This week’s posts don’t talk about a specific game, but about how we tend to approach them. Dan and I have really different systems that are probably indications of deeply different personalities. We each have a go-to class when starting a game, especially an rpg. When we first discussed the topic, we noticed that he tends to start with warriors while I start with wizards. Upon reflection, this isn’t because I have a deep love for wizardry (My first Skyrim character was a rough and ready warrior), but because magical powers tend to give one an edge. That’s what I’m really looking for.
Not this Edge
There are lots of ways to gain an edge in games, but they tend to fall into three categories. Versatility gives you a lot of different ways of dealing with threats. Characters with multiple attack types don’t have to worry about differing enemies, and that simplifies the game. Distance can give you a huge advantage, letting you shoot at enemies as they approach or send creatures to deal with them. Either way it gives you more time to think about your decisions, and doesn’t force you to take as many risks. Stealth very much depends on your skill, but if you can manage it, you can dispatch any threat without anyone being the wiser. In a lot of ways, the kick in the doors path is the toughest one.
I’m a min/maxer in most games. I want to minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. When playing against people, I want to feign weakness where I’m strong and strength where I’m weak in order to keep them guessing. Even at higher levels, I’m always playing cautiously and looking to maintain that advantage. The next skill, talent, perk, or ability that will take me up the spiral of power. Whether that involves magic or not is actually irrelevant, as I’ve learned with games like Skyrim and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In Skyrim, crafting and improving your own weapons and armor can give you a huge advantage, so that’s what I’ve been doing. When I understand the game more, or when that begins to plateau, I’ll look for something else.
The problem with looking for the edge is that it can be easy to lose sight of the game. Pushing the points around to manipulate game mechanics can become the objective rather than pursuing the story or finishing the game. I saw it happen a lot in my World of Warcraft days when the goal of raiding, fighting through massive 25 or 40 player dungeons, became about getting certain pieces of gear rather than finishing the dungeon (this gets a lot more complicated, and there’s a curve designed into those dungeons, but the fact stands that the gear replaced the end of the dungeon as the objective).
Now, it’s a legitimate way to play games, though not always the best one. The thing I find strange about it is when that strategy creeps into the rest of my life. How we play games can say a lot to how we approach our daily life, because it speaks to how we prefer to overcome obstacles. Sometimes I get confused about what I regard as an obstacle, or I find myself looking for the edge, the thing that makes me immune to a problem or obliterates it in a second. Versatility, distance, and stealth.
This isn’t, I think, an approach that’s limited to me. Social media for example, is something that people and companies use to gain an edge. Months ago I wrote about how students can use social media to do just that. We labour under the illusion that it makes us more versatile because we see other people using it in all kinds of ways. But life isn’t a game. It’s way more complicated than allocating points and making decisions in isolated tactical situations. Also, the consequences of having advantage become the goal, instead of what you were initially looking for, are much worse. Looking for an edge can lead us to lose sight of what really matters.
What I find really interesting about this style of play is that it doesn’t affect me in classless games. I’ll happily charge around in Rainbow 6, a game based on caution and precision, and boldly kick open doors and rely on luck and my reflexes to see me through. Thanks to my hundreds of hours of playing shooters, they’re usually enough, though sometimes I take a bullet. When I do, I shrug and approach the room differently. I could get distance, I could use stealth, and I do my best to get a bit of versatility, but happily experiment with strange equipment and weapons. Having the edge doesn’t matter, I just want excitement of the next room.
I’m not sure how to reconcile these, but those are my go-to strategies. How do you play games?
