5 replies to this topic

[XxXAbsolutZeroXxX]

Some of the things I like about the battletech and mechwarrior universe are the ennobling qualities of its characters. The courage and honor characters display under circumstances where they easily could transform into tyrants corrupted by their own power and influence. There are acts of sacrifice and bravery that could inspire people and reinforce notions of honor and morality.

In game the default standard tends to be the complete opposite of everything the MW/BT universe represents. Instead of bravery or courage, cowardice is often an overriding factor. Rather than balls to the wall charges we often have mechs tripping over one another to retreat. Instead of competence, humanity and integrity we often have examples of incompetence, ego stroking and greed.

It can be depressing at times to log on and play a few games, in worst cases you're being slapped in the face with examples representing the worst qualities of humanity. In that I can understand why this game has such a high tendency to cause people to become bitter and ragequit QQ.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on this?

[XxXAbsolutZeroXxX]

Marack Drock the Unicorn Wizard, on 31 March 2016 - 09:42 PM, said:

Because real human beings and in real life humans serve their own purpose and want to live and will do most of anything they can to do so.

Have you ever wondered why in dystopian movies and stories humans turn savage the minute dystopia happens? That is because by nature, like every other animal in the world, we are programmed to survive above everything else. It is in our nature. And when we aren't doing stuff to survive we are doing things to serve our own greedy selves.

In MechWarrior Online why would it be any different? Is it in our best interest to try and survive or possibly die? Well most people will think go hide and survive. That is how it works. Teamwork doesn't exist because it isn't natural to our preprogrammed brains. We are programmed to survive and to live and to serve ourselves above everything else (just like any other animal). The only difference is we are sentient... which means occasionally we can feel bad about being egotistical asses.

Honestly there isn't a person alive that doesn't like their ego being stroked, and there isn't a human alive that wouldn't do anything they can to survive.

How would you explain a soldier in combat jumping on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers?

An artist who refuses to sell out who prefers to be poor and maintain their artistic integrity rather than sacrifice it for sake of money?

Nuns and monks who forswear all worldly pleasures and devote their lives to humanitarian causes?

There is a nature vs nurture component to this discussion. People aren't hard programmed to think or behave in a specific way the variety of different belief systems, societal structures and mentalities point to variation rather than centralized standard. It might be more accurate to say people adapt to their circumstances and to some degree are products of their environment.

But that says nothing as to whether it can be depressing or a negative influence to play games where negative elements of humanity are on prime display the majority of the time or how people might rationalize such in a way that would help them to better cope or not allow it to affect them negatively. Discussion on those topics are mostly what I'm interested in.

I'm not much of a gamer but I'll say that in the past I have played games where I've felt inspired and motivated by the examples set by others in game. MWO seems to be the opposite where it makes me feel sorry for people and pity them. These forums could be considered a prime example. We could have a lot of fun and a lot of interesting conversations here. Instead we see some of the worst facets of people come out where most of the posts consist of whine threads or people trying to hijack discussion to serve their own lame agendas.

There aren't alot of people who post on these forums I would expect to survive a zombie apocalypse. I imagine a lot of people here being bit by a zombie then complaining to God and saying: "GOD WHY DID YOU MAKE THESE ZOMBIES OP, NERF PLZ." Sometimes I think: people should be better than this. Standards have fallen. Or maybe its me who has changed. Maybe things were always this way and I just never noticed. Its one of those relativity things.

Edited by I Zeratul I, 31 March 2016 - 10:00 PM.

[Squiggy McPew]

You get arsehats here because they get to play from the safety of their room and dying has no consequence along with the fact they are protected from reality by the people at the sharp end of the stick so they get to act like reality doesn't apply to them. Real life is completely different in that if its a shooting war and if you act like an arsehat you are quickly arrested and shot for cowardice or aiding the enemy etc.

[Initium Thoth]

Fictional characters have the luxury of having been rendered with highly distilled traits, like epic heroism and epic self-sacrifice.

I think many people play MWO with many little kindness patterns, like making sure they don't take up the entire path in a choke-point or allow space for another 'Mech to take cover from LRMs or AC fire, racing across the map to help a player in trouble. It happens. It just doesn't have the high-contrast epic feel of Victor Davion or Grayson Carlyle putting their soldiers first in an interplanetary setting. Perhaps if you were to use a MWO match to write fiction you could identify these qualities and highlight them they way it happens in the novels.

Most of the chat and verbal flak that I've caught and given is nothing more than fear of being stuck with bad teams or bad players in the foreseeable future. An unlikely circumstance, and one that you can directly avoid by creating a group and inviting people you like playing with.

If you are inspired, why not create a kind of mechwarrior online chivalry code? Post the results and find people who will try playing that way with you.