Sunday 6 March 2011

Gamers Today

I've been gaming since before I could ride a bicycle and I can remember even way back then my favorite games where those where you required some sort of teamwork, although it wasn't very deep of a co-op experience on NES or SEGA Genesis like it is today, it was still the best kind of gaming.

Which makes me wonder why so many gamers today seem almost anti-teamwork. This really struck me lately as I have been playing a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Demo, a teamwork heavy title. I was driving the heavy tank destroying walls to give easier access to the up-links, taking out emplacement MGs and making tonnes of call outs (back button to spot enemy for the team). I COULD have just sat further back and went for enemy kills, but I pride myself on being a team player. Anyways this was going on for a good amount of time and my team was benefiting from my actions, so much so that the enemy team decided it was time to take out my pesky tank. I dodged afew RPGs and Stationary AT rockets but ended up taking a decent amount of damage before I retreated out of enemy sight. 

At this point I assumed I would just wait for an engineer to walk by and fix me up, now I've played as engineer a lot and I know that with as much damage my tank had taken it would be popping up on engineer mini-maps as a wrench, indicating this vehicle was in need of repair, and I expected some friendly mechanic service.

What I found instead were multiple engineers playing only for themselves, using my tank as cover as they advanced forward without the slightest bit of repair, even 1 or 2 who ran past me and looked back right at me just to continue running towards the path I had so nicely cleared for them, It like they were sticking their tongues out at me when they did this, this happened for a good 5 minutes before I decided to just drive the tank in and do what damage I could before the enemy would destroy it, which wasn't very long with 25 health.

I understand that it could have just been circumstantial, maybe those Engineers that past were new to the game(demo) or they were in a squad that they needed to keep up with or any other reason, However I've seen this happen in countless co-op or team based shooters.

Gears of War, a downed team mate can be picked up by simply pressing X near them, but you would be surprised how many players ignore you, even when you crawl over to them and they seriously just have to press X and continue shooting, but choose to instead stay in that position for a little while longer before running off leaving you to your fate.

Battlefield, Medics wont heal you even when you follow them and are clearly hurt, same with engineers to your vehicles, or assault players not giving ammo.

L4D(1&2), You go down near a team mate and they just run off on they're own. Although in this case there is an instant satisfaction usually granted by the game when you see that team mate get caught by a hunter or smoker or jockey or whatever karma(and the game) decides to throw at them.

I could name tonnes more and I'm sure so can anyone reading this, but I wont because I'm sure I've already made my point.

What I'd like to know though, is why? Why are some gamers so self oriented? 

Is it because you just want to improve your stats and care little for the win or loss outcome of the match? 
That can't be right because most games reward you with points or stat increases if you save your team mates.

Is it because you are not paying attention to the fact that your team is in need or you just "didn't see them"?
I doubt it because most games implement some type of HUD notification to inform you of this.

Despite how much games reward or notify you that a team mate is in need of your assistance players today still seem to just, not help.

So if you are one of those greedy players that play only for themselves, which I doubt if you joined a mature gaming community such as Battlestrats, however if you are one of those players remember to pick up a team mate and get some points for your efforts, and who knows maybe even make a new friend.

SpooN04 Bringing random gamers together since 1985 :)

9 comments:

  1. I gotta say, I agree with a majority of this post.

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  2. some people just want to be the best so they wont help others..

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  3. Yeah, I know what you mean, it's like people only play for the CtD ratio...

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  4. I too miss teamwork in games, I'm hoping developers would focus on this aspect of gaming and make it more rewarding for pairs and teams than for the lone wolf gamer. I guess this is why I play RPGs or team-based FPS games.

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  5. I agree with chris! We need more games with more dedicated teamwork!

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  6. Haha agreed! Followed! alphabetalife.blogspot.com

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  7. A lot of people don't realise they are burden of a team.

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  8. i totally agree with you.. damn stat huggers

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