Get along lil' doggie!

I’ve played MMO’s since the days of Ultima Online in the late 1990’s, a long…long time ago!  Whether it’s World of Warcraft, Everquest I or II, Warhammer, Guild Wars, Anarchy, Lineage,  Archlord, Age Of Conan, I could go on and on….

I’ve come to the conclusion that we are a curious type of hybrid player when it comes to the type of games we play and more importantly, our loyalty to the game or genre we choose to play.

We are a fickled assortment of game players also! We sometimes will repeat the same habits/behavior over and over again!

For example…we will play a particular game, fall in love with it, invest hours/days/months, if not years to it.

We will immerse ourselves into the lore of the game. We establish close friendships with our fellow players and literally bond with the game.

We will create a character; pick the class, race, gender of our avatar! Carefully and meticulously level the character, choose what attributes and skills that best coincide with our play-style.

Then the hype of a new game begins. The game developers try to entice us away from the comfort and familiarity of the game will have come to know and love but sometimes without realizing it, have become complacent or even bored with it.

MMO players are like cattle sometimes, are looking for greener pastures to graze on, unfortunately we discover that it isn’t always the case.

We flock back to the same pastures time and time again once we figure out that the new, lush, green fields that looks so alluring really isn't all that great. Some, of course, will stay. Many will come back and others yet again will sod off from the entire genre.  

I guess in the end….it’s just the “human” nature of things!

Teamwork or the lack of these days!

I've played FPS (first person shooter for gaming noobs) games for over 12 years now. I've even played MMO's for about the same amount of time, which a genre that absolutely requires teamwork to complete any quest.
My point is that I've notice a disturbing trend these past few years in the gaming community. Players in-game have lost the tactic of teamwork.
Players these days are more interested in their own individual stats than actually working with their teammates to complete their objective in the game.

A perfect example is the game I'm currently been playing since mid-December , Battlefield: Bad Company: Vietnam.
Your team is made up of 16 players on each side, which in turn can be divided into four, 4 man squads. By the way, in 90% of the servers that I regularly join, there are only two to three squads made. So, that means on average there are four or five players that are in the game playing alone!

In the game mode called Conquest. Your objective is to capture and hold three flags. A, B, and C flags! Points are rewarded for actions taken during each round such as defending or capturing a flag! Assault classes distribute ammo, Medics heal and revive fallen comrades, Engineers repair choppers, tanks and vehicles, and finally the Recon class (snipers) mainly spot enemies and use TNT to destroy vehicles!

What generally happens towards the end of a round if the opposing team has captured at least two flags, most players will give up trying to advance and switch over to the Rceon class and spent the rest of the time sniping from a distance!

A sad state of affairs.... 

 

Winter March - 1/6th Scale WW2 Diorama

The 1/6th World of Kampfgruppe von Abt

ARMORTEK - 1/6th Scale AFV RC Models

Welcome!

I’ve been a gamer since the early days of Atari and Pong (if you know what that is then you’re an old fart like myself LOL)

I’ve owned most of the major brands of console systems like the original Nintendo and the 64, the Sega Genesis, Playstation one and two, XBoX and 360…you get the idea.

I bought my first PC in 1990, back then gaming was limited to just 2-D. Basically the game scrolled side to side or front to back and still animations as you process through the game.

I mainly played the console games through the early 90’s until I discovered online multi-player games. Holy Shit…talk about a whole new world opening up for me.

My first real experience in the multi-player genre of gaming was with Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It was released in January 2002.

You could literally play up to 64 players at once in the game. I played this game every chance I got. I’m talking every waking moment at my PC playing this game.

In March of that year I was asked to join my first clan. The DaDs Army!

http://www.thedadsarmy.com/

My call game tag was Papa Boon. I was in the original “Terrifying Twenty”. The camaraderie was amazing. It really is hard to explain unless you have experienced it yourself.  

The link below is an interview from Electronic Arts with one of the co-founders, Daddy Warbucks! 

http://en.ea.com/official/moh/alliedassault/us/usershowcase/clan_showcase_01.jsp

I was with this clan for almost four years before several members, including myself, left and started our own clan, The Men of Honor or MOH. My game tag is Boon.

http://www.themohclan.com/

But alas, as games evolve and players come and go. The atmosphere of all clans change. Games become outdated and stale. New games come along and clans begin to fragment.

I’m still listed on the roster but I haven’t played with those guys in almost a year.