Well its 1am and to take my mind off of sobering thoughts that would make for a depressing roleplay i've decided to rant about a hot topic of mine. Player killing.
Now I want you to all think back to a simple game made from simple RGB colours and all programmed in the magical platform of java. Yes i'm talking about Runescape Classic. The original UK made MMORPG that started from a anthill and grew to a mountain. When it came to fame many players had progressed into the game so well that they became "Famous" or well known. Not a hard achievement seeing as the game itself had little more than 10 servers at the time and fewer staff than each worlds log in capacity but yet some brave souls battled skeletons, goblins and even the fierce (well once were) Black Knights to rise to the ranks of fame and achieve rank 99 on a skill and claim the first tile on the highscore table. But for some, there were different ways of achieving cult status. I'm talking about player versus player interaction where one attempts to knock the others health down to 0. Many of you will sit there and think that the games age and simple combat system would make for a easy kill on whoever had better stats, But no. Runescape is a prime example of player killing as a skill in real time rather than a simple task of clicking and hoping. Players would often don monk robes for the hefty prayer bonus and use the games unique retreat system to get an easy kill and most players would often put alot of theme and ideas into the inclusion of player killing on their account. My favourite example is the pure option, A player trains there combat like normal but does not train defence. This way the players combat level (A summarised level of the combat skills combined) will be lower than someone with the same stats as well as defence. This allows the player to roam the arena in search of foes at their level and hitting harder than they can. It was just this theme idea that got me into the memory of an old roleplay game I had once where we each played a specific role, The archer would use his skill and speed to draw the dragon away from a chest where the mage would teleport in and steal from it before the mighty warrior would strike the killing blow into the great beast. No matter how well we worked there would always be weapons drawn to split the loot and that's why we kept playing! No matter how many times the warrior was restrained to the wall by unseen chains or the mage would be delivered a crippling blow as the archer lie unconcious under a table, We always came back for a new round because it was just that sense of competition which made the long journey worthwhile. We always got our TRUE share of loot because we earned it.
But i'm not here to advertise the marvellous and addictive world of Runescape no, i'm here to talk about why I think that a player killing scenario is necessary to a good game. In the world of gaming, competitions exist to give the players a sense of achievement and struggle. Noone wants to loot a dragon and everyone gets given the same amount of gold. Thats for children's games where tea is served in polished cups and the economy isnt constantly screwing you over, No this is a true game of skill and after all, Times are tough! Have you ever tried to buy a new horse because your armour weighs so much you cripple your old ones, Its like being a dentist and trying to afford a Bugatti! This is where PVP situations do their deed.
PVP allows players to show that they are the greatest warrior, Sort arguments or just to have a good old fight. The possibilities for using such a situation are endless to the extent that players may end up holding tournaments just to decide who picks the next reason for a PVP match. It creates such a level of involvement that many a war within a clan has taken effect to the stage of splitting it asunder and causing a war within the clan because of one victory over another.
Well, Heres the fun part. Suggest a new rant for me below ^_^ I'll try get back to the comments left.
Fuzz <3
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