This week’s game of choice is one that Dan and I started playing together recently. Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War II. It’s a long title for a great game that taught me the importance of a good high five and how grim the future can be without them.
Dawn of War II is a real-time strategy game set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000. It’s a universe at war, with the space marines of the empire battling it out with evil space marines, ferocious orks (space hooligans), even more ferocious tyranids (giant bug monsters) and the cunning eldar (space elves). There aren’t really any good guys, everyone is universally unlikable (space marines kill whole planets if they discover heresy), but that gives them lots of reasons to have a punch up. The tagline is “…In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.” It’s super upbeat.
Unlike earlier incarnations of the game, in Dawn of War II you control four heroes, each of whom has a distinct specialty and personality, and after every mission you get to listen to them have a little chat. The Force Commander is silent, but Tarkus the tactical marine is wise, Thaddeus the assault marine is impetuous, Cyrus the scout is paranoid, and Avitus the heavy is grim. Okay, they’re all grim. The problem I have with that is that they’re also winning. Not Pyrrhic victories where we win but lose territory or vital resources or thousands of lives. Dan and I are stomping ork face. On the hardest difficulty (which is how we roll), Commander Steve is dropping in and ruining the parties of all manner of non-marine space denizens with his giant robot fist. But every interaction after a mission is a downer.
These centuries old genetically engineered nine foot tall marines can’t figure out that sometimes you just need to take a moment, chill out, and appreciate how awesome something was. Never once do they go “Man did you see that? I blasted down on my jetpack and pounded my fist through a monster the size of a skyscraper!” No, it’s all Avitus going “Yet there is more work to be done, and the toil of…” Hell with that. Did you see the thing we just did, where four dudes took on literally hordes of enemies, mowing them down with bullets, fire, and swords which are also chainsaws? Where we seized the day and got shit done? High five.
But it got me thinking. How often do I, after coming out of something great, forget about it and think about all the things I have yet to do. Whether it’s a charity event or just a particularly good recording session, how often do I say “That was good, but there’s still all this editing, cutting, adjusting, and other work to do.” In that moment I’m one of these space marines. No, I didn’t just save a planet by applying a chainsaw to the right place and the right problem, but if I did a good thing, I should high five about it. Then we can move on to future adversity and work.
Most of the issue here is that space marines are uptight mass murderers, but Dawn of War II has showed me that sometimes I’m at least one of those things. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think it’s worth taking a few seconds for a high five or even a “Yeehaw!” It’s a second to stop and go “Yep, that was awesome.” Then move on to the next challenge.
Speaking of the next challenge, for us it’s Dan and Jim in HD! We’ll be putting up a video over on Woot Suit Riot every two weeks talking about all manner of things. In colour and in my studio, our first video introduces who we are and what we do. Check it out, and be sure to subscribe for more videos.
