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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 06/17/2006 : 14:23:10
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... except for the alternative.
[Rambling, pointless, online gaming related posting alert!]
As a few of you may know, I waste spend much of my time playing the online role-playing games, City of Heroes and City of Villains (mostly the latter).
CoV play consists mainly of building up your super-villain in discreet missions, thus gaining experience and spendable "infamy" by clobbering innocents, defeating gangs, kidnapping scientists, robbing banks, and sometimes simply wrecking parking meters, police cars, etc. Yesterday, my character was hired by the Family to break a dockworkers strike.
For various reasons, I am not a "power player." First, I'm sixty. I've never had great keyboard dexterity or been a good multitasker. (Both of these qualities deteriorated even more a couple years ago when I had a stroke.) I take my time to plan each stage of a mission, and never hesitate to stop to rest myself or my characters. I actually enjoy a slow game.
Power players usually rush though missions in a blaze of gunfire, explosions, arcane spells, and energy blasts. There are so many special effects flying, often, it's nearly impossible to comprehend the action. Even the power players complain of this.
CoV requires a lot of tactical thinking, in a military sense. Though I am not a power player, I belong to one of the dominant super-villain groups, the Evil Graveyard Shift (in generic online gaming terms, such groups are called "clans."), and occasionally join other members of the super-group for massive missions involving many players. Some of us use TeamSpeak, an over-the-Internet voice communication service that greatly helps us to communicate when fighting.
What strikes me about the way these blazing-fast missions go, is that they are done much more intelligently that one might expect for such rapid-fire actions. These players, mostly males in their twenties, think smart and fast. Their only pauses in game play are to rest their characters. Their capabilities are so beyond me. Yet these players not only tolerate my slow ass in their company, they have come to my aid repeatedly, as they do for other super-group members. Mutual aid is a striking hallmark of our super-group.
Last night while chatting via TeamSpeak with others in the group, the yawning gap of two generations separating me from my Evil Graveyard Shift comrades was highlighted. One guy was semi-jokingly chiding another for being the kind of mission leader who gets his teammates slaughtered. I chimed in with, "So, he's the General Westmoreland of City of Villains?" Silence. I had to explain the reference, that William Westmoreland was the general who was in charge of the Vietnam fiasco. (I tend to think of Vietnam as being recent history.)
It also gets weird in other ways. Last night my daughter had joined the super-group with her main character, a male Brute named Saun. I was running my female Mastermind character, Prybar, who has five mercenaries to help her. One of the richer player characters in the super-group gave Prybar a whole lot of online "infamy" currency, so I could buy her superior "enhancements" to strengthen Prybar's powers. After getting much more currency that I'd expected, I remarked over TeamSpeak, "Thank you! You've made me a very rich woman!" Thing is, I hadn't meant that ironically, it just flew, forever after free, from my mouth. I had never before, and I expect I shall probably never again, uttered such a sentence. I'm still trying to figure that one out. 
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 14:55:08 [Permalink]
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| No worries, 'Mooner, you're way ahead of me. I am so inept that even though I own CoH and am a huge fan of super-hero games (e.g. Freedom Force). But even the thought of being all on-line and tech-saavy ("TeamSpeak"?!?) makes me sad, as I have no idea what do with that stuff. So CoH sits (despite constant emails offering free time to play), and I stick with my more introverted, less techish games... |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 15:07:58 [Permalink]
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Cune, if you have Google Talk, and would consider trying CoV or CoH, I'd be happy to guide you, via voice, through starting up.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 16:19:56 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Cune, if you have Google Talk, and would consider trying CoV or CoH, I'd be happy to guide you, via voice, through starting up.
So what's Google Talk? I guess I can find it discussed on the Google homepage? I imagine I'll need a microphone type thing, right? Are they expensive? Any recommednations for what to get? |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 16:20:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
No worries, 'Mooner, you're way ahead of me. I am so inept that even though I own CoH and am a huge fan of super-hero games (e.g. Freedom Force), I still don't play it. Even the thought of being all on-line and tech-saavy ("TeamSpeak"?!?) makes me sad, as I have no idea what do with that stuff. So CoH sits (despite constant emails offering free time to play), and I stick with my more introverted, less techish games...
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 18:15:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Cune, if you have Google Talk, and would consider trying CoV or CoH, I'd be happy to guide you, via voice, through starting up.
So what's Google Talk? I guess I can find it discussed on the Google homepage? I imagine I'll need a microphone type thing, right? Are they expensive? Any recommednations for what to get?
Google Talk is free, and is an instant text messenger as well as a voice service. You can sign up for it via the Google homepage. You can call anyone else who has it, and they can pick up online. It's surprising how good the voices sound. Yup, a mic is required, and a way to hear. I'd recommend a cheap computer headset. I've got an inexpensive Plantronics headset that works fine.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 23:45:51 [Permalink]
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I know my son chats with people as he plays. The whole group can be on voice chat at the same time. I'll have to ask him what he thinks of CoV and CoH now that he's done with WoW. I think I told you he sold his character for $720.oo. That still boggles my mind. Apparently the purchaser is real happy. He gave us good feedback on Ebay anyway.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2006 : 03:07:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
I know my son chats with people as he plays. The whole group can be on voice chat at the same time. I'll have to ask him what he thinks of CoV and CoH now that he's done with WoW. I think I told you he sold his character for $720.oo. That still boggles my mind. Apparently the purchaser is real happy. He gave us good feedback on Ebay anyway.
That's wonderful that your son made that kind of money from selling his character! If your son goes into CoV, ask that he consider a character on the "Protector" server, where the Evil Graveyard Shift and I hang out. I'm sure we'd be happy to help him get started.
CoH and CoV are very different from WoW. The "City of" games are buggier, for one thing, and the artwork is not as pretty or as consistent. Also, the smooth ("streaming") movement one normally has from place to place in WoW is not there in CoH/CoV. But the games really excel in making a customized superhero or supervillain, and in combat complexity. You can create dozens of characters. Once over the culture shock, your son may love the "City of" games.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2006 : 06:34:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
I know my son chats with people as he plays. The whole group can be on voice chat at the same time. I'll have to ask him what he thinks of CoV and CoH now that he's done with WoW. I think I told you he sold his character for $720.oo. That still boggles my mind. Apparently the purchaser is real happy. He gave us good feedback on Ebay anyway.
But the WoW expansion is going to be out soon! |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2006 : 12:30:45 [Permalink]
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I think he just played himself out, wooly. Actually I'm glad to know game addictions are likely self limiting.
He said CoV and CoH are not his cup of tea, HM. (His word was boring.) |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2006 : 13:18:43 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
I think he just played himself out, wooly. Actually I'm glad to know game addictions are likely self limiting.
He said CoV and CoH are not his cup of tea, HM. (His word was boring.)
No problem. I presume he's tried the games on a friend's account. Tastes vary, and vary by time. I've been bored from time to time in CoH/CoV myself, though not since Release 7.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Topic Locked
