It's summer and believe it or not, that means there's more to life than playing games. It's too hot for all that whirring and humming machinery. Not to mention having to draw the curtains to keep the sun off the screen. Add to that the raised temperature as you mash buttons and jiggle joysticks. Urrgh, frankly I'd much rather be in the ocean or chilling in the big outdoors, if only to find a breeze.
The UK is gripped in a heat wave and people are doing anything to keep cool. Unlike the US, the average house isn't furnished with fans and air-conditioning. So its sleepless nights all round and extra incentive to sit in the shade doing nothing – if much incentive was needed.
Despite this need to keep cool there is something that is making my blood boil dear play chums. I'm hoping that this week's column will serve as catharsis so that I can return to the important business of maintaining a low core body temperature.
Just last weekend I was perusing the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures website and downloading various previews and trailers. I must say, that is one MMORPG I am looking forward to. With such a rich universe as the basis of the game and a character gen system that looks like it's up there with the City of Heroes and EQII, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, that's just it. There's a dark, evil, all-pervading nastiness that's creeping into MMORPGs and it's called PvP. Now, don't get me wrong, if you want to play PvP, go right ahead, I just won't be joining you.
Maybe I'm just plain naïve, but when I play an MMORPG, with an emphasis on the RPG, I want to be able to entertain myself in a rich varied environment populated by colourful characters that bring the world to life. I want to be able to eat my character's favourite food and go by nice shoes or even get my hair dyed just because it's a Tuesday. I want to be able to learn new skills and join quests that further my character's development.
I want to be able to head for the local drinking establishment and gossip about the state of the realm/universe/empire (delete as appropriate). Or maybe I want to haggle with a trader over the price of warp thrusters/cod-pieces/finely-wrought elven beds (insert your items of choice as appropriate).
However, there are some people who want to fast-track to level über as soon as is humanly possible (or sometimes before). They then head for an arena to beat the living crap out of anyone who is less über than they are. This is an activity otherwise known as PvP.
Let's just say PvP isn't my idea of fun, but hey neither is eating light bulbs, however there are still people who insist on actively participating in both these activities.
The reason for my vitriolic attack on PvP is the fear that the RPG element in all future MMOGs is being side-lined. The most recent cause for concern is Age of Conan. On scanning through the FAQs I found this most disturbing of statements (in response to the question "will there be PvP options?") "PvP will be a central part of the game play in Age of Conan and we are truly focusing on this part of the game to make fun, brutal, action filled and fair."
Nooooo!
Nowhere in the FAQs was there a question asking about the strength of the role playing side of the game. This does not bode well for RPGers and shows the shape of things to come. The art of role playing is slowly dying on the MMOG scene and the R, P and G will soon be dropped from the genre tag altogether.
PvP has become central to most new MMOGs as publishers latch onto it as an easy way to entice the mainstream into the world of online gaming. At the beginning of July Blizzard announced details for its upcoming PvP enhancements, which offers more Battlegrounds and more opportunities to kill each other. But one has to ask the RPG community whether they're getting their money's worth of new content too.
It seems to me that developers can get a bit lazy when it comes to the general game content, as long as they make sure the PvPers are happy with a raft of new tournaments and battle arenas.
In an ideal world PvPers would be on separate servers so the rest of us wouldn't have to put up with the spam from groups announcing their victories in the arena. There's no time for role playing in PvP, so the two seem destined to be mutually exclusive.
But you may argue that there are plenty of RPG guilds around, so stop my bitching.
I don't want to have to join a guild in order to role play. I want to be able to wander around and chat to other players in character, without having to put up with over-bearing restrictions some guilds enforce. No I don't want to meet every Friday at the Magic Tree at 8 o'clock because I have better things to do and no I don't feel the need have a tattoo of my guild symbol on my butt. But most importantly I want to feel that the game's growing with me and doesn't reach some sort of stasis, while all around me PvPers are whooting with joy and jubilation.
What it all comes down to is appealing to the lowest common denominator. As far as I'm concerned, PvP is the Big Brother of the MMOG world. It requires little thought, appeals to the masses, irritates anyone with any intellect and saps any who enter of any creative thought.
RIP PvP – at least on my server. Let them slaughter each other elsewhere. Soon the RPGers only solace will be the fact that pen and paper RPGs will never have a PvP arena. Never I say! Never!
Most played: Prey
Most wanted: DOAX2