/German/Russian/Armenian/Ancient Sumerian? Out with you!) or sexism (I play a female Engineer named Infinity Lorein and you can’t really tell sex from my nickname) but usually people are quite nice and understanding.
For example, I like to play slowly: Clear a zone, go over the items I got, throwing away ones I don’t need, complete a quest, go to town to replace old gear with new, maybe enchant or transmute something, and then, when everyone is ready, go for another quest.
That concept seemed so alien in the Diablo II servers where everyone ran forward as quickly as possible. It helps, now, that everyone gets seperate loot, but it’s more than that. We stop, we trade, we just talk about gear and builds. Sometimes I have something I can’t use so I trade it for anything cool, not only something that is as good or better. And sometimes I just give it away. And when the other responds with “Awesome! Thanks!”, I just smile and say, pay it forward. And, not two minutes later, he does!
Wil Wheaton said not long ago that he ultimately prefers table top games to video games. Video games are fun, yes, but sitting with your friends around a table, talking, gaming, enjoying each other’s company is much better and purer than playing with someone from a different continent who, after shooting you in the head, exclaims about your genital dysfunction, your lesser gender definition and how your mother pleasured him last night.
I agree but there are some online games that are still fun with complete strangers. And my current example for this is Torchlight II. It’s on a weekend sale at Steam. Go get it. Then call me and we’ll play.
Posted in Gaming, Geekdom, Humanity, No Category, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.