We live only to amuse you, strake.

"TRs suck, endgame less suck, something about being a rockstar and getting all the ladies, bigger damage number better person"

Freud or something maybe

Gunga wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2021 at 3:16pm:



Toppie.

Strake wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 11:49am:


Its either grind-walls or paywalls, am I right? Feels like game designers don't actually know any other way.

Some do it better than others. All the hideous griefing aside, Archeage had a pretty good system that basically punished playing too much. WoW similarly had a system that rewarded(to a small degree) not playing. Other games include concepts like "lateral expansion" EG "give the players something else to do".

DDO and it sounds like New World are not great at these things.

Head-Meat wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 4:21pm:


I would say this principle applies quite adequately to the concept of vaccines.

Leisure activities, not so much though.

It actually raises kind of an interesting concept. Let's say you want to hunt for sport. Its not a cheap hobby, but if you really want to kill a bear or a cape buffalo or something, you can pay for a guide and rent a gun and go do it with basically no training or practice(no "sacrifice" to get your trophy), and no one sees anything wrong with this(aside from the obvious anti-hunting people). I don't hunt or own a gun, but if I wanted to I could be on a plane to Africa tomorrow and bag a cape buffalo by the end of the week, and if I told other hunters I had done this, they'd mostly say "Cool!".

Contrast to gaming - and specifically MMO gaming - as a leisure activity, where the mentality of:

Head-Meat wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 4:21pm:


Extends far beyond just sacrificing X. If you sacrificed X to get Y, you want X to go away so no one besides you can have Y. You want to look down on all the filthy, dirty, awful "casuals" who aren't able to sacrifice X. And if X gets lowered, you will rant and rave and scream and cry because YOU had to sacrifice X and now X is smaller and that invalidates your achievements!

God I hate gamers.

noamineo wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 4:41pm:




For good AND for ill, games are more than that for some people. To be fair, even "games" are serious for many.

[shrug]. I just play when I want. If someone is super uptight, they probably won't want me in their group since I'm committedly mediocre.

Linker wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 5:21pm:


Yeah that's fair. But I won't pretend anything anyone says here is important.

noamineo wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 6:09pm:



But my blocks have this SICK new skin! It's super rare.

noamineo wrote on Dec 8^th, 2021 at 3:08pm:




Heck yeah. She's making me meatloaf right now.

Head-Meat wrote on Dec 7^th, 2021 at 4:21pm:



When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner,
saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’

Alex DeLarge wrote on Dec 9^th, 2021 at 2:17pm:


Its a double-edged sword. The whales and the old-timers need the grind to keep them playing, but SSG failed to provide systems to help the nubs catch up. Once the nubs realize how much of a grind is waiting for them, they are less likely to stay.

5 Foot Step wrote on Dec 9^th, 2021 at 1:45pm:


Amen.

I suppose I'm re-learning this insight.